Learning natural minor scales is easier than you think. Really! There is a very natural way to learn them.
The easiest way to learn minor scales is to learn your major scales. That’s right, learn your major scales very well. Once you do this, you are playing your minor scales too. How can that be?
Every major scale has a natural minor scale associated with it that is relative to the major scale. Natural minor scales are derived naturally from major scales. So, they are called natural or relative minor scales of major scales.
For example, the A natural minor scale is the C major scale beginning and ending with A. If you can play the C major scale, then you can play the A natural minor scale. Likewise, the C natural minor scale is the Eb major scale beginning and ending with C. The Eb minor scale is the Gb major scale beginning and ending with Eb. The Gb major scale is the same as the F# major scale beginning and ending with Gb, so we will use the F# major scale. The F# minor scale is the A major scale beginning and ending with F#. The Cb major scale is the same as the B major scale, so the B minor scale is the D major scale beginning and ending with B.
The minor scales are easy to learn once you know the major scales because you are already playing the minor scales when playing the major scales. It is just a matter of beginning and ending on a different note. Specifically, you begin and end on the sixth note of the major scale to play its relative minor. So instead of playing F to F for the F major scale, play D to D in the F major scale, and you will be playing the D natural minor scale. And to play the F natural minor scale, play the Ab major beginning and ending with F.
Another way to figure out what key to play a natural minor in is to remember to add three flats to the key signature. To play C natural minor, add three flats to the C major scale (3b + 0 = 3b). That would be the key signature of Eb major! Add three flats to Eb major scale, and you are playing in Gb major key signature (3b + 3b = 6b). Add three flats to ‘A’ major scale, and you will be playing in the C major key signature (A# + 3b = 0). Thus, ‘A’ natural minor is the relative minor to the C major scale. This is much easier to appreciate if you already know the circle of fourths and fifths. By the way, this is why the Gb major scale (6 flats) is played as the F# major scale (6 sharps). It is not appropriate to play a scale with more than seven flats or seven sharps. So, rather than add three flats to six flats for a total of nine flats, it is more correct to add three flats to six sharps for a total of three sharps. This means that the F# natural minor is played in the key of A (3 sharps).
Also, when you play a minor scale, notice that the third note in the scale is the first note of the major scale. So, when playing C natural minor, you begin with C (1), then D (2), then Eb (3). Eb is the first note of the major scale that is relative to the C natural minor scale, which in this case is Eb. You already know the Eb major scale, so all you have to do is remember to begin with C. C is the sixth note of the Eb major scale.
Begin and end with the sixth note for any major scale, and you will automatically be playing its relative minor scale. Or just remember to play in the key signature of the third note of the relative minor scale. That key signature is three flats added to the major scale of the note you begin with.
