Quote:
Originally Posted by SunnyDee
Since we're talking about the differences in scales and key - Just to clarify for the OP, if "A minor" had G# and F#, that would be a different scale with different intervals.
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Yes in theory, but not really in practice. The "minor key" employs a scale with variable 6th and 7th degrees. A piece in the "key of A minor" can use F and/or F#, and G and/or G#, at different times, for various reasons.
It doesn't really help to see it as three different
scales (even though a lot of books insist on describing it like that). In western practice, harmonic and melodic minor are not really "scales", they are "practices" of altering natural minor in specific ways, for "harmonic" or "melodic" purposes.
In some folk cultures, harmonic minor (or something very like it) does exist as a scale in is own right. But in the main western traditions (classical, pop, jazz, etc), you don't see music written in harmonic or melodic minor. They're always just temporary alterations within tunes that are otherwise based on natural minor.