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Harmonic minor scale
Harmonic minor is natural minor with the 7th raised: one step and a half between the 6th and 7th. Every key's notes, piano and guitar, played, MIDI to take.
Mika starts the harmonic minor scale on A and comes home to A.Tap Hear it, or tap any note on the board.
A B C D E F G♯
The notes of the A harmonic minor scale
A B C D E F G♯
Formula: 1 2 ♭3 4 5 ♭6 7. Steps from note to note: 2 1 2 2 1 3 1 semitones (whole, half, whole, whole, half, one and a half, half).
Natural A minor with the seventh raised to G♯. The gap from F up to G♯ is a step and a half: the sound that gives harmonic minor away.
The harmonic minor scale in all twelve keys
| Root | Notes |
|---|---|
| C | C D E♭ F G A♭ B |
| C♯ | C♯ D♯ E F♯ G♯ A B♯ |
| D | D E F G A B♭ C♯ |
| E♭ | E♭ F G♭ A♭ B♭ C♭ D |
| E | E F♯ G A B C D♯ |
| F | F G A♭ B♭ C D♭ E |
| F♯ | F♯ G♯ A B C♯ D E♯ |
| G | G A B♭ C D E♭ F♯ |
| G♯ | G♯ A♯ B C♯ D♯ E F𝄪 |
| A | A B C D E F G♯ |
| B♭ | B♭ C D♭ E♭ F G♭ A |
| B | B C♯ D E F♯ G A♯ |
Why the 7th is raised
In natural minor the chord on the fifth is minor and pulls home weakly. Raising the 7th makes it major (E instead of Em in A minor) with a leading note a half step under the root. The price is the gap of a step and a half between the 6th and 7th, the sound people call "Middle Eastern" or "neoclassical", from Bach to Yngwie Malmsteen.
More scales
A harmonic minor scale G harmonic minor scale C harmonic minor scale D harmonic minor scale Major scale Minor scale
How this page works
Hear it plays the scale up and down at 100 BPM on one of four Brumm sounds. Take it gives the same notes as a MIDI file and a WAV. − and + move the root. Every note here is computed from the formula.
Sources
Scales and modes: Open Music Theory, musictheory.net. Piano fingerings: the standard scale-book fingerings (ABRSM scale books; Hanon, The Virtuoso Pianist, part 3). Trumpet valves: the standard B♭ trumpet fingering chart (Yamaha, Bach). Hz: A4 = 440 Hz, ISO 16.
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