 Hi and welcome to lesson 4 of the linear theory curriculum for classical guitar and piano. Today's lesson is about a couple of new scales that grow from the major scale. We're going to learn three different forms of the minor scale as well as the chromatic scale. So let's begin with the minor scale and to do that I like to start back with our major scale. You'll recall that our major scale was the pattern, let me write this, was the pattern whole, whole, half, whole, whole, half. Now the natural minor scale grows from the sixth step of the major scale and it goes from the sixth step to the sixth. So if I do 6, 7, 1, and 8 are the same and then 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, this will give me my pattern for the natural minor scale. From 6 to 7 is a whole step, 7 to 8 or 7 to 1 is a half, then whole, whole, half, whole, whole. So the pattern for the natural minor scale whole, half, whole, whole, half, whole, whole. Now you should definitely memorize that pattern but if you ever forget that pattern just remember it's 6 to 6 in the major scale which you already know. So there's our natural minor scale and then what I usually do is then change it to in minor, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, whole, half, whole, whole, half, whole, whole. So hopefully that makes sense and you understand where we are. Now after we understand what the natural minor scale is then we go to the harmonic minor scale and the harmonic minor scale is the exact same thing as the natural minor except the seventh step of the scale is raised by a half step. So 1 to 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 and 8, this is all the same, whole, half, whole, whole, half. Now the seventh is raised so this ends up being a step and a half, 1 and a half steps. And then what that does is then makes the distance from 7 to 8 a half step. If we take this whole step and this whole step and we raise 7 up a half step now it's just a half step from 7 to 8 and 6 to 7 is a step and a half as indicated here on the harmonic. So that's the difference between a natural minor and a harmonic minor scale. So we've got that. Now let's go ahead and show you the one other scale. So if we have again, I'm going to rewrite the natural and harmonic. That's natural, harmonic, whole, half, whole, whole, half, 1 and a half, half. And then finally the melodic minor again grows from the natural minor scale and it is different going up the scale than it is coming back down. So going up the scale it is or ascending the scale. First four are the same, whole, half, whole, whole. Then the sixth is a half step higher than the natural so this becomes whole. The seventh is a half step higher than the natural so that makes that a whole step and then a half step to 8. So whole, half, whole, whole, whole, half. Then coming down it reverts back to the natural minor. In other words it's 8 to 7 whole step. Notice here 8 to 7 is a whole step. 7 to 6 whole step and then 6 to 5 like this half step. And then it's the same, 4, 3, 2, 1 are the same. So going up whole, half, whole, whole, half, going back down whole, whole, half, whole, whole, half, whole. So the melodic is different going up than it is going down. A little bit tricky so you want to pay really close attention when you're doing the natural, harmonic and melodic minors. The other scale that we will be dealing with in this lesson is the chromatic scale and it's kind of simple. The chromatic scale is all half steps so it really takes every single pitch that you have and let's say from C and it asks you to go from C to C representing all half steps. So C, C sharp, D, D sharp, E, F, F sharp, G, G sharp, A, A sharp, B and then that gets us back to C. And you'll notice there are 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12 different pitches before you arrive back at the original pitch. Now I have a little rule, I call it Laird's rule and that is when you're doing a chromatic scale going up the scale use sharps. When you're doing a chromatic scale going down the scale use flats. So if we're going back down it would be C, B, B flat, A, A flat, G, G flat, F, E, E flat, D, D flat and then finally you would arrive back at C. And that would be a good representation of a C chromatic scale ascending with sharps and descending with flats. I want to be clear, Laird's rule is simply my rule, it's just a rule that helps keep chromatics very clean, crisp and clear. You wouldn't have to do it that way but I find that to be the way that I can make sure that you know all of your sharps and flats also. And while we're on that topic I always in this lesson like to mention another little precept that is good to know. Cole's law is thinly sliced cabbage, Cole's law, thinly sliced cabbage. I hope you enjoy that, that always gets a little grown from most of my students. With that in mind let's go to the lesson, I can hear the crickets chirping right now. If we go to the lesson it's pretty straightforward. I want you to do an A flat natural harmonic and melodic minor scale, F natural harmonic and melodic minor scale and a D natural melodic and harmonic minor scale. Let's do one of them together just to make sure that you guys are on the same page with me. Here's what I recommend you do. Start by writing the letter names of the natural, D, E, F, G, A, B, C, D. Whole step half step pattern, whole, half, whole, whole, half, whole, whole. Put in your sharps and flats, D to E is a whole step, E to F is a half, F to G is a whole, G to A is a whole, A to B flat is a half, B flat to C is a whole and C to D. And really for you to do it you should be looking at a keyboard to do that. Then we go ahead and write it in. So we've got D, E, F, G, A, B flat, C and D. Then once we have that then we're going to go ahead and do the natural minor below. I think just in the interest of space, or excuse me the harmonic minor it asks for the last four notes. Well the last four notes of the natural, A, B flat, C and D. And really all we're doing for the harmonic is making the seventh step higher, A, B flat, C sharp and D. And then the ascending and descending, in fact let's just forget about this for now. Let's just make this a treble clef just so you can see this. And the ascending and descending for the melodic for the last four notes again, A, B flat, C and D were what we had for the natural. So now what we're going to do is we're going to lose that flat and we're going to make that B be natural. And we're going to make the C, C sharp going up and then coming back down that C becomes C natural and the B becomes B flat again and we go back to A. So these notes coming back down are exactly the same as the natural minor. These ones from the natural minor, the sixth step was raised and the seventh step was raised each a half step. And that takes care of the minor scales. And then lastly it asks you to write two different chromatic scales in both clefs ascending and descending. When you do this choose any particular note. Here we might have A and again remember to use your sharps ascending and flats descending. A, A sharp, B, C, C sharp, D, D sharp, E, F, F sharp, G, G sharp, A and then going down A, A flat, G, G flat, etc. and go all the way back down. Then choose another tonic, make B, C, D, doesn't matter, some other note and go up and down from it as well. And that's take care of this lesson, lesson four of linear theory.