6 Great Aeolian Mode / Minor Chord Progressions

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The Aeolian mode or the natural minor scale as it’s called, is the backbone of many great songs and compositions. No matter the style of music. You will find beautiful minor chord progressions everywhere! But how do you write a minor chord progression?

Introduction

The natural minor scale or Aeolian mode can be used for dramatic and bitter-sweet melancholic music. Your minor chord progressions and Aeolian melodies can be as smooth and dreamy as the clouds but also as dark as the night. So what is the Aeolian mode and how do you create great minor chord progressions and start writing music with it?

For all the guitarists out there, I think that the natural minor scale will sound very familiar to you. Since the minor pentatonic scale already has 5 of the 7 notes in it. I will explain how you make an Aeolian or natural minor scale and chord progression. And how you can use this for writing beautiful melodies and full songs. Just follow these three steps below.

How to write music in the Aeolian mode. And how to write music with minor chord progressions

Create a natural minor scale / Aeolian scale
Create a triad or chord on each scale degree
Focus your chords and melody on the root note, minor third, perfect fifth and minor sixth

Video Tutorial: Make Aeolian mode / minor chord progressions and Melodies

I made a YouTube tutorial about this topic. Here you can listen to these chord progressions with real music and different arrangements. Check out my video on the Aeolian mode and listen to some real minor chord progressions in action!

How do you make a natural minor scale / Aeolian scale?

Most popular and tonal music is in a fixed key. This can either be B minor or E major for example. When we say that a song or composition is in a certain key we refer to what notes can and cannot be used. Also, this tells us which chord and note feels like our home base. And when you put these notes that you can use together, they often form a scale. So to start creating minor chord progressions we first need the formula for a minor scale.

Minor scale blueprint / minor scale formula

You can make a natural minor scale in any key and on any instrument that you like. Just apply this formula or blueprint of whole and half steps. Whole step – Half step – Whole step – Whole step – Half step – Whole step – Whole step

One thing where I see people making mistakes is the naming of notes. Each step needs to be a different letter from the alphabet. This means that you cannot have F and Fb or C and C#. It should be F and E or C and Db.

So what are the most important notes in a natural minor scale? The root note, the minor 3rd, minor 6th and major 2nd are the most important notes.

The formula for an A minor scale / A Aeolian scale

The formula for an A minor scale / A Aeolian scale in midi — In Midi roll: The formula for an A minor scale / A Aeolian scale

Is natural minor just minor?

In short, yes it is. Natural minor is just minor. But what is natural minor exactly and why use the word natural?

There are three types of minor scales: Natural minor, Harmonic minor and Melodic minor. Natural minor means that we have a pure minor scale without any notes changed. To get the harmonic minor scale you need to sharpen the 7th scale degree and for melodic minor, you need to sharpen both the 6th and 7th scale degrees.

How do you make a relative major scale?

Fun fact: If you know how to make a minor scale, then you already have all the notes that are in the major scale or Ionian scale as well. To make a major scale in any key you need to follow this fixed formula of whole and half steps: Whole Step – Whole Step – Half Step – Whole Step – Whole Step – Whole Step – Half Step.

C major scale example — How to make a C major scale

C major scale in piano roll editor — C major scale in midi editor

How to make Aeolion mode / minor chord progressions

To find out what are the 7 chords in the minor scale, and start to learn how to make a minor chord progression, we will use the Aeolian scale or minor scale to find out what chords we can play in our minor chord progressions. You need to create a chord or triad on each scale degree. And you do this by only using notes from the scale!

How do you make a triad? You make a chord, by choosing one note and then you skip the next scale sten. You repeat this one more time. So for example in A minor, the chord on the first scale degree is A minor. The notes are A-C-E. We skipped the tones B and D.

