Aeolian Mode
Aeolian is natural minor with a Greek name attached. The notes are identical and so is the mood. The name is useful in one situation: when you are comparing it to the other minor modes and need to be precise about which one you mean.
- 7 notes
- 1 2 b3 4 5 b6 b7
- the flattened sixth
which styles use it
- Pop
- Metal
- Film music
- Deep house
How it is built
Take the major scale and lower the third, sixth and seventh. On the white keys, Aeolian runs from A to A. Every minor key signature in written music is this scale.
Dark, closed and settled. Where Dorian lifts and Phrygian threatens, Aeolian simply sits in the minor without arguing about it.
Where to use it
Everywhere minor music happens, from pop to metal to film scoring. In practice you call it minor. The modal name comes out when someone asks whether a piece is in Aeolian or Dorian.
The chords that go with it
Minor, diminished, major, minor, minor, major, major. Note that the chord on the fifth degree is minor rather than dominant, which is why minor keys usually borrow a raised seventh from harmonic minor when they want a strong cadence.
What it gets confused with
With Dorian, one note above it, and with Phrygian, one note below. Those two notes, the sixth and the second, are the whole minor mode family.