Saxophone Minor Scales: Full Range Note-by-note Fingering Charts

Saxophone Minor Scales: Full Range Note-by-note Fingering Charts

A 29 minute read by REVERBLXND

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 ScaleRelative Minor Scale
D MajorB Minor
D-sharp / E-flat MajorC Minor
E MajorC-sharp Minor
F MajorD Minor
F-sharp MajorD-sharp Minor
G MajorE Minor
G-sharp / A-flat MajorF Minor
A MajorF-sharp Minor
A-sharp / B-flat MajorG Minor
B MajorG-sharp Minor
C MajorA Minor
C-sharp MajorA-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:

  1. B Minor Scale
  2. C Minor Scale
  3. C-sharp Minor Scale
  4. D Minor Scale
  5. D-sharp Minor Scale
  6. E Minor Scale
  7. F Minor Scale
  8. F-sharp Minor Scale
  9. G Minor Scale
  10. G-sharp Minor Scale
  11. A Minor Scale
  12. 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:

  1. Low B
  2. Low C-sharp
  3. Low D
  4. E
  5. F-sharp
  6. G
  7. A
  8. B

Here are the fingering charts of the B minor scale:

Note i — Low B

The B minor scale, Low B fingering chart

Note ii — Low C-sharp

The B minor scale, Low C-sharp fingering chart

Note iii — Low D

The B minor scale, Low D fingering chart

Note iv — Low E

The B minor scale, E fingering chart

Note v — F-sharp

There are two fingerings for F-sharp, the main (most common) fingering and the F-sharp side key alternate fingering.

The B minor scale, f-sharp fingering chart The B minor scale, Alternate F-sharp fingering chart

Note vi — G

The B minor scale, G fingering chart

Note vii — A

The B minor scale, A fingering chart

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 B minor scale, B fingering chart

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:

  1. C
  2. D
  3. E-flat
  4. F
  5. G
  6. A-flat
  7. B-flat
  8. C

Here are the fingering charts of the B minor scale:

Note i — Low C

The C minor scale, Low C fingering chart

Note ii — Low D

The C minor scale, Low D fingering chart

Note iii — E-flat

The C minor scale, E-flat fingering chart

Note iv — F

The C minor scale, F fingering chart

Note v — G

The C minor scale, G fingering chart

Note vi — A-flat

The enharmonic equivalent for A-flat is G-sharp, so the fingerings are similar.

The C minor scale, G-sharp or A-flat fingering chart

The above fingering is the main one, but there are three alternate fingerings using different table keys as follows:

The C minor scale, G-sharp or A-flat fingering chart The C minor scale, G-sharp or A-flat fingering chart The C minor scale, G-sharp or A-flat fingering chart

Note vii — B-flat

B-flat has a lot of options. There are three main fingerings:

The C minor scale, G-sharp or A-flat fingering chart The C minor scale, G-sharp or A-flat fingering chart The C minor scale, G-sharp or A-flat fingering chart

And then, there are two alternate fingerings:

The C minor scale, B-flat fingering chart The C minor scale, B-flat fingering chart

Note i — C

The C minor scale, C fingering chart

And there is one alternate fingering:

The C minor scale, C fingering chart

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:

  1. Low C-sharp
  2. D-sharp
  3. E
  4. F-sharp
  5. G-sharp
  6. A
  7. B
  8. C-sharp

Here are the fingering charts of the C-sharp minor scale:

Note i — Low C-sharp

The Low C-sharp scale, Low C-sharp fingering chart

Note ii — D-sharp

The Low C-sharp scale, Low C-sharp fingering chart

Note iii — E

The E major scale, E with octave fingering chart

Note iv — F-sharp

F-sharp has one main fingering:

The E major scale, F-sharp fingering chart

And one alternate fingering:

The E major scale, F-sharp fingering chart

Note v — G-sharp

G-sharp has one main fingering:

The E major scale, G-sharp fingering chart

And three alternate fingerings:

The E major scale, G-sharp alternate fingering chart The E major scale, G-sharp alternate fingering chart The E major scale, G-sharp alternate fingering chart

So you have a lot of options with the table keys here.

