F♯ harmonic minor
Natural minor, fixed for endings.
One change: raise the seventh from E to E♯. That turns the five chord from C♯m into C♯, and puts a note one fret below home.
E♯ is the same fret as F. The scale spells it E♯ so every letter appears once.
It also opens a three-fret gap between D and E♯. 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: E♯ at fret 1, F♯ at fret 2, G♯ at fret 4, A at fret 5
- B string: C♯ at fret 2, D at fret 3
- G string: G♯ at fret 1, A at fret 2, B at fret 4
- D string: E♯ at fret 3, F♯ at fret 4
- A string: B at fret 2, C♯ at fret 4, D at fret 5
- Low E string: E♯ at fret 1, F♯ at fret 2, G♯ at fret 4, A at fret 5
The notes
In order, with the frets between them: F♯2G♯1A2B2C♯1D3E♯1F♯
Only one note differs from natural minor, and it changes a lot. E♯ now sits a single fret below F♯ and pulls toward it. The cost is the gap it opens underneath: look at the jump from D to E♯.
Home. Every other note is measured from it. E♯ (the same fret as F) sits one fret below.
F♯
Perfect unison
Two frets up from F♯: whole step.
G♯
Major second
One fret up from G♯: half step.
A
Minor third
Two frets up from A: whole step.
B
Perfect fourth
Two frets up from B: whole step.
C♯
Perfect fifth
One fret up from C♯: half step.
D
Minor sixth
Three frets up from D: augmented second. E♯ is the same fret as F.
E♯
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 A. A–C♯–E♯ 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.
C♯–E♯–G♯, 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 F♯ harmonic minor, i–iv–V is F♯m–Bm–C♯.
- High E string: F♯ at fret 2
- B string: C♯ at fret 2
- G string: A at fret 2
- D string: F♯ at fret 4
- A string: C♯ at fret 4
- Low E string: F♯ at fret 2
The three functions
The same three jobs, except now the last station actually pulls.
Tonic
home
- F♯mi
Pre-dominant
moving
- Bmiv
- G♯dimii°rare
- DVI
Dominant
tension
- C♯V
- E♯dimvii°rare
resolves back to F♯m
C♯ is C♯–E♯–G♯ and E♯dim is E♯–G♯–B. They share E♯ and G♯, and both have the note one fret below home, so they do the same job.
Compare natural minor, where the dominant chords had no E♯ 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 F♯ |
|---|---|---|
| Minor cadencecommon | V–i | C♯ – F♯m |
| Full minor cadencecommon | i–iv–V–i | F♯m – Bm – C♯ – F♯m |
| Pre-dominant approach | ii°–V–i | G♯dim – C♯ – F♯m |
| Deceptiverare | V–VI | C♯ – D |
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 F♯ |
|---|---|---|
| Minor two-five-onecommon | iiø7–V7–i | G♯m7♭5 – C♯7 – F♯m |
| Minor turnaround | i–VI–iiø7–V7 | F♯m – Dmaj7 – G♯m7♭5 – C♯7 |
Spanish and flamenco
Here the music leans on the five chord itself. C♯ 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 F♯ |
|---|---|---|
| Andalusian cadencecommon | i–VII–VI–V | F♯m – E – D – C♯borrows E from natural minor |
| Phrygian vamp | V–VI–V | C♯ – D – C♯ |
Writing with this
Putting chords under a melody
The note that can only mean one thing.
Hold an E♯ in the melody and look for the chords that contain it: C♯, E♯dim and A+. All three are unstable.
So an E♯ in the tune always sounds like it’s about to resolve. Harmonic minor melodies use that. Put E♯ on a long note and the listener waits for F♯.
The family
- F♯ MajorF♯ G♯ A♯ B C♯ D♯ E♯
From F♯ major: remove 4 and 7
F♯ Major PentatonicF♯ G♯ A♯ C♯ D♯From F♯ major: flatten 3, 6 and 7
F♯ Natural MinorF♯ G♯ A B C♯ D E ♭3 ♭6 ♭7From F♯ natural minor: remove 2 and ♭6
F♯ Minor PentatonicF♯ A B C♯ E ♭3 ♭7From F♯ natural minor: raise the 7 back
F♯ Harmonic MinorF♯ G♯ A B C♯ D E♯ ♭3 ♭6From F♯ harmonic minor: raise the 6 back
F♯ Melodic MinorF♯ G♯ A B C♯ D♯ E♯ ♭3