I actually want to start where I left off on friday. If you didn’t get a chance to read my post on the triads of the harmonic minor scale, click here.

I promised you that I’d cover the seventh chords of the harmonic minor scale next so here we go!

First, let’s review how we came up with the triads.

We started with our C harmonic minor scale (which is essentially the same as the natural minor scale except the 7th tone is raised a half step).

C harmonic minor
C D Eb F G Ab B C

Then we took every other note of this scale and created block chords:

1st tone: C Eb G
2nd tone: D F Ab
3rd tone: Eb G B
4th tone: F Ab C
5th tone: G B D
6th tone: Ab C Eb
7th tone: B D F

Once we did that, we determined the names of these chords:

1st tone - C minor
2nd tone - D diminished
3rd tone - Eb augmented
4th tone - F minor
5th tone - G major
6th tone - Ab major
7th tone - B diminished

But I reminded you that these were just triads and that we’d played 4-toned chords in the next lesson so let’s take this concept one step further.

Let’s do the same exact thing we did on friday. Let’s take every other note of the scale but instead of stopping at 3 notes, let’s create 4-toned chords.

C D Eb F G Ab B C D Eb F G Ab B C

C D Eb F G Ab B C D Eb F G Ab B C

C D Eb F G Ab B C D Eb F G Ab B C

C D Eb F G Ab B C D Eb F G Ab B C

C D Eb F G Ab B C D Eb F G Ab B C

C D Eb F G Ab B C D Eb F G Ab B C

C D Eb F G Ab B C D Eb F G Ab B C

Now let’s determine the names of these chords:

C minor-major 7
D half-diminished 7
Eb augmented major 7
F minor 7
G dominant 7
Ab major 7
B diminished 7

Now let’s compare the triads of the harmonic minor scale to their seventh chord counterparts:

1st tone - minor (triad) >>> minor-major 7
2nd tone - diminished (triad) >>> half-diminished 7
3rd tone - augmented (triad) >>> augmented major 7
4th tone - minor (triad) >>> minor 7
5th tone - major (triad) >>> dominant 7
6th tone - major (triad) >>> major 7
7th tone - diminished (triad) >>> diminished 7

One common misconception is that major triads automatically create major sevenths when you add that extra tone to the chord. That is not always true.

Notice both the 5th and 6th triads were major, yet when you changed the chords to sevenths, the 5th tone turned into a dominant seventh chord and the 6th tone expanded to a major seventh chord.

So because the major 7 and dominant 7 chords share the same basic triad, that seventh tone makes all the difference up top.

The same applies to the diminished triad chords. Notice the 2nd and 7th tones were diminished. However, when we expanded our chords, the 2nd chord turned into a half-diminished seventh chord while the 7th tone expanded to a diminished seventh chord.

Lastly, the 1st tone. It was a basic minor chord but when you added the 7th degree, it turned into a minor-major 7 chord.

Whoaa! A “minor-major” seventh chord? You’ve probably never heard that one before!

It’s when the first part of the chord is minor but the seventh is major.

In other words, you may have a C+Eb+G (C minor) on the bottom but a “B” natural up top.

That chord is introduced to us through the harmonic minor scale, among others.

So there you have it! The seventh chords of the harmonic minor scale!

Oh yes, I almost forgot. If you really like these minor chords and what we’ve been doing for the last week or so, then you’ll love what Jeff teaches in our new salsa course. Click here for details.

Until next time!

Popularity: 18% [?]

Welcome back! It looks like you're a regular! Thanks for your support and keep coming! (Getting updates yet?)

If you’re a regular reader, you know that we’ve been on minor scales and chords for about a week.

First you learned the ins and outs of the natural minor scale. Then I gave you a pop quiz on them in this post.

When you thought it was over, I introduced a minor chord progression found commonly in salsa music.

Then we took it a step further and studied harmonic minor scales.

And yesterday, we learned the melodic minor scale.

(Sorry for bombarding you with links. I just thought it’d be a good idea to catch you up just in case you missed one of my prior posts).

Today, I’m going to introduce you to the corresponding chords of the harmonic minor scale.

As you know, the harmonic minor scale is basically the same as the natural minor scale except that it has a raised 7th tone.

C natural minor
C D Eb F G Ab Bb C

C harmonic minor
C D Eb F G Ab B C

You’ve already learned the corresponding chords of the natural minor scale in prior posts.

Now, let’s build the chords for the harmonic scale.

All we do is start from the first tone of the scale and play every other note. This creates block chords from only scale tones. You’ll never find tones in these chords that are outside of the harmonic minor scale (the same rule applies to the diatonic chords of the major and natural minor scales).

