A Neapolitan Minor Scale on Guitar — 2 Shapes to Play the Whole Neck
A Neapolitan Minor is a named exotic or world scale, independently verified against real theory sources before being added to Fretprism's library — its notes are A Bb C D E F G#, from the formula 1 b2 b3 4 5 b6 7. Computed live for A, it resolves to 2 repeating shapes across the neck.
A Neapolitan Minor Scale Notes
| Degree | Note | Interval |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | A | 1 |
| 2 | Bb | b2 |
| 3 | C | b3 |
| 4 | D | 4 |
| 5 | E | 5 |
| 6 | F | b6 |
| 7 | G# | 7 |
A Neapolitan Minor Formula
Degree formula: 1 b2 b3 4 5 b6 7
A Neapolitan Minor on the Guitar Fretboard
The notes of Neapolitan Minor repeat across the guitar fretboard in connected positions. Use the shape below to identify root notes, scale degrees, and neighboring shapes.
- Frets 4–13 (span 9 frets)
- Lowest note G#, highest note F
- 3 A root notes, on the E string (fret 5), D string (fret 7), B string (fret 10)
How to practice this shape
- Start on the root — A at fret 5 on the E string. Play up to the highest note in the shape, then back down, staying inside frets 4–13.
- Your hand shifts 5 times as you cross strings: E→A (+1), A→D (+1), D→G (+1), G→B (+2), B→E (+1). Those crossings — not the notes — are what this position is really asking you to learn.
- Once it feels automatic, move on to the next of the 2 shapes — together they cover the whole neck, and the same pattern repeats from there.
Diatonic chords
These are the 5 chords built from A Neapolitan Minor's own notes — the ones that will sound like they belong when you're writing a progression, backing a melody, or jamming in this key. The Roman numeral shows each chord's role in the key: capital for major, lowercase for minor, ° for diminished, + for augmented. Not every scale produces a clean chord on every degree — where that happens, we show it honestly instead of forcing a name that doesn't fit.
A Neapolitan Minor FAQ
A Neapolitan Minor contains the notes A, Bb, C, D, E, F, G#.
A Neapolitan Minor's formula is 1 b2 b3 4 5 b6 7.
The diatonic chords in A Neapolitan Minor are Am, Bb, Caug, Dm, F.