The C Minor scale is C D Eb F G Ab Bb. It's shown below across all 24 frets: use the Shape menu to see each of the 5 positions, and press Play to hear it.
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Play bars, then go quiet for . Keep playing through the gap and see if you land back in time.
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Your hand keeps moving down and up the whole time. The boxes only show when it touches the strings.
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See Mentorship PlansThe C Minor scale has 7 notes: C D Eb F G Ab Bb. Its formula is 1 2 b3 4 5 b6 b7, and the gaps between the notes go W H W W H W W (W is a whole step of two frets, H is a half step of one fret). C Minor has exactly the same notes as Eb major, its relative major, but it starts and resolves on C, which is what gives it its own sound.
| Degree | Interval | Name | Note |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 | Root | C |
| 2 | 2 | 2nd | D |
| 3 | b3 | Minor 3rd | E♭ |
| 4 | 4 | 4th | F |
| 5 | 5 | 5th | G |
| 6 | b6 | Minor 6th | A♭ |
| 7 | b7 | Minor 7th | B♭ |
The fretboard above shows C Minor across all 24 frets. Its root, C, is on the low E string at the 8th fret, and Position 1 starts there. Use the Shape menu to see the 5 positions one at a time (plus the seven 3-notes-per-string shapes, great for speed and legato), press Play to hear the one you're looking at, and switch the labels to intervals to see where the root, 3rd and 5th sit in each shape.
Learn one position until you can play it up and down without looking, then learn the next one along and practise moving between the two. Before long the whole neck joins up.
These are the chords you get by stacking every other note of the scale on each degree. They're the chords that sound "at home" with C Minor.
| Degree | Triad | 7th chord |
|---|---|---|
| i | Cm | Cm7 |
| ii° | Ddim | Dm7b5 |
| III | Eb | Ebmaj7 |
| iv | Fm | Fm7 |
| v | Gm | Gm7 |
| VI | Ab | Abmaj7 |
| VII | Bb | Bb7 |
The natural minor scale (also called the Aeolian mode) has a darker, sadder sound. It's the backbone of rock and metal riffs and plenty of pop ballads.
Use it over minor chords and progressions in C minor. It's the C minor pentatonic with two extra notes, the 2nd and the b6, and those two notes are what give it that full, emotional minor sound.
C Major C Minor Pentatonic C Major Pentatonic C Blues C Dorian C Phrygian C Lydian C Mixolydian C Locrian C Harmonic Minor C Melodic Minor
See every scale in every key →
The C Minor scale is C, D, Eb, F, G, Ab, Bb.
The minor scale formula is 1 2 b3 4 5 b6 b7, which is a step pattern of W H W W H W W.
There are 5 positions, plus seven 3-notes-per-string (3NPS) shapes, one starting on each note of the scale. Use the Shape menu on this page to see each one on its own.