C melodic minor scale

The notes

C minor has three flats, B♭, E♭ and A♭, the key signature of E♭ major, its relative major. It was Beethoven’s key for stormy music.

Key signature

C minor has three flats (B♭, E♭ and A♭) in its key signature, the same as E♭ major, its relative major. The melodic minor adds two accidentals going up, A and B, and takes them back coming down.

What makes it melodic minor

The melodic minor raises the sixth and seventh notes going up, A♭ to A and B♭ to B, so it climbs smoothly to the tonic, without the harmonic minor’s gap. Going up, it differs from C major only in its third note, E♭.

Coming down, it is the natural minor: B♭ and A♭ again, written here with courtesy accidentals. (Jazz players use the ascending form both ways, and call it the jazz minor.)

Fingering

Right hand: 1 2 3 1 2 3 4 5 going up. Going up, the thumb passes under the third finger from E♭ to F. The fourth finger plays B: once per octave, a good landmark for where the hand is. Over two octaves, the C in the middle takes the thumb instead of the fifth finger, and the pattern starts again.

Left hand: 5 4 3 2 1 3 2 1 going up. Going up, the third finger crosses over the thumb from G to A. The fourth finger plays D: once per octave, a good landmark for where the hand is. Over two octaves, the left hand starts on the fifth finger only once, at the bottom; the C in the middle takes the thumb.

Fingered like C major in both hands, so the thumbs land on F and C in the right hand and on G and C in the left, with E♭ and A♭ under the third fingers.

Chords in C minor

The triads built on each note of the scale going up. Most music in a minor key mixes chords from all three forms; the ones below are the melodic minor’s.

• i C minor
• ii D minor
• III+ E♭ augmented
• IV F major
• V G major
• vi° A diminished
• vii° B diminished

Music in C minor

• Beethoven’s “Pathétique” Sonata, Op. 13
• Beethoven’s Symphony No. 5
• Chopin’s “Revolutionary” Étude, Op. 10 No. 12
• Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No. 2

How to practise it

• Hands separately first, slowly, saying the finger numbers. Fingering learned slowly stays; fingering found at speed changes every time.
• Practise the thumb crossings alone: play just the notes either side of each crossing, back and forth, until the thumb is in place before it’s needed.
• Then hands together, one octave, then two. The hands cross their thumbs at different places, which is what makes scales hands together hard at first.
• Use “Play along” above: it waits for each note, so you can check every note and finger at your own pace. Then Listen at ♩ = 72 and play with it.

Quick answers

What are the notes of the C melodic minor scale?

C D E♭ F G A B C going up, C B♭ A♭ G F E♭ D C coming down.

What is the fingering for the C melodic minor scale?

Going up one octave from C: right hand 1 2 3 1 2 3 4 5, left hand 5 4 3 2 1 3 2 1. Coming down: right hand 5 4 3 2 1 3 2 1, left hand 1 2 3 1 2 3 4 5. 1 is the thumb.

What key signature does C minor have?

Three flats (B♭, E♭ and A♭), the same as its relative major, E♭ major.