E harmonic minor
Natural minor, fixed for endings.
One change: raise the seventh from D to D♯. That turns the five chord from Bm into B, and puts a note one fret below home.
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 2, G at fret 3, A at fret 5
- B string: D♯ at fret 4, E at fret 5
- G string: A at fret 2, B at fret 4, C at fret 5
- D string: E at fret 2, F♯ at fret 4, G at fret 5
- A string: B at fret 2, C at fret 3
- Low E string: F♯ at fret 2, G at fret 3, A at fret 5
The notes
In order, with the frets between them: E2F♯1G2A2B1C3D♯1E
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
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 Em–Am–B.
- High E string: E at fret 0
- B string: B at fret 0
- G string: G at fret 0
- D string: E at fret 2
- A string: B at fret 2
- Low E string: E at fret 0
The three functions
The same three jobs, except now the last station actually pulls.
Tonic
home
- Emi
Pre-dominant
moving
- Amiv
- F♯dimii°rare
- CVI
Dominant
tension
- BV
- D♯dimvii°rare
resolves back to Em
B is B–D♯–F♯ and D♯dim 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 – Em |
| Full minor cadencecommon | i–iv–V–i | Em – Am – B – Em |
| Pre-dominant approach | ii°–V–i | F♯dim – B – Em |
| 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 | F♯m7♭5 – B7 – Em |
| Minor turnaround | i–VI–iiø7–V7 | Em – Cmaj7 – F♯m7♭5 – B7 |
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 | Em – D – C – Bborrows 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, D♯dim 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
- E MajorE F♯ G♯ A B C♯ D♯
From E major: remove 4 and 7
E Major PentatonicE F♯ G♯ B C♯From E major: flatten 3, 6 and 7
E Natural MinorE F♯ G A B C D ♭3 ♭6 ♭7From E natural minor: remove 2 and ♭6
E Minor PentatonicE G A B D ♭3 ♭7From E natural minor: raise the 7 back
E Harmonic MinorE F♯ G A B C D♯ ♭3 ♭6From E harmonic minor: raise the 6 back
E Melodic MinorE F♯ G A B C♯ D♯ ♭3