Theory: How to tell major, minor, melodi, harmonic, natural apart?

Question

I'm currently learning theory and need some help. I can't necessarily tell apart Major and Minor scales (from the key signature and the scales) nor can I tell the harmonic form. I remember my teacher telling me that the major scales have no accidentals, and the minors and harmonic do, but I do not know how to tell if a scale is minor in natural or harmonic form.

Answer 1

Major: no accidentals (just follow the key signature)

Minor:

Natural: 3rd, 6th, and 7th are lowered

Harmonic: 3rd and 6th are lowered (7th is raised back to what it would normally be in the key signature)

Melodic going up only the 3rd is lowered (6th and 7th are raised back to what they would normally be in the

key signature) and going down everything reverts back to natural minor form (3rd, 6th, and 7th, are lowered)

Answer 2

Hi. So the first thing i wanna talk about is the identification of major and minor scales then I will go into the idea of natural minor, harmonic minor and melodic minor. To identify the scale using its key signature is simple, I use a system of BEADGCF. Not only does this show the order that the sharps and flats are added in key signatures, for example reading it normally from B-F is the order the flats are added to a time signature. So Bb is added first then Eb, ext. and going the opposite direction F-B is the sharps, F# is added then C#, ext. Not only think but it can be used to see key signatures, so for major scales start at the C. If you want major scales with flats in them go to the right, so C (has no flats), F (1 flat), B (2), A (3), and on till you get back to Cb that has all 7. For sharps go left from C, G (1 sharp), D (2), A (3) and so on till you get to C# that has all 7. This BEADGCF can also help with minor keys. Do the exact same thing but this time start at the A, so A has no flats or sharps. Going to the right is the flats, D (1 flat), G (2 flats). And then to the left is sharps E (1 sharp), B (2).

To tell you about the differences between the types of minors i have a link down bellow. This link will take you to a good music theory website that does a good job explaining the difference. I would do it myself but I would be here for another hour or two. I hope this helps.

https://musictheoryonline.com/natural-harmonic-and-melodic-minor/