what is the difference between Harmonic minor, Melodic minor, Pentatonic, and Whole tone scales???????????????

Answer 1

so far angel's answer is the closest. but here goes:
major and minor scales have 7 notes, not 8 as someone said. We only count the tonic(first note) once.
1)Harmonic minor scale has a raised seventh meaning the seventh note of the scale is a half step higher than it would normally occur in that key.
2) the melodic minor scale raises the sixth and seventh notes a half step when the scale is played ascending. Descending the melodic minor is the same as the natural minor.

So. A minor is the easiest since it is the same key signature as C Major; they are known as relative major and minor. the notes in the A natural minor scale are: A B C D E F G
For harmonic minor the notes are A B C D E F Gsharp and the same notes descending.
for melodic minor they are A B C D E F sharp G sharp then you play the tonic octave (another A in this case) and descend A G natural F natural E D C B A

Pentatonic means five tones. They could be any five tones within an octave including tones(notes) which do not exist on out western piano. However pentatonic is usually thought of as being eg. whole tone ,minor third, whole tone, whole tone. It could be expressed as C D F G A or if you wish the black notes on the piano C sharp/D flat, D sharp/E flat, F sharp/G flat,G sharp/A flat, A sharp/B flat.

A whole tone scale consists of six notes each sepreated by a whole tone or a whole step; whole tone and whole step mean the same.

and example of a whole tone scale would be C,D,E,F sharp,G sharp, A sharp. A sharp is the enharmonic equivalent of B flat so it sounds a whole tone between A sharp/ B flat to the C natural of the second octave

Harmonic and melodic minor scales are common is western music. Harmonic minor actually sounds middle eastern to most people. The pentatonic scale and whole tone scale are more common in the east although as far back as the late 19th century European composers, notably the French impressionists, were experimenting with them as part of their fascination with things oriental.

Answer 2

Most major and minor scales are 8 notes, each separated by a whole step (W) or half step (h), with the 8th note being one octave above the first.

Let's start with a major scale (1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8), which has a pattern of 2 whole steps, a half step, 3 whole steps, and one final half step.

1 - W - 2 - W - 3 - h - 4 - W - 5 - W - 6 W - 7 - h - 8

That's our starting point for the rest of the scales, so now let's look at a few minor scales.

Natural minor is the first; it is a major scale with the 3rd, 6th, and 7th notes lowered by a half step.

1 2 flat3 4 5 flat6 flat7 8
1 - W - 2 - h - 3 - W - 4 - W - 5 - h - 6 - W - 7 - W - 8

The melodic minor scale is different depending on whether it is played ascending or descending. Ascending, it has only the lowered 3rd, and descending, it is the same as the natural minor scale with the lowered 6th and 7th as well.

1 2 flat3 4 5 6 7 8
1 - W - 2 - h - 3 - W - 4 - W - 5 - W - 6 - W - 7 - h - 8

The harmonic minor is a strange one. It lowers the 3rd and 6th, but not the 7th, so that there is a step and a half between 6 and 7.

1 2 flat3 4 5 flat6 7 8
1 - W - 2 - h - 3 - W - 4 - W - 5 - h - 6 - W+h - 7 - h - 8

The whole tone scale constists entirely of whole steps, so it has one less note. There are only two different whole tone scales. It is what we refer to as a symmetrical scale, because any note in the scale could be the starting note. This is a tricky one to base on the major scale because the octave will not be the 8th note, it will be the 7th.

1 - W - 2 - W - 3 - W - 4 - W - 5 - W - 6 - W etc...

A pentatonic scale had 5 notes (penta), not including the repeated octave on the top. There are many different pentatonic scales that can be used, but the two most common are the major and minor . We'll just take 5 notes from the major scale.

Major pentatonic is 1 2 3 5 6 (8)

Minor pentatonic is 1 flat3 4 5 flat7 (8)

I hope I wasn't too confusing.

Answer 3

The melodic minor scale has the 3rd tone and the 6th tone lowered by one-half step.
The pentatonic scale is a five note scale which corresponds to the black keys on a piano.
A whole tone scale has no half steps in it. (so one example would be C, D, E, f#, g#, a#, b#, C)
But I don't remember hearing about a harmonic minor scale (and I took 3 semesters of music theory in college. It was 30 years ago, though!)

Answer 4

The accidentals are a good way to tell. In a harmonic minor scale, the 7th scale degree will have an accidental when the scale is both ascending and descending, to indicate that it is raised by a semitone. In a melodic minor scale, the 6th and 7th scale degrees will both have accidentals next to them when the scale is ascending, and when the scale is descending, no notes will have accidentals beside them. This is of course presuming that the scales are notated with a key signature, if not, the pattern of intervals is a good way to tell. An alternative to that is to know the sound of a melodic and a harmonic minor scale, and to play back the written music in your head to hear which one it sounds like.

Answer 5

Define Pentatonic

Answer 6

harmonic = major 7th
whole = no half steps, so full steps between notes
melodic = major 6th and 7th going up and minor them back down
pentatonic =5 notes per octave (eg c major, just c, d, e, g, a, and back to c)

Answer 7

pitch tone and voicings

Answer 8

You'll have to look that up and see for yourself.

Answer 9

A lot.