I'm putting more time into learning my major and minor scales, and I was wondering what minor scale should I practice? Is there a standard? Thanks.
If the melodic minor scale is different ascending than descending, how do we know what chords and melody to play?
I decided to audition for the All State band this year, and my school bases their concert band audition music on the All State band audition music, so I'm feeling fairly confident about it. The one thing I'm not certain about is memorizing the melodic minor scales, since my school only makes us play the major scales for auditions. I know what scale degrees I need to change to make a major scale into a melodic minor, but when I do that on the fly from memory it isn't as solid as I'd like it to be, especially on the scales that I haven't actually played in as often or at all.
Are there any good strategies for doing this? Any advice would be appreciated.
Kinda new to music theory so I would really appreciate if someone could explain this to me!
Setting aside the tonal center of a particular piece, couldn't any Harmonic Minor scale be thought of as the Aeolian mode of its relative Major Scale with a #5? ... and by extention, wouldn't it follow that A Melodic Minor is merely the Aeolian mode of C Major with a #4 & #5...
Isn't that Lydian Augmented? In other words, does that make Lydian Augmented the relative Major Scale of Melodic Minor? ...and how does this play into George Russell's conceptual theories about the Lydian mode?
Thanks so much!
What is the Melodic Minor Scale?
The Melodic Minor Scale is one of the 3 minor scale patterns, the other two being the natural minor and harmonic minor. A minor scale refers to any heptatonic scale in which the first, third, and fifth scale degrees form a minor triad.
The ascending melodic minor scale can be notated as:
>1, 2, ♭3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8
While the descending melodic minor scale is:
>1, 2, ♭3, 4, 5, ♭6, ♭7, 8
Another way to think about the ascending melodic minor scale is as a diatonic major scale with a lowered third, for example, C–D–E♭–F–G–A–B–C.
The scales that result from the modes of the ascending melodic minor scale are essential to jazz improvisation and in this post, I will give you an overview of what these scales are and how you can begin to use them.
What are the Modes of the Melodic Minor Scale?
The seven modes that are obtained from the melodic minor scale are as follows.
^(W = Whole step h = Half Step for more clarification on intervals) ^(click here.)
| Mode | 1-2 | 2-3 | 3-4 | 4-5 | 5-6 | 6-7 | 7-8 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Melodic Minor | W | h | W | W | W | W | h |
| Dorian b2 | h | W | W | W | W | h | W |
| Lydian Augmented | W | W | W | W | h | W | h |
| Lydian Dominant | W | W | W | h | W | h | W |
| Mixolydian b13 | W | W | h | W | h | W | W |
| Locrian #2 | W | h | W | h | W | W | W |
| Altered | h | W | h | W | W | W | W |
How Can We Actually Use These Modes?
To understand how we can use these modes to create unique sounds, it's important to first understand what chord qualities are associated with each of the modes. Similar to how we associate chord qualities with the scales of the church modes (ii, Dorian, IV, Lydian) to understand what scales fit over what chords, we can begin to create a dynamic, exotic and jazzy melodic/harmonic vocabulary by using the chord qualities associated with each mode of the Melodic Minor Scale.
^(If you are feeling confused by this table, I recommend brushing up on your) ^(chord names.)
| Mode | Associated Chord (in C) | Scale |
|---|---|---|
| Melodic Minor | Cmin6 or C-6 | C–D–E♭–F–G–A–B |
| Dorian b2 | Dsus13b2 | D–E♭–F–G–A–B–C |
| Lydian Augmented | Ebmaj7#5 | E♭–F–G–A–B–C–D |
| Lydian Dominant | F7 (or F9, F7#11) | F–G–A–B–C–D–Eb |
| Mixolydian b13 | G7 (or G9, G7b13) | G–A–B–C–D–Eb–F |
| Locrian #2 | A-7♭5 | A–B |
Hello fellow guitar theorists!
What do you hear in your head when you slowly read the next line?
"All my troubles seemed so far away."
Yep, it's that emotionally-packed melody line from Yesterday by The Beatles.
The powerful effect that comes from this melodic moment stems from the melodic minor scale.
As a continuation of a guitar scale lesson series that I've been doing, this week's lesson covers:
• The theory structure of melodic minor • How Bach and Paul McCartney used the melodic minor scale • The five melodic minor scale guitar patterns and how to practice them
Has the melodic minor scale mystified you in the past? (It did to me for years!)
If so then this video should help to clarify why this unique and rather odd scale exists and how to use it.
I hope you find it helpful or inspiring and that you have an awesome week full of music and creativity.
- Jared
Hey, couldn't find any resources which lay out various scale and chord diagrams so I guess I needed to make some of my own. If anyone knows of any accessible resources for all fourths tuning (all 4ths tuning) please share.
