Lesson 6 - Minor Scales
6.1 Minor Scales Overview
The scales we have been building all belong to the family of major scales. There is a second group of scales that is related to the major scales called minor scales. Like the major scales, the minor scales are also comprised of five whole and 2 half steps. What makes these two families different is the placement of the two half steps.
The major scales place the half steps between notes 3 and 4 and again between 7 and 8 of the scale. The half steps are between each of the pairs of blue animated keys.
| | The minor scales places the half steps between notes 2 and 3 and again between 5 and 6 of the scale. You can find the minor scale made up of all white keys on the piano if you begin on an A. You will see that the half steps are where there are no black keys, between B and C and again between E and F. All the other notes have a black key between them which makes them whole steps.
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The Relative Minor
| Notice that the major scale that has all white keys starts on C and has a key signature with no sharps or flats. | | | Also as we have just seen, the minor scale that has no sharps or flats (all white keys) begins on an A. | |
Therefore, the key of C major and A minor are "related" by key signature.
The key of A minor can be referred to as the relative minor of C Major and conversely, C major is the relative major of A minor. By simply changing which note we start on (from C to A) and keeping the key signature the same, we have caused the half steps to move from the major scale locations of between notes 3 and 4 and between notes 7 and 8 to the minor scale locations of between notes 2 and 3 and between notes 5 and 6.
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How to Find the Relative Mode
Both major and minor are considered "modalities." A piece of music that uses the major scale is often referred to as being in the major mode. Likewise, a piece of music that is in the minor is referred to as in the minor mode. As we will see later, before these more modern modes evolved, there were many other modes in use. The term therefore can refer to these earlier scales or modes or to the more modern Major/Minor scales.
| To find the minor scale that is related to a major key, one must start the minor scale on the sixth note of the major scale. Often, the quickest way to find the name of the relative minor for a given major key is to count backwards from the major tonic (e.g. 1,7,6) rather than count up to the sixth degree, although both methods work fine. Remember to use the same key signature to determine the name of the sixth note of the major scale. If it has an accidental, then the name of the minor key must include that accidental. Notice that the example to the right for the key of A major has the relative minor key name of F# minor because there is an F# in the key signature. |
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| To find the major scale that is related to a minor key, the process is reversed. From the name of the minor key, count up three letter names to find the name of the relative major. You may know the name of the minor but not its relative major key signature which can complicate the process some. For example, from G minor up three letter names is B--but is it Bb, B or B#? |
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| To solve this dilemma, use whichever B is exactly three half steps above the G (a minor 3rd which is the distance between the sixth and eighth degree of the major scale). You might want to visualize a keyboard to help you out. The only B that is three half steps above a G is Bb. |
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| In a nutshell, the process is to find the note that is both three letter names and three half steps above the name of the minor to find the name of the relative major key. Therefore, if you learn all the major key signatures, you have also learned all the key signatures for the minor keys. |
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Please continue with the next section of this lesson.
6.1 Minor Scales Overview » 6.2 Theory Thread, Pitch
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