To figure out a minor scale's relative major, justĬount up three half steps from the name of the minor scale. You start on the note the scale is named for just like for a major scale, but you use the This means that when playing a minor scale That's because every minor scale has a relative major. You may observe that there's a relation between the schemes on which major and minor scales are built. So there's a total of five whole steps (you can count them).īy the way, these notes that fall in between the notes of a scale without belonging to it are called chromatic notes. On the other hand, if you take C and D, there's C# in between: they are separated by a “whole step”. You'll immediately notice that there are no notes between B and C: that's what we meant by “half step”. The highlighted notes form the A minor scale. Just be content to know that all western music is based on this twelve-note system).

(explaining what this is and where it comes from is far beyond our scopes. Here you can see all the notes in the modern twelve-tone equal temperament The sequence is the same for all minor scales: one whole step, one half step, two whole steps, one half step, two whole steps (W, H, W, W, H, W, W).įor example, consider the A minor scale: A

The minor scale is one of the diatonic scales, meaning that it is made up of five whole steps and two half steps. (or a natural when the 7th degree has a flat in the key signature). Please note that the 7th degree cannot be called “leading tone” unless it is raised by a semitone with a sharp These notes are assigned different names: Is made up of seven distinct notes, plus an eighth which duplicates the first one an octave higher. In music theory, a minor scale (also known as aeolian scale)

Melodic minor scales b flat