Julie Swihart

Minor Scales

Let’s look at how to build an E flat minor scale on the piano. We’ll look at how to build both E flat natural minor and E flat harmonic minor scales.

What Are Minor Scales?

Minor scales are groups of eight notes, played in alphabetical order, starting and ending on the same note. They’re groups of notes used to write songs.

Songs written in the key of E minor used the notes of the E minor scale to write the song.

Three Types of Minor Scales

There are three types of minor scales:

• Natural minor
• Harmonic minor
• Melodic minor

Minor Scales Printable

This 38-page PDF will help you learn and visualize the notes for both natural minor and harmonic minor scales, laying a wonderful foundation for building chords!

Get the Printable

Natural Minor Scales

Natural minor scales each have a relative major scale on the piano. This means these two scales use the same notes to build their scales, but start and end on different notes.

We can build any natural minor scale by starting on the sixth note of a major scale, and playing through the notes of that major scale.

Another way to build a natural minor scale is to use a pattern of half-steps and whole steps.

A half-step is the distance from one note to the very next, whether black or white.

A whole step is two half-steps.

To build a natural minor scale, we can find our starting note, then play through this pattern (where W = whole step, and H = half-step):

W – H – W – W – H – W – W

How to Build an E Flat Natural Minor Scale

So to build an E flat minor scale, we can start on E♭ and play through the notes of the G flat major scale. E♭ is the sixth note of the G flat major scale, so these two scales are relatives.

Or we can start on E♭, and play the note one whole step up, which is F. Then we can play the note one half-step up, which is G♭. Then we’ll play the note one whole step up, A♭.

We can continue following our pattern of half-steps and whole steps until we reach the next E♭ and the scale is complete.

What Are the Notes for an E Flat Natural Minor Scale?

Here are the notes for an E flat natural minor scale:

E♭ – F – G♭ – A♭ – B♭ – C♭ – D♭ – E♭

Labeling the Notes of the Scale

You may be wondering why we label these notes as flats instead of sharps (flats indicate the note 1/2 down, sharps indicate the note 1/2 step up), or why we would call the white key C♭ instead of B.

The reason is that scales must progress in alphabetical order. Since this is an E flat minor scale, the second note of the scale will be some sort of F, the third note some sort of G, the fourth note some sort of A, and so on.

Enharmonic Scales

Some scales use the same notes on the piano to build their scales, but go by two different names. These are called “enharmonic scales”. There are three sets of enharmonic major scales on the piano:

B major and C♭ major
F♯ major and G♭ major
C♯ major and D♭ major

Since these major scales are enharmonic, their relative minor scales will also be enharmonic.

Here are the enharmonic minor scales:

G♯ minor and A♭ minor
D♯ minor and E♭ minor
A♯ minor and B♭ minor

Harmonic Minor Scales

Harmonic minor scales are similar to natural minor scales, except the seventh note has been raised 1/2 step.

These scales are popular because of the way the raised seventh note changes the sound of the music.

How to Build an E Flat Harmonic Minor Scale

To build an E flat harmonic minor scale, we’ll start with an E flat natural minor scale. Then we’ll raise the seventh note, D♭, 1/2 step to D.

What Are the Notes for an E Flat Harmonic Minor Scale?

Here are the notes for an E flat harmonic minor scale:

E♭ – F – G♭ – A♭ – B♭ – C♭ – D – E♭

Melodic Minor Scales

Melodic minor scales aren’t as common as the other two types, because they raise the sixth and seventh notes ascending (going up), and play the natural minor scale descending (going down).

Other Minor Scales

Here are all the minor scales:

A minor scale
E minor scale
B minor scale
F♯ minor scale
C♯ minor scale
G♯ minor scale
D♯ minor scale
A♯ minor scale
D minor scale
G minor scale
C minor scale
F minor scale
B♭ minor scale
E♭ minor scale
A♭ minor scale

Conclusion

Now you know how to build minor scales on the piano!

Minor keys add a nice contrast to major keys, and work well for songs that are more introspective and melancholy.