What Is the Natural Minor Scale?

The natural minor scale is the seven-note scale built by the step pattern W–H–W–W–H–W–W. Start on A and you get A-B-C-D-E-F-G — the dark, melancholy counterpart to the major scale. Relative to major, its 3rd, 6th, and 7th degrees are flattened: 1, 2, ♭3, 4, 5, ♭6, ♭7.

The relative-major shortcut

A minor and C major contain exactly the same notes — they just call different notes home. Every minor scale has a relative major a minor third up, which means every major-scale shape you know on the fretboard is already a minor-scale shape with the root moved. The full explanation is in Relative Major and Minor Explained.

Why "natural"?

Because minor comes in three flavors. Natural minor is the plain recipe; harmonic minor raises the 7th to create a leading tone (giving minor keys a stronger pull home), and melodic minor also raises the 6th on the way up. The differences — and when you'd actually use each — are in Harmonic Minor vs Melodic Minor.

On the guitar

Most players sneak into minor through the minor pentatonic — natural minor minus two notes. Add the 2nd and ♭6th back into the pentatonic boxes and you have the full scale without learning new territory.

Related terms

• Major scale — the bright counterpart
• Pentatonic scale — minor's five-note core
• Parallel keys — A minor vs A major