Diagrams below, all in the key of A:
(does not cover everything)
Major Modes
https://www.editor.guitarscientist.com/view/m3mdqqm
Melodic Minor Modes
https://www.editor.guitarscientist.com/view/d2ycx5z
Harmonic Minor Modes
https://www.editor.guitarscientist.com/view/rcirvrp
Pentatonic (just the Major and Minor Mode)
https://www.editor.guitarscientist.com/view/hdo9uox
Triads
https://www.editor.guitarscientist.com/view/wejwosn
Quadriads / Seventh Chords
https://www.editor.guitarscientist.com/view/fo5zhue
My teacher gave me a shoulder shrug on this haha.
I'm learning harmonic minor scales right now and haven't really done anything with melodic.
Also where do these scales come from? Was it just lots of people writing music that found these notes just sound nice together?
Thank you all so much for the discussion in the commenta, i have a much better impression of what this concept is now.
Hi friends! Hope this is useful. In Music Mechanics 30 we'll continue with the melodic minor scale and discuss the contemporary uses of it. We'll also cover the melodic minor diatonic chord formula, the minor mode, the major mode, chord progressions (harmonic progressions), arpeggiation, diatonic chord progressions, using the parent scale as source material for the creation of melody and improvisation, we'll touch on melodic tendencies, and we'll finally wrap up with a discussion on how to use diatonic chord formulas for analysis and composing. Music tracks featured in this episode are from my good friend John Opferkuch's album "The Kennedy Files" MM30: Melodic Minor Diatonic Formula, Chord Progression, Arpeggiation, Parent Scale in Melody/Improv - YouTube
I’m playing through the melodic minor scale and it really doesn’t seem practical to sit and practice every position the way I used to do when learning the CAGED system of connecting scales to play all over the neck.
Is it common to actually practice each position, or do people typically just memorize the intervals and go from there? So for example melodic minor I can just remember there is a minor third and then just work that into my soloing.
Also is the melodic minor/harmonic minor pentatonic usually practiced or is it recommended to play the regular melodic minor?
Like if I play the natural minor ascending instead of descending?
Since we all know that for the melodic minor scale, we play the natural minor form of the scale when we descend, does the same apply when we are playing through the modes of the melodic minor scale?
Hello fellow guitarists!
What do you hear in your head when you slowly read the next line?
"All my troubles seemed so far away."
Yep, it's that emotionally-packed melody line from Yesterday by The Beatles.
The powerful effect that comes from this melodic moment stems from the melodic minor scale.
As a continuation of a guitar scale lesson series that I've been doing, this week's lesson covers:
• The theory structure of melodic minor • How Bach and Paul McCartney used the melodic minor scale • The five melodic minor scale guitar patterns and how to practice them
Has the melodic minor scale mystified you in the past? (It did to me for years!)
If so then this video should help to clarify why this unique and rather odd scale exists and how to use it.
I hope you find it helpful or inspiring and that you have an awesome week full of music and creativity.
- Jared
Why is the 6th and 7th scale degree only raised on the way up in a Melodic minor scale but natural on the way down? How does this apply to when writing music?
Thank you for all your replies. It’s very interesting seeing everyone’s take on this
I understand that some of these chords have been prevalent since perhaps the 30s particularly the - dominant #11, the dominant chord over it's b5th (aka the altered dominant), and the tonic minor with a natural seventh and thirteenth. Minor seventh flat five chords with the natural 9 are perhaps almost as old?
My question is about when and how (and by whom!) these chords were first conceived to be connected with the 'classical' idea of the melodic minor scale. My hunch is maybe we're looking at the 1960s?...
if I am playing notes from a melodic minor scale, do I consider it as a minor scale or a major scale?
Hi friends! Hope this is useful. In Music Mechanics 30 we'll continue with the melodic minor scale and discuss the contemporary uses of it. We'll also cover the melodic minor diatonic chord formula, the minor mode, the major mode, chord progressions (harmonic progressions), arpeggiation, diatonic chord progressions, using the parent scale as source material for the creation of melody and improvisation, we'll touch on melodic tendencies, and we'll finally wrap up with a discussion on how to use diatonic chord formulas for analysis and composing. Music tracks featured in this episode are from my good friend John Opferkuch's album "The Kennedy Files" MM30: Melodic Minor Diatonic Formula, Chord Progression, Arpeggiation, Parent Scale in Melody/Improv - YouTube
Hi friends! Hope this is useful. In Music Mechanics 30 we'll continue with the melodic minor scale and discuss the contemporary uses of it. We'll also cover the melodic minor diatonic chord formula, the minor mode, the major mode, chord progressions (harmonic progressions), arpeggiation, diatonic chord progressions, using the parent scale as source material for the creation of melody and improvisation, we'll touch on melodic tendencies, and we'll finally wrap up with a discussion on how to use diatonic chord formulas for analysis and composing. Music tracks featured in this episode are from my good friend John Opferkuch's album "The Kennedy Files" MM30: Melodic Minor Diatonic Formula, Chord Progression, Arpeggiation, Parent Scale in Melody/Improv - YouTube
