The Minor Scale

| 1.6 The Major Scale | Back to Music Theory Lessons | 1.8 Scale Degrees |

Unlike the major scale, there are in fact 3 different types of minor scales. These are the "Natural Minor", "Harmonic Minor" and the "Melodic Minor" scales. The natural minor scale has the interval pattern, TSTTSTT. If this means nothing to you, please make sure you read the lesson on major scales as it explains the concept of how scales are compiled from interval patterns.

The harmonic and the melodic minor scales are very similar to the natural minor scale. The harmonic minor scale is the same as a natural minor scale, except for the fact that the 7th note is raised by a semitone. The melodic minor scale on the other hand has both the 6th and 7th notes raised by a semitone.

Let us study the 3 different types of scales for the D minor scale to clarify this concept.

The Natural Minor Scale

This is the D natural minor scale - it has the interval pattern of TSTTSTT as mentioned previously. The red keys represent the notes of one octave, whereas the blue keys represent notes from octaves above and below.

The Harmonic Minor Scale

This is the D harmonic minor scale. As discussed before, the harmonic minor scale differs from the natural minor scale by the fact that the 7th note is raised by a semitone. Therefore if you compare figure 22 to figure 23 above, you will notice that the C has now become a C#.

The Melodic Minor Scale

Last but not least, here is the D melodic minor scale. This minor scale has the 6th and 7th notes raised by a semitone (compared to the natural minor scale) and therefore the Bb has become a B, and the C a C#.

| 1.6 The Major Scale | Back to Music Theory Lessons | 1.8 Scale Degrees |