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I understand that there are 3 types of minor scales
But I always mix these up, and I don't know the patterns of them.
I would like to know
The natural minor is also often called the Aolean mode, dating back to when modal music was the main way of writing.
There's a whole history to it but there used to be 6 main modes that were used, and the 2 that survived most into modern times were the Ionian mode and the Aolean mode.
Natural Minor Taking a major scale, the relative natural minor scale is what happens when you start on the 6th degree of the scale and continue it up an octave, for example in C major(cdefgAbc) the relative minor would be A minor(Abcdefga)
If you want to remember the natural minor scale, it's what happens when you take the NATURAL progression of tones from the relative major scale.
Harmonic Minor There are many differences between the sound created by a major and minor scale, these are attained by the difference in intervals between each note going from the root up to the octave. one thing about the natural minor scale is that it often has a smoother sound than the major scale, especially when going from the 7th to the octave(B-C in CMaj, G-A in AMin) the B to C in C major resolves to the root better because it is shifting a semitone and the ear picks that up as a better resolution. In the a natural minor scale however the Tone between G and A is a much smoother resolution.
The 7th note in C major is said to be a leading tone because it leads onto the next C. However in A minor there is no leading tone because the 7th is a semitone flatter. So to create a leading tone composers simply sharpened the 7th going up a natural minor scale. This was a HARMONIC choice on the part of the composers. This is also why classical theory says you should sharpen the 7th of a minor scale on the way up, and keep it natural on the way down.
Melodic Minor There's an inherent problem with only sharpening the 7th of a natural minor sometimes, and that is that the listeners ear will easily pick out that you're changing the 7th note sometimes, and I imagine that it was just easier sometimes to sharpen the 7th every time. the problem there though is that you now have an interval of a minor 3rd in your scale that gives it a very unique sound, and can possibly make the sound unstable. Remember that at this time composers weren't used to all the intervals and sounds that we are. In natural minor you only have 2 types of interval - tone and semitone, but in harmonic minor you have 3 types = semitone, tone and tone+semitone
natural min - TsTTsTT harmonic minor - TsTTs(T+s)s
In order to try and add more balance to the scale while still keeping the leading note composers started also sharpening the 6th as well as the 7th. this meant that the scale still had a minor quality, and didn't have the imbalance of 3 different types of interval in the scale. This was believed to create a more MELODIC shape.
Learning the names
Hopefully that will help explain the history and how to construct minor scales.
As for learning the note patterns I think a good way is to know the Tone/semitone patterns and work out from your root note that way.
All minor scales have a half step between the 2nd and the 3rd of that scale/key - that is the pattern and what you feel/hear as "minor" when you play a 3 note simple chord with the root/third/fifth. So the third is always lowered in comparison to the major scale.
The "model" or "first example" for the minor natural scale is A minor, and it's easy to remember if you know the piano keyboard - no black keys. And from there, you get the first answer as to where the other half step is in the natural minor scale.
Half steps in minor scales are:
Note: This way of identifying minor scales is most common in classical music. Other music genres don't use this system as much (or not at all!) - they use the mode system or something else entirely.
Two examples:
C minor:
natural: C D E♭ F G A♭ B♭ C (same but backwards on the way down)
melodic: C D E♭ F G A B C > C B♭ A♭ G F E♭ D C
harmonic: C D E♭ F G A♭ B C (same but backwards on the way down)
A minor:
natural: A B C D E F G A (same but backwards on the way down)
melodic: A B C D E F♯ G♯ A > A G F E D C B A
harmonic: A B C D E F G♯ A (same but backwards on the way down)
ASSEMBLING THE MINOR SCALES
All scales in the diatonic/chromatic are constructed from a pattern of intervals. If you're not aware, our Western system of harmony consists of a chromatic scale with 12 tones:
C - Db(C#) - D - Eb(D#) - E - F - F#(Gb) - G - Ab(G#) - A - Bb(A#) - B
The distance between these consecutive tones is known as a half step (for example, the distance from C to Db). When we use interval patterns to construct scales, the easiest unit to measure the distance between notes is by counting the number of half-steps.
