A Aeolian
The A Aeolian mode — A B C D E F G — shown across the guitar neck.
Tap any note on the neck.
Swipe the neck sideways to see the higher frets.
A Aeolian is the natural minor — same seven notes, same order. The mode name describes which chord you treat as home, not a different set of notes.
What is A Aeolian?
A Aeolian is the seven notes A B C D E F G — the notes of C major started from its 6th degree, A. Same seven notes as the parent, but with A as home, so the intervals and the sound are different.
A Aeolian vs A natural minor
They are the same seven notes in the same order. “Aeolian” is the mode name for the natural minor scale — it says which chord you treat as home, not that any note changed.
Chords in A Aeolian
Stack the mode in thirds and each degree becomes a chord. The home chord is Am; the rest are the chords of C major, since the notes are the same — what changes is which one the music rests on. Vamp between Am and F and the mode is unmistakable.
A Aeolian on the guitar neck
Because A Aeolian is C major from its 6th note, its natural fingering is position 6 of the seven three-notes-per-string shapes of C major — the shape whose lowest note is A. Learn that shape with A as home — start and end on it, over a drone on A or the vamp above — and you have the mode under your fingers. Play the same shape with C as home and you hear C major instead. The other six positions are the fingerings for the other six modes of the same key.
How to practice A Aeolian on guitar
- Loop position 6 of C major at 60 BPM, starting and ending on A so your ear hears A as home rather than C.
- Hold a Am chord (or record one) and play the shape over it. Listen for the chord tones landing on the beat.
- Hear it harmonized in 3rds on the Fretboard: press Play and every note sounds with its partner while the neck lights up.
The tool draws A Aeolian from its own root: the orange dots are on A and the degrees count from it. The notes are its parent key's, C major; to hear Aeolian, start and end on A.
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