A minor scale on guitar

The notes of the A minor scale

A B C D E F G

Formula: 1 2 ♭3 4 5 ♭6 ♭7. Steps from note to note: 2 1 2 2 1 2 2 semitones (whole, half, whole, whole, half, whole, whole).

A minor is natural minor: no sharps or flats, the same notes as C major, its relative major.

In Hz, from A2: A2 110.0 · B2 123.5 · C3 130.8 · D3 146.8 · E3 164.8 · F3 174.6 · G3 196.0.

The A minor scale on guitar

One position, frets 4–8, low E string first: low E: 5 7 8 (A B C) · A: 5 7 8 (D E F) · D: 5 7 (G A) · G: 4 5 7 (B C D) · B: 5 6 8 (E F G) · high E: 5 7 8 (A B C). 0 = open string.

The root A sits at fret 5 on the low E string and at fret 0 on the A string. Slide the same shape there for any other root.

A minor without a sharp or a flat

A natural minor uses the same notes as C major, so on guitar it lives in the same places with a different home note: the 5th-fret position starts on the low E string's A. Fill in the two notes missing from the A minor pentatonic box, B and F, and you have this scale. Add G♯ for harmonic minor; that version has its own page.

More scales

Minor scale on guitar A minor scale on piano E minor scale on guitar C minor scale on guitar D minor scale on guitar A minor pentatonic scale A minor: scale and chords

How this page works

Hear it plays the scale up and down at 100 BPM on one of four Brumm sounds. Take it gives the same notes as a MIDI file and a WAV. − and + move the root. Every note here is computed from the formula.

Sources

Scales and modes: Open Music Theory, musictheory.net. Piano fingerings: the standard scale-book fingerings (ABRSM scale books; Hanon, The Virtuoso Pianist, part 3). Trumpet valves: the standard B♭ trumpet fingering chart (Yamaha, Bach). Hz: A4 = 440 Hz, ISO 16.

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