Aeolian is also known as the most common minor mode. If someone is talking about a minor scale, this is probably the one they’re talking about.

• To play Aeolian mode on the piano, just play all the white notes on a piano, starting on A.
• Aeolian mode consists of notes with the following intervals: T-S-T-T-S-T-T
• As an example, make sure that “A” is at the top of the circle. You can see that in order to play A aeolian mode, you simply need to play a C major scale, but concentrating on the A.
• To see what notes are in an A aeolian scale, first put A at the top of the circle and look at the note in the Aeolian position — that is C, so A aeolian is achieved by using the C major scale. Then move C to the top of the circle and you can see what notes are in A aeolian, because they are the notes from the C major scale: A, B, C, D, E, F, G.
• To play chords in A aeolian, first put A at the top of the circle and look at the note in the Aeolian position — that is C, so you play chords from the key of C major. Then move C to the top of the circle and you can see those chords, which are the chords for A aeolian: Am, Bdim, C, Dm, Em, F, G.
• Play any major scale but start on (concentrate on) the 6th note in order to achieve an aeolian scale.
• A aeolian is relative to (contains all the same notes as) C major (or C ionian).