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Guitar scale

Bb natural minor scale (A# natural minor)

The Bb 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
Bb
Notes
BbCDbEbFGbAb
Formula
W-H-W-W-H-W-W
Relative key
Db major
Learning path
Step 4 of 5
123456789101112131415EADGBeFGbAbBbCDbEbFGbBbCDbEbFGbAbBbCEbFGbAbBbCDbEbFAbBbCDbEbFGbAbBbCDbEbFGbAbBbCDbFGbAbBbCDbEbFGb
All 15 frets, high e string on top. Orange marks a Bb root, the box is the one position to start with, and fret 0 is an open string.
Print or save the Bb natural minor chart
Bb 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 Bb natural minor scale is the seven notes Bb, C, Db, Eb, F, Gb and Ab. Read as scale degrees from Bb, 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: Bbm (i), Cdim (ii°), Db (III), Ebm (iv), Fm (v), Gb (VI), Ab (VII). Its relative key is Db 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 Bb sits at fret 1 on the A string. 1 of the 80 song sheets charted here is in Bbm.

Start here: one Bb 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

12345EADGBeFGbAbBbCCDbEbFGbAb1234567
Numbers 1 to 7 are the playing order, one note at a time. Letters are the other Bb natural minor notes in this position; orange letters are roots.

Bb 1 → C 2 → Db ♭3 → Eb 4 → F 5 → Gb ♭6 → Ab ♭7

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

Every Bb on the neck

low Efret 6
Afret 1
Dfret 8
Gfret 3
Bfret 11
high Efret 6

What notes are in the Bb natural minor scale?

  1. Bb1Root
  2. W
  3. C2Major 2nd
  4. H
  5. Db♭3Minor 3rd
  6. W
  7. Eb4Perfect 4th
  8. W
  9. F5Perfect 5th
  10. H
  11. Gb♭6Minor 6th
  12. W
  13. Ab♭7Minor 7th
  14. W
  15. Bb1octave

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 Bb natural minor

Every chord below is built from the notes of this scale, so a song in Bb natural minor uses almost nothing else. Together they account for 3 chord changes in the library, counted, not estimated.

iunused hereBbm all rootsBb Db Fii°unused hereCdim all rootsC Eb GbIIIunused hereDbDb F Abivunused hereEbm all rootsEb Gb Bbv1 usesFmF Ab CVI2 usesGbGb Bb DbVIIunused hereAbAb C Eb

How to practise the Bb 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 Bb: low E 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. Pick a song in Bbm from the list below and improvise on these notes for two minutes. That is what the scale is for.

Songs in Bbm on this site

1 of the 80 song sheets charted here are in Bbm. Play this scale over any of them and every note lands inside the key.

BbmRiptideVance JoyAllEvery song sheet
What the library actually plays in Bb 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 Bb natural minor scale are shown.
Run #1
Fm → C → Cplayed 2 times

Bb natural minor scale: common questions

What notes are in the Bb natural minor scale?
The Bb natural minor scale is Bb, C, Db, Eb, F, Gb and Ab. Counting from the root Bb, the degrees are 1, 2, ♭3, 4, 5, ♭6, ♭7.
What is the formula for the Bb natural minor scale?
The step pattern is W-H-W-W-H-W-W. Read left to right from Bb: 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 Bb natural minor?
The seven diatonic chords are Bbm (i), Cdim (ii°), Db (III), Ebm (iv), Fm (v), Gb (VI), Ab (VII). Across the 80 song sheets on this site those chords appear 3 times in total.
Is the Bb natural minor scale the same as Db major?
Yes. Bb natural minor and Db major contain exactly the same notes: Bb, C, Db, Eb, F, Gb and Ab. They are relative keys. Centre the melody on Bb and it sounds like Bb natural minor; centre it on C# and the same notes sound like Db major.
What is the easiest fingering for the Bb natural minor scale?
The position above starts on the A string at fret 1 and stays inside frets 1 to 5: Bb at fret 1 on the A, then C at fret 3 on the A, then Db at fret 4 on the A, then Eb at fret 1 on the D, then F at fret 3 on the D, then Gb at fret 4 on the D, then Ab at fret 1 on the G. Everything else on the neck is the same notes repeated in other positions.
How do I practise the Bb 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 Bb up the neck, at fret 6 on the low E string, and only then add a metronome at 60 BPM.

More Bb scales

Bb majorBb major pentatonicBb minor pentatonicBb 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 keyBb majorNext keyBb major pentatonic