Its key signature has seven flats.

The A-flat natural minor scale is: Changes needed for the melodic and harmonic versions of the scale are written in with accidentals as necessary.

The A-flat harmonic minor and melodic minor scales are: The scale degree chords of A-flat minor are: Although A-flat minor occurs in modulation in works in other keys, it is only rarely used as the principal key of a piece of music.

Some well-known uses of the key in classical and romantic music include: More often, pieces in a minor mode that have A-flat's pitch as tonic are notated in the enharmonic key, G-sharp minor, because that key has just five sharps as opposed to the seven flats of A-flat minor.

In some scores, the A-flat minor key signature in the bass clef is written with the flat for the F on the second line from the top.