The Minor Scale - Modal Music Part 2
Today we continue our series on fully understanding and using diatonic scales in music. We are going to look at the major scale’s evil cousin, the minor scale, master of all melodies dark and dreary. We’ll also talk about using the two together in writing songs, and take a closer look at the relationship between the modes by using relative major and relative minor scales.
Recommended Reading
If you want to understand the theoretical side of things, then I suggest you read our scale theory Introduction to scale theory, I also suggest checking out part one of modal music, which explains The major scale and modes in general
The Scale Formula and the Scale shape
Here’s the 3-note per string scale shape for the minor scale:
Using the Minor Scale
The minor scale is a staple of many genres of music, mostly rock, alternative, and metal. The minor scale and variations of it are also seen in blues, jazz, classical, and just about everywhere else. It is known for being a sadder scale, and is perfect for darker songs.
Just like we discussed last week, you can build chord progressions from the minor scale. Let’s compare how we did it withe A major scale, and how we do it with the A minor scale:
| Scale: | Notes | Chords |
| A major scale: | A B C# D E F# G# | A - Bm - C#m - D - E - F#m - G#dim |
| A minor scale: | A B C D E F G | Am - Bdim - C - Dm - Em - F - G |
Relative Major & Minor Scales
As we stated in the last article, the minor scale (also known as the aeolian mode) is based on the 6th scale degree of the major scale(a.k.a. the ionian mode). Let’s take another look at the example above, but this time instead of A major and A minor, we are going to look at C major and A minor:
| Scale: | Notes | Chords |
| C major scale: | C D E F G A B | C - Dm - Em - F - G - Am - Bdim |
| A minor scale: | A B C D E F G | Am - Bdim - C - Dm - Em - F - G |
Notice anything? C major and A minor have the exact same notes and chords that make them up! C major is the relative major of C and A minor is the relative minor of C major. When using these scale shapes, this means that whereever you would use one, you can use the other. This also means you can combine the scale shapes to cover more of the neck, like this legato lick below:
Next time, we’ll talk about some of the other modes, and take a closer look at how all the modes and chord progressions all relate to one another.
