Everyone who has ever taken a piano lesson knows what a scale is and has probably had to practice them endlessly. The most common type of music scale is a major scale, but every major scale has a relative minor scale. They are called “relative minor scales” because they are related to a major scale. For example, the A minor scale is related to the C major scale because it uses the same notes — it just starts and ends on a different key. In other words, if I played the C scale but played it from A to A, I would be playing the A minor natural scale.

Watch this short video and you’ll understand:

For a complete course in all kinds of scales, click on All About Scales & How To Use Them

Every major scale has a kissin’-cousin — a relative minor scale. It is related to the major scale of the key, but begins on the 6th note of the major scale. For example, if I were to play the C major scale but instead of playing it from C to C I played it from A to A, that would be the A minor natural scale. What makes it related? It uses the same notes — just starts and ends at a different point.

To complicate the picture, there are 3 varieties of each minor scale: the natural minor scale, the harmonic minor scale, and the melodic minor scale. Please refer to this page on the web for audio samples of each type of minor scale: 3 kinds of minor scales
Then watch this short video on minor scales: