In this guide I want to discuss minor scales for the saxophone.
If you were looking for the minor pentatonic scales, here is the saxophone minor pentatonic scales guide. And if you were looking for the major pentatonic scales instead, here is the saxophone major pentatonic scales guide.
There are both major and minor scales. If you were looking for just major scales, here is the saxophone major scales guide.
As with all other guides in these series, we will focus in playing the scales on saxophone, specifically, how to finger all 12 minor scales on the saxophone.
Let's dive right in.
All Minor Scales on the Saxophone
Relatives scales are scale that a common set of notes.
Every major scale has a relative minor scale. They have the same exact set of notes except their root is different.
Major Scale | Relative Minor Scale |
---|---|
D Major | B Minor |
D-sharp / E-flat Major | C Minor |
E Major | C-sharp Minor |
F Major | D Minor |
F-sharp Major | D-sharp Minor |
G Major | E Minor |
G-sharp / A-flat Major | F Minor |
A Major | F-sharp Minor |
A-sharp / B-flat Major | G Minor |
B Major | G-sharp Minor |
C Major | A Minor |
C-sharp Major | A-sharp Minor |
The main reason you need to know the relationship between the major scale and the minor scale is it makes memorizing a lot of essential things in music easier. You only have to memorize 12 scales to know all 24 keys used in music.
They are the same set of notes with the the same key signature.
You'll see that many songs bounce back between the major key and its relative minor or vice versa.
How to Find the Relative Minor from a Major Scale
The root of the relative minor scale is always the sixth note of the major scale. This works for all major scales.
What that means is to get the minor, we are not altering a single note, all we are going to do is start the scale on a different note. The 6th note.
How to Find the Relative Major from a Minor Scale
The root of the relative major scale is always the third note of the minor scale. Again, this works for all minor scales.
Here is a list of all minor scales and their fingerings on saxophone:
- B Minor Scale
- C Minor Scale
- C-sharp Minor Scale
- D Minor Scale
- D-sharp Minor Scale
- E Minor Scale
- F Minor Scale
- F-sharp Minor Scale
- G Minor Scale
- G-sharp Minor Scale
- A Minor Scale
- A-sharp Minor Scale
Let's get started.
The B Minor Scale
The relative major of B minor is D major. This scale has two sharps—F-sharp and C-sharp. The notes of B minor are:
- Low B
- Low C-sharp
- Low D
- E
- F-sharp
- G
- A
- B
Here are the fingering charts of the B minor scale:
Note i — Low B
Note ii — Low C-sharp
Note iii — Low D
Note iv — Low E
Note v — F-sharp
There are two fingerings for F-sharp, the main (most common) fingering and the F-sharp side key alternate fingering.
Note vi — G
Note vii — A
Note i — B
The fingering for this note is similar with the Low B but with the octave key. It is an octave above Low B.
The C Minor Scale
The relative major of C minor is E-flat major. This scale has three flats—E-flat, A-flat and D-flat. The notes of C minor are:
- C
- D
- E-flat
- F
- G
- A-flat
- B-flat
- C
Here are the fingering charts of the B minor scale:
Note i — Low C
Note ii — Low D
Note iii — E-flat
Note iv — F
Note v — G
Note vi — A-flat
The enharmonic equivalent for A-flat is G-sharp, so the fingerings are similar.
The above fingering is the main one, but there are three alternate fingerings using different table keys as follows:
Note vii — B-flat
B-flat has a lot of options. There are three main fingerings:
And then, there are two alternate fingerings:
Note i — C
And there is one alternate fingering:
The C-sharp Minor Scale
The relative major of C-sharp minor is E major. This scale has four sharp; F-sharp, G-sharp, C-sharp and D-sharp.
Here are the notes of the C-sharp minor scale:
- Low C-sharp
- D-sharp
- E
- F-sharp
- G-sharp
- A
- B
- C-sharp
Here are the fingering charts of the C-sharp minor scale:
Note i — Low C-sharp
Note ii — D-sharp
Note iii — E
Note iv — F-sharp
F-sharp has one main fingering:
And one alternate fingering:
Note v — G-sharp
G-sharp has one main fingering:
And three alternate fingerings:
So you have a lot of options with the table keys here.
Note vi — A
Note vii — B
Note i — C-sharp
The D Minor Scale
The relative major of D minor is F major. This scale has one flat: B-flat.
Here are the notes of the D minor scale:
- Low D
- E
- F
- G
- A
- B-flat
- C
- D
Here are the fingering charts of the D Minor minor scale:
Note i — Low D
Note ii — E
Note iii — F
Note iv — G
Note v — A
Note vi — B-flat
The main fingerings:
And the fingerings:
Note vii — C
The main fingering:
The alternate fingering:
Note i — D
The D-sharp Minor Scale
The relative major of D-sharp minor is F-sharp major. The F sharp major scale contains 6 sharps: F-sharp, G-sharp, A-sharp, C-sharp, D-sharp, and E-sharp.
Here are the notes of the D-sharp minor scale:
- D-sharp
- E-sharp
- F-sharp
- G-sharp
- A-sharp
- B
- C-sharp
- D-sharp
Here are the fingering charts of the D Minor minor scale:
Note i — D-sharp / E-flat
Note ii — E-sharp
Note iii — F-sharp
Note iv — G-sharp
Note v — A-sharp
Note vi — B
Note vii — C-sharp
Note i — D-sharp
The E Minor Scale
The relative major of E minor is G major. This scale has one sharp: F-sharp.
Here are the notes of the D-sharp minor scale:
- E
- F-sharp
- G
- A
- B
- C
- D
- E
Here are the fingering charts of the D Minor minor scale:
Note i — E
Note ii — F-sharp
And one alternate fingering.
Note iii — G
Note iv — A
Note v — B
Note vi — C
Note vii — D
Note i — E
The F Minor Scale
The relative major of F minor is A-flat major. This scale has four flats: A-flat, B-flat, D-flat, E-flat.
Here are the notes of the F minor scale:
- F
- G
- A-flat
- B-flat
- C
- D-flat
- E-flat
- F
Here are the fingering charts of the D Minor minor scale:
Note i — F
Note ii — G
Note iii — A-flat
Note iv — B-flat
Note v — C
Note vi — D-flat
Note vii — E-flat
Note i — F
The F-sharp Minor Scale
The relative major of F-sharp minor is A major. This scale has three sharps: C-sharp, F-sharp and G-sharp.
Here are the notes of the F-sharp minor scale:
- F-sharp
- G-sharp
- A
- B
- C-sharp
- D
- E
- F-sharp
Here are the fingering charts of the D Minor minor scale:
Note i — F-sharp
And there is one alternate fingering:
Note ii — G-sharp
And there are three alternate fingerings:
Note iii — A
Note iv — B
Note v — C-sharp
Note vi — D
Note vii — E
Note i — F-sharp
The G Minor Scale
The relative major of G minor is B-flat major. This scale has two flats: B-flat and E-flat.
Here are the notes of the G minor scale:
- G
- A
- B-flat
- C
- D
- E-flat
- F
- G
Here are the fingering charts of the G minor scale:
Note i — G
Note ii — A
Note iii — B-flat
Note iv — C
Note v — D
Note vi — E-flat
Note vii — F
Note i — G
The G-sharp Minor Scale
The relative major of G-sharp minor is B major. This scale has five sharps: G-sharp, A-sharp, C-sharp, D-sharp and F-sharp.
Here are the notes of the G-sharp minor scale:
- G-sharp
- A-sharp
- B
- C-sharp
- D-sharp
- E
- F-sharp
- G-sharp
Here are the fingering charts of the G-sharp minor scale:
Note i — G-sharp
And there are three alternate fingerings:
Note ii — A-sharp / B-flat
Note iii — B
Note iv — C-sharp
Note v — D-sharp
Note vi — E
Note vii — F-sharp
Note i — G-sharp
The A Minor Scale
The relative major of A minor is C major. This scale has no flat or sharp.
Here are the notes of the A minor scale:
- A
- B
- C
- D
- E
- F
- G
- A
Here are the fingering charts of the A minor scale:
Note i — A
Note ii — B
Note iii — C
Note iv — D
Note v — E
Note vi — F
Note vii — G
Note i — A
The A-sharp Minor Scale
The relative major of A-sharp minor is C-sharp major. All the notes in this scale are sharps.
Here are the notes of the A-sharp minor scale:
- A-sharp
- B-sharp
- C-sharp
- D-sharp
- E-sharp
- F-sharp
- G-sharp
- A-sharp
Here are the fingering charts of the A-sharp minor scale:
Note i — A-sharp / B-flat
Note ii — B-sharp
And the alternate fingering is:
Note iii — C-sharp
Note iv — D-sharp
Note v — E-sharp
Note vi — F-sharp
Note vii — G-sharp
Note i — A-sharp