D Aeolian Scale on Classical Guitar

Play the D Aeolian scale on Classical Guitar with fretboard diagrams that map the pattern across the neck. The Aeolian scale has 7 notes per octave and belongs to the modes family.

D is available as an open string on Classical Guitar, and 4 of its 5 open strings are scale tones — E (the 2nd), A (the 5th), D (the root), G (the 4th). The B string sits outside the scale. Open, the strings cover E2 to E4.

Same as Natural Minor.

The standard natural minor scale — melancholic, introspective, and deeply emotive. The most common minor sound in Western music.

Heard in: Pop, rock, classical, metal — the default minor sound of Western music.

It has nylon strings on a wider, flatter neck than a steel-string guitar, which is why it is played fingerstyle rather than with a pick.

Each position shows the scale notes and their intervals from the root so you can connect the shape to its sound, hear it with audio playback, and practice it in any register. Movable patterns let you transpose the same fingering to other keys once it is learned.

Once a position is under your fingers, link the D Aeolian scale to the chords it harmonizes and to progressions in the key of D to start improvising and writing with it. Working a scale alongside its chords is the fastest way to make it stick and to hear how it colors a progression.