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Guitar scale

C# natural minor scale (Db natural minor)

The C# 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 104 song sheets on openguitarchords.com

Root
C#
Notes
C#D#EF#G#AB
Formula
W-H-W-W-H-W-W
Relative key
E major
Learning path
Step 4 of 5
123456789101112131415EADGBeEF#G#ABC#D#EF#ABC#D#EF#G#ABD#EF#G#ABC#D#EG#ABC#D#EF#G#ABC#D#EF#G#ABC#EF#G#ABC#D#EF#
All 15 frets, high e string on top. Orange marks a C# root, the box is the one position to start with, and fret 0 is an open string.
Print or save the C# natural minor chart
C# 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 C# natural minor scale is the seven notes C#, D#, E, F#, G#, A and B. Read as scale degrees from C#, 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: C#m (i), D#dim (ii°), E (III), F#m (iv), G#m (v), A (VI), B (VII). Its relative key is E 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 C# sits at fret 2 on the B string.

Start here: one C# natural minor position

The notes inside frets 2 to 6 sit in the highlighted box above. The diagram below isolates that position and numbers the run to play. Learn this box first; other positions contain the same scale notes with different fingerings.

Play the box in this order

23456EADGBeF#G#ABC#C#D#EF#G#A1234567
Numbers 1 to 7 are the playing order, one note at a time. Letters are the other C# natural minor notes in this position; orange letters are roots.

C# 1 → D# 2 → E ♭3 → F# 4 → G# 5 → A ♭6 → B ♭7

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

Every C# on the neck

low Efret 9
Afret 4
Dfret 11
Gfret 6
Bfret 2
high Efret 9

What notes are in the C# natural minor scale?

  1. C#1Root
  2. W
  3. D#2Major 2nd
  4. H
  5. E♭3Minor 3rd
  6. W
  7. F#4Perfect 4th
  8. W
  9. G#5Perfect 5th
  10. H
  11. A♭6Minor 6th
  12. W
  13. B♭7Minor 7th
  14. W
  15. C#1octave

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 C# natural minor

Every chord below is built from the notes of this scale, so a song in C# natural minor uses almost nothing else. Together they account for 228 chord changes in the library, counted, not estimated.

i3 usesC#mC# E G#ii°unused hereD#dim all rootsD# F# AIII69 usesEE G# Biv13 usesF#mF# A C#vunused hereG#mG# B D#VI134 usesAA C# EVII9 usesBB D# F#

How to practise the C# natural minor scale

  1. Frets 2 to 6, 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 C#: low E string, fret 9. Use the full neck diagram to find the scale notes around that root. Play root to root at 60 BPM, one note per beat; fingerings change when you move to a different string set.
  3. Then stop counting. Improvise on these notes for two minutes over any backing track in C#m / Dbm. That is what the scale is for.
What the library actually plays in C# 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 C# natural minor scale are shown.
Run #1
E → Am → Eplayed 6 times
Run #2
E → E → Aplayed 4 times
Run #3
A → Bm → Bmplayed 4 times

C# natural minor scale: common questions

What notes are in the C# natural minor scale?
The C# natural minor scale is C#, D#, E, F#, G#, A and B. Counting from the root C#, the degrees are 1, 2, ♭3, 4, 5, ♭6, ♭7.
What is the formula for the C# natural minor scale?
The step pattern is W-H-W-W-H-W-W. Read left to right from C#: 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 C# natural minor?
The seven diatonic chords are C#m (i), D#dim (ii°), E (III), F#m (iv), G#m (v), A (VI), B (VII). Across the 104 song sheets on this site those chords appear 228 times in total.
Is the C# natural minor scale the same as E major?
Yes. C# natural minor and E major contain exactly the same notes: C#, D#, E, F#, G#, A and B. They are relative keys. Centre the melody on C# and it sounds like C# natural minor; centre it on E and the same notes sound like E major.
What is the easiest fingering for the C# natural minor scale?
The position above starts on the A string at fret 4 and stays inside frets 2 to 6: C# at fret 4 on the A, then D# at fret 6 on the A, then E at fret 2 on the D, then F# at fret 4 on the D, then G# at fret 6 on the D, then A at fret 2 on the G, then B at fret 4 on the G. Everything else on the neck is the same notes repeated in other positions.
How do I practise the C# natural minor scale?
Play frets 2 to 6 up and back, naming each note. Then locate C# at fret 9 on the low E string. Use the neck diagram to learn that position, rather than copying the same grip across strings. Practise at 60 BPM.

More C# scales

C# majorC# major pentatonicC# minor pentatonicC# blues

This scale in other keys

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