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Guitar scale

Ab natural minor scale (G# natural minor)

The Ab natural minor scale is the darker mirror of the major scale, and the home sound of rock ballads, folk and minor-key pop. Best for ballads, rock, minor-key pop.

By Chiye · Updated · Counts from the 80 song sheets on openguitarchords.com

Root
Ab
Notes
AbBbCbDbEbFbGb
Formula
W-H-W-W-H-W-W
Relative key
Cb major
Learning path
Step 4 of 5
123456789101112131415EADGBeFbGbAbBbCbDbEbFbGbBbCbDbEbFbGbAbBbCbEbFbGbAbBbCbDbEbFbAbBbCbDbEbFbGbAbBbCbDbEbFbGbAbBbCbDbFbGbAbBbCbDbEbFbGb
All 15 frets, high e string on top. Orange marks an Ab root, the box is the one position to start with, and fret 0 is an open string.
Print or save the Ab natural minor chart
Ab natural minor scale chart: every note from fret 0 to 15 across all six strings, root notes marked in orange

940 × 230 px version of the chart above, sized for a phone screen or a printed handout. Tap the image to save it.

The Ab natural minor scale is the seven notes Ab, Bb, Cb, Db, Eb, Fb and Gb. Read as scale degrees from Ab, that is 1, 2, ♭3, 4, 5, ♭6, ♭7. Every note is a fixed distance from the one before it: W-H-W-W-H-W-W, where W is a whole step (2 frets) and H is a half step (1 fret). That pattern is the whole scale. Move it so the root lands on a different note and you are playing that key's natural minor scale. The scale supplies the chords of its key: Abm (i), Bbdim (ii°), Cb (III), Dbm (iv), Ebm (v), Fb (VI), Gb (VII). Its relative key is Cb major, which uses exactly the same notes. What changes is the note that feels like home. On the guitar this is not one shape but overlapping positions: the lowest Ab sits at fret 1 on the G string.

Start here: one Ab natural minor position

Every note of the scale inside frets 1 to 5 sits in the box highlighted on the full neck above. The diagram below is that box on its own, numbered in the order to play it. Learn this one box first; the rest of the neck is the same shape repeated.

Play the box in this order

12345EADGBeGbAbBbCbDbEbFbGbAb1234567
Numbers 1 to 7 are the playing order, one note at a time. Letters are the other Ab natural minor notes in this position; orange letters are roots.

Ab 1 → Bb 2 → Cb ♭3 → Db 4 → Eb 5 → Fb ♭6 → Gb ♭7

Plays exactly the run numbered above, one note at a time.

Every Ab on the neck

low Efret 4
Afret 11
Dfret 6
Gfret 1
Bfret 9
high Efret 4

What notes are in the Ab natural minor scale?

  1. Ab1Root
  2. W
  3. Bb2Major 2nd
  4. H
  5. Cb♭3Minor 3rd
  6. W
  7. Db4Perfect 4th
  8. W
  9. Eb5Perfect 5th
  10. H
  11. Fb♭6Minor 6th
  12. W
  13. Gb♭7Minor 7th
  14. W
  15. Ab1octave

W whole step (2 frets), H half step (1 fret). The same pattern from any other root gives that key's natural minor scale.

Chords in the key of Ab natural minor

Every chord below is built from the notes of this scale, so a song in Ab natural minor uses almost nothing else. Together they account for 76 chord changes in the library, counted, not estimated.

iunused hereAbm all rootsAb Cb Ebii°unused hereBbdim all rootsBb Db FbIII9 usesCbCb Eb Gbiv1 usesDbmDb Fb Abvunused hereEbm all rootsEb Gb BbVI64 usesFbFb Ab CbVII2 usesGbGb Bb Db

How to practise the Ab natural minor scale

  1. Frets 1 to 5, slowly. The position above, up and back, naming every note out loud. Naming is what turns a shape into a scale.
  2. Then find the next Ab: D string, fret 6. Build the same shape from there and play root to root at 60 BPM, one note per beat.
  3. Then stop counting. Improvise on these notes for two minutes over any backing track in Abm / G#m. That is what the scale is for.
What the library actually plays in Ab natural minorCounted from the progressions written out in the song sheets charted here, not derived from theory. Only three-chord runs that stay inside the Ab natural minor scale are shown.
Run #1
Fb → Cbm → Cbmplayed 2 times

Ab natural minor scale: common questions

What notes are in the Ab natural minor scale?
The Ab natural minor scale is Ab, Bb, Cb, Db, Eb, Fb and Gb. Counting from the root Ab, the degrees are 1, 2, ♭3, 4, 5, ♭6, ♭7.
What is the formula for the Ab natural minor scale?
The step pattern is W-H-W-W-H-W-W. Read left to right from Ab: whole step (2 frets), then half step (1 fret), then whole step (2 frets), then whole step (2 frets), then half step (1 fret), then whole step (2 frets), then whole step (2 frets). Apply the same pattern from any other note and you get that note's natural minor scale.
What chords are in the key of Ab natural minor?
The seven diatonic chords are Abm (i), Bbdim (ii°), Cb (III), Dbm (iv), Ebm (v), Fb (VI), Gb (VII). Across the 80 song sheets on this site those chords appear 76 times in total.
Is the Ab natural minor scale the same as Cb major?
Yes. Ab natural minor and Cb major contain exactly the same notes: Ab, Bb, Cb, Db, Eb, Fb and Gb. They are relative keys. Centre the melody on Ab and it sounds like Ab natural minor; centre it on B and the same notes sound like Cb major.
What is the easiest fingering for the Ab natural minor scale?
The position above starts on the low E string at fret 4 and stays inside frets 1 to 5: Ab at fret 4 on the low E, then Bb at fret 1 on the A, then Cb at fret 2 on the A, then Db at fret 4 on the A, then Eb at fret 1 on the D, then Fb at fret 2 on the D, then Gb at fret 4 on the D. Everything else on the neck is the same notes repeated in other positions.
How do I practise the Ab natural minor scale?
Play the position in frets 1 to 5 up and back, naming every note out loud. When the shape is automatic, build the same shape from the next Ab up the neck, at fret 6 on the D string, and only then add a metronome at 60 BPM.

More Ab scales

Ab majorAb major pentatonicAb minor pentatonicAb blues

This scale in other keys

C natural minorC# natural minorD natural minorEb natural minorE natural minorF natural minorF# natural minorG natural minorAll 60 scale charts
Previous keyAb majorNext keyAb major pentatonic