E♭ harmonic minor
Natural minor, fixed for endings.
One change: raise the seventh from D♭ to D. That turns the five chord from B♭m into B♭, and puts a note one fret below home.
C♭ is the same fret as B. The scale spells it C♭ so every letter appears once.
It also opens a three-fret gap between C♭ and D. 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 1, G♭ at fret 2, A♭ at fret 4
- B string: D at fret 3, E♭ at fret 4
- G string: A♭ at fret 1, B♭ at fret 3, C♭ at fret 4
- D string: E♭ at fret 1, F at fret 3, G♭ at fret 4
- A string: B♭ at fret 1, C♭ at fret 2
- Low E string: F at fret 1, G♭ at fret 2, A♭ at fret 4
The notes
In order, with the frets between them: E♭2F1G♭2A♭2B♭1C♭3D1E♭
Spelled from E♭ — the same notes with fewer accidentals.
Only one note differs from natural minor, and it changes a lot. D now sits a single fret below E♭ and pulls toward it. The cost is the gap it opens underneath: look at the jump from C♭ to D.
Home. Every other note is measured from it. D sits one fret below.
E♭
Perfect unison
Two frets up from E♭: whole step.
F
Major second
One fret up from F: half step.
G♭
Minor third
Two frets up from G♭: whole step.
A♭
Perfect fourth
Two frets up from A♭: whole step.
B♭
Perfect fifth
One fret up from B♭: half step. C♭ is the same fret as B.
C♭
Minor sixth
Three frets up from C♭: augmented second.
D
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 G♭. G♭–B♭–D 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.
B♭–D–F, 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 E♭ harmonic minor, i–iv–V is E♭m–A♭m–B♭.
- High E string: G♭ at fret 2
- B string: E♭ at fret 4
- G string: B♭ at fret 3
- D string: E♭ at fret 1
- A string: not played
- Low E string: not played
The three functions
The same three jobs, except now the last station actually pulls.
Tonic
home
- E♭mi
Pre-dominant
moving
- A♭miv
- Fdimii°rare
- C♭VI
Dominant
tension
- B♭V
- Ddimvii°rare
resolves back to E♭m
B♭ is B♭–D–F and Ddim is D–F–A♭. They share D and F, and both have the note one fret below home, so they do the same job.
Compare natural minor, where the dominant chords had no D 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 E♭ |
|---|---|---|
| Minor cadencecommon | V–i | B♭ – E♭m |
| Full minor cadencecommon | i–iv–V–i | E♭m – A♭m – B♭ – E♭m |
| Pre-dominant approach | ii°–V–i | Fdim – B♭ – E♭m |
| Deceptiverare | V–VI | B♭ – C♭ |
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 E♭ |
|---|---|---|
| Minor two-five-onecommon | iiø7–V7–i | Fm7♭5 – B♭7 – E♭m |
| Minor turnaround | i–VI–iiø7–V7 | E♭m – C♭maj7 – Fm7♭5 – B♭7 |
Spanish and flamenco
Here the music leans on the five chord itself. B♭ 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 E♭ |
|---|---|---|
| Andalusian cadencecommon | i–VII–VI–V | E♭m – D♭ – C♭ – B♭borrows D♭ from natural minor |
| Phrygian vamp | V–VI–V | B♭ – C♭ – B♭ |
Writing with this
Putting chords under a melody
The note that can only mean one thing.
Hold a D in the melody and look for the chords that contain it: B♭, Ddim and G♭+. All three are unstable.
So a D in the tune always sounds like it’s about to resolve. Harmonic minor melodies use that. Put D on a long note and the listener waits for E♭.
The family
- D♯ MajorE♭ F G A♭ B♭ C D
From D♯ major: remove 4 and 7
D♯ Major PentatonicE♭ F G B♭ CFrom D♯ major: flatten 3, 6 and 7
D♯ Natural MinorE♭ F G♭ A♭ B♭ C♭ D♭ ♭3 ♭6 ♭7From D♯ natural minor: remove 2 and ♭6
D♯ Minor PentatonicE♭ G♭ A♭ B♭ D♭ ♭3 ♭7From D♯ natural minor: raise the 7 back
D♯ Harmonic MinorE♭ F G♭ A♭ B♭ C♭ D ♭3 ♭6From D♯ harmonic minor: raise the 6 back
D♯ Melodic MinorE♭ F G♭ A♭ B♭ C D ♭3