Melodic Harmonic And Natural Minor Tetrachords

I suggest you look at my lesson on Major Tetrachords before you read. I will allude to it and expect you to have. Also note that I use fingering blueprints, read them from left to right, bottom to top, as if each space was a any fret you want!

There are actually three types of minor scales: natural, harmonic, and melodic. A tetrachord is half a octave scale and therefore four notes(though there are only three spaces between the four) To play each you must start with a minor tetrachord. A minor tetrachord follows the pattern:


Whole step, Half step, Whole step

This can be played in the forms (1234), (1342), and (3412). Each number standing for the finger you use 1 being your index finger and 4 being the pinky. They are shown below (this is a fingering blueprint, not tabs):

(1234)
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|-1-|---|-2-|-3-|---|-4-|

(1342)
|---|---|---|---|
|---|---|---|---|
|---|-2-|---|---|
|-1-|---|-3-|-4-|

(3412)
|---|---|---|---|---|
|---|---|---|---|---|
|-1-|---|-2-|---|---|
|---|---|-3-|---|-4-|

Now comes the part that may make it hard. To make a minor scale you can any of the following tetrachords: Major, Gypsy, & Phrygian. We’ll start with the major, a review for those who read Major Tetrachords. Major tetra chords follow the pattern:

Whole step, Whole step, Half step

There are three major tetrachord patterns: (1334), (2412), & (4134)

(2412)
|---|---|---|---|
|---|---|---|---|
|-1-|-2-|---|---|
|---|-2-|---|-4-|

(1334)
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|-1-|---|-3-|---|-3-|-4-|

(4134)
|---|---|---|---|
|---|---|---|---|
|-1-|---|-3-|-4-|
|---|---|---|-4-|

Add this to the minor tetrachord to get a one-octave minor scale. Then there are the gypsy and Phrygian tetrachord. Don’t ask where the names come from, because I don’t know. The gypsy is weird but the Phrygian is easy:

Gypsy: Half step, Step and a Half, Half step
&
Phrygian: Haft step, Whole step, Whole step

The Gypsy has one easy fingering pattern while the Phrygian has two fingering patterns:

Gypsy:
(3412)
|---|---|---|
|---|---|---|
|-1-|-2-|---|
|---|-3-|-4-|

Phrygian:
(2341)
|---|---|---|---|
|---|---|---|---|
|-1-|---|---|---|
|-2-|-3-|---|-4-|

and
(3413)
|---|---|---|---|
|---|---|---|---|
|-1-|---|-3-|---|
|---|---|-3-|-4-|

Ok let’s put those together to get a minor scale! Play a minor tetrachord skip a whole step them play a major, gypsy, or Phrygian and whalah you have a melodic, harmonic, or natural minor scale! Note I will use (3413) for Phrygian, (2412) for major scales and (3412) for minor!

Melodic
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|---|---|---|-1-|-2-|---|---|---|
|-1-|---|-2-|---|-2-|---|-4-|---|
|---|---|-3-|---|-4-|---|---|---|

Harmonic
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|---|---|---|-1-|-3-|---|---|---|
|-1-|---|-2-|---|-3-|-4-|---|---|
|---|---|-3-|---|-4-|---|---|---|

Natural
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|---|---|-1-|---|-3-|---|---|---|
|-1-|---|-2-|---|-3-|-4-|---|---|
|---|---|-3-|---|-4-|---|---|---|

Now I know that maybe confusing so I will put the G natural, melodic, and harmonic minor scales into tabs!

Melodic
G|-------------------------------|
D|-------------4-5---------------|
A|-----1-3-5-7-------------------|
E|-3-5---------------------------|

Harmonic
G|-------------------------------|
D|-------------4-5---------------|
A|-----1-3-5-6-------------------|
E|-3-5---------------------------|

Natural
G|-------------------------------|
D|-------------3-5---------------|
A|-----1-3-5-6-------------------|
E|-3-5---------------------------|

As you can see in tabs there are only small differences between each type. They also all start and end on G. I hope those who read this will get something from it. It maybe confusing, but if you haven’t read Major Tetrachords, you should. It will make this easier to understand.