HereвЂ™s a video diagram showing the lowest octave of A melodic minor ascending and descending on the cello. There are three main types of minor scale: natural minor, melodic minor and harmonic minor. The diagram below shows the structure of A melodic minor ascending on the keyboard: Since descending passages donвЂ™t require the tension and definition provided by a leading tone, the descending melodic minor offers a sound truer to the overall minor structure. The Melodic Minor Scale differs from the Natural Minor Scale by the sixth and seventh notes, which are raised one semi-step. The raised sixth step prevents the dissonant augmented second interval found in harmonic minor scales and the raised seventh provides a strong resolution from a leading tone to the tonic.

Reference for the A natural, A melodic & A harmonic minor scales, with piano layout, and chords in the key of A minor. Going up, the 3rd scale degree is flat, but the rest is like a major scale, and going down it is the same as a natural minor scale. We now know that harmonic minor scales form the harmonic basis of minor keys, so it stands to reason (and the name suggests) that melodic minor scales form the melodic basis. A sharp minor scale: A, B, C, D, E, F, G. As already mentioned, the descending melodic minor scale is identical to the descending natural minor scale. So the ascending scale shares its first five steps with the natural and harmonic minor scales, and its sixth to eighth steps with its major counterpart (note: the major key with the same keynote and NOT the relative major). The descending half of the melodic minor scale is identical to that of the natural minor scale: The sequence of intervals for the ascending scale of A melodic minor is as follows: The relative steps of the melodic minor scale are: w-h-w-w-w-w-h (wwhole step, hhalf step). Scales are a selection of notes, out of the chromatic scale (12 notes). The ascending scale creates more tension by sharpening the sixth and seventh steps, and the descending scale relaxes that tension by flattening the seventh and sixth steps. LetвЂ™s dive deeper into Intervals and figure out what the scales are. I like to think of the melodic minor scale as the chameleon scale as it changes its colours.

A sharp melodic minor scales