Piano basics: the black notes - what are they for and how do you use them? The derivative method, meanwhile, is a way of converting any major scale into its minor equivalent simply by moving ...

Minor scales sound ‘sad’ and have different interval patterns, either to create a ‘natural’ minor, ‘harmonic’ minor or ‘melodic’ minor. You can also have chromatic scales, which feature 12 notes – or ...

Piano basics: the black notes - what are they for and how do you use them? The main reason the melodic minor scale came about was as a way to reduce the size of the interval between the 6th and 7th ...

Start at A on a piano and play up, again staying on the white notes, and you have a basic melodic minor scale. A harmonic minor scale changes some of the upper notes.