The Harmonic Minor
The harmonic minor scale shares almost the same notes as the Natural Minor. It’s only difference is that the 7th degree is raised by a semitone. This makes the scale sound darker and more “Arabic”.
In this regard, you could also look at the Harmonic Minor Scale as the Aeolian #7.
The intervals are:
1-½-1-1-½-1(½)-1
Number of semitones:
2-1-2-2-1-3-1
The degrees are:
R (Root)-2-b3-4-5-b6-7-8
Using the Harmonic Minor Scale
The scale is found in many musical genres such as Jazz, Metal, Manouche Jazz and classical music and so much more…
My favorite chord progression to practice this scale over is by far the Andalusian Cadence. If you want to try it, check out this post where I shared a backing track.
The Harmonic Minor Guitar Charts
The Harmonic Minor Full Neck (G Harmonic Minor)
Why if this is The Harmonic Minor Full Neck (E Harmonic Minor), are the root notes marked in the illustration Gs and not Es? I understand that Em is the relative minor to G major, but still don't understand why if this scale is Em scale why G would be the root note.
You’re absolutely right, that was a mistake on my part. My apologies for the confusion. E is clearly the root note for E harmonic minor; I must have mixed things up when uploading the content. I’ve updated the title to reflect the actual scale shown.
Thanks for catching that!