Guitar scale
C# Melodic Minor Guitar Scale
C# Melodic Minor is a seven-note scale built from C#, D#, E, F#, G#, A#, and B#. Use it to study the scale's notes, interval formula, and guitar fretboard positions.
- Notes
- C#, D#, E, F#, G#, A#, B#
- Formula
- 1 2 b3 4 5 6 7
- Semitones
- 0 2 3 5 7 9 11
How to read this scale
The notes are shown as pitch classes first. Square markers representC# root notes in the fretboard view, while circular markers represent the other notes in the scale.
Use the interactive fretboard to locate the C# root notes and connect the remaining melodic minor tones across standard tuning.
Sound and defining tones
C# melodic minor combines a minor third with natural sixth and major seventh: b3 (E), 6 (A#), and 7 (B#). This page uses the modern or jazz form, keeping the same notes in both directions.
- Characteristic tones
- b3E6A#7B#
Fretboard diagram
Open this scale in the fretboard tool
Start with C# Melodic Minor loaded, then adjust tuning, labels, colors, fret count, and orientation.
Open in interactive fretboardCommon chords and contexts
Use C# melodic minor over C#mMaj7 or C#m6 harmony and as the parent collection for melodic-minor modes used over altered and extended dominant chords.
- Use C# melodic minor over C#mMaj7 sounds or modern minor-key harmony.
- It is common in jazz minor vocabulary and gives minor chords a smoother major 6 and major 7 color.
Practice this scale on guitar
- Play C# Melodic Minor from one C# root to the next in at least two fretboard positions, saying each note name and scale degree aloud.
- Compare b3 (E), 6 (A#), and 7 (B#) with the flat sixth and flat seventh of natural minor, keeping the root and minor third constant.
- Sustain C#mMaj7 and create phrases that resolve the major seventh to the root while preserving the minor third.