the a minor scale

By now you should feel some familiarity with the construction of the Major Scale, as it has been covered extensively in Lesson Three and Lesson Eight. It is now time to take a look at the Natural Minor Scale. Any true understanding of this scale consists partially of the knowledge that it is actually a part of the Major Scale. REMEMBER THIS: The Natural Minor Scale is formed by playing any Major Scale from its sixth degree. In other words, if we look at the C Major Scale which we spell C-D-E-F-G-A-B-C, we would find it's RELATIVE MINOR by reciting the same series of notes, only using A as the root note. This gives us A-B-C-D-E-F-G-A. This is the A Natural Minor Scale, which is relative to the key of C Major.

Remember the formula for a Major Scale? It is as follows: Root-W-W-H-W-W-W-H. By beginning from a different location in the scale, we also get a new formula. Beginning from the sixth degree we get Root-W-H-W-W-H-W-W, the formula for the Natural Minor Scale. The new scale is characterized by it's dark tonality. The Major Scale is happy and optimistic, where it's minor counterpart is plagued by darker thoughts. Listen to the difference.

Here is the tablature for a two-octave A Natural Minor Scale. As always, I encourage you to e-mail me with any questions you may have. An excellent exercise for you to do at this point would be to find the Relative Minor to G Major Scale, as well as the other Major Scales I asked you to put together in Lesson Three.

"i've always felt that d minor was the saddest of all keys"-nigel tufnel