minor scale

A sequence of notes containing the pitches of a minor key. There are three types of minor scales: natural, harmonic, and melodic. Natural minor scales follow the interval pattern of the Aeolian mode, which on a keyboard is all the white notes from A-A. Harmonic minor scales also follow the Aeolian mode interval pattern but the seventh degree of the scale is sharpened, for example, G♯ in A harmonic minor. Melodic minor scales follow different interval patterns when they are rising/falling: when rising, melodic minor scales have sharpened sixth and seventh degrees, but when falling, the sixth and seventh degrees are both natural. See also minor key.