A aeolian harmonies — All 7 minor chords from the minor scale / Aeolian scale

In midi: All 7 minor chords from the minor scale / Aeolian scale

Explore The Musical Modes

Create music with the musical modes in no time!
Check out my ‘Modal Playbook’ course with 43 bite-sized lessons.

43 Bite-sized in-depth video lessons
Ask questions directly and more…
Clear and flexible course roadmap
Lessons for beginners and intermediates
All the examples have notes, tabs and MIDI

Start Learning

Modal playbook: exploring the musical modes

Minor Chord progression No.1 in A minor

A chord progression does not always have to have many chords. Even with two chords, you can already call it a chord progression. Together examples no.1 and no.2 will use the three most important chords in any minor chord progression.

These examples are in the key of A minor. In example no.1 the Am chord has the notes A and C in it. These notes emphasize the tonic and the minor third. While the Dm chord has the F in it, which is the minor 6th.

The A and C in your Am chord emphasize the tonic and the minor third, while de Dm has the F in it, which is the minor 6^th scale degree. Looking for some extra tension? You can also emphasize the major 2^nd scale degree, in this case, you can do this by adding the note B to your melody. This will sound great on both chords!

A minor chord progressions — i-iv chord progression in A minor

Midi: A minor chord progressions — Midi: A minor chord progression i-iv

Essential Minor Chord progression No.2 in A minor

This second chord progression is a very basic minor chord progression. It is a beautiful two-chord vamp of Am to Em. This is a classic i – v chord progression. The Em has a B in it, which is the major 2^nd scale degree. But now the F which minor 6^th scale degree is missing. As you can see it is not part of the chords, so you can add it to your melody. It can sound very nice when you play it on top of the Em chord.

i - v chord progression in A minor — i – v chord progression in A minor

Midi: i - v chord progression in A minor — Midi: i – v chord progression in A minor

Must Know Chord progression no.3 in C# minor

This progression is probably one of the most used minor chord progressions out there. It forms the harmonic backbone of countless popular songs and compositions. The smooth stepwise motion is one reason why it is a favourite. But also harmonically it has all the important notes from the Aeolian scale or natural minor scale in it. Which are the minor third, minor sixth and major second. Why don’t you try out this good minor chord progression yourself?

Explore The Musical Modes

Create music with the musical modes in no time!
Check out my ‘Modal Playbook’ course with 43 bite-sized lessons.

43 Bite-sized in-depth video lessons
Ask questions directly and more…
Clear and flexible course roadmap
Lessons for beginners and intermediates
All the examples have notes, tabs and MIDI

Start Learning

Chord progression No.4 in E minor With Only Minor Chords

What’s great about the Aeolian mode or natural minor is that you are able to play an i-iv-v cadence. This is the most fundamental chord progression. All the important notes of the natural minor are present. But one thing that might seem strange is that all the chords are minor in this progression. Often the chord on the 5th scale degree is a major chord. And that dominant chord as it’s called, pulls you back to your tonic. For this reason, this basic chord progression sounds less directional and has less of a pull towards your root chord.

In my video tutorial, this is a minor chord progression for piano. But of course, this might as well be a minor progression for guitar. It does not matter. The beauty is that it can sound like a laid-back minor progression or like a more emotional minor chord progression.

i - iv - v chord progression in E minor — i – iv – v chord progression in E minor

Midi: i - iv - v chord progression in E minor — Midi: i – iv – v chord progression in E minor

Chord progression No.5 in C# minor

If you want your chord progression to sound a bit brighter and softer, then you can add some major chords. In this progression, the contrast between the major chords and the minor tonic chord is wonderful. The chord on the 6th scale degree, which is the A major really sets the mood, while the E major on the 3^rd scale degree creates a smooth connection with the C# minor tonic chord.

As you know by now, your melody can help accentuate important notes of your mode or scale. In this example, I did just that. Listen to the beautiful sound of the D# (which is the major 2nd) in the melody.

I turned this example into a full song. Have a listen below and download it if you want to support my work on free music education.

