Minor scale based on the accidentals of the "natural" minor scale, not on those of the harmonic or melodic minor scales. For example, a piece in E minor will have one sharp in its key signature because the E natural minor scale has one sharp (F). Major and minor keys that share the same key signature are "relative" to each other. For instance, F major is the relative major of D minor since both have key signatures with one flat. Since the natural minor scale is built on the 6th degree of the major scale, the tonic of the relative minor is
Minor scale sharp or flat represents a major (or perfect) interval. A number with a flat represents a minor interval. In this example, the numbers mean: Thus, for instance, the A natural minor scale can be built by lowering the 3rd, 6th, and 7th degrees of the A major scale by one semitone: \override Score.TimeSignature #'stencil = ##f \relative c' { </score> Because of this, the key of A minor is called the "parallel minor" of A major. The intervals between the notes of a natural minor scale follow the sequence below: where "whole" stands for a whole tone (a red u-shaped