Note vi — A

The E major scale, A fingering chart

Note vii — B

The E major scale, B fingering chart

Note i — C-sharp

The E major scale, C-sharp fingering chart

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:

  1. Low D
  2. E
  3. F
  4. G
  5. A
  6. B-flat
  7. C
  8. D

Here are the fingering charts of the D Minor minor scale:

Note i — Low D

The D minor scale, Low D fingering chart

Note ii — E

The D minor scale, E fingering chart

Note iii — F

The D minor scale, F fingering chart

Note iv — G

The D minor scale, G fingering chart

Note v — A

The D minor scale, A fingering chart

Note vi — B-flat

The main fingerings:

The D minor scale, B-flat fingering chart The D minor scale, B-flat fingering chart The D minor scale, B-flat fingering chart

And the fingerings:

The D minor scale, B-flat alternate fingering chart The D minor scale, B-flat alternate fingering chart

Note vii — C

The main fingering:

The D minor scale, C fingering chart

The alternate fingering:

The D minor scale, C fingering chart

Note i — D

The D minor scale, D with octave key fingering chart

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:

  1. D-sharp
  2. E-sharp
  3. F-sharp
  4. G-sharp
  5. A-sharp
  6. B
  7. C-sharp
  8. D-sharp

Here are the fingering charts of the D Minor minor scale:

Note i — D-sharp / E-flat

The D-sharp minor scale, D-sharp, E-flat fingering chart

Note ii — E-sharp

The D-sharp minor scale, E-sharp fingering chart

Note iii — F-sharp

The D-sharp minor scale, F-sharp fingering chart The D-sharp minor scale, F-sharp alternate fingering chart

Note iv — G-sharp

The D-sharp minor scale, G-sharp fingering chart The D-sharp minor scale, G-sharp alternate 1 fingering chart The D-sharp minor scale, G-sharp alternate 2 fingering chart The D-sharp minor scale, G-sharp alternate 3 fingering chart

Note v — A-sharp

The D-sharp minor scale, A-sharp fingering 1 chart The D-sharp minor scale, A-sharp fingering 2 chart The D-sharp minor scale, A-sharp fingering 3 chart The D-sharp minor scale, A-sharp alternate 1 fingering chart The D-sharp minor scale, A-sharp alternate 2 fingering chart

Note vi — B

The D-sharp minor scale, B fingering chart

Note vii — C-sharp

The D-sharp minor scale, C-sharp fingering chart

Note i — D-sharp

The D-sharp minor scale, D-sharp with octave key fingering chart

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:

  1. E
  2. F-sharp
  3. G
  4. A
  5. B
  6. C
  7. D
  8. E

Here are the fingering charts of the D Minor minor scale:

Note i — E

The E Minor scale, E fingering chart

Note ii — F-sharp

The E Minor scale, F-sharp fingering chart

And one alternate fingering.

The E Minor scale, F-sharp alternate fingering chart

Note iii — G

The E Minor scale, G fingering chart

Note iv — A

The E Minor scale, A fingering chart

Note v — B

The E Minor scale, B fingering chart

Note vi — C

The E Minor scale, C fingering chart The E Minor scale, C alternate fingering chart

Note vii — D

The E Minor scale, D fingering chart

Note i — E

The E Minor scale, E with octave fingering chart

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:

  1. F
  2. G
  3. A-flat
  4. B-flat
  5. C
  6. D-flat
  7. E-flat
  8. F

Here are the fingering charts of the D Minor minor scale:

Note i — F

The F minor scale, F fingering chart

Note ii — G

The F minor scale, G fingering chart

Note iii — A-flat

The F minor scale, A-flat fingering chart The F minor scale, A-flat alternate 1 fingering chart The F minor scale, A-flat alternate 1 fingering chart The F minor scale, A-flat alternate 1 fingering chart

Note iv — B-flat

The F minor scale, fingering chart The F minor scale, fingering chart The F minor scale, fingering chart The F minor scale, fingering chart The F minor scale, fingering chart

Note v — C

The F minor scale, C fingering chart The F minor scale, C alternate fingering chart

Note vi — D-flat

The F minor scale, D-flat fingering chart

Note vii — E-flat

The F minor scale, E-flat fingering chart

Note i — F

The F minor scale, F fingering chart

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:

  1. F-sharp
  2. G-sharp
  3. A
  4. B
  5. C-sharp
  6. D
  7. E
  8. F-sharp

Here are the fingering charts of the D Minor minor scale:

Note i — F-sharp

The F-sharp minor scale, F-sharp fingering chart

And there is one alternate fingering:

The F-sharp minor scale, F-sharp alternate fingering chart

Note ii — G-sharp

The F-sharp minor scale, G-sharp fingering chart

And there are three alternate fingerings:

The F-sharp minor scale, G-sharp alternate 1 fingering chart The F-sharp minor scale, G-sharp alternate 2 fingering chart The F-sharp minor scale, G-sharp alternate 3 fingering chart

Note iii — A

The F-sharp minor scale, A fingering chart

Note iv — B

The F-sharp minor scale, B fingering chart

Note v — C-sharp

The F-sharp minor scale, C-sharp fingering chart

Note vi — D

The F-sharp minor scale, D fingering chart

Note vii — E

The F-sharp minor scale, E fingering chart

Note i — F-sharp

The F-sharp minor scale, fingering chart The F-sharp minor scale, F-sharp fingering chart

