This post is going to be short because the concept is so simple… if you know your major scales!

Basically, every major scale comes with a paired minor scale.

We call that the “relative minor” of whatever major key you’re in.

How do you know where to find it? It’s simple.

Go to the 6th tone!

Let’s take C major, for example:

C major
C D E F G A B C
1 2 3 4 5 6 7

The 6th tone is “A.”

That means, “A” is the relative minor of C. Very simple!

Now here’s the part that’s going to make you jump up and down…

To play, let’s say, the “A minor” scale, all you have to do is play all the notes of the “C major scale” (its relative major) — beginning and ending on “A.”

In other words, “A minor” and “C major” share the same EXACT notes. The only, and I mean the ONLY difference is the starting and ending notes of their scales.

So if this is the “C major” scale (I’m going to use two octaves for this example):

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

Then, this is the “A minor” scale:

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

In other words:

A B C D E F G A

Was that simple or what? So if you know your major scales, you should also know your minor scales now!

Until next time —

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As we’ve learned in other posts…

Scales are important!

If you know your scales, playing chords will be very very easy to do!

The Minor Scale

If you remember, the major scale pattern is:

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

Now, to add another “scale” to your musical toolbox, the minor scale pattern is simply:

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

The (C Minor Scale) is:

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

Let’s explore this closer:

From C to D is a whole step (w).

From D to E flat is a half step (h).

From E flat to F is a whole step (w).

From F to G is a whole step (w).

From G to A flat is a half step (h).

From A flat to B flat is a whole step (w).

From B flat to C is a whole step (w).

Try playing all 12 minor scales with the pattern above (C min, D flat min, D min, E flat min, and so on…)

Minor Scales In Gospel Music

Gospel music is closely associated with the minor scale. Another scale that gospel music (and many other styles of music) utilizes is the:

Blues Scale

You’ve heard it in B.B. King’s music! You’ve heard it in gospel, jazz, and rock. Just about any type of music you can think of utilizes the Blues Scale.

The Blues Scale is simply a minor scale without a few notes, and… with one “other” note added. An example is given below:

Remember that the (C minor) scale is:

C (1), D(2), E flat (3), F(4), G(5), A flat (6), B flat (7), and C (8)
*numbers represent scale degree

To create a blues scale, simply get rid of the (2) and (6) degree. In (C minor), that would be D and A flat. Then add the note in between the (4) and (5) degree.

Try playing it!

Note: A blues scale only has 6 unique tones.

You’ll find blues scales all throughout blues, gospel, and other genres. Listen to some of your recordings and you’re guaranteed to hear them!

Well… thank you for your time once again!

Until next time —

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The "Secrets to Playing Piano By Ear" course covers everything from the basics and fundamentals to Cmin13 (b9b5) chords. The following lesson focuses on chapter seven from the course. If you are already familiar with how to play natural minor scales, you may skip this lesson.

Learning to play natural minor scales (04)

Note: Please pay close attention to this lesson as you will need to know minor scales when forming minor chords.

Get the rest of this lesson by clicking here

Note: Disregard the "SLXYZ" numbers (if any) as they refer to sound examples. Our 300-pg course comes with a CD with over 330 sound examples which can be heard with the click of a button. (Example: SL003)

This concludes lesson #4. If you haven’t read our article on "Learning to Play Absolutely Any Song by Ear in Virtually Minutes," click here

If you are enjoying these lessons, please recommend them to your friends!

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