B harmonic minor
Natural minor, fixed for endings.
One change: raise the seventh from A to A♯. That turns the five chord from F♯m into F♯, and puts a note one fret below home.
It also opens a three-fret gap between G and A♯. That gap is how most people recognise the scale, usually within a second.
- How it sounds
- Minor with an edge. It’s natural minor until the seventh, which jumps up and leans hard on home. It sounds dramatic and a little formal, and it badly wants to resolve.
- Where it lives
- Classical and baroque minor keys, neoclassical metal, flamenco, and Balkan and klezmer music.
On the neck
- High E string: F♯ at fret 2, G at fret 3
- B string: C♯ at fret 2, D at fret 3, E at fret 5
- G string: A♯ at fret 3, B at fret 4
- D string: E at fret 2, F♯ at fret 4, G at fret 5
- A string: B at fret 2, C♯ at fret 4, D at fret 5
- Low E string: F♯ at fret 2, G at fret 3
The notes
In order, with the frets between them: B2C♯1D2E2F♯1G3A♯1B
Only one note differs from natural minor, and it changes a lot. A♯ now sits a single fret below B and pulls toward it. The cost is the gap it opens underneath: look at the jump from G to A♯.
Home. Every other note is measured from it. A♯ sits one fret below.
B
Perfect unison
Two frets up from B: whole step.
C♯
Major second
One fret up from C♯: half step.
D
Minor third
Two frets up from D: whole step.
E
Perfect fourth
Two frets up from E: whole step.
F♯
Perfect fifth
One fret up from F♯: half step.
G
Minor sixth
Three frets up from G: augmented second.
A♯
Major seventh
The chords
Same method: take a note, skip one, take the next. Most of the chords match natural minor. The new one is on D. D–F♯–A♯ is four frets and then four more, two wide gaps in a row, and that makes an augmented chord. It’s unstable, and you’ll rarely hear it on its own.
F♯–A♯–C♯, four then three, turns the five chord major.
i, ii°, III+, iv, V, VI, vii°. The plus marks an augmented chord. The uppercase V is the whole point of this scale: a minor key with a major five. In B harmonic minor, i–iv–V is Bm–Em–F♯.
- High E string: F♯ at fret 2
- B string: D at fret 3
- G string: B at fret 4
- D string: F♯ at fret 4
- A string: B at fret 2
- Low E string: not played
The three functions
The same three jobs, except now the last station actually pulls.
Tonic
home
- Bmi
Pre-dominant
moving
- Emiv
- C♯dimii°rare
- GVI
Dominant
tension
- F♯V
- A♯dimvii°rare
resolves back to Bm
F♯ is F♯–A♯–C♯ and A♯dim is A♯–C♯–E. They share A♯ and C♯, and both have the note one fret below home, so they do the same job.
Compare natural minor, where the dominant chords had no A♯ at all. One note moved and the key got a real ending.
Progressions
Classical
Classical minor keys are written this way on purpose. The raised seventh is there to make the cadence work: the five chord goes where it promised, and the key shuts like a door.
| Name | Numerals | In B |
|---|---|---|
| Minor cadencecommon | V–i | F♯ – Bm |
| Full minor cadencecommon | i–iv–V–i | Bm – Em – F♯ – Bm |
| Pre-dominant approach | ii°–V–i | C♯dim – F♯ – Bm |
| Deceptiverare | V–VI | F♯ – G |
Jazz
Jazz plays the same move with seventh chords. The minor two-five-one closes a huge number of minor-key standards.
| Name | Numerals | In B |
|---|---|---|
| Minor two-five-onecommon | iiø7–V7–i | C♯m7♭5 – F♯7 – Bm |
| Minor turnaround | i–VI–iiø7–V7 | Bm – Gmaj7 – C♯m7♭5 – F♯7 |
Spanish and flamenco
Here the music leans on the five chord itself. F♯ gets treated as a place to rest, not a step toward home, which is how the scale sounds when you start it from its fifth note.
| Name | Numerals | In B |
|---|---|---|
| Andalusian cadencecommon | i–VII–VI–V | Bm – A – G – F♯borrows A from natural minor |
| Phrygian vamp | V–VI–V | F♯ – G – F♯ |
Writing with this
Putting chords under a melody
The note that can only mean one thing.
Hold an A♯ in the melody and look for the chords that contain it: F♯, A♯dim and D+. All three are unstable.
So an A♯ in the tune always sounds like it’s about to resolve. Harmonic minor melodies use that. Put A♯ on a long note and the listener waits for B.
The family
- B MajorB C♯ D♯ E F♯ G♯ A♯
From B major: remove 4 and 7
B Major PentatonicB C♯ D♯ F♯ G♯From B major: flatten 3, 6 and 7
B Natural MinorB C♯ D E F♯ G A ♭3 ♭6 ♭7From B natural minor: remove 2 and ♭6
B Minor PentatonicB D E F♯ A ♭3 ♭7From B natural minor: raise the 7 back
B Harmonic MinorB C♯ D E F♯ G A♯ ♭3 ♭6From B harmonic minor: raise the 6 back
B Melodic MinorB C♯ D E F♯ G♯ A♯ ♭3