Confession #39 - Back to the Minor Scale! (It's all Relative!)

Previously, we discussed the C major scale (Confession #8 - Learn the Major Scale!) and the C minor scale (Confession #27 - Learn the Minor Scale!).

You've probably heard that the A minor scale is the relative minor scale to the C major scale.  In this week's confession, we'll explore just what the heck that means.

THE RELATIVE MINOR SCALE

Most lessons I've seen on the minor scale start with a discussion on the A minor scale.  They probably do this because the A minor scale doesn't contain any sharps or flats and thus is a little easier to understand.

I purposely avoided this in Confession #27 - Learn the Minor Scale! and stuck to the key of C because I believe the difference between the major scale and the minor scale are better illustrated when both are presented starting on the same root note, like this:

C - D - E  - F - G - A  - B  - C
C - D - Eb - F - G - Ab - Bb - C

That said, it is important to take a look at the A minor scale because it is the relative minor scale to the C major scale.

To understand what that means, lets' take a look at the A minor scale.  The notes are:

A - B - C - D - E - F - G - A


The first thing that you probably noticed is that there are no sharps or flats and that the notes are all the same notes as the C major scale.  So how is the A minor scale different from the C major scale?  Well, the notes are all the same, but the difference is which note you start the scale on.

This difference is best illustrated by seeing how the pattern of whole steps and half steps changes when we start playing on A instead of C.


Here are two octaves of the C major scale:

C - D - E - F - G - A - B - C - D - E - F - G - A - B - C

  W   W   H   W   W   W   H   W   W   H   W   W   W   H

When we play from C to C, the pattern of whole steps and half steps is: W-W-H-W-W-W-H


Here is the A minor scale that is hidden in the two octaves of the C major scale:

C - D - E - F - G - A - B - C - D - E - F - G - A - B - C

  W   W   H   W   W   W   H   W   W   H   W   W   W   H

When we play from A to A, the pattern of whole steps and half steps is: W-H-W-W-H-WW


Again, observe that there are no sharps or flats in the A minor scale because it consists of all the same notes as the C major scale.  Also note that it is the same pattern of whole steps and half steps, we just start in a different place in that pattern.  For the technically curious readers out there, the minor scale is known as the aeolian mode.

You may be wondering, can our ears really hear a difference based on which note we start on?  The answer is yes, they can!

Go back to Confession #16 - Finger 3-4 Independence! (Exercise #1)  and listen to the video.  The notes played are all natural notes (i.e. there are no sharps or flats), so they are all the same notes as you'll find in the C major scale.  But the lick doesn't have that happy major scale feel to it.  This is because the lick starts on an open E and repeats that note frequently during the lick.  This causes us to hear this lick as being in E phrygian.  Don't worry about what that means for now.  The point is that we can use the notes of the C major scale to play something that doesn't sound like C major.

Listen to 5 Days in May by Blue Rodeo.  The chords for the intro verse are Em, D, Am, C  and then G, F, C and D.  At first it looks like the song is in the key of G major because the principal chords in G major are:

G - Am - Bm - C - D - Em - F#o

But the song doesn't have a happy major chord feel to it.  That's because it's in the key of E minor, which is the relative minor scale to G major.  The song starts on the Em chord and that affects they way our ears hear everything else that follows it.


It is  because the A minor scale uses all the same notes as the C major scale that is called the relative minor scale.


FINDING THE RELATIVE MINOR SCALE

If you want to know what the relative minor scale is for any particular major scale, there's a simple trick for figuring that out.  The root note of the relative minor is 3 frets lower than the root note for the major scale.

For example, the 8th fret of your sixth string is a C.  Move down 3 frets to the 5th fret and you'll find an A.  A is the relative minor to C major.

Next Week's Confession - Pentatonic Scales (Part 1) 

Confession #27 - Learn the Minor Scale!

In Confession #8 - Learn the Major Scale! we learned the major scale, how it consists of a sequence of whole steps and half steps, and how it is the sound of do-re-mi-fa-so-la-ti-do.  In this confession, we'll learn the minor scale.