Summertime by Facing Mountains

C# minor chord progression with a melody

Midi: C# minor chord progression with a melody

Chord progression No.6 on a pedal note in A minor

An example with a pedal note cannot be missed. Pedal notes are the best and easiest way to explore all the different colours and sounds of a certain scale or mode. There are countless examples of pedal notes used in any style of music.

A pedal note is when you hold a bass note and while you switch chords or play melodies your bass note stays the same. In this chord progression example, the tension and dissonance is gradually increased towards the end. This gives a final great resolution when you reach the tonic chord again.

A minor chord progression on a pedal note

Midi: A minor chord progression on a pedal note (part 1)

Conclusion

Minor chord progressions have so much to offer. You can make them as dark and melancholic as you like. But even, if done correctly, you can make a minor chord progression sound happy. When you check out my video tutorial I am sure you will see and hear what I mean. If you have played the chord progressions above on your instrument then you already know!

Summary

This article might be a bit long. So that’s why I made a quick checklist of things to keep in mind for writing minor chord progressions.

Find and use the most important notes of the scale or mode
Find out which chords have these notes in them
Use these chords and the tonic to confirm the mode/key strongly
Use the melody to accentuate important notes. Like in minor: Root, Major 2nd, Minor 3rd, Minor 6th

Many composers and musicians like to use the aeolian mode or natural minor chord progressions when writing music. It’s easy and intuitive. You really can express many different emotions with it.

Questions About Minor Progressions

A good minor chord progression uses the important notes of the minor scale. It’s not about how many minor chords you use, but it’s about how you use them. A good progression in the key of D minor is Dm (i) – Gm (iv) – Am (v). To spice things up you could also change the Am into an A major chord. Which creates a dominant chord.

Another great minor chord progression to learn is i – VII – VI – V. For example in the key of G minor, this would be: Gm (i) – F (VII) – Eb (VI) – D (V). This is also what they call the Andalusian Cadence.

In minor the 1, 3, 4, 5 is not a very common or useful progression. In C minor the chords would be Cm, Eb, Fm, Gm. It’s not useful because it doesn’t really follow the minor chord progression formula. A progression that is similar but better is for example Cm – Eb – Ab – Fm. The formula is i – III – VI – iv.

The darkest chord progression is one that uses many diminished chords. For example in the key of A minor: Am, Bdim, G#dim, Dm. The chord progression formula for this is: i – iidim – viidim – iv. As you can see these are only minor chords and diminished chords. The result is that it sounds very dark and unstable. If you want to add a major chord, then you can switch the Dm (iv) with an Emajor (V). This will create a dominant chord that really pulls you back to your first tonic chord.

When you compare major chord progressions with minor chord progressions, then you will hear that the minor ones are definitely darker. But of course, like everything in music theory, it depends on the context of the music. There are three types of chords or triads that we use in our progressions. These are Major, Minor and Diminished. The diminished chord is the darkest and most unstable of them all.

So chord progressions that mainly use minor chords and maybe a diminished chord are dark chord progressions. For example i – #viidim – VI – iidim. In the key of B minor that would be: Bm – A#dim – G – C#dim.

Any of the progressions that you learned in my music lesson on this page are by far the most popular and best minor chord progressions. Here they are lined up with some extra progressions added. All examples are in the key of A minor.

i – iv (Am – Dm)
i – v (Am – Em)
i – iv – v (Am – Dm – Em)
i – VII – VI – VII (Am – G – F – G)
i – III – VI (Am – C – F)
i – III – VI – iv (Am – C – F – Dm)
i – VII- VI – V (Am – G – F – E)

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6 Great Aeolian Mode / Minor Chord Progressions

Introduction

How to write music in the Aeolian mode. And how to write music with minor chord progressions

Video Tutorial: Make Aeolian mode / minor chord progressions and Melodies

How do you make a natural minor scale / Aeolian scale?