I Just Wrote a Melody using the A minor Harmonic Scale!

A Harmonic Minor Scale

Hey guys, I hope you are having a fantastic Sunday. Today I want to show you a melody I just wrote using the A harmonic minor scale.

I love to write stuff using a different sounding scale. It makes the whole writing process more exciting and challenging and also helps you push yourself out of the comfort zone.

About this Lesson

Program: YouTube Lesson

Key: A minor

Scale used: A natural minor scale, A harmonic minor scale.

Technique: Fingerstyle.

Chord Progression: Am – E – Am | Em – E – Am | Dm – Am – E – Am.

How to Practice: Learning a new scale is always challenging. In the video we are going to play the A harmonic minor scale in one position only, the box V. If you already know the A harmonic minor scale, start the lesson without hesitate. If this is the first time you are dealing with the A harmonic minor scale you should spend a little bit of time playing the scale and learn its sound.

The sharp 7th, which is the note that makes the Harmonic minor scale so special can be difficult to “digest ” at the beginning so really take it step by step and learn the sound of the scale before playing the melody.

Good luck with this lesson guys.

Tab Available on YouTube!

Get the Tab here!

The Video

The A Harmonic Minor Scale

The difference between the Natural minor scale and the Harmonic minor scale is that the Natural minor scale is the relative minor scale of the major scale.

If we take the C major scale | C D E F G A B C and we play the progression of notes stating on the note A we will have A B C D E F G A which is indeed the A natural minor scale. The Natural minor scale and the major scale share the same notes.

The Harmonic minor scale is just like an A natural minor scale but with the 7th degree sharped (raised). The A harmonic minor scale will have the notes A B C D E F G# A.

Below the difference between A natural minor scale and A harmonic minor scale.

The Melody

In this fingerstyle guitar lesson we are going to write a melody using the A harmonic minor scale.

The secret here is to use both the Natural minor scale and the harmonic minor scale.

Here’s how: We will play the natural minor scale on the A minor chord and the harmonic minor scale on the E and D minor chord. By doing that we are a giving a better structure to the melody which will otherwise sound more like a solo or improvisation.

Make sure you learn one bar at a time.

I hope you enjoy this lesson guys!