Lower the 3rd 6th and 7th to Create the Natural Minor Scale

Lower the 3rd 6th and 7th degrees of any Maj Scale and you create the natural minor scale.  This is known as thew relative minor to whatever Major Scale you’ve formed.  Let’s take a look at the example of G Major.  Spelling out G Major yields, G-A-B-C-D-E-F#, and if we lower the 3rd, 6th and 7th, we see, G-A-Bb-C-D-Eb-F, which is the G natural minor.  If we spell out the Eb Major we get, Eb-F-G-A-Bb-C-D, which as you can also see is the same as the G natural minor.  This is what the relative minor is.  Same notes, different scale.

In all Major Scales, the 6th degree represents the relative minor’s root note, or starting point, and when spelled from this root, you will always lower the 3rd 6th and 7th tones.  Therefore, the Major Scale and it’s relative minor will always share the same 7 notes, but starting on different roots.  This is what creates the 7 modes we have in music.  Because all our diatonic scales have 7 tones in them, if we merely take any particular Major Scale and spell it out with each 7 notes acting as their own scale root, we get 7 corresponding modes.  Let’s look at the C Major Scale for example.

C Major from C (or the Ionian Scale degree) = C-D-E-F-G-A-B  (interval pattern W-W-H-W-W-W-H)

C Major from D (or the Dorian, 2nd degree) = D-E-F-G-A-B-C  (interval pattern W-H-W-W-W-H-W)

C Major from E (or the Phrygian, 3rd degree) = E-F-G-A-B-C-D  (interval pattern H-W-W-W-H-W-W)

C Major from F (or the Lydian, 4th degree) = F-G-A-B-C-D-E  (interval pattern W-W-W-H-W-W-H)

C Major from G (or the Mixolydian, 5th degree) = G-A-B-C-D-E-F  (interval pattern W-W-H-W-W-H-W)

C Major from A (or the Aeolian, 6th degree) = A-B-C-D-E-F-G  (interval pattern W-H-W-W-H-W-W)

C Major from B (or the Locrian, 7th degree) = B-C-D-E-F-G-A  (interval pattern H-W-W-H-W-W-W)

Now to truly understand that modes are in fact their own scales, we should look at them in relation to their own parent Major scales and see how they differ.  This helps us really hear what each of these particular modes brings to the table and distinguishes their character from their Major counter parts.

D Maj yields, D-E-F#-G-A-B-C#, which differs from D Dorian by a lowered 3rd and 7th.  This is a min mode.

E Maj yields, E-F#-G#-A-B-C#-D#, which differs from E Phrygian by a lowered 2nd, 3rd, 6th and 7th.  Also min.

F Maj yields, F-G-A-Bb-C-D-E, which differs from F Lydian by a raised or augmented 4th.  This is a Maj mode.

G Maj yields, G-A-B-C-D-E-F#, which differs from G Mixolydian by a lowered 7th.  Also a Maj mode.

A Maj yields, A-B-C#-D-E-F#-G#, which differs from A Aeolian by a lowered 3rd, 6th and 7th.  This is a min mode.

B Maj yields, B-C#-D#-E-F#-G#-A#, which differs from B Locrian as we lower the 2nd, 3rd, 5th, 6th and 7th.  Also min.

From these examples, we can see that just as in our harmonized chords, that the 2nd, 3rd, 6th and 7th scale degrees yield minor modes, to equate to the minor chords formed from those scale degrees, and the 1st, 4th and 5th scale degrees yield Major modes.