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.

The A minor scale on guitar

One position, frets 4–8, low E string first: low 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) · B: 5 6 8 (5 ♭6 ♭7) · high E: 5 7 8 (1 2 ♭3). 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.

The minor scale in all twelve keys

From the pentatonic box to the full scale

If you know the minor pentatonic box, natural minor is two notes away: add the 2nd and the ♭6. In A at the 5th fret those are B and F. The table shows the fret where each key's root sits, so the same shape plays E minor at the 12th fret (or open), G minor at the 3rd and D minor at the 10th.

More scales

Minor scale Minor scale on piano Minor scale on bass A minor scale on guitar E minor scale on guitar C minor scale on guitar

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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