A Minor Scale on Piano & Guitar with A Melodic & Harmonic Minor
🥧 Here's an easy as pie
A minor
scale
piano keyboard reference, including the
A natural minor scale,
A harmonic minor scale &
A melodic minor scale.
You'll find the notes of the A minor scale with intervals, scale
degrees and fingering on the piano. Plus, a tool to
play the diatonic chords in the key of
A minor.
🎸 You'll also find the
A minor scale on the guitar fretboard.
The A minor scale is a diatonic scale consisting of the pitches A, B, C, D, E, F and G.
The A minor scale, like the C major scale, its relative major scale, has no accidentals (sharps or flats). That means that the A minor scale is formed with just the white keys on a piano.
→ go to all major & minor scales
The notes of the A minor scale are
A,
B,
C,
D,
E,
F
and
G
The relative major of the A minor
scale is
C
major
A minor scale piano layout & finger position
The A natural minor scale is the default when we just say
'A minor scale'.
Here's a piano keyboard showing the
notes of the
A minor scale, followed by a visual for the finger position on the piano. Hit play to
hear the notes of the A minor scale up and down:
- A
- B
- C
- D
- E
- F
- G
- A
F
G
A
D
E
F
left hand
right hand
A Minor Scale on Guitar
🎸 Here you'll find a guitar fretboard representation with the notes of the A minor scale , using standard guitar tuning: E A D G B E. You can show all notes, only the root notes, the intervals or the scale degrees:
You can also highlight specific scale positions on the guitar fretboard for the A minor scale, using the CAGED system or the Three Notes Per String system (TNPS):
Chords in the key of A minor
(A minor diatonic
chords)
The diatonic chords in the key of A minor are: A minor, B diminished, C major, D minor, E minor, F major and G major
Tap or use numbers 1 through 7 to trigger the chords. You can also tap to trigger the chord inversions or the 7th chords. This tool can be used as a chord progression generator.
last chords played
Common chord progressions in the key of A minor
Here's list of popular minor key chord progressions along with the specific chords they represent in the key of A minor. Again, you can use numbers 1 through 7 on your keyboard to trigger the different chords:
showhide treble & bass clefs
A natural minor treble clef
A natural minor bass clef
Toggle A minor scale intervals & scale degrees
| degrees | notes | intervals |
|---|---|---|
| 1: Tonic | A | Unison |
| 2: Supertonic | B | Major 2nd |
| 3: Mediant | C | Minor 3rd |
| 4: Subdominant | D | Perfect 4th |
| 5: Dominant | E | Perfect 5th |
| 6: Submediant | F | Minor 6th |
| 7: Subtonic | G | Minor 7th |
| 1: Octave/Tonic | A | Perfect 8th |
A Harmonic Minor Scale
notes: A B C D E F G#
- A
- B
- C
- D
- E
- F
- G♯
- A
ⓘ↓ about harmonic minor scale
From the natural minor scale, the harmonic minor scale is created by raising the 7th degree by a half step (semitone). That 7th degree becomes a leading-tone instead of a subtonic. It has a rather exotic sound, created by the gap between the 6th and 7th degrees. As its name implies, this scale works especially well for harmonies.
A Melodic Minor Scale
notes: A B C D E F# G#
- A
- B
- C
- D
- E
- F♯
- G♯
- A
ⓘ↓ about melodic minor scale
The melodic minor scale is at times used with different notes up versus down the scale, but it can be played with the same notes up and down. The melodic minor is created by raising both the 6th and 7th degrees by a half step. The alternative way of coming down the scale is using the natural minor scale down. Here the example uses the same notes up and down the scale.
Minor scale formula
🔧 The minor scales are constructed using these note patterns:
- Natural Minor: W-H-W-W-H-W-W
- Harmonic Minor: W-H-W-W-H-A2-H
- Melodic Minor: W-H-W-W-W-W-H
W = Whole step H = Half step A2 = Whole step + half step
go to a different major or minor scale:
C majorC♯ majorD♭ majorD majorE♭ majorE majorF majorF♯ majorG♭ majorG majorA♭ majorA majorB♭ majorB majorC♭ major
C minor C♯ minor D♭ minorD minorD♯ minorE♭ minorE minorF minorF♯ minorG minorG♯ minorA♭ minorA♯ minorB♭ minorB minor
