A natural minor
Major with three notes lowered.
Take A major, lower the third, sixth and seventh, and you have it: A B C D E F G. Every other minor scale on this site starts here and changes one thing.
It shares all seven notes with C major. Treat A as home instead and the mood turns dark.
- How it sounds
- Dark, but in no hurry. It’s sad more than tense. The flat third sets the mood, and since no note leans hard on home, it drifts and settles instead of resolving. It loops well for the same reason.
- Where it lives
- Rock, pop ballads, folk, metal, film scoring, and most minor-key songwriting outside classical music.
On the neck
- High E string: E at fret 0, F at fret 1, G at fret 3
- B string: B at fret 0, C at fret 1, D at fret 3
- G string: G at fret 0, A at fret 2
- D string: D at fret 0, E at fret 2, F at fret 3
- A string: A at fret 0, B at fret 2, C at fret 3
- Low E string: E at fret 0, F at fret 1, G at fret 3
The notes
In order, with the frets between them: A2B1C2D2E1F2G2A
Two notes set the mood. C, one fret lower than in A major, makes it minor. G sits two frets under A instead of one, so nothing pulls hard toward home, and that’s where natural minor gets its calm.
Home. Every other note is measured from it. G sits two frets below.
A
Perfect unison
Two frets up from A: whole step.
B
Major second
One fret up from B: half step.
C
Minor third
Two frets up from C: whole step.
D
Perfect fourth
Two frets up from D: whole step.
E
Perfect fifth
One fret up from E: half step.
F
Minor sixth
Two frets up from F: whole step.
G
Minor seventh
The chords
Same method as always: take a note, skip one, take the next, skip again. What changes is the spacing. A to C is three frets, so the home chord is minor. C to E is four, so the III chord (C) comes out major. B–D–F is three frets and then three more, which makes a diminished chord.
Lowercase is minor, uppercase is major, the circle is diminished: i, ii°, III, iv, v, VI, VII. This time the home chord is lowercase, which is the quickest way to spot a minor key on paper. In A natural minor, i–iv–v is Am–Dm–Em.
- High E string: E at fret 0
- B string: C at fret 1
- G string: A at fret 2
- D string: E at fret 2
- A string: A at fret 0
- Low E string: not played
The three functions
Every chord still does one of three jobs. The difference in natural minor is how weak the last one is. In A natural minor, Am and C are home, Dm, Bdim and F move away, and Em and G carry what tension there is.
Tonic
home
- Ami
- CIII
Pre-dominant
moving
- Dmiv
- Bdimii°rare
- FVI
Dominant
tension
- Emv
- GVII
resolves back to Am
Am is A–C–E and C is C–E–G. They share two notes, so C can stand in for home. F is F–A–C, which puts it on the border, close to home and close to Dm.
The weak spot is the dominant. Neither Em nor G contains G♯, so no note sits one fret below A. There’s tension, but it’s mild, and getting home feels more like settling than clicking into place.
Progressions
Pop and rock
Rock in minor mostly skips the dominant. G and F do the work, stepping down and back up to Am. The return runs on momentum, not tension.
| Name | Numerals | In A |
|---|---|---|
| Minor axiscommon | i–VI–III–VII | Am – F – C – Gthe same four chords as the axis in C, started from its minor chord |
| Rock descentcommon | i–VII–VI–VII | Am – G – F – G |
| Aeolian risecommon | VI–VII–i | F – G – Am |
| Minor three-chord | i–iv–v | Am – Dm – Em |
Folk and film
Folk and film scoring lean into the drift instead of fighting it. Chords go back and forth and come home without a strong cadence, and that’s what makes them sound old, open or unresolved.
| Name | Numerals | In A |
|---|---|---|
| Modal back-and-forthcommon | i–VII–i | Am – G – Am |
| Soft minor cadence | i–v–i | Am – Em – Am |
| Minor plagal | iv–i | Dm – Am |
| Circle descentrare | i–iv–VII–III–VI | Am – Dm – G – C – F |
Writing with this
Putting chords under a melody
One note, three moods.
Hold a C in the melody and Am, C or F can go under it without changing the tune. Am sounds dark, C bright, F warm.
Two of those three are major chords. Natural minor has a lot more major colour in it than the name suggests.
The family
- A MajorA B C♯ D E F♯ G♯
From A major: remove 4 and 7
A Major PentatonicA B C♯ E F♯From A major: flatten 3, 6 and 7
A Natural MinorA B C D E F G ♭3 ♭6 ♭7From A natural minor: remove 2 and ♭6
A Minor PentatonicA C D E G ♭3 ♭7From A natural minor: raise the 7 back
A Harmonic MinorA B C D E F G♯ ♭3 ♭6From A harmonic minor: raise the 6 back
A Melodic MinorA B C D E F♯ G♯ ♭3