The Complete Idiot''s Guide to Music Theory

Major Scale
Related Natural Minor Scale
C Major
A minor
C-sharp Major
A-sharp minor
D-flat Major
B-flat minor
D Major
B minor
E-flat Major
C minor
E Major
D-flat (C-sharp) minor
When you’re playing a piece of music, you typically stay within the
notes of the designated scale. Any notes you play outside the scale are
called
chromatic
notes; notes within the scale are said to be 
diatonic.
For example, in the C Major scale, the note C is diatonic; the note 
C-sharp would be chromatic.
Even though chromatic notes might sound “different” than the normal scale notes,
they can add color to a piece of music. (That’s where the term comes from, by
the way; 
chroma
means “color.”)
Tip
If you start your natural
minor scale on A (the A
minor scale), you will play
all white keys on the piano.
The A natural minor scale
is the only minor scale that
uses only the white keys;
all the other scales have
black keys in them.
Note
continues

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Part 1:
Tones
32
Relative Major and Minor Scales
(continued)
Major Scale
Related Natural Minor Scale
F Major
D minor
F-sharp Major
D-sharp minor
G-flat Major
E-flat minor
G Major
E minor
A-flat Major
F minor
A Major
F-sharp (G-flat) minor
B-flat Major
G minor
B Major
G-sharp minor
C-flat Major
A-flat minor
Every natural minor scale uses the same intervals, as shown in the following
table.
The Intervals of the Natural Minor Scale
Note
Half Steps to Next Note
Tonic
2
Second
1
Third
2
Fourth
2
Fifth
1
Sixth
2
Seventh
2
Put another way, the intervals in a natural minor scale go like this: whole, half,
whole, whole, half, whole, whole.
To make things easier for you, the following table shows all the notes in the 15
natural minor scales.
The 15 Natural Minor Scales