This lesson provides an introduction to the melodic minor scale, explaining why jazz musicians use the scale and its modes. Natural minor is a mode, however i would call the harmonic and melodic minor scales functional variations of natural minor rather than strictly their own modes. Note that the ionian mode is also the major scale, and the aeolian mode is the minor scale. More specifically, the aeolian mode is the natural minor scale. Tbh though, in that song, over the e minor in the key of e minor you can get away with a lot. Here is an overview of all the charts and other resources that are available on this site to view and also to download.
Minor scales cheat sheet harmonic minor raise the 7 th scale degree melodic minor raise the 6 th and 7 th scale degree ascending, revert to. I have provided for each melodic minor scale a fretboard position diagram that. Just select your string tuning standard tuning is default, click the link that says go then click a key link. This table emphasizes the point that each mode can be determined by starting on a successive note of the c major scale white keys only.
Do modes exist in the harmonic melodic minor scales. The melodic minor scale is almost the same as the natural minor with two exception that the sixth and seventh tones are raised by a semitone when the scale is ascending. In jazz, the modes of the melodic minor scale are very widely used. Playing scales and modes on the guitar can be a daunting task. Modes are different than the regular major and minor scales most students are familiar with. In addition to other scales the melodic minor scale, also called the jazz minor. All 7 modes of the melodic minor scale are here in this ebook in 3 notes per string fashion across 6 strings. How to play the modes of the melodic minor scale learn. There are three common lydian dominant progressions. You can play along with or sing along to the mp3 for ear training and to help you hear if and when you are making a mistake in a scale or mode. Melodic minor modes and altered scale the jazz piano site. If you are new to the major modes, check out my previous lesson, major modes made easy, for a refresher on these important melodic devices. If you want to download a free ebook of 15 ii valt i licks then subscribe to my newsletter. Seven unique sequences representing the melodic minor scale 2122221 and its six modes seven unique sequences representing the neapolitan major scale 1222221 and its six modes note.
The melodic minor scale is exactly the same as the major scale except that it has a. Caged 3 notes per string 3nps 7 positionberklee system. The sound of the harmonic scale is somewhat characterized by the music of the middle east. The melodic minor scale and its modes jazz guitar online. The melodic minor scale is one of the most useful scales in jazz. The lydian dominant scale is the fourth mode of the melodic minor, and contains the same notes as its parent melodic minor scale. All the melodic minor modes are detailed in the below table along with their related chords. The major and harmonic minor scales are normally associated with major and minor key centers.
For ascending scale notes, the difference between the e melodic minor scale and the e natural minor scale is that the 6th and 7th note positions of the minor scale are raised by one halftone semitone. Many jazz scales are common scales drawn from western european classical music, including the diatonic, wholetone, octatonic or diminished, and the modes of the ascending melodic minor. A jazz minor scale is a minor scale with a raised sixth and seventh degree a melodic minor when moving upwards. Though theyre only one note different, both modes sound unique, as ionian is major and mm mode 1 is minor. There are two other minor scales, the harmonic minor and melodic minor, which are not represented by any of these modes. Guitar scales and modes explained easy shapes, licks.
Each degree of the melodic minor scale can be thought of as one of 7 unique modes in the same way a as the modes of the major scale. We make great jazzy sound with the melodic minor modes. This scale is also some kind of peculiar since it is sometimes played differently ascending and descending. To use a melodic minor lick over a lydian dominant chord, think of the melodic minor scale up a 5 th. T his guitar scales fretboard chart generator will show you all the major and minor guitar scales and modes with tons of customizable tunings. The melodic minor scale guitar lesson, diagrams, theory. The first thing to cover is what the lydian dominant scale is. If we create a sequence of notes using the notes of the main scale whether major. Also included at the bottom of the app are the 5 scale patterns for memorizing these scales and a pdf download of all keys in standard tuning. R traditionally, in classical music, the melodic minor scale is performed one way ascending. The modes of the melodic minor also known as the jazz minor scale, these modes are exotic sounding scales that can be substituted in place of less interesting harmonies.
The other two are the natural minor and the melodic minor. Natural, harmonic, and melodic forms margaret denton, piano go to. Learn the e melodic minor scale note positions, intervals and scale degrees on the piano, treble clef and bass. Melodic minor modes ebook rock musician miami florida. A g minor melodic scale is g natural minor scale like g a bb c d eb f g. Because of this, you can use melodic minor licks up a 5 th rather than have a different set of lydian dominant licks. The easiest method of naming them uses the major scale mode names along with the sharped note degrees from melodic minor as shown below. The melodic minor scale is an exotic sounding scale and its modes are used extensively in modern jazz improvisation. As with any other scale, the modes are derived from playing the scale from different root notes, causing a series of jazz scales to emerge. To begin, lets take a look at how you can alter one note from the ionian mode to create the first mode of melodic minor, otherwise known as the melodic minor scale. The solution below shows the a melodic minor scale notes, intervals and scale degrees on the piano, treble clef and bass clef the lesson steps then describe how to identify the a melodic minor scale note interval positions, choose the note names and scale degree names for a quick summary of this topic, have a look at melodic minor scale. This means that g lydian b7 is d melodic minor from g to g. In this post, im going to make sure we have a firm grasp of the melodic minor scale and its modes and then we can look at examples of how melodic minor can be used in jazz improvisation.
