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Minor scale on bass
The natural minor scale on bass guitar: one position fret by fret on four strings, the root on the E and A strings for every key, played, MIDI to take.
In the minor scale on bass, the top note here is A2, 110.0 Hz. Mika stops there.Tap Hear it, or tap any note on the board.
A B C D E F G
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.
The A minor scale on bass
One position, frets 4–8, E string first: E: 5 7 8 (1 2 ♭3) · A: 5 7 8 (4 5 ♭6) · D: 5 7 (♭7 1) · G: 4 5 7 (2 ♭3 4). 0 = open string.
1 is the root. Put it on the fret the table below gives for your key and the same shape plays that key. On bass the shape sits under one hand, one finger per fret, and the octave is two strings up and two frets on.
The minor scale in all twelve keys
| Root | Notes | Fret, low string | Octave, D string |
|---|---|---|---|
| C | C D E♭ F G A♭ B♭ | 8 | 10 |
| C♯ | C♯ D♯ E F♯ G♯ A B | 9 | 11 |
| D | D E F G A B♭ C | 10 | 0 |
| E♭ | E♭ F G♭ A♭ B♭ C♭ D♭ | 11 | 1 |
| E | E F♯ G A B C D | 0 | 2 |
| F | F G A♭ B♭ C D♭ E♭ | 1 | 3 |
| F♯ | F♯ G♯ A B C♯ D E | 2 | 4 |
| G | G A B♭ C D E♭ F | 3 | 5 |
| G♯ | G♯ A♯ B C♯ D♯ E F♯ | 4 | 6 |
| A | A B C D E F G | 5 | 7 |
| B♭ | B♭ C D♭ E♭ F G♭ A♭ | 6 | 8 |
| B | B C♯ D E F♯ G A | 7 | 9 |
Walk the minor
On bass, the natural minor scale gives you the notes between root and fifth for walking lines and riffs in a minor key. From the root on the E string at the 5th fret (A minor): 5 7 8 on E, 5 7 8 on A, 5 7 on D. Root, ♭3 and 5 make the minor chord; land on them on the beat.
More scales
Minor scale Minor scale on guitar Minor scale on piano Pentatonic scale on bass Major scale on bass Minor pentatonic scale on bass
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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