The A Harmonic Minor scale is A B C D E F G#. It's shown below across all 24 frets: use the Shape menu to see each of the 6 positions, and press Play to hear it.
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Play bars, then go quiet for . Keep playing through the gap and see if you land back in time.
Stop after minutes.
Your hand keeps moving down and up the whole time. The boxes only show when it touches the strings.
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| Capo | Play these shapes |
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The tuner listens through your microphone, works out which string you're playing and goes green when you're within 3 cents. Nothing is recorded or sent anywhere. The tuner is also in the menu at the top of every page.
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See Mentorship PlansThe A Harmonic Minor scale has 7 notes: A B C D E F G#. Its formula is 1 2 b3 4 5 b6 7, and the gaps between the notes go W H W W H W+H H (W is a whole step of two frets, H is a half step of one fret).
Compared with A minor, it has the major 7th (G#) instead of the minor 7th (G).
| Degree | Interval | Name | Note |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 | Root | A |
| 2 | 2 | 2nd | B |
| 3 | b3 | Minor 3rd | C |
| 4 | 4 | 4th | D |
| 5 | 5 | 5th | E |
| 6 | b6 | Minor 6th | F |
| 7 | 7 | Major 7th | G♯ |
The fretboard above shows A Harmonic Minor across all 24 frets. Its root, A, is on the low E string at the 5th fret, and Position 1 starts there. Use the Shape menu to see the 6 positions one at a time (plus the seven 3-notes-per-string shapes, great for speed and legato), press Play to hear the one you're looking at, and switch the labels to intervals to see where the root, 3rd and 5th sit in each shape.
Learn one position until you can play it up and down without looking, then learn the next one along and practise moving between the two. Before long the whole neck joins up.
These are the chords you get by stacking every other note of the scale on each degree. They're the chords that sound "at home" with A Harmonic Minor.
| Degree | Triad | 7th chord |
|---|---|---|
| i | Am | Am(maj7) |
| ii° | Bdim | Bm7b5 |
| III+ | Caug | Cmaj7#5 |
| iv | Dm | Dm7 |
| V | E | E7 |
| VI | F | Fmaj7 |
| vii° | G#dim | G#dim7 |
The harmonic minor is the natural minor with a raised 7th. The gap between the b6 and the 7 gives it an exotic, classical sound, and it's a favourite of neoclassical rock players.
Use it over minor key progressions where the V chord is major, and in particular over the dominant 7th chord that resolves to A minor. The raised 7th leads straight back to the root.
A Major A Minor A Minor Pentatonic A Major Pentatonic A Blues A Dorian A Phrygian A Lydian A Mixolydian A Locrian A Melodic Minor
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The A Harmonic Minor scale is A, B, C, D, E, F, G#.
The harmonic minor scale formula is 1 2 b3 4 5 b6 7, which is a step pattern of W H W W H W+H H.
There are 6 positions, plus seven 3-notes-per-string (3NPS) shapes, one starting on each note of the scale. Use the Shape menu on this page to see each one on its own.
Compared with A minor, it has the major 7th (G#) instead of the minor 7th (G).