So, when you want to find out –for example- what the C natural minor scale is, you have to go up a minor 3 rd from C. Well, when you look at A minor/C major, you see that from A, when you go up a minor 3 rd, you arrive at C. Now, every minor scale has its relative major scale, so the question now is: “How to find out which relative major scale belongs to a natural minor scale?” Since A natural minor and C major share the same scale (only another starting note), we say that ‘A minor is the relative minor of C major’ and ‘C major is the relative major of A minor’. The only difference is the starting note, the root: A natural minor starts on an A, where C major starts on a C. Well, as I promised, it’s very simple: the notes of the A natural minor scale are exactly the same as the notes of the C major scale, so only the white keys on the piano. In this example I will show you how to form the A natural minor scale. Before telling you the general rule, let me first show you this with an example: When you know how to form a major scale, it’s very simple to form a natural minor scale.

In this lesson, we talk only about the natural minor scale, in another lesson, I will talk about the other 2 minor scales. This is, because there exists only one type of major scales, but there are 3 types of minor scales: First of all, why do I say ‘ natural minor scale’, and not simply ‘minor scale’ (I also called a major scale just ‘major scale’ without any other specification)?

G flat major scale relative minor