Guitar scale
C# Natural Minor (Aeolian) Guitar Scale
C# Natural Minor (Aeolian) is a seven-note scale built from C#, D#, E, F#, G#, A, and B. It is the 6th relative mode of E major. It is also commonly called C# Aeolian. 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 b6 b7
- Semitones
- 0 2 3 5 7 8 10
- Parent scale
- E major
- Also called
- C# Aeolian
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 natural minor (aeolian) tones across standard tuning.
This same note pattern is also commonly called C# Aeolian.
Sound and defining tones
C# natural minor gets its minor quality and darker upper register from b3 (E), b6 (A), and b7 (B). Unlike harmonic minor, its flat seventh does not function as a leading tone into C#.
- Characteristic tones
- b3Eb6Ab7B
Fretboard diagram
Open this scale in the fretboard tool
Start with C# Natural Minor (Aeolian) loaded, then adjust tuning, labels, colors, fret count, and orientation.
Open in interactive fretboardCommon chords and contexts
Use C# 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 C# natural minor over C# minor, C#m7, 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 C# Natural Minor (Aeolian) from one C# root to the next in at least two fretboard positions, saying each note name and scale degree aloud.
- Sequence b3 (E), b6 (A), and b7 (B) 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 C#m to flat-VI to flat-VII, targeting a chord tone each time the harmony changes.