Hi Billy,

With the minor key, there are three possibilities that come into play when creating songs. These possibilities can affect harmony and melody.

The three options are based on the following scales...

  • the natural minor
  • the harmonic minor
  • the melodic minor


The notes that you've written for C minor,

C, D, Eb, F, G, Ab, Bb, C,

belong to the scale of C natural minor. That is, they are the notes exactly as given by the key signature as one steps from note to note in the scale.

Long ago, musicians found that if they wanted a strong ending sound like G (or more often the 7th chord based on G) to C in the major key (this is called a Perfect Cadence), then it was necessary to raise the 7th note of the natural minor scale to B rather than Bb. This gives the notes of the Harmonic Minor Scale. It was called "Harmonic" because its use is mainly harmony although it is sometimes used for melody, too.

Harmonic minor: C , D, Eb, F, G, Ab, B, C

From a melodic perspective, the harmonic minor has an awkward and hard-to-sing interval in going from the 6th note to the 7th note -- namely, Ab to B in C harmonic minor. This interval is called an augmented 2nd.

To make it easier for singers and also to give a more comfortable musical sound, the melodic minor also raises the 6th note of the scale -- that is, Ab becomes A. Now, to complicate things even more, the melodic minor has different forms. The ascending form raises the 6th and 7th notes while the descending form uses the standard natural minor with the 6th and 7th notes given as in the key signature. This scale is called "Melodic" because it is designed for use mostly with minor melodies.

This gives...

Melodic minor: C, D, Eb, F, G, A, B, C (going up)

and C, Bb, Ab, G, F, Eb, D, A (going down).

The chord progression you've used is a bass line that's based on the descending melodic minor but uses the sharpened 7th from the harmonic minor in the G chord (or G7 chord -- in fact G7 will probably give you a stronger cadential sound that simply G).

The chord progression C major, Ab major, Bb major, G major (or G7) is a great one available to minor keys.

Hope the above helps with some understanding.

Regards,
Noel

P.S. One other thing that often happens in minor keys is that the very final chord at the end of a work that is played is the tonic major rather than the tonic minor. That is C maj rather than C min in the key of C minor. This is called the Tierce de Picardy (the Picardy Third) and only applies to the final chord of a work. Bach used to use it regularly as it gave a satisfying sense of completion.

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