Minor scales have a dark and mysterious sound that is used to create tension and emotion in music. They’re essential scales to learn for composers and musicians, but they can be a bit confusing as there are three different types.
In this post, we’re going to be exploring the natural, melodic, and harmonic forms of E minor scale. So, if you’re ready to dive into the key of E minor, let’s get started!
Table of Contents
E Natural Minor Scale
The first form of E minor that we will look at is the natural minor scale.
It’s made up of seven notes starting on E (which is known as the keynote). It then follows the natural minor scale formula of whole and half steps.
This gives us the notes: E F# G A B C D
As you can see, it has one sharp note: F#
E Natural Minor Scale in the Treble Clef
Here are all the notes of E natural minor scale in the treble clef, ascending and descending.
E Natural Minor Scale in the Bass Clef
Next up, we have E natural minor scale in the bass clef, ascending and descending.
E Natural Minor Scale in the Alto Clef
The least common of all the clefs, here we have E natural minor scale in the Alto clef, ascending and descending.
E Natural Minor Scale in the Tenor Clef
And finally, here are all the notes of E natural minor scale in the tenor clef, ascending and descending.
Natural Minor Scale Formula
The natural minor scale, like every other type of scale, is constructed by using a certain combination of intervals between each note.
The formula, using whole steps and half steps, is:
Whole step, half step, whole step, whole step, half step, whole step, whole step.
This is abbreviated toW W H W W W H.
Using the British terminology of tones and semitones, this would be:
Tone, semitone, tone, tone, semitone, tone, tone.
Which gets abbreviated toT S T T S T T.
E Harmonic Minor Scale
The next form of E minor scale we’ll look at is the E harmonic minor which is slightly different from the natural minor in that it has a raised 7th note.
So, the notes in E harmonic minor are: E F# G A B C D#
Like E natural minor, it also has an F#, but, notice that the seventh note is raised from a D to a D#.
E Harmonic Minor Scale in the Treble Clef
First, let’s look at E harmonic minor scale in the treble clef, ascending and descending.
E Harmonic Minor Scale in the Bass Clef
Next, we have E harmonic minor ascending and descending in the bass clef.
E Harmonic Minor Scale in the Alto Clef
The least common of all the clefs, here we have E harmonic minor ascending and descending in the alto clef.
E Harmonic Minor Scale in the Tenor Clef
And now we have E harmonic minor in the tenor clef, ascending and descending.
Hamonic Minor Scale Formula
The harmonic minor scale, like every other type of scale, is constructed by using a certain combination of intervals between each note.
The formula, using whole steps and half steps, is:
Whole step, half step, whole step, whole step, half step, whole and a half step, half step.
This is abbreviated toW H W W H WH H.
Using the British terminology of tones and semitones, this would be:
Tone, semitone, tone, tone, semitone, tone and a semitone, semitone.
Which gets abbreviated toT S T T S TS S.
E Melodic Minor Scale
And the last type of minor scale we’ll look at is E melodic minor scale. This one is a bit different from the others, though.
When ascending, it’s different from the natural minor as its 6th and 7th notes are raised by a half step.
This gives us the notes: E F# G A B C# D#
But, when descending, the 6th and 7th notes are flattened.
This means that it’s the same as the natural minor scale when descending, giving us the notes: D C B A G F# E
E Melodic Minor Scale in the Treble Clef
Let’s take a look at E melodic minor scale in the treble clef, ascending and descending.
E Melodic Minor Scale in the Bass Clef
Next up, let’s take a look at E melodic minor scale ascending and descending in the bass clef.
E Melodic Minor Scale in the Alto Clef
Now we have E melodic minor scale in the alto clef, ascending and descending.
E Melodic Minor Scale in the Tenor Clef
And here’s E melodic minor scale in the tenor clef, ascending and descending.
What is the Key Signature of E Minor?
To make playing in a certain key easier for the musician to read, we can use a key signature.
This helps us know to play certain notes sharp or flat without having to read an accidental each time.
E minor has the same key signature as G major, which has one sharp in its key signature: F#
Here’s the key signature for E minor in the treble, alto, tenor, and bass clefs.
What is the Relative Major Scale of E Minor?
Every minor scale has a relative major scale, and every major one has a relative minor one. But what is the relative major scale of E minor?
The relative major scale of E minor is G major.
Here is G major scale, which uses all the same notes as E natural minor but starts on G, which is its keynote: G A B C D E F#
But how do we know that G major is the relative major scale of E minor?
Well, to work out the relative major key of a minor one, all we have to do is go up three half steps (semitones).
So from E, we go up one half step to F, a second half step to F#, and a third half step to G: E > F > F# > G
To learn more about the relative major of E minor, see our guide to G major scale here.
Conclusion
That’s it for our guide to the scale of E minor! We hope it helped make a bit more sense of everything.
Feel free to use this post as a reference and let us know if you have any other questions.
