Music theory – Page 3

Pythagoras and Me

As someone who is interested in both music and science, I find myself fascinated with the concept of scales. Why are they the way they are? If music is so mathematical, why does it seem so arbitrary. There are 12 notes in an octave, but what’s so special about this number 12? Then the major scale is formed from seven of those notes, which is strange. If the major scale is so nice and melodious and all that, why aren’t the notes evenly spaced? Well, I set out to find some answers. I spent hours scouring the internet, visiting the library, reading books, scratching figures in a notebook. You don’t have to do that, because here’s what I found out, all nicely summarized.

Melodic Minor Scales

Ok, stick with me for one more minor scale type, then it gets easier. I promise! This lesson builds on previous ones, so if you haven’t read my other scale lessons, now’s a good time:

And now the melodic minor scale. I think you’ll begin to understand why the natural minor is called the natural minor. It’s the one that’s based on the major scale, and is considered more pure. The other two, the harmonic and melodic minors, were reached by tweaking around with the natural minor. The harmonic minor raised the seventh note in the scale so we could have that strong major V chord (that is, the chord based on the fifth note of the scale). The melodic minor makes one more alteration.

Harmonic Minor Scales

The natural minor scale, which I covered in the last lesson, is a nice alternative to the major scale when you want a sadder, mellower kind of sound. It has a weaker resolution to the tonic, which can be just what you’re going for. Some people though, back in the day, decided they liked the sound of the minor scale, but wanted a little bit more of a strong resolution. They played around a bit, and what they came up with was the harmonic minor scale. That’s what I’m going to cover today.

Natural minor scales

Minor scales

I covered major scales in the last lesson. Today I go minor. It’s really not that much of a leap from major to minor, so this should be an easy lesson, or at least easier. I’ll cover three types of minor scales in total: natural minor, melodic minor, and harmonic minor. Today, I’ll start with the easiest one, the natural minor.

Major scales and keys

I don’t know about you, but the word “scale” scares the crap out of me. I picture some white-wig-wearing little boy tinkling the same “do re mi” blah blah blah over and over on a piano as a stern-faced matron tells him to watch his posture.

Well, it’s not quite so bad as all that. Scales turn out to be enormously useful for coming up with melodies, soloing, and for practicing technique.