Some cousins don’t get along with each other, but others are “kissing cousins”. And that’s exactly what the C major scale and the A minor scale are - kissing cousins.

What makes them like that? They are related because they share the very same notes. If you play the C scale from A to A, what you have is the A natural minor scale. (There are other varieties of minor scales, such as harmonic and melodic, but that’s not our subject here.)

Please watch this 14-minute video and learn which scales are related to each other and why:

For an exhaustive course on scales, come on over to All About Scales & How To Use Them!

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

There are many different kinds of scales, the most-used being major scales followed by minor scales. Many contemporary musicians use the modal scales too, such as Dorian, Lydian, Mixolydian, Aeolian, etc.

A scale is a series of notes in ordered intervals (distances between notes). The notes of a scale appear (and are thought of) as “steps” (tones). Perhaps the best way to understand scales is to

first understand a major scale (Do, Re, Me, Fa, So, La, Ti, Do). The steps of a major scale are: Beginning note - whole step - whole step - half step - whole step - whole  step - whole step - half

step. In the case of a C major scale, the notes would be: C-D-E-F-G-A-B-C with a half step (semitone) between E and F, and B and C. In the case of a G major scale, the notes would be: G-A-B-C-D-E-

F#-G with a half step between B and C, and F# and G. (Another way to “call out” a G major scale would be to say it’s a major scale beginning with the note G.)

A scale’s name is determined by the notes in the scale and their relationship to each other (and is almost always named by the first note of the scale). For example, a minor scale is different than

a major scale in that there is a half step (one piano key up or down) between the second and third notes of the scale, and a whole step (two piano keys up or down) between the third and fourth

notes (as shown in the paragraph above).

Compare this C minor scale with the C major scale above. The C minor scale: C-D-Eb-F-G-A-B-C (the note E is now Eb, a half step or one key lower). And compare this G minor scale with the G major

scale: G-A-Bb-C-D-E-F#-G (the note B is now Bb, a half step or one key lower). (Another way to “call out” a G minor scale would be to say it’s a minor scale beginning with the note G.)

The term “scale” also refers to the type of scale such as chromatic, whole tone, and diminished scales.

A chromatic scale consists of only half steps (semitones). At the piano, you would play every key in succession (up or down—ascending or descending). Here are the notes of a G chromatic scale: G-

G#-A-A#-B-C-C#-D-D#-E-F-F#-G. (Notice that there are no black keys between the notes B and C and E and F. On the piano, these notes are represented by two white keys being next to each other).

Although a chromatic scale always consists of the same notes in the same order, it is named by the note used to begin the scale.
 
A whole tone scale is a scale where each note is separated from another by a whole step. There are only two whole note scales: C, D, E, F#, G#, A#, C and B, Db, Eb, F, G, A, B. Each contains six

notes and are often called hexatonic scales.

Each tone of a diminished scale is one and a half steps apart.

The term modal refers to scale names such as Lydian, Ionian, and Dorian that tell the musician which notes are in the scale. We’ll define those fully at a different time.

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: