Guitar scale
Bb Natural Minor (Aeolian) Guitar Scale
Bb Natural Minor (Aeolian) is a seven-note scale built from Bb, C, Db, Eb, F, Gb, and Ab. It is the 6th relative mode of Db major. It is also commonly called Bb Aeolian. Use it to study the scale's notes, interval formula, and guitar fretboard positions.
- Notes
- Bb, C, Db, Eb, F, Gb, Ab
- Formula
- 1 2 b3 4 5 b6 b7
- Semitones
- 0 2 3 5 7 8 10
- Parent scale
- Db major
- Also called
- Bb Aeolian
How to read this scale
The notes are shown as pitch classes first. Square markers representBb root notes in the fretboard view, while circular markers represent the other notes in the scale.
Use the interactive fretboard to locate the Bb root notes and connect the remaining natural minor (aeolian) tones across standard tuning.
This same note pattern is also commonly called Bb Aeolian.
Sound and defining tones
Bb natural minor gets its minor quality and darker upper register from b3 (Db), b6 (Gb), and b7 (Ab). Unlike harmonic minor, its flat seventh does not function as a leading tone into Bb.
- Characteristic tones
- b3Dbb6Gbb7Ab
Fretboard diagram
Open this scale in the fretboard tool
Start with Bb Natural Minor (Aeolian) loaded, then adjust tuning, labels, colors, fret count, and orientation.
Open in interactive fretboardCommon chords and contexts
Use Bb natural minor for diatonic minor-key harmony when the chords come from the unaltered Aeolian note set. A major or dominant V chord usually requires raising the seventh instead.
- Use Bb natural minor over Bb minor, Bbm7, and minor-key progressions.
- It is the standard minor scale sound and the 6th mode of its relative major scale.
Practice this scale on guitar
- Play Bb Natural Minor (Aeolian) from one Bb root to the next in at least two fretboard positions, saying each note name and scale degree aloud.
- Sequence b3 (Db), b6 (Gb), and b7 (Ab) against the root and fifth, listening to how the flat sixth and flat seventh reinforce the natural-minor color.
- Practice over a progression moving from Bbm to flat-VI to flat-VII, targeting a chord tone each time the harmony changes.