A little more scale theory

Description

Okay, last time I posted a trick it was on some theory concerning the major scale. Today, I'll post some theory on the minor scale. The minor scale is different from the major scale. Aside from all its modes, there is only one major scale pattern. We'll talk about modes later. The minor scale however, aside from its modes, has several different patterns of whole steps and half steps.(You remember those from my last lesson) There is the natural minor scale, the melodic minor scale, and the harmonic minor scale. If you've browsed this site often, no doubt that you've seen all these scales posted before in different keys. Here, I will explain the theory behind them all.

First, the natural, or as its sometimes called, the pure minor scale, has a pattern of whole and half steps, just like the major scale. Its pattern is; Whole step-Half step-Whole step-Whole step-Half step-Whole step-Whole step. Another simpler
way to write this, which I should have shown in my first lesson is 1 1/2 1 1 1/2 1 1, 1= a whole step and 1/2= a half step. If we take this pattern and start on a note, like A (the Keynote, remember?) we get the A minor scale. It goes A B C D E F G A. I use A instead of C here because we are talking minor, and there are no flats or sharps in the scale, like C major. C major and A minor are relative to each other. They share the same number of sharps and flats.(none) Below in the tab is an A minor scale, the first example that is. Play it through, notice how it sounds sad, or dark. If your not into reading music, that is how you can tell major from minor, major sounds happy, and minor sounds sad. Remember to say the notes aloud as you play. If you dont know the notes, look at the scale above and say those notes as you play them on your guitar. Thats the scale!

Now we'll look at the Harmonic Minor Scale. Its note pattern varies from the natural minor by one note. The seventh note of the scale is augmented, or raised one half step. So if we raise the seventh note of the Am scale one half step, it goes from G to G#. Now look at the scale. Its goes A B C D E F G# A. In the second example below is an A minor harmonic scale. Play it through and compare its sound to that of the A natural minor scale. Hear the difference? Personally, I like the harmonic minor's sound better. Say the note names aloud as you play.

Now we move to the Melodic Minor Scale. The melodic minor is kind of neat. Ascending through this scale, we see that the 6th and 7th notes are augmented, but when we descend back down, they are played as they would be in the natural minor scale. In other words, the 6th and 7th notes are only augmened when ascending, not when descending, so when you play this scale in example 3, you have to play it up and down, in order to really hear what the scale actually sounds like. So, that being said, the A minor melodic scale goes like this;
A B C D E F# G# A G F E D C B A.
Say the note names aloud as you play.

Thats all for now. Any questions? Get me at [email protected]
Bye for now.