Melodic minor iiv7i triad pairs the use of triad pairs adjacent diatonic triads which form a hexatonic, or six note, scale, has been a relatively recent addition, historically speaking, to the general vocabulary of improvised music, becoming more prevalent among improvising musicians during the past 30 years or so. You can play along with or sing along to the mp3 for ear training and to help you hear if and when you are making a mistake in a scale or mode enjoy mp3. It turns out that there is a relationship among modes, and its possible to generate modes read scales starting from just 3 main scales. Free guitar lessons with guitar neck diagrams, jazz lines, scale charts to learn how to play the seven modes of the melodic minor scale. The freakiness of melodic minor the ethan hein blog. I have found, however, that the best results come from alternating phrases with a more experienced player. Trying to apply this type of thinking to the melodic minor scale and its modes is perplexing. Lastly, notice that the lowered note, the 3 rd, is moved down a string in the first. Modes of the melodic minor scale guitar lessons and theory. For example, locrian n 2, comparing this scale to a major not locrian yields a n 2.
So getting back to e minor again, if we want to figure out a melodic minor scale all we have to do is raise the 6 th and 7 scale degrees up a halfstep each. I thought a bit about the emotions potentially evoked by the melodic minor root mode. But back in the 1700s it was like nails against a chalkboard. Summary modes have been used in music long before the western world started to favour harmony, and. The melodic minor scale is a minor type scale sometimes referred to as. The first minor scale we had was called natural minor. Melodic minor mode 1 is built by lowering the 3 rd of ionian by a fret on the guitar. Printable pdf ebook method containing 40 major jazz guitar licks. The term modal scales is applied to a group of scales commonly used in pop and jazz music. To make things worse, many guitarists use the melodic minor of one key over chords of another, like using d melodic minor. All of these scales were commonly used by late nineteenth and early twentiethcentury composers such as rimskykorsakov, debussy, ravel and stravinsky, often. The melodic minor scale differs from the natural minor scale by the sixth and seventh notes, which are raised a semistep.
There are many others, as well as modes of the a melodic minor. The scale is a mode of the melodic minor scale found on the iv. Learn about the melodic minor jazz minor scale chords and modes on guitar be. When doing so, you lower one note in ionian to form the new mode. A mere half tone difference to the diatonic, yet a whole new set of moods.
In minor harmonies, the seventh scale note is almost always raised, which creates a harmonic minor. Heres a pdf and an mp3 of all the melodic minor scales and the modes. I made a call on the enharmonic spellings in the various keys in an attempt to make each mode easier on its own. Each mode has a name, and mode names come from the greek language and from a time before major and minor as we know them were clearly defined. Each of these 7 modes that are derived from the c melodic minor scale has its unique flavor due to the whole steps and half steps sequence.
Okay, so this is all in respect of the diatonic scale and its modes. How to use the melodic minor scale jazz guitar online. We locate and order all the 7 modes in a simple circular system. So whereas the e natural minor scale has notes c, d for the 6th and 7th notes. Thus, the major scale and the jazz minor scale are the two most important generic scales. Melodic minor modes learn the scales in every key plus riffs, licks, harmony and a sample workout ive just finished up an ebook on the melodic minor modes. Understanding minor scales pdf tutorial guitarlessons365. Question by matt usa im trying to learn a little bit more about music and how it works and im just a little confused right now concerning the natural minor scale. And if so, where exactly do scales stop having modes. Thus, if a composition is in the key of c major, the c major scale is typically used to form melodies and harmonies. Throughout this book, a numeric sequence separated by commas, e. As the foundation of western music, the major scale and its modes predominate in improvisation. This is under construction but will be done in the coming weeks the scales and arpeggios are split up into 3 main categories. This form of the scale is also the 5th mode of the acoustic scale.
Over the emin7 chord, theory suggests using e natural minor scale to avoid the natural 7th contained in the harmonic minor scale. The super locrian the altered scale is very commonly used and is super cool also see my lesson on altered harmony. With 21 unique modes found within the major, melodic minor, and harmonic minor scales, it is important to develop a system of organization that will make accessing these materials efficient and easy. Similar to the major scale, 7 modes can be derived from the melodic minor scale. When the scale is descending, the melodic minor is the same as the natural minor. In this lesson, you will learn what the melodic minor modes are, how they look on the guitar and. These seven modes cover many of the chords you will come across when improvising, but other scale types still have an important role to play. The harmonic minor differs from the natural minor by the sharpened seventh note, and this minor scale is consequently not played in the same way as the relative major scale. There are no complicated fingerings and complicated theory in this ebook, just easy to follow shapes and fun to practice exercises. Modern blues players should get involved with the lydian dominant too very hip sound. The freakiness of melodic minor posted on january 31, 2011 by ethan my last post on minor keys covered the three scales you need for most situations in rock, pop, and film scores.
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