With that in mind, the three minor scales - Natural Minor (Aeolian), Melodic Minor & Harmonic Minor - can be viewed as an interval pattern like so:
In this example I used A Minor as our reference because in its natural form it has no sharps or flats. For those who can't read music, the tone names are written above the staff. If you look below the staff, you'll see a number between each note. That is the interval pattern needed to construct that scale:
NATURAL MINOR: 2, 1, 2, 2, 1, 2, 2
HARMONIC MINOR: 2, 1, 2, 2, 1, 3, 1
MELODIC MINOR: 2, 1, 2, 2, 2, 2, 1
These patterns remain consistent regardless of key. You can start on any note, and so long as you apply this interval pattern, you will have assembled this scale.
RULES OF THUMB FOR IDENTIFYING THE SCALES
You may find that using the interval patterns is not the simplest way for you to remember the scales themselves. Here are a few tricks you can use on each scale to help you remember which is which:
Natural Minor - Natural Minor is what we call a mode of the Major Scale - specifically the 6th mode, or Aeolian. If you take any major scale, start on its 6th degree and play it up to the next 6th degree, you will have played a natural minor scale. Example:
You will notice that the note it starts on is 3 half-steps down from the scale's starting point (distance between A and C). Therefore, one simple way to figure out a natural minor scale from a major scale is to count 3 half-steps down from its starting note, or simply find the 6th note and play the major scale from there as shown in the picture.
Harmonic Minor - Harmonic Minor is the only minor scale with an interval larger than 1 whole step (two half-steps). One sure way to identify this scale is to listen for the leap between the 6th and 7th tones. The nature of that leap provides the scale with a sound that is often described as arabesque, middle-eastern, etc... This is worth noting, as harmonic minor and its modes have several names & purposes in other cultures -- especially Klezmer, the music of Eastern Europe, & India to name a few. Give the scale a listen and notice that discrepancy that sets it apart from the others.
Melodic Minor - This one is arguably the simplest. Melodic Minor is simply a Major Scale with a lowered 3rd. If you're in the key of C Major, for example, and you lower the 3rd degree of the scale (the E => Eb), you will be in C Melodic Minor - the parallel melodic minor scale of C Major.
I hope this explanation helps you out!
A NOTE ABOUT THE EXISTING DISCREPANCY ON THE DESCENT OF MELODIC & HARMONIC MINOR SCALES
In reference to melodic & harmonic minor scales, there are two commonly accepted "spellings" for the scales. The more traditional, which stems from the classical tradition, is to 'resolve' these two scales by playing the natural minor on the descent. The modern tradition, as is popular among jazz artists and some contemporary composers, is to play the same tones ascending and descending. The diagram below highlights these two concepts visually:
In this day and age, it is important to be aware that this discrepancy exists and be comfortable with performing them either way. In essence, there are two separate and unique ways to perform each of these scales. In an audition situation, if asked to play these scales, make sure you clarify the preferred method of performance - Traditional (resolve on descent) or Modern/Jazz (same tones on descent).
I know it's too late and a lot of people have already answered in detail. But I believe everything can be expressed in a much simpler and concise way.I will show you two ways of deriving minor scales:
1) For natural minor you use this pattern- TSTTSTT (Where T is the distance of one Tone and S the distance of a Semitone). For example, for A natural minor, we get: A-B-C-D-E-F-G-A . Now, if you want the harmonic minor just sharpen the 7th degree and you have it! (A-B-C-D-E-F-G#-A) you follow this pattern when both ascending and descending. But if you want to play melodic minor then the pattern would differ when ascending (going up the ladder A-B-C...) and descending (going down the ladder A-G-F...) For melodic minor ascending, you sharpen the 6th and 7th degrees and when descending you keep to the original pattern of the natural minor.
2)This method is more of a shortcut method. Basically you use this method to find out the minor counterpart of a major scale. (C major to C minor, A major to A minor, etc.) say, you want to find out A minor melodic. So what you do is, take A major scale and then simply flatten the 3rd degree (C# becomes C)for ascending melodic scale and flatten the 6th and 7th degrees as well (F# becomes F and G# becomes G) for the descending melodic scale. as for the harmonic minor you flatten the 3rd and 6th degrees of the major scale you want to convert to minor scale.
if you notice closely, the first and second methods give you the same results but the approaches are totally opposite! One is inductive while the other is deductive. Which is why the first method advocates sharpening while the second method advocates flattening.
