[yea...its me]

i dont get this...my hw is on minor scales and its killin mefor those whove actually helped thanks for the info. but most of you dont seem to know what your talking about cuz there CAN be both flats and sharps in a scale. no there cant be flats and sharps in a key signature i know but there CAN be in a SCALE

[aerogirl823]

they can't have both it has to be one or the other

[Lea]

when minor scales are in the harmonic form they can have a sharp, because the rule for a harmonic minor scale is to raise the second to last note, sometimes causing it to become sharp.

[!!!]

sharps and flats are sort of the same thinglike an A sharp is the same as a B flat(if that makes sense)

[Elizabeth T]

I think that Major and Minor just describe the tone both can have sharps and flats but they are more common in the designated group

[Norman]

The thing is, in a scale, you never skip letters. it's always every single one, CDEFGABC. so the formula for minor is WHWWHWW. that means whole step (2 keys up, black or white!) and half step (1 key up, black or white!) so it's whole half whole whole half whole whole. anyway, since you can't skip letters, you cant do, say, G#, cause the one before was G natural. so instead it's A flat. then the next one has to include "B."

[radha_6_4]

It would be in a harmonic or melodic minor scale in a flat key. In the harmonic minor scale, the seventh scale degree is raised. In the melodic minor scale, the sixth and seventh degrees are raised on the way up and lowered on the way down. For example, D minor. Has one flat, B-flat. D E F G A Bb C D is the natural form. Harmonic Minor is D E F G A Bb C# D. Melodic Minor is D E F G A B C# D C Bb A G F E D.

[cattbarf]

As Mario noted, you have either one or the other in a given key. The one you get is determined on how the pitch increase increments occur in the given key.

[Katrina M]

The key signatures will only have either flats or sharps.Accidentals can occur which cause there to be both flats and sharps in a scale. I suppose if you're writing them out without a key signature that it can look a little funny.Ultimately the reason is because music theory requires two things:1. There is one of each note-name in each major and minor scale.2. Some minor scale patterns require the interval of a step-and-a-half, written as an augmented second in order to fulfill the first rule here.

[leftie1959]

Some people make it complicated..Their are 3 types of minor scales......and that is it.Their is the natural minor which has no raised notes. The melodic minor has a raised 6th & 7th note, but, converts to natural form on the way down.Then you've got the Harmonic minor which has a raised 7th.Their is also a Dorian minor , used a lot in jazz ......notice that the “relative major” of the Dorian begins one whole step lower. (D Dorian has the same key signature as C major.) That's the reason Dorian is so useful for jazz. If you are playing in the key of D-minor, you play any notes in the in C-major scale and they will all sound good. No wrong notes in this scale.