Natural Minor Scale – Aeolian

Guitar Fingerings, Chords, and

Licks
PUBLISHED IN BEGINNER, JAZZ GUITAR LESSONS, JAZZ GUITAR SCALES

Aeolian is the sixth mode of the major scale, which means it’s the
same as playing a C major scale from A to A.

This mode is used to solo over minor chords when you want to bring
out the b6 (b13) interval, such as Am, Am7, Am7(b6), etc.

Aeolian also commonly referred to as the natural minor scale, as it’s

often used as a tonic minor sound in rock, pop, classical, and other
musical genres.

In this article you see this mode referred to as both natural minor and
Aeolian so you get used to seeing them as the same thing.

In this lesson, you learn how to build the natural minor scale, how to
use it in your solos, one and two-octave fingerings, patterns, and
common licks in the style of Miles Davis and others.

Though not as commonly used in jazz as Dorian and melodic minor,

Aeolian is an essential scale for any jazz guitarist to have under their
fingers.

Natural Minor Scale Construction

The natural minor scale contains seven notes and has no accidentals
in the key of A Aeolian.
 This means that if you play A Aeolian on the piano, you only play the
white keys, no black keys, on the keyboard.

These seven notes can be written a number of ways such as intervals:

R-2-b3-4-5-b6-b7

Or you can think of them as specific intervals such as:

P1-M2-m3-P4-P5-m6-m7

In this case, the legend for each symbol would be:

 P = Perfect Interval
 M = Major Interval
 m = Minor Interval

While these intervals are common, you can also think of the upper
notes as extensions.

This means that you think of Aeolian with this pattern:

R-9-b3-11-5-b13-b7

I prefer this way as it allows you to visualize the upper colors of the
scale over any minor chord you’re soloing over.

Here’s how A natural minor looks with both notes and intervals.
You can use either system, 2-4-b6, 9-11-b13, or a mixture of both
depending on the musical situation.

Try both out and see which fits better for you, and then go forward
with that interval system.

Either way, notice that Aeolian has a b6, which is the characteristic
note of the scale and distinguishes it from Dorian, which has a natural
6th.

When soloing over minor chords, highlighting the b6 brings out the
Aeolian sound, which you hear in the examples below.

Natural Minor Scale Application

Now that you know how to build this scale, let’s look at how you apply
this important scale to a soloing situation.

Aeolian is used to solo over a number of chords in the minor family.

 These chords include:

 m7th
 m9th
 m7(b6)
 m11

These minor family chords are all built from the Aeolian scale, and
therefore it’s the scale that’s used to solo over these chords.

Here’s an example of an Aeolian fingering and three chords from that

fingering to see how they relate to each other on the fretboard.
To begin using this theory knowledge, put on a minor backing track
and solo with any fingering you learn in this lesson.

Though you won’t use this scale as much as Dorian, it’s worth
exploring, especially on modal songs where you can alternate
between both scales in your solo.

To help you practice the material in this lesson, here’s a backing

track to jam with as you learn the following material.

Vm
P

Natural Minor Chords for Guitar

To help you understand this scale and its relationship to harmony,
here are a number of Aeolian chords that you can learn and add to
your minor key comping.

To begin, here are four chords from the 6th string that are based on
the Aeolian scale.
Here are four more chords, this time with 5-string root notes to study
and add to your rhythm guitar playing.
 Natural Minor Scale One Octave Shapes
To help you take this scale onto the fretboard, here are one-octave
Aeolian shapes that you can work on in your practice routine.

These one-octave shapes come in handy when soloing over fast

moving chords or at fast tempos.

When learning these shapes, work them in 12 keys and solo over
various minor chords using these shapes as the basis for your lines.

This ensures that you’re working Aeolian scales from both a technical
and improvisational standpoint.
You can also practice these scales with your middle finger on the first
note of each one-octave shape.

Once you have these four shapes under your fingers, move between
the first four and these four in your practice routine.
Lastly, here are four shapes that begin with your pinky finger on the
first note.

Again, work these shapes in 12 keys and solo over minor-based

backing tracks to be creative with these scales in the woodshed.
Once you have all three sets of shapes under your fingers, move
between any of these scales in your technical and improvisational
practice routine.

Natural Minor Scale Two Octave Shapes

You can take these patterns a step further by learning two-octave
shapes in 12 keys on the fretboard.

Two-octave Aeolian shapes come in handy when you’re soloing over

longer chord changes or tunes that don’t often change keys.

There are a number of ways to build two-octave Aeolian shapes, here

are four of my favorites to get you started.
Learn one shape at a time, and then combine two or more in your
practice routine as you dig further into these important scales.

Natural Minor Scale Patterns

As well as working Aeolian scales by playing them in a number of
keys, you can check out scale patterns over any of the scales that
you’ve learned so far.

To begin, here’s an ascending pattern that you can use to expand

your technique and learn scale shapes at the same time.

The pattern is built by alternating 3rds, in this case ascending the

scale shape.

This means that you play 13, 42, 35, 64, etc. as you work your way up
the scale.

Go slow, work it through one and two-octave shapes, and in different

keys as you take this pattern around the fretboard.

Click to hear

Vm
P

You can also work this pattern descending any scale pattern you
know.
Again, you’re playing every second note, which creates the intervals
68, 75, 46, 53, etc. as you work your way down the Aeolian fingering.

Click to hear

Vm
P

Once you have one or both of these patterns under your fingers, put
on a backing track and add them to your solos.

You don’t have to play them in every phrase, but adding these
patterns here and there will spice up your improvised phrases.

3 Natural Minor Scale Licks

As well as learning patterns, you can study licks to expand your
vocabulary and build your understanding of this scale in a soloing
context.

This first lick is based on Miles Davis’ solo on the tune “Milestones,”
where the bridge section is an Am7 (Aeolian) chord.

Click to hear

Vm
P
Here’s another Miles Davis inspired lick, accenting the b13 (F) at the
end of bar one before climbing up the scale and finishing on the 9th,
B.

Click to hear

Vm
P

This final lick uses a triplet to set up the F triad, which outlines the b13
interval, before working descending 3rds down the scale.

Click to hear

Vm
P
Once you have these licks down, write out 3 Natural Minor licks of
your own as you build your soloing vocabulary with this important
scale.