Lesson 26
Notes to Lesson 26
Lesson 26 introduces us to minor scales. If you're the sort that accepts without question, then perhaps you can skip what I've written and just go to Mickey's exercises to learn them by rote. There's a lot to learn about minor scales, and Mickey's course really skims the surface. Unlike the major scales we studied in Lesson 24, we actually can have three different varieties of minor scales. They are:
Natural Minor - This is the simplest form of minor scale. If we play a major scale, but start and stop on the 6th note of that scale (for example, a C major scale, but start and stop on the note A), this is referred to as an A natural minor scale or sometimes, A Aeolian Mode. In our example, A minor is referred to as the relative minor of C major and vice versa. The minor key shares the key signature of its relative major key.
Harmonic Minor - This minor scale comes from our musical need to have a leading tone as a 7th note in a minor scale. Playing a natural minor scale starting and stopping on the tonic note, the music has a modal quality without this sense of finality or ending. By raising the 7th (called subtonic in natural minors) a half step or one fret (now called the leading tone as in major keys), we have that "pull" to the tonic. Continuing the use of A minor, we would play a G# instead of a G. This makes our dominant a major chord. Our V - i has more of a sense of finality than the v - i of the natural minor. The harmonic minor uses the same key signature as the corresponding natural minor, but we write the raised 7th note as an accidental in our standard notation.
Melodic Minor - This minor scale evolved from the harmonic minor scale. The interval between the 6th and raised 7th in the harmonic minor is an augmented 2nd or 3-fret distance. This gives the music a distinctive middle eastern flavor. Right now would be a good time to play through Mickey's Exercise 8 of this lesson to hear that. To get away from that sound, on ascending passages, we can raise the 6th note by a half step or one fret. But on descending passages we use the natural minor scale. The melodic minor uses the same key signature as its corresponding natural minor, and the raised 6th and 7th notes are written as accidentals.
One term that comes up in conversations about scales is "modal". In theory, all scales are "modes", as we mentioned that A minor is the Aeolian Mode derived from the C Major Scale. It's beyond the scope of this course at this time to go into modal music. But I want you to be aware that sometimes you are going to hear music played that sounds like it's a Minor key with some strange chord changes. It's a good bet it's either modal, or from an avant garde composer!
Is your head swimming? Mine is and I wrote this! Those are the classical definitions, but in practical terms the distinction between the three minors is often blurred, especially between natural and melodic.
Somewhere between major and minor scales there are the ubiquitous Blues scales that are unique. Surprisingly, nowhere in this course does Mickey mention Blues scales as such. Later lessons will give us some riffs that are clearly taken from Blues scales, but just not defined as such. Most folks like to treat Blues scales as either major scales with minor notes added or vice versa. Since we can play Blues scales against either minor or major keys, I think it's just easier to think of them as being unique. Typically, a Blues will use the key signature for the corresponding major key and add the blue notes as accidental, but this isn't a hard and fast rule.
The simplest blues scale can be compared to a major scale with a lowered 3rd and a lowered 7th. Or if we're of a minor sort, it can be compared to a natural minor scale with a raised 6. In that basic scale the b3 takes the place of the 2 and 3, and the b7 takes the place of the 6 and 7. We can expand it by adding a lowered 5th as a passing tone, and returning the original 3rd and sometimes even the original 7th. I give three positions worth of basic scales as bonuses plus one exercise using parts of all three. Try adding all the passing tones and you'll soon see that the scale loses its Blues sound and becomes for all intents and purposes a mostly chromatic scale. No matter how you wish to refer to them, if they aren't already on your list of closest friends, they soon will be!
About the Exercises: Mickey gives us open position A Harmonic Minor and A Melodic Minor scales. Mickey's harmonic minor varies from tradition because Mickey used the natural minor as the descending scale. See what I mean about blurring the distinction?! Also, there are some more "wrist development" exercises intended for the straight pickers, but I've given additional fingering for those of us that are finger stylists. There aren't any surprises for those of us coming from Lessons 24 and 25.
About the Bonus Exercises:
Bonus A Natural Minor Exercise: This is an open position A natural minor scale that you can use to hear the differences versus Mickey's harmonic and melodic minor exercises.
Bonus - Minor Scale Fingering 1: This exercise is borrowed from the classical guitarist's training, giving fingerings for the corresponding melodic minor scales for C, C#, D, and D# minor from lowest tonic to highest tonic on the standard 19-fret fretboard.
Bonus - Minor Scale Fingering 2: This is unique to the series fingering pattern for E melodic minor following the lowest tonic to highest tonic.
Bonus - Minor Scale Fingering 3: This fingering pattern is for F, F#, G, G#, and A melodic minor following the lowest tonic to highest tonic.
Bonus - Minor Scale Fingering 4: This is the fingering pattern for the remaining Bb and B melodic minor following the lowest tonic to highest tonic.
Bonus - G Blues Scale Fingering 1: This fingering pattern can be related to a barred G Maj or min chord.
Bonus - D Blues Scale Fingering 2: This fingering pattern can be related to a barred D Maj or min chord.
Bonus - Bb Blues Scale Fingering 3: This fingering pattern can be related to a barred Bb Maj or min chord. Pay particular attention to the variation as it's the basis for Lesson 47.
Bonus - E Blues Scale Exercise: This exercise uses fingering patterns for the E Blues Scale from the 12th to Open Positions. While you're playing through this exercise, imagine a distorted amplifier, a few slurs and bends, and you'll realize that you're in the gold mine that has generated hundreds of millions of dollars for rock guitarists in the last 50 years!
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