Minor Guitar Scales
One of the reasons why music is so powerful is because it can literally set moods. Light and dark, happy and sad. Music can set the tone for any mood very quickly. Minor guitar scales are used to portray serious, tense, or shocking moments in movies. In music, they portray sad or angry moods. Blues music in particular is all about minor guitar scales and chords.
After reading this post, and of coarse practicing, you will be able to write and play all of the minor guitar scales in three froms – natural, harmonic and melodic.
The minor guitar scale is based on the major guitar scale. The A minor scale for example, has the same key signature (contains the same notes) as the C major scale, whereas there are no sharps or flats. This means C Major and A Minor are considered relative scales. To construct any minor scale, simply start at the 6th note of any major scale. This is known as a natural minor guitar scale.
Natural Minor Scales
C Major Scale:
A Natural Minor Scale: (starting at the sixth note of C major)
The natural minor scale begins on the 6th note of its relative major scale and has no changes to the key signature. Another example:
Eb Major Scale:
C Natural Minor Scale: (starting at the 6th note of Eb major)
NOTE: When playing, remember to pay attention to the key signature of the major scale. Eb major scale for example, has 3 flats in it’s key signature – Eb, Ab, and Bb. These flats tranfer over to its relative minor – the C minor scale.
The pattern of whole and half steps for a natural minor guitar scale is therefore related to the pattern for a major guitar scale starting on the 6th – W, H, W, W, H, W, W.
Harmonic Minor Scales
Harmonic minor guitar scales are easy to create. Simply raise the 7th note by one half step.
C Harmonic Minor Scale:
Melodic Minor Scales
To build a melodic minor scale, raise the 6th and 7th note by a half step when ascending and when descending, return them to the original tones.