Minor Scale Introduction - Upper String Scale Series #6

Once all of the primary major scales are comfortable I begin teaching the minor scales concurrently with the secondary major scales. This post will present an overview of the minor scales, with the details of each set of scales covered in the following posts.

At this point the student will be used to playing scales and literature in multiple finger patterns. This is good because the one octave minors each require two color patterns from Barbara Barber’s Fingerboard Geography, as opposed to the majors only using one in each octave. This shouldn’t be a huge issue, as the student has also done two octave scales that require two colors in addition to any literature in multiple patterns.

I begin by explaining the differences between the major and natural minor scale. I start with the parallel relationship between D Major and D Minor, rather than the relative relationship between D Minor and F Major – I cover that later. The parallel relationship is more conducive to use of the finger patterns than the relative. We talk about lowering the third, sixth and seventh scale degrees and I ask the student to identify how the change affects our color patterns string by string. I do this by guiding the student through the chart in Figure 1, adjusting it appropriately for each new scale.

The minor scales are also broken down into primary and secondary keys, but this is complicated by the fact that there are three different forms of minor. For the primary scales (Figure 2) I teach all of the natural scales first, because it makes the most sense in transitioning from the major scales. I will then teach the melodic scales, because those also use the four basic patterns. The harmonics require the extension patterns that Barber introduces later in Fingerboard Geography, because of the augmented second between the sixth and seventh scale degrees, so I teach those last.

By the time we reach the secondary minor scales the student should have a firm grasp of all the different forms of minor, so I teach all three forms together (Figure 3). For the order I move up the fingerboard just like I did with the secondary majors. After completing this process the student will have a complete grasp of every key on the Circle of Fifths.