10 - Minor Scales

Minor Scales – Beginners Guitar Lessons Part 10

Minor Scales

We’ve discussed major scales in some detail, so let’s switch gears to minor scales. Minor scales are simply major scales starting with the sixth note in the scale. We’ll use C major as our example:

 

The sixth note, “A” in our C major example, is the relative minor. So to play the scale, we simply play all the notes in order starting with “A”. ABCDEFG – simple enough.

But of course, with most things in music, there are frequent twists to rules, and Minor Scales are no exception.

This particular minor scale: ABCDEFG, is called a Natural Minor scale, as it uses the notes within the major scale without modification. The other types of minor scales are as follows:

Harmonic Minor: Sharp the 7 note in any minor scale: ABCDEFG#A
Melodic Minor: Sharp the 6 and 7 notes in any minor scale: ABCDEF#G#A

(Incidentally, you can also see where the alphabetical logic of # and b notes is useful. “G#” leading “A” rather than “Ab” leading to “A”).

Where do minor scales fit in if all they consist of are major scale notes? That’s a great question. Minor scales create a “mood” that can be described as “less happy” sounding when compared with major scales.

Lets do a refresher on chords that work within C major:

C, Dm, Em, F, G, Am, Bdim, C

We’ll try a chord progression beginning with C: C, G, C, F (repeat)

Now let’s do something beginning with Am: Am, Em, F, G (repeat)

Even though we’re using chords that belong to C major, we’re concentrating on using more “minor-sounding” chords to create a mood. We can use any chord within the key, but by favoring certain guitar chords, we can totally change the mood of the song.