Decoding the Harmonic Minor Scale

Harmonic Minor Scale – Though the Major scale and the natural Minor scale are the most popular scales and you can find lots of songs based on these scales, there are not the only scales in existence. A scale is basically a set of notes arranged in some specific order or sequence. If you change this sequence, you will get a different scale.

Now, over the years musicians have experimented with various combinations of notes and some of the resulting scales have found acceptance among musicians. The result being, you will find songs that are based on such scales. Though, the major and minor scale still remain the most popular ones.

If you’re a beginner, you will be expected to spend considerable amount of time practicing the scales. When it comes to minor scales, you will have to learn to play the natural minor as well as the harmonic minor scales.

Notes on a Harmonic Minor scale

There is only one difference between a Harmonic Minor scale and a Natural minor scale; the 7th note is raised by one half step. Basically, you will have to sharpen the seventh note. To understand it more clearly, let us take an example.

Example
We will take the example of the A minor scale.

A Natural Minor scale – Only white notes! No sharps or flats.

Notes – A B C D E F G A

A Harmonic Minor scale – The seventh note G changes to G sharp.

Notes – A B C D E F G# A

The example clearly shows the difference between the two scales. Though the difference is not much, the resulting scale does sound different if you listen to it carefully. With this, we come to the end of another lesson. I hope you have found it informative.

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