Minor scales have a dark and mysterious sound that is used to create tension and emotion in music. They’re essential scales to learn for composers and musicians, but they can be a bit confusing as there are three different types.
In this post, we’re going to be exploring the natural, melodic, and harmonic forms of F minor scale. So, if you’re ready to dive into the key of F minor, let’s get started!
Table of Contents
F Natural Minor Scale
The first form of F minor that we will look at is the natural minor scale.
It’s made up of seven notes starting on F (which is known as the keynote). It then follows the natural minor scale formula of whole and half steps.
This gives us the notes: F G Ab Bb C Db Eb
As you can see, it has four flat notes: Bb, Eb, Ab and Db
F Natural Minor Scale in the Treble Clef
Here are all the notes of F natural minor scale in the treble clef, ascending and descending.
F Natural Minor Scale in the Bass Clef
Next up, we have F natural minor scale in the bass clef, ascending and descending.
F Natural Minor Scale in the Alto Clef
The least common of all the clefs, here we have F natural minor scale in the Alto clef, ascending and descending.
F Natural Minor Scale in the Tenor Clef
And finally, here are all the notes of F natural minor scale in the tenor clef, ascending and descending.
Natural Minor Scale Formula
The natural minor scale, like every other type of scale, is constructed by using a certain combination of intervals between each note.
The formula, using whole steps and half steps, is:
Whole step, half step, whole step, whole step, half step, whole step, whole step.
This is abbreviated toW W H W W W H.
Using the British terminology of tones and semitones, this would be:
Tone, semitone, tone, tone, semitone, tone, tone.
Which gets abbreviated toT S T T S T T.
F Harmonic Minor Scale
The next form of F minor scale we’ll look at is the F harmonic minor, which is slightly different from the natural minor in that it has a raised 7th note.
So, the notes in F harmonic minor are: F G Ab Bb C Db E
Like F natural minor, it also has a Bb, Ab and a Db, but, notice that the seventh note is no longer an Eb but has been raised a half step to E natural.
F Harmonic Minor Scale in the Treble Clef
First, let’s look at F harmonic minor scale in the treble clef, ascending and descending.
F Harmonic Minor Scale in the Bass Clef
Next, we have F harmonic minor ascending and descending in the bass clef.
F Harmonic Minor Scale in the Alto Clef
The least common of all the clefs, here we have F harmonic minor ascending and descending in the alto clef.
F Harmonic Minor Scale in the Tenor Clef
And now we have F harmonic minor in the tenor clef, ascending and descending.
Hamonic Minor Scale Formula
The natural minor scale, like every other type of scale, is constructed by using a certain combination of intervals between each note.
The formula, using whole steps and half steps, is:
Whole step, half step, whole step, whole step, half step, whole and a half step, half step.
This is abbreviated toW H W W H WH H.
Using the British terminology of tones and semitones, this would be:
Tone, semitone, tone, tone, semitone, tone and a semitone, semitone.
Which gets abbreviated toT S T T S TS S.
F Melodic Minor Scale
And the last type of minor scale we’ll look at is F melodic minor scale. This one is a bit different from the others, though.
When it’s ascending, it’s different from the natural in that its 6th and 7th notes are raised.
This gives us the notes: F G Ab Bb C D E
But, when descending, the 6th and 7th notes are flattened.
This means that it’s the same as the natural minor scale when descending, giving us the notes: Eb Db C Bb Ab G F
F Melodic Minor Scale in the Treble Clef
Let’s take a look at F melodic minor scale in the treble clef, ascending and descending.
F Minor Scale in the Bass Clef
Next up, let’s take a look at F melodic minor scale ascending and descending in the bass clef.
F Melodic Minor Scale in the Alto Clef
Now we have F melodic minor scale in the alto clef, ascending and descending.
F Melodic Minor Scale in the Tenor Clef
And here’s F melodic minor scale in the tenor clef, ascending and descending.
What is the Key Signature of F Minor?
To make playing in a certain key easier for the musician to read, we can use a key signature.
This helps us know to play certain notes sharp or flat without having to read an accidental each time.
F minor has the same key signature as Ab major, which has four flats in its key signature: Bb, Eb, Ab and Db
Here’s the key signature for F minor in the treble, alto, tenor, and bass clefs.
What is the Relative Major Scale of F Minor?
Every minor scale has a relative major scale, and every major one has a relative minor one. But what is the relative major scale of F minor?
The relative major scale of F minor is Ab major.
Here is Ab major scale, which uses all the same notes as F natural minor but starts on Ab, which is its keynote: Ab Bb C Db Eb F G
But how do we know that Ab major is the relative major scale of F minor?
Well, to work out the relative major key of a minor one, all we have to do is go up three half steps (semitones).
So from F, we go up one half step to Gb, a second half step to G, and a third half step to Ab: F > Gb > G > Ab
To learn more about the relative major of F minor, see our guide to A-Flat major scale here.
Conclusion
That’s it for our guide to the scale of F minor! We hope it helped make a bit more sense of everything.
Feel free to use this post as a reference and let us know if you have any other questions.
