While we’ve been talking about chords I’ve mentioned the minor scale a couple of times. So now we know at least two things about a minor scale. We know that the 3rd note of a minor scale is a semi-tone lower than the 3rd note of a major scale. And we know that an A-minor scale is the only one that has no sharps or flats. And since we know there’s a pattern of tones and semi-tones that make up a major scale, you can figure out that there’s probably another pattern of tones and semi-tones that makes up a minor scale. And of course there is.
Let’s use the A-minor scale. Since it has no sharps or flats the notes will be A, B, C, D, E, F, G, and A again at the top. I asked you to remember that there’s a tone between every note except in two places, and that’s between E and F, and between B and C. So that minor scale is going to have a tone between every note except between B and C, and between E and F. So if I lay that down it would be;
- A–up a tone to
- B–up a semi-tone to
- C–up a tone to
- D–up a tone to
- E–up a semi-tone to
- F–up a tone to
- G–up a tone to
- A
So the pattern of tones and semi-tones that make up a minor scale are.
Tone, Semi-tone, Tone, Tone, Semi-tone, Tone, Tone.
Which you can memorise like that if that’s your style, although I think of it as;
Tone,Semi-tone
Tone, Tone,Semi-tone
Tone, Tone
which makes up a rhythm I can remember.
But however we remember it, if we start on any note and adjust any letter name we need to by using sharps or flats to get that pattern of tones and semi-tones we will always get a minor scale.
So if we start on a G, we go up a tone to A. Then the next note is up a semi-tone, but from A up to B is a full tone, so we need to lower that B-note by a half-step, making it a B-flat. B-flat up to C is a tone, and that’s right. C up to D is also a tone, also good. The next note is supposed to be a semi-tone up from D, so it won’t be an E (that’s a full tone), it’ll be an E-flat. Then up a tone from E-flat is F. And finally a tone up from F is a G, and we’re done. So a G-minor scale is G, A, B-flat, C, D, E-flat, F, and G again at the top.
So try that using a few different starting notes and see what you get. Of course you can try working these out on your instrument, too. But I think it’s a good idea to be able to work these out without playing them. Sort of why you work to get the words down for a song, it just works better.
Actually there are a couple of different minor scales, the one we’ve been talking about is sometimes called the ‘natural minor’ scale. There’s another version where it’s slightly different going up from coming down. Going up the 7th note is raised a semi-tone (becoming like ‘ti to doh’ at the high end of a major scale), and coming back down the 7th note is back where you’d expect it to be, down a semi-tone from where you raised it (now there’s a full tone between the 8th and 7th notes of the scale). This fancy version is sometimes called the ‘melodic minor’ scale. But the natural minor is a little more useful to us when we’re figuring out chords and such. So I start there.
Tone, Semi-tone
Tone, Tone, Semi-tone
Tone, Tone.
Minor scale, naturally.