A Neapolitan Minor Scale

What is the A Neapolitan Minor Scale?

The Neapolitan minor scale takes the harmonic minor and lowers the 2nd degree to a ♭2, producing a dark, operatic sound associated with the Neapolitan school of Italian opera. Its distinctive opening half-step from root to ♭2 gives it an immediately dramatic quality that works well for classical-influenced passages. Here's how the A Neapolitan Minor Scale lays out on the fretboard.

Notes and Positions

Harmonic minor with flat 2; dramatic classical cadential color. On bass, the fretboard view helps you visualize where the important tones sit for building lines across positions. Use a finger-per-fret approach first, then add shifts only when the line needs a wider range. In the key of A, the notes are: A, Bb, C, D, E, F, G#.

How to Use It

You'll often hear it in Classical, Film, and Modal Mixture. A good way to internalize the sound is to sing the root, then sing a few scale degrees before you play them.

Start with the root on beat 1, add the 5th on beat 3, then work the other scale tones in as passing notes. Use the interactive fretboard above to spot repeats of the same note on different strings and frets.