See yesterdays Tip……. Why does this matter? Why would you need to know that? Here we go -- Since the key of A minor has no sharps or flats, building a chord on 5 (E), the 5 chord - would be spelled: E G B D.. . This is an E minor7 chord, and we all know 5 chords are dominant 7; that is -- E G# B D…The A harmonic minor scale (a b c d e f G# a) provides the needed G# which keeps the E7 ’honest’ (if you will).. ..Again, why does this matter to you? This is because when creating bass lines, you must provide the ’leading tone’ at all times (unless performing a modal tune discussed in tomorrow’s blog). Keep in mind that the Melodic minor scale provides both the raised 6th (Dorian mode) AND raised 7th. We will discuss melodic minor and why it is critical knowledge, but for now note it is not nearly as interesting as harmonic minor ( w/ its ½ step, step& ½, ½ step cadence from 5th to octave).