Guide to the Minor Scale

The Relative and Parallel Minor Scales

Within every Major scale, there is a RELATIVE MINOR SCALE. Both the MAJOR and it's RELATIVE MINOR scales use the exact same notes, they just start with a different key. The RELATIVE MINOR scale can always be found on the 6th note of the Major scale. The RELATIVE MAJOR scale can always be found on the 3rd note of the Minor scale. This probably sounds confusing, so lets look at the below diagram which shows the C MAJOR scale and it's relative minor scale, A MINOR

Intervals:	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8
C Major	C	D	E	F	G	A	B	C
A Minor	A	B	C	D	E	F	G	A

As you can see, finding the RELATIVE MINOR scale for any MAJOR scale is extremely easy. Simply take the 6th note of the MAJOR scale, and follow the same 'W/H' pattern from the MAJOR scale until you reach the Octave. So, why are these scales called relative? Because they share the exact same notes.

Now, more often than not, the RELATIVE MINOR scale is normally treated as an individual scale so it is important to know and understand how to construct the MINOR scale. To do this, we need to look at the previously derived MINOR scale and compare it to it's PARALLEL MAJOR scale, i.e. the MAJOR scale that starts with the same root note as the RELATIVE MINOR scale.

Intervals	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8
A Major	A	B	C#	D	E	F#	G#	A
Intervals	1	2	b3	4	5	b6	b7	8
A Minor	A	B	C	D	E	F	G	A

If we study the two above scales, we can see that the PARALLEL MINOR scale has a flattened 3, 6 and 7. This means that we can see that the formula for the MINOR scale is:1 2 b3 4 5 b6 b7 8. See, easy isn't it. You should now know the two methods of constructing a MINOR scale like the back of your hand.

If you do not understand how to read the formula, review the tutorial on INTERVALS.

Below are some fret board examples of applying the MINOR SCALE:

Major Scale - Key of C

Relative Minor Scale - (A Min)

Parallel Minor Scale - (C Min)