F♯ Minor scale on guitar
Every note of the F♯ Minor scale — F♯ G♯ A B C♯ D E — with the step pattern, what it sounds like, where it's used, and famous songs built on it. All scales are free in the interactive fretboard tool.
The scale on the neck
Here's F♯ Minor over the first 12 frets of the guitar (standard EADGBE tuning). The pink notes are the root (F♯); tap any note to hear it, or play the whole scale ascending.
Press Make it interactive and the same scale opens across all 24 frets, with every other tuning and capo position, and with each note labelled by its interval from the root (R, 2, ♭3…) instead of by name. The numbers are the same in every key, so what you learn here transposes straight to G or E. (Note: the root shows there as R, not as F♯.)
The notes
Each note is labelled with its scale degree relative to the major scale — that formula (1 2 ♭3 4 5 ♭6 ♭7) is the scale's fingerprint, identical in every key.
The step pattern
W–H–W–W–H–W–W — W is a whole step (two frets), H a half step (one fret), and 1½ a step and a half (three frets). Start on any F♯on the neck, walk that pattern up one string, and you've played F♯ Minor.
How it's built
F♯ Minor is the natural minor scale — the 6th mode of the major scale (“Aeolian”). What makes it different: The major scale with a flat 3rd, 6th and 7th (♭3 ♭6 ♭7). It shares every note with its relative major — the major scale that starts three semitones higher — it just treats a different note as home.
Its relative major is A major: the two scales share every note and differ only in which one feels like home. That's why minor-key songs so often drift toward their relative major for the chorus.
What it sounds like & where it's used
The sound: Dark, serious, sad — the default “minor” sound.
Where you'll hear it: Minor-key pop, rock ballads, folk laments and film scores — anywhere music needs weight or melancholy.
Famous music built on this scale
a classic A natural minor song: melody and mandolin riff stay inside the scale.
built on a brooding natural-minor (Aeolian) chord vamp.
the fingerpicked intro rings out open E natural minor.
Minor in every key
Other scales on F♯
Song and artist names are mentioned for identification and educational commentary only — we don't reproduce lyrics, tabs or recordings. Scales and their formulas are shared facts of music theory.
See F♯ Minor across the whole neck — colored by interval, with fingerings and audio, on guitar, bass and ukulele. Every scale and all 12 roots are free in the interactive tool.
Open F♯ Minor on the fretboardFrequently asked
What notes are in the F♯ Minor scale?
F♯ Minor contains 7 notes: F♯, G♯, A, B, C♯, D, E.
What is the formula for the minor scale?
The interval formula is 1 2 ♭3 4 5 ♭6 ♭7, which is the step pattern W–H–W–W–H–W–W (W = whole step, H = half step, 1½ = a step and a half). Start on F♯ and apply those steps to get F♯, G♯, A, B, C♯, D, E.
When should I use F♯ Minor?
Minor-key pop, rock ballads, folk laments and film scores — anywhere music needs weight or melancholy. Sound-wise: Dark, serious, sad — the default “minor” sound.