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Guitar scale

D natural minor scale

The D 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
D
Notes
DEFGABbC
Formula
W-H-W-W-H-W-W
Relative key
F major
Learning path
Step 4 of 5
123456789101112131415EADGBeEFGABbCDEFGABbCDEFGABbCDEFGABbCDEFGABbCDEFGABbCDEFGABbCDEFGABbCDEFG
All 15 frets, high e string on top. Orange marks a D root, the box is the one position to start with, and fret 0 is an open string.
Print or save the D natural minor chart
D 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 D natural minor scale is the seven notes D, E, F, G, A, Bb and C. Read as scale degrees from D, 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: Dm (i), Edim (ii°), F (III), Gm (iv), Am (v), Bb (VI), C (VII). Its relative key is F 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 D sits at fret 0 on the D string. 2 of the 80 song sheets charted here are in Dm.

Start here: one D natural minor position

Every note of the scale inside frets 0 to 4 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

1234EADGBeEFGABbCDEFG1234567
Numbers 1 to 7 are the playing order, one note at a time. Letters are the other D natural minor notes in this position; orange letters are roots.

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

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

Every D on the neck

low Efret 10
Afret 5
Dopen
Gfret 7
Bfret 3
high Efret 10

What notes are in the D natural minor scale?

  1. D1Root
  2. W
  3. E2Major 2nd
  4. H
  5. F♭3Minor 3rd
  6. W
  7. G4Perfect 4th
  8. W
  9. A5Perfect 5th
  10. H
  11. Bb♭6Minor 6th
  12. W
  13. C♭7Minor 7th
  14. W
  15. D1octave

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 D natural minor

Every chord below is built from the notes of this scale, so a song in D natural minor uses almost nothing else. Together they account for 604 chord changes in the library, counted, not estimated.

i16 usesDmD F Aii°unused hereEdim all rootsE G BbIII106 usesFF A Civunused hereGmG Bb Dv116 usesAmA C EVI3 usesBbBb D FVII363 usesCC E G

How to practise the D natural minor scale

  1. Frets 0 to 4, 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 D: A string, fret 5. 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 Dm from the list below and improvise on these notes for two minutes. That is what the scale is for.

Songs in Dm on this site

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

DmBlue BossaKenny DorhamDmBlack OrpheusLuiz BonfaAllEvery song sheet
What the library actually plays in D 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 D natural minor scale are shown.
Run #1
C → G → Dplayed 34 times
Run #2
C → G → Cplayed 26 times
Run #3
F → C → Gplayed 24 times

D natural minor scale: common questions

What notes are in the D natural minor scale?
The D natural minor scale is D, E, F, G, A, Bb and C. Counting from the root D, the degrees are 1, 2, ♭3, 4, 5, ♭6, ♭7.
What is the formula for the D natural minor scale?
The step pattern is W-H-W-W-H-W-W. Read left to right from D: 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 D natural minor?
The seven diatonic chords are Dm (i), Edim (ii°), F (III), Gm (iv), Am (v), Bb (VI), C (VII). Across the 80 song sheets on this site those chords appear 604 times in total.
Is the D natural minor scale the same as F major?
Yes. D natural minor and F major contain exactly the same notes: D, E, F, G, A, Bb and C. They are relative keys. Centre the melody on D and it sounds like D natural minor; centre it on F and the same notes sound like F major.
What is the easiest fingering for the D natural minor scale?
The position above starts on the D string at fret 0 and stays inside frets 0 to 4: D at fret 0 on the D, then E at fret 2 on the D, then F at fret 3 on the D, then G at fret 0 on the G, then A at fret 2 on the G, then Bb at fret 3 on the G, then C at fret 1 on the B. Everything else on the neck is the same notes repeated in other positions.
How do I practise the D natural minor scale?
Play the position in frets 0 to 4 up and back, naming every note out loud. When the shape is automatic, build the same shape from the next D up the neck, at fret 5 on the A string, and only then add a metronome at 60 BPM.

More D scales

D majorD major pentatonicD minor pentatonicD blues

This scale in other keys

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