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EKS Lesson Eight  Introducing minor scales

Minor triad/minor scale relationship

As stated in the introduction, there is a relationship between the minor triad and the minor scale which is best explained to you in steps:

  1. The A minor chord is A, C and E (represented by blue notes in Figure 1).
  2. Between A and C is B.
  3. Between C and E is D.
  4. We now have the first five notes of our scale.

You will recall that there are seven notes in a scale with the root note (A in this case) repeated at the top of the scale to give us an octave.

Therefore, our A minor scale is:

A, B, C, D, E, F, G, A

Look at our example and then practise playing the scale up and down using the thumb under and finger over techniques we learned earlier in the course.

Figure 1. A minor scale   (Enlarge)

Figure 1. A minor scale

As always, there are supportive multimedia files and we have written the music out below. Try and learn the scale by remembering the notes in the scale.

Exercise 1

Exercise 1
Xtractor MIDI File Upload exercise to myGigajam Large stave

Next: A minor scale — an octave lower