From the course: Music Theory for Songwriters: Harmony

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The natural minor scale

The natural minor scale

From the course: Music Theory for Songwriters: Harmony

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The natural minor scale

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- In Music Theory for Songwriters 1, we looked at harmony solely through the prism of the major scale. In this course, we will explore some of the other possibilities that western harmony has to offer. And the best place to start is with the minor scale. The minor scale is the most commonly used scale in western music, outside the major scale. There are three variations of the minor scale: natural, harmonic, and melodic. And I will be covering all three, starting with the natural minor scale. Like the major scale, the minor scales are made up of patterns of whole steps and half steps. In fact, the natural minor scale has the same pattern of interval relationships as the major scale, but it starts on the sixth degree. Let me show you what I mean. Here is the C Major scale and it's interval pattern. (piano playing) And here is it's interval pattern. We start on a tonic of C, (piano playing) to a whole step up to D, a whole step up to E, a half step to F, whole step to G, whole step to…

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