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In Western classical music theory, the minor scale refers to three scale patterns – the natural minor scale (or Aeolian mode), the harmonic minor scale, and the melodic minor scale (ascending or descending). (2025). 9780072852608, McGraw-Hill. ISBN 9780072852608
These scales contain all three notes of a minor triad: the root, a minor third (rather than the major third, as in a Major chord or major scale), and a perfect fifth (rather than the tritone, as in a diminished scale or half diminished scale).
Minor scale is also used to refer to other scales with this property,Ebenezer Prout (1889). Harmony: Its Theory and Practice, pp. 15, 74, London, Augener. such as the Dorian mode or the minor pentatonic scale (see other minor scales below).
\clef treble \time 7/4
c4^\markup { C major scale } d e f g
\override NoteHead.color = #red a \override NoteHead.color = #black b c2 \bar "||"
\time 9/4
\override NoteHead.color = #red a,4^\markup { A natural minor scale } \override NoteHead.color = #black b c d e f g a2 }
}
Because of this, the key of A minor is called the relative key of C major. Every major key has a relative minor, which starts on the 6th scale degree or step. For instance, since the 6th degree of F major is D, the relative minor of F major is D minor.
This notation is based on the major scale, and represents each degree (each note in the scale) by a number, starting with the tonic (the first, lowest note of the scale). By making use of flat symbols () this notation thus represents notes by how they deviate from the notes in the major scale. Because of this, we say that a number without a flat represents a major (or perfect) interval, while a number with a flat represents a minor interval. In this example, the numbers mean:
Thus, for instance, the A natural minor scale can be built by lowering the third, sixth, and seventh degrees of the A major scale by one semitone:
\clef treble \time 7/4
a4^\markup { A major scale } b \override NoteHead.color = #red cis \override NoteHead.color = #black d e \override NoteHead.color = #red fis gis \override NoteHead.color = #black a2 \bar "||"
\time 9/4
a,4^\markup { A natural minor scale } b \override NoteHead.color = #red c! \override NoteHead.color = #black d e \override NoteHead.color = #red f! g! \override NoteHead.color = #black a2 }
}
Because they share the same tonic note of A, the key of A minor is called the Parallel key of A major.
where "whole" stands for a Major second (a red u-shaped curve in the figure), and "half" stands for a semitone (a red angled line in the figure).
The natural minor scale is Maximal evenness.
\clef treble \time 7/4
a4^\markup { A harmonic minor scale } b c d e f gis a2 }
}
Thus, a harmonic minor scale is represented by the following notation:
Because of this construction, the 7th degree of the harmonic minor scale functions as a leading tone to the tonic because it is a semitone lower than the tonic, rather than a whole tone lower than the tonic as it is in natural minor scales.
The Hungarian minor scale is similar to the harmonic minor scale but with a raised 4th degree. This scale is sometimes also referred to as "Gypsy Run", or alternatively "Egyptian Minor Scale", as mentioned by Miles Davis who describes it in his autobiography as "something that I'd learned at Juilliard".
In popular music, examples of songs in harmonic minor include Katy B's "Easy Please Me", Bobby Brown's "My Prerogative", and Jazmine Sullivan's "Bust Your Windows". The scale also had a notable influence on heavy metal, spawning a sub-genre known as neoclassical metal, with guitarists such as Chuck Schuldiner, Yngwie Malmsteen, Ritchie Blackmore, and Randy Rhoads employing it in their music.
The melodic minor scale is formed by using both of these solutions. In particular, the raised sixth appears in the ascending form of the scale, while the lowered seventh appears in the descending form of the scale. Traditionally, these two forms are referred to as:
\clef treble \time 7/4 \hide Staff.TimeSignature
\override Voice.TextScript.font-size = #-2
a4^\markup { Ascending melodic minor } b c d e fis gis
a^\markup { Descending melodic minor } g! f! e d c b a2 }
}
The ascending melodic minor scale can be notated as
while the descending melodic minor scale is
Using these notations, the two melodic minor scales can be built by altering the parallel major scale.
The intervals between the notes of a descending melodic minor scale are the same as those of a descending natural minor scale.
Examples of the use of melodic minor in rock music and popular music include Elton John's "Sorry Seems to Be the Hardest Word", which makes, "a nod to the common practice... by the use of F the as the penultimate note of the final cadence." The Beatles' "Yesterday" also partly uses the melodic minor scale.
Within the Diatonic scale, in addition to the Aeolian mode (which is the natural minor scale), the Dorian mode and the Phrygian mode also fall under this definition. Conversely, the Locrian mode has a minor third, but a diminished fifth (thus containing a diminished triad), and is therefore not commonly referred to as a minor scale.
The Hungarian minor scale is another heptatonic (7-note) scale referred to as minor.
The Jazz minor scale is a name for the melodic minor scale when only the "ascending form" is used.
Non-heptatonic scales may also be called "minor", such as the minor pentatonic scale.Bruce Benward and Marilyn Nadine Saker (2003), Music: In Theory and Practice, seventh edition (Boston: McGraw Hill), vol. I, p. 37. .
The hexatonic (6-note) blues scale is similar to the minor pentatonic scale and fits the above definition. However, the flat fifth is present as a passing tone along with the perfect fifth, and the scale is often played with microtonal mixing of the major and minor thirds – thus making it harder to classify as a "major" or "minor" scale.
The two are both "minor scales" following the above definition, but were historically referred to as the "Neapolitan Major" or "Neapolitan Minor" based rather on the quality of their major sixth.
Major and minor keys that share the same key signature are Relative key to each other. For instance, F major is the relative major of D minor since both have key signatures with one flat. Since the natural minor scale is built on the 6th degree of the major scale, the tonic of the relative minor is a major sixth above the tonic of the major scale. For instance, B minor is the relative minor of D major because the note B is a major sixth above D. As a result, the key signatures of B minor and D major both have two sharps (F and C).
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