Let’s work in the minor key of C and start with triads (three-toned chords).

If you take every other note of the C harmonic minor scale, you’ll get these chords:

(Note: I’m using two octaves because as you get further in the scale, you’ll run out of notes)

C D Eb F G Ab B C D Eb F G Ab B C

C D Eb F G Ab B C D Eb F G Ab B C

C D Eb F G Ab B C D Eb F G Ab B C

C D Eb F G Ab B C D Eb F G Ab B C

C D Eb F G Ab B C D Eb F G Ab B C

C D Eb F G Ab B C D Eb F G Ab B C

C D Eb F G Ab B C D Eb F G Ab B C

See how I did that?

Now let’s actually analyze what these chords are:

1st tone - C minor
2nd tone - D diminished
3rd tone - Eb augmented
4th tone - F minor
5th tone - G major
6th tone - Ab major
7th tone - B diminished

Think about it…

The only chords that are different from those of the natural minor scale are the ones that include the raised 7th. So any chord that has the 7th in it is affected. All other chords are left alone.

Like the 3rd chord. In the C natural minor scale, normally it would be Eb major (Eb + G + Bb) but because the “Bb” is now raised to “B,” that makes this chord an Eb augmented chord (Eb + G + B) instead of a major chord.

Same thing with the 5th chord. In the C natural minor scale, it would be G minor (G + Bb + D) but because “Bb” is now raised to “B,” that makes this chord a G major chord (G + B + D) instead of a minor one.

And finally for the 7th chord. In the C natural minor scale, it would be Bb major (Bb + D + F) but because “Bb” is now raised to “B,” it changes the whole entire chord to B diminished (B + D + F) instead of the major chord it was.

Now keep in mind… these are just 3-fingered triads.

In my next instructional post, I’ll talk about the seventh chords of the harmonic minor scale because they change quite a bit when you add that extra tone.

For now, become a pro at these and you’ll be good to go!

Until next time.

Popularity: 13% [?]

So by now, you’re probably familiar with how to create minor scales. If not, type “minor scale” in our search box and you’ll get tons of lessons.

When I say “minor scale,” I’m usually talking about the natural minor scale (the most common). Sometimes, the “natural” part makes all the difference when you’re differentiating between other types of minor scales like the “harmonic” and “melodic.” When you leave off the “natural” part, most people will know you’re talking about the regular minor scale though.

But back to the “other” minor scales because that’s exactly what I want to talk about today… the harmonic minor scale.

The good news is that it is drop dead simple to play harmonic minor scales if you already know your natural minor scales.

But before I go there, let me talk about this first…

If you’ve read this post, then you’ll be familiar with the chords that correspond to the natural minor scale:

1st tone - minor 7
2nd tone - half-diminished 7
3rd tone - major 7
4th tone - minor 7
5th tone - minor 7
6th tone - major 7
7th tone - dominant 7

What I want you to pay attention to is the 5th tone and its chord. Notice it’s minor.

This created a problem for western composers because the fifth tone was almost always major. It provided that strong pull needed to get back to the tonic, or first tone. But now that it was minor, it made music sound ancient and folkloric, at least to westerners.

For example, a common 1-4-5 progression would have all minor chords if you only played chords from the list above. You try playing C minor to F minor to G minor and tell me how it sounds to you… kinda ancient and gloomy.

Let’s go to the key of C minor to make this even clearer.

The natural minor scale is:

C D Eb F G Ab Bb C

Notice the 7th tone, which is Bb. This is the tone that forces the fifth degree to be minor.

Why?

Well, because the fifth tone is G and if you create a chord off G by taking every other note, you’d get G+Bb+D, which is a G minor chord.

Contrast it with the regular C major scale (C D E F G A B C) and the 5th chord is G+B+D, which is a G major chord… the chord we’re used to hearing.

So that’s one reason the harmonic minor scale was created.

And for the good news…

All it does is take the natural minor scale and raise the 7th tone a half step. In the key of C minor, it basically gets that “B” natural back so that the fifth chord can be major instead of minor.

C natural minor scale:

C D Eb F G Ab Bb C
1 2 3 4 5 6 7

Now, to transform this into a C harmonic minor scale, just take the 7th tone (Bb) and raise it a half step to B.

C harmonic minor scale:

C D Eb F G Ab B C
1 2 3 4 5 6 7

Note: The skip from “Ab” to “B” in this scale creates an interesting sound. I’ll tell you how they fixed that later… (cough cough - “melodic” minor scale).

Recap:

So now you know how to transform any natural minor scale into a harmonic minor scale and the history behind why it was created.

Until next time!

Popularity: 27% [?]