Let’s Talk About: Natural, Melodic, and Harmonic Minors

Lowered Scale Degrees Chart

The Minors: Lowered Scale Degrees

A quick reminder: We tend to remember most scales by thinking about how they deviate from the major (ionian) scale. i.e., we tend to say that the natural minor scale is like the major scale, but the 3rd, 6th, and 7th scale degrees are lowered. This is not to say that major is in any way better than any other mode/scale. 
 

In the above chart, the deviations from major for each of the three minors is listed.

How does this work?
Let’s think about the key of C-Major, and turn it into the minors.

If I take my major scale, and lower the 3rd degree (the “third note”), I get a Melodic Minor
If I lower the 6th in addition to the 3rd, I get the Harmonic Minor
and if I lower the 7th in addition to the 3rd and 6th, I get the Natural Minor.

C  D  E  F  G  A  B    < My Major Scale
C  D  Eb F  G  A  B    < Melodic Minor  (3 lowered)
C  D  Eb F  G  Ab B    < Harmonic Minor (3, 6 lowered)
C  D  Eb F  G  Ab Bb   < Natural Minor  (3, 6, 7 lowered)

What does it look like on the staff?

The Minors on Staves

(Red represents newly lowered notes. Both pink and red represent deviations from the major)

 

Hear it: Download:The Minors MP3

Still not getting it?

Have you sung them yet?
Let’s look at the solfege:

Do Re Mi Fa Sol La Ti       < Major
Do Re Me Fa Sol La Ti      < Melodic Minor
Do Re Me Fa Sol Le Ti      < Harmonic Minor
Do Re Me Fa Sol Le Te     < Natural Minor

What actually changes between these different types?
The location of the half steps, of course!
Harmonic Minor is an interesting exception. It has three half-step locations, unlike any other commonly used scale/mode.

Where are the half-steps? Take a look:

Chart. Half Steps Marked with Red Arrow
Half Steps Marked with Red Arrow

Copyright info for these charts and audio:

Creative Commons Licence
7th Chord Chart by Jesse Zylstra is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.
Click “read more” for word-processor friendly version

Harmonic, Natural, and Melodic Minors

Natural Minor

↓ 3, 6, 7

Harmonic Minor

↓ 3, 6

Melodic Minor

Descending

↓ 3

Natural Minor descending

 

 

 

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About Jesse Zylstra

Hey! My name is Jesse Zylstra, and I am the administrator of this website. I used to write about free software and programs, online web applications, and new technology -- especially open-source. Now I just write udder nonsense. I also play pipe organ, which I'm told is a fun and interesting fact about me. In the past, I studied network administration. Now I've been trying to pursue a real fake bachelors degree for the last, oh, 10 years or so.
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