Piano Lesson 2 - Minor Scales

We covered scale degrees in the first lesson, now we will be moving onto Minor Scales. What is a minor scale? Well...

"A minor scale in music theory is a diatonic scale with a third scale degree at an interval of a minor third above the tonic" by definition, but to you people who have no idea what this means, I'll clear it up. Broken down, that sentence means,

"A minor scale in music theory is a seven note scale where the third note of the scale (relative to the tonic) is shifted down one semitone."

I'll give you an example. Play a C Major 1-chord triad (you get a triad when you play the 1st, 3rd, and 5th note of a scale together, in this case C-E-G). That is MAJOR. To make it minor, we have to shift the 3rd note (E) down 1 semitone making it Eb (E flat). Now you have C-Eb-G, and this is the minor triad for C. Get it? Let's try one more example, let's go to a more challenging scale... G#/Ab Major (If you don't know where G#/Ab is, find G, which is the dominant (or 5th note) of the C Major scale, and shift up. Now play the G#/Ab Major triad.

***TIP*** To find out what notes to use for a major triad, start on the tonic, move up 2 whole notes (4 semitones) which will give you the second note of the triad, and from there move up 1 semitone and 1 whole note (3 semitones). Which will be the 3rd note in the triad. That will give you the major chord for every note.

Now, play the G#/Ab Major 1-chord (G#-C-D#). To make it minor remember what you have to do, shift the 3rd note of the scale (or the 2nd note of the triad) down 1 semitone. Now you have G#-B-D# which is the minor chord.

Now you know how to play the minor chords but how do you play the minor scale? Well that's a weird question because there isn't just one minor scale. There are actually 3. The natural minor scale also known as the relative minor scale is the one most musicians use. To find this scale is fairly simple. If you play a C Major scale (C - D - E - F - G - A - B) you can find its relative minor in 2 ways. One way is to use the circle of 5ths but that will be taught in another lesson. The other way, is by easily shifting 3 semitones down from the tonic. So start on the tonic, (C) and shift down 3 semitones to A. There you go. A minor is the relative minor to C Major. What this means is when playing A minor, treat it as if it were C Major, but instead of starting and ending the scale with C, you start and end it with A.

Major Scale (C)
C - Tonic
D - Supertonic
E - Mediant
F - Subdominant
G - Dominant
A - Submediant
B - Leading Tone

Relative Minor Scale (A)
A - Tonic
B - Supertonic
C - Mediant
D - Subdominant
E - Dominant
F - Submediant
G - Subtonic***

***What?! Why is the last note of the minor scale called a subtonic?? Well that's because the subtonic is the lowered seventh degree of the scale, as opposed to the leading tone. If the scale was A Major, the leading tone would be G#, but it is lowered to G, making it a subtonic. Also you can call G-B-D the subtonic chord of A minor as well.

If you want to find out the minor scale of any key, all you have to do is count semitones. I told you that A minor is the relative or natural minor of C Major, but what if you wanted to find C minor? Easy. Count 3 semitones up and Eb would be the relative major meaning you treat C minor as if it were Eb Major. So C minor would be C - D - Eb - F - G - Ab - Bb.

I hope you understand the relative minor now, because that is extremely important in music theory.

There are 2 more minor scales that are also available, but not as important, so I will not go over them as much as the relative minor. These scales are called the harmonic and melodic minor scales.

Harmonic: To get the harmonic minor scale, you must first find the relative minor (see how important it is to know the relative minor). After finding the relative minor scale you must raise the 7th note 1 semitone causing it to be a leading tone again. So for C minor, instead of C - D - Eb - F - G - Ab - Bb - C (which is the relative minor) it would now become C - D - Eb - F - G - Ab - B - C.

Melodic: To get the melodic minor scale, you must, again, find the relative minor. Once found, you must raise the 6th and 7th note up 1 semitone. When coming back down the scale, you lower them back to their original states. Kind of confusing? Well I'll show you and example. Going up the C minor scale you would play C - D - Eb - F - G - A - B - C. Going back down the scale, everything should be lowered back to its original positions: C - D - Eb - F - G - Ab - Bb - C.

Try it. To become a better piano player, you can't just read up on theory... you need to apply it, practice makes perfect. Well... no ones perfect, but practice does make you A LOT better. Have fun.

R.A