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:

  1. G
  2. A
  3. B-flat
  4. C
  5. D
  6. E-flat
  7. F
  8. G

Here are the fingering charts of the G minor scale:

Note i — G

The G minor scale, G fingering chart

Note ii — A

The G minor scale, A fingering chart

Note iii — B-flat

The G minor scale, B-flat fingering 1 chart The G minor scale, B-flat fingering 2 chart The G minor scale, B-flat fingering 3 chart The G minor scale, B-flat alternate 1 fingering chart The G minor scale, B-flat alternate 1 fingering chart

Note iv — C

The G minor scale, C fingering chart The G minor scale, C alternate fingering chart

Note v — D

The G minor scale, D fingering chart

Note vi — E-flat

The G minor scale, E-flat fingering chart

Note vii — F

The G minor scale, F fingering chart

Note i — G

The G minor scale, G with octave key fingering chart

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:

  1. G-sharp
  2. A-sharp
  3. B
  4. C-sharp
  5. D-sharp
  6. E
  7. F-sharp
  8. G-sharp

Here are the fingering charts of the G-sharp minor scale:

Note i — G-sharp

The G-sharp minor scale, G-sharp fingering chart

And there are three alternate fingerings:

The G-sharp minor scale, G-sharp alternate 1 fingering chart The G-sharp minor scale, G-sharp alternate 2 fingering chart The G-sharp minor scale, G-sharp alternate 3 fingering chart

Note ii — A-sharp / B-flat

The G-sharp minor scale, fingering chart 1 The G-sharp minor scale, fingering chart 2 The G-sharp minor scale, fingering chart 3 The G-sharp minor scale, alternate fingering chart 1 The G-sharp minor scale, alternate fingering chart 2

Note iii — B

The G-sharp minor scale, fingering chart

Note iv — C-sharp

The G-sharp minor scale, fingering chart

Note v — D-sharp

The G-sharp minor scale, fingering chart

Note vi — E

The G-sharp minor scale, fingering chart

Note vii — F-sharp

The G-sharp minor scale, fingering chart The G-sharp minor scale, fingering chart

Note i — G-sharp

The G-sharp minor scale, fingering chart The G-sharp minor scale, fingering chart The G-sharp minor scale, fingering chart The G-sharp minor scale, fingering chart

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:

  1. A
  2. B
  3. C
  4. D
  5. E
  6. F
  7. G
  8. A

Here are the fingering charts of the A minor scale:

Note i — A

The A minor scale, A fingering chart

Note ii — B

The A minor scale, B fingering chart

Note iii — C

The A minor scale, C fingering chart The A minor scale, C alternate fingering chart

Note iv — D

The A minor scale, D fingering chart

Note v — E

The A minor scale, E fingering chart

Note vi — F

The A minor scale, F fingering chart

Note vii — G

The A minor scale, G fingering chart

Note i — A

The A minor scale, A with octave fingering chart

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:

  1. A-sharp
  2. B-sharp
  3. C-sharp
  4. D-sharp
  5. E-sharp
  6. F-sharp
  7. G-sharp
  8. A-sharp

Here are the fingering charts of the A-sharp minor scale:

Note i — A-sharp / B-flat

The A-sharp minor scale, A-sharp fingering chart 1 The A-sharp minor scale, A-sharp fingering chart 2 The A-sharp minor scale, A-sharp fingering chart 3 The A-sharp minor scale, A-sharp alternate fingering chart 1 The A-sharp minor scale, A-sharp alternate fingering chart 2

Note ii — B-sharp

The A-sharp minor scale, B-sharp fingering chart

And the alternate fingering is:

The A-sharp minor scale, B-sharp alternate fingering chart

Note iii — C-sharp

The A-sharp minor scale, C-sharp fingering chart

Note iv — D-sharp

The A-sharp minor scale, D-sharp fingering chart

Note v — E-sharp

The A-sharp minor scale, E-sharp fingering chart

Note vi — F-sharp

The A-sharp minor scale, F-sharp fingering chart The A-sharp minor scale, F-sharp alternate fingering chart

Note vii — G-sharp

The A-sharp minor scale, G-sharp fingering chart The A-sharp minor scale, G-sharp alternate fingering chart 1 The A-sharp minor scale, G-sharp alternate fingering chart 2 The A-sharp minor scale, G-sharp alternate fingering chart 3

Note i — A-sharp

The A-sharp minor scale, A-sharp fingering chart 1 The A-sharp minor scale, A-sharp fingering chart 2 The A-sharp minor scale, A-sharp fingering chart 3 The A-sharp minor scale, A-sharp alternate fingering chart 1 The A-sharp minor scale, A-sharp alternate fingering chart 2