The natural minor scale (Aeolian) on guitar
The full seven-note minor scale behind rock and metal lead, and how it extends the pentatonic shape you already play.
- Notes
- A · B · C · D · E · F · G
- Formula
- 1 · 2 · ♭3 · 4 · 5 · ♭6 · ♭7
- Notes in the scale
- 7
Natural minor — Aeolian, the sixth mode of the major scale — is minor pentatonic with the 2nd and the ♭6 put back in. Those two notes are the ones pentatonic leaves out for safety, so adding them buys expression at the cost of having to think about where you land.
Practically, the way in is to play the minor pentatonic box you already know and add the two extra notes per position rather than learning a new shape from scratch. You are not replacing the pentatonic; you are filling it in. The pentatonic notes stay the safe landing points and the new notes become passing tones and colour.
The ♭6 is the note that gives natural minor its particular flavour — darker and more settled than Dorian, which raises that degree. If a minor rock line sounds sad rather than funky, the ♭6 is usually why.
Where it sits on the neck
Same five positions as the pentatonic, because the roots have not moved. What changes inside each window is that four dots appear where there were none.
In box 1 at the 5th fret, the 2nd is the B at the 7th fret of the low E string and the B at the 7th of the high e. The ♭6 is the F at the 8th fret of the A string and the F at the 6th of the B string. Four notes, two of each, and that is the entire difference between A minor pentatonic and A natural minor in those four frets. Learn them as additions to a shape rather than as a new shape and the scale takes an afternoon instead of a month.
- Root on the A string — the open strings to the 3rd fret.
- Root on the G string — the 2nd fret to the 5th.
- Root on the low E string — the 5th fret to the 8th.
- Root on the D string — the 7th fret to the 10th.
- Root on the B string — the 10th fret to the 13th.
What to play it over
The chords it builds are Am, Bdim, C, Dm, Em, F and G, and the rock vamp this site uses is three of them: Am to G to F and back to G. That is i, ♭VII and ♭VI. The ♭VI is the F chord — the same ♭6 that gives the scale its character, now sitting underneath as harmony. Land the F over the F chord and the two agree completely; land it over the Am and it leans. Both are usable and they sound nothing alike, which is the point of knowing which chord is underneath.
Do not take it to a blues. Over an A7 the C rubbing against the chord's C♯ is the familiar blues sound and entirely forgivable, but the F is not: it sits a semitone above the chord's 5th with nothing in the harmony to catch it. This is the rock scale. The blues side of the site reaches outward to the chords instead, and that difference is real rather than stylistic labelling.
The common mistake
Giving all seven notes equal weight. A pentatonic shape lets you land anywhere; this one does not, and the two notes you just added are the two that will expose you. Keep the five pentatonic notes as the places phrases stop and let the 2nd and the ♭6 be things you pass through on the way. If you cannot hear what that means, play a phrase that ends on the F over an Am chord and hold it for four beats. That is the sound of landing on a colour note, and it is only ever right on purpose.
Licks that use it
The two extra notes turn up rarely and deliberately in the written material, which is roughly the ratio to aim for in your own playing.