Aeolian (Natural Minor)
This scale is also known by other names: Minor, Natural Minor.
2 - 1 - 2 - 2 - 1 - 2 - 2About Aeolian (Natural Minor)
The Aeolian mode is the natural minor scale under its older name: 1 2 b3 4 5 b6 b7. From A it uses only white keys. It is the reference minor — the scale that harmonic and melodic minor are described as departures from, and the one most minor-key melody is written in.
Natural minor and Aeolian are the same scale
The two names describe identical notes. Natural minor is the term used when talking about a key and its relatives; Aeolian is used when comparing modes. The double naming causes trouble only when someone assumes they must be different things — a surprisingly common assumption, and the reason it is worth stating plainly.
Every minor key has three forms in practice: natural for descending lines, harmonic for the cadence, melodic for ascending ones. Aeolian is the first of those, and it is where a minor melody sits when the harmony is not asking for a leading note.
The relative major, and why it matters
A Aeolian and C major contain the same seven notes. That relationship is the single most useful piece of theory for a beginner: every shape learned in a major key works in its relative minor, and the only thing that changes is which note the music treats as home.
It also explains why a piece can slip between the two without a key change. The notes stay put; the harmony decides which of the two tonics the ear accepts, and moving between them is one of the oldest devices in songwriting.
What it sounds like and where it is heard
Serious rather than tragic. The flattened sixth is what gives the mode its weight, and the missing leading note is what keeps it from sounding like a classical minor key: without the raised seventh the cadence is softer, and the music can stay in the mode indefinitely.
It carries most minor-key pop and rock, film music for melancholy, and the vast majority of folk melody in minor. In jazz it appears over minor chords that do not function as tonics, where Dorian is often preferred for its brighter sixth.
What it is confused with
Dorian, one note away, and harmonic minor, also one note away in the other direction. The test in both cases is a single degree: check the sixth for Dorian, the seventh for harmonic minor.
The other confusion is with the minor pentatonic, which is the same scale with the second and sixth removed. Because those two notes are exactly what distinguishes Aeolian from its neighbours, a solo built on the pentatonic alone will not sound like any particular mode.
The rest of the family
Aeolian is the sixth mode of the major scale. Its neighbours are Dorian, which raises the sixth degree, and Phrygian, which lowers the second. Those three cover almost all minor-mode playing, and the difference between them is one note in each direction.
Frequently asked questions
Is Aeolian the same as natural minor?
Yes — identical notes. Aeolian is the modal name, natural minor the tonal one.
What are the notes of A Aeolian?
A B C D E F G — the white keys of the piano, the same notes as C major.
When do I use Aeolian instead of Dorian?
When the sixth degree should sound dark. Dorian raises it, which brightens the mode and changes the chord on the fourth degree to major.
Related Scales from Diatonic
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