Minor Keys and Scales

Lesson 2/95 | Study Time: 5 Min

Course: Acoustic Guitar

Minor Keys and Scales

Apart from major keys, the other basic tonality used in western music is a minor key. Songs in a minor key use notes taken from a minor scale. There are three types of minor scale – the natural minor scale, the harmonic minor scale and the melodic minor scale. The following exercise demonstrates the A natural minor scale. The degrees of the scale as they would relate to the major scale are written under the note names.

The A natural minor contains exactly the same notes as the C major scale. The difference is that it starts and finishes on an A note instead of a C note. The A note then becomes the key note.

Here is the full fingering for the A natural minor scale in the open position, moving up to the high A at the 5th fret on the first string. Learn it from memory and then play it with your eyes closed, naming the notes out loud, and then naming the scale degrees out loud.

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Class Sessions

1- Learning All the Notes 2- Minor Chords 3- Rests 4- Seventh Chords 5- Fingerpicking 6- The Major Scale 7- INTRODUCTION 8- Bass Note Rhythm Patterns 9- Sharp Signs 10- Silent Strums and Continuous Rhythms 11- Flat Signs 12- The Three Four Time Signature 13- Bass Runs 14- Scale Tone Chords 15- Minor Keys and Scales 16- Relative Keys 17- Suspended Chords 18- Right Thumb And Fingers Together 19- The Hammer-On 20- The Triplet 21- Sixteenth Notes 22- How to Tune Your Guitar 23- The Eighth Note 24- Chords 25- How to Read Music 26- Notes on the First String 27- Notes on the Fourth String 28- Transposing 29- ^ Time Rhythm Patterns 30- Playing Notes Together Fingerstyle 31- The F Sharp Note (F#) 32- Notes on the Second String 33- Strumming 34- The Note B Flat (Bb) 35- Sharps 36- The Half Bar 37- Syncopation 38- Tablature 39- The Harmonic Minor Scale 40- Add Nine Chords 41- Clawhammer Style 42- The Pull-Off 43- The Minor Pentatonic Scale 44- Sixteenth Note Triplets 45- Using an Electronic Tuner 46- 12 Bar Blues 47- C Major Scale In Open Position 48- Alternate Picking 49- Notes on the Fifth String 50- Picking With Your Thumb 51- Visualizing 52- The Lead-In 53- Notes on the Sixth String 54- The Chromatic Scale 55- Sequences 56- Chord Shapes 57- Rests With Chord Playing 58- The Melodic Minor Scale 59- Music Notation 60- Slash Chords 61- Dropped D Tuning 62- Swing and Shuffle Rhythms 63- Acoustic Guitars 64- The Slide 65- Major Chord Formations 66- Fingerpicking Patterns In ^ Time 67- The F Major Scale 68- Fingerpicking Pattern 1 69- Playing Air 70- Bass Note Rhythm Patterns In * Time 71- The G Major Scale 72- Notes on the Third String 73- Adding Scale Tones to Chords 74- The Key of C Major 75- Pivot and Guide Fingers 76- The Octave 77- Two Note Chords 78- How to Hold the Guitar 79- Key Signatures 80- Flats 81- Learning the Notes on the Staff 82- Staccato 83- Alternating Bass Notes 84- Using a Pick 85- Arpeggios 86- Accompanying a Melody 87- Fingering Numbers in Traditional Notation 88- Chord Symbols 89- Enharmonic Notes 90- Rhythm Patterns 91- Fingerpicking Pattern 2 92- Right Hand Position 93- Eighth Note Strumming Rhythms 94- Fingerpicking Accompaniment 95- Left Hand Technique

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Minor Keys and Scales