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6.3 · The Minor Scale

The minor ladder, numbered

Minor keeps the same 1-to-7 numbering, but three rungs slide down a semitone: ♭3, ♭6, ♭7. Solfège renames them me, le, te. Of the three, ♭3 matters most: it's the single note that makes minor sound minor.

The ladder, dimmed

A minor, rung by rung, octave included. Pick any home note and the ladder rebuilds around it. Shapes mark the anchors: 1 wears the star, ♭3 the triangle, 5 the pentagon.

Home note · sets the minor key
The notes of A minor · tap a rung to hear do, then the rung

Every rung has a name tag

Vocabulary

The formal titles carry over from major, with one change at the top: natural minor's ♭7 is the subtonic, a whole step under home, not a leading tone. Below are the names for the notes in A minor. Tap a row to hear the 1, then that degree.

NoteHzDegreeSolfègeFormal title

The tell-tale third

One semitone separates mi from me, and the whole mood with it. Both runs start on A: same root, same fifth; only the third moves.

These are the major 3rd and minor 3rd intervals, now naming whole moods.

Quiz

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Which degrees flatten in the minor scale?

Score 100% on every quiz and game to complete this lesson.Three flavors of minor →