The Minor Scale

Like the major scale, the minor scale consists of a pattern of whole steps and half steps.  However, it uses a different pattern.  The minor scale pattern goes like this:

W-H-W-W-H-W-W

...where W means a whole step and H means a half-step.  

Let's build a minor scale in the key of C.  Starting on C and applying the minor scale pattern gives us the following notes:

C-D-Eb-F-G-Ab-Bb-C

If you jump ahead to the section below called On the Fretboard, there are two movable minor scale patterns you can practice, but I'm hoping you'll stick around for the rather lengthy music theory discussion that comes next.

Scale Formulas

In a minute we'll compare the major scale and the minor scale, but first let's learn about scale formulas. A scale formula is simply a series of numbers used to describe a scale.  The most basic scale formula is the major scale formula, which is written as follows:

1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5 - 6 - 7 - 8

The number 1 signifies the root note of the scale.

This formula implicitly means the pattern of whole steps and half steps that make up the major scale, like this:

1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5 - 6 - 7 - 8

W   W   H   W   W   W   H

If we are using any scale other than the major scale, we need to change this scale formula to describe the new scale by adding sharps (i.e. #) or flats (i.e. b) to the numbers in the scale formula.

This point is very important to understand, so its worth repeating:

The scale formula 1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8 refers only to the major scale!

Comparing the Major and Minor Scale 

To illustrate the previous point, let's compare the C major scale to the C minor scale.  

C Major

Here is the C major scale with the scale formula written below the notes of the scale:

C - D - E - F - G - A - B - C

1   2   3   4   5   6   7   8

W   W   H   W   W   W   H

C Minor

Here is the C minor scale with the scale formula written below the notes of the scale:

C - D - Eb - F - G - Ab - Bb - C

1   2   3b   4   5   6b   7b   8

W   H    W   W   H    W    W

The C minor scale contains many of the same notes as the C major scale, however 3 of the notes are different.  The notes E, A and B in the major scale all have to be lowered a half step, and thus become Eb, Ab and Bb.

Thus when writing out the scale formula for the minor scale, we have to add a flat symbol to the 3rd, 6th and 7th scale degrees.


Understanding Scale Formulas

To understand scale formulas, it is critical to understand that they are all defined with reference to the major scale formula.

Let's look at the minor scale formula in isolation.  It is:

1 - 2 - 3b - 4 - 5 - 6b - 7b - 8

Okay, so I am supposed to play a flat 3rd, 6th and 7th, which I do by lowering each of the 3rd, 6th and 7th one half step (one fret on the guitar).  But to do this, first I have to know what the 3rd, 6th and 7th are!!!

To find them, you have to refer to the major scale of whatever key you happen to be playing in.  As shown above, in the key of C the 3rd, 6th and 7th are the notes E, A and B.  Therefore the flat 3rd, 6th and 7th are Eb, Ab and Bb.

To further illustrate this point, let's build a minor scale in the key of G.

First, we need to know what the G major scale is.

G - A - B - C - D - E - F# - G

1   2   3   4   5   6   7    8

W   W   H   W   W   W    H

Now take the minor scale formula and adjust the notes in the G major scale to get the G minor scale:

1 - 2 - 3b - 4 - 5 - 6b - 7b - 8

G   A   Bb   C   D   Eb   F    G

W   H    W   W   H    W    W

On the Fretboard

Here are two movable minor scale patterns, one starting on the 4th string and the other starting on the 6th string.  Both are shown in the key of C minor,  but you can change the key by moving the patterns up and down the fretboard.

Starting on the 4th String

Minor Scale Pattern
Root on 4th String

Fingering for this pattern is 1-3-4, 1-3-4, 2-4 where finger 1 is your index finger and finger 4 is your pinky.

Starting on the 6th String

Minor Scale Pattern
Root on 6th String

Fingering for this pattern is 1-3-4, 1-3-4, 1-3 where finger 1 is your index finger and finger 4 is your pinky.

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Next Week's Confession - Palm Muting! (Part 2)