F sharp Natural Minor Scale

1Composition: what it contains

F♯ – G♯ – A – B – C♯ – D – E

Formula

1 2 ♭3 4 5 ♭6 ♭7

Steps

W – H – W – W – H – W – W

Number of notes

7

Sharps and flats

3 ♯

Also called

Aeolian mode, pure minor scale, relative minor

2Appearance: diagrams and sound

Tip: click any note, key or fret to hear it. Orange = root.

3Indications: what it is used for

The default minor sound in rock, metal, pop ballads, folk and film music. It fits minor-key progressions like i–VI–III–VII, i–iv–v, i–VII–VI–VII and the descending i–VII–VI–V line. Use it over a minor triad or minor seventh chord built on its tonic, and over the vi chord of a major key when you want to stress that chord as a temporary tonic. It shares all its notes with the major scale a minor third above (its relative major), which makes it easy to learn if you already know your major shapes.

4Dosage: how to practise it

Eight to twelve minutes daily. Play it at 70 BPM in eighth notes across two octaves, then descending first, which helps you hear the flat sixth and seventh. Add four-note sequences and diatonic thirds. On guitar, combine the minor pentatonic box you already know with the two extra degrees (2 and 6) so the shapes merge. On bass, practise it from the root on the lowest string with one finger per fret. On piano, improvise right-hand phrases over a left-hand i–VI–VII loop for five minutes after the technical work.

5Warnings and common mistakes

Over a dominant V chord in a minor key the flat seventh sounds weak; that is exactly why harmonic minor exists, so switch to the raised seventh at cadences. The flat sixth over the tonic minor chord is a tense note: resolve it down to the fifth rather than holding it. Do not mix it up with Dorian, which differs only by a major sixth; listen to the chords to decide which one fits. Remember that the relative major uses the same notes but a different tonal centre.

6Interactions with chords, scales and keys

Chords of the scale (triads)

Chords of the scale (seventh chords)

Same notes, different starting point

• A Major Scale
• B Dorian Mode
• C sharp Phrygian Mode
• D Lydian Mode
• E Mixolydian Mode
• G sharp Locrian Mode

Key of F sharp Minor

7Other presentations available

The same scale from every note

• C Natural Minor Scale
• C sharp Natural Minor Scale
• D Natural Minor Scale
• E flat Natural Minor Scale
• E Natural Minor Scale
• F Natural Minor Scale
• G Natural Minor Scale
• G sharp Natural Minor Scale
• A Natural Minor Scale
• B flat Natural Minor Scale
• B Natural Minor Scale

Other scales from the same note

• F sharp Major Scale
• F sharp Harmonic Minor Scale
• F sharp Melodic Minor Scale
• F sharp Dorian Mode
• F sharp Phrygian Mode
• G flat Lydian Mode
• F sharp Mixolydian Mode
• F sharp Locrian Mode
• F sharp Major Pentatonic Scale
• F sharp Minor Pentatonic Scale
• F sharp Blues Scale
• F sharp Major Blues Scale
• G flat Whole Tone Scale
• F sharp Half-Whole Diminished Scale
• F sharp Whole-Half Diminished Scale
• F sharp Phrygian Dominant Scale
• F sharp Hungarian Minor Scale
• F sharp Lydian Dominant Scale
• F sharp Altered Scale
• F sharp Double Harmonic Major Scale
• F sharp Bebop Dominant Scale