A Natural Minor Scale on guitar
The natural minor scale has a darker, sadder sound compared to major. The pattern is: W-H-W-W-H-W-W.
The notes of A Natural Minor Scale
Built on A, the scale degrees spell out like this. The degree is the number you would call that note relative to A:
Where it lands on the fretboard
Every fret from the open string up to the 12th that belongs to the A Natural Minor Scale, string by string. Root notes are highlighted.
- Low E: 0, 1, 3, 5, 7, 8, 10, 12
- A: 0, 2, 3, 5, 7, 8, 10, 12
- D: 0, 2, 3, 5, 7, 9, 10, 12
- G: 0, 2, 4, 5, 7, 9, 10, 12
- B: 0, 1, 3, 5, 6, 8, 10, 12
- High E: 0, 1, 3, 5, 7, 8, 10, 12
Your anchor points: A is at fret 5 on the low E string and fret 0 on the A string. Start every pattern from one of those and you always know where home is.
Every major scale has a relative minor. A minor is the relative minor of C major.
Chords that fit
These chords from RiffRoute's library use only notes inside the A Natural Minor Scale, so they will not clash with it:
Same notes, different home
These scales contain exactly the same notes as the A Natural Minor Scale. The fretboard pattern is identical — what changes is which note you treat as home:
Other A scales
Same starting note, different colour. Switching between these over one A chord is the quickest way to hear what each scale does:
- A Major Scale
- A Major Pentatonic Scale
- A Minor Pentatonic Scale
- A Blues Scale
- A Harmonic Minor Scale
- A Mixolydian Mode
The Natural Minor scale in other keys
Practise it in the app
A list of frets only gets you so far. RiffRoute shows the A Natural Minor Scale lit up on a full fretboard, plays it back and lets you practise it against a backing track.