natural minor

The scale that is created by playing all the notes in a minor key signature is a natural minor scale.

Figure 4.19: The interval patterns for major and natural minor scales are basically the same pattern starting at different points.

All of the scales above are natural minor scales.

In the melodic minor scale, the sixth and seventh notes of the scale are each raised by one half step when going up the scale, but return to the natural minor when going down the scale.

Comparing this scale to the natural minor scale makes it easy to see why the dorian mode sounds minor; only one note is different.