Use Melodic Minor Scales on Guitar

First a quick primer on minor scales. There are 3:
Natural Minor - The naturally occurring minor scale based on your key signature.

So for A Minor: A B C D E F G A

Harmonic Minor - Same scale but with a #7.

A B C D E F G# A

Melodic Minor - Same again but with a #6 and #7, and returning to the natural minor when descending.

A B C D E F# G# A G F E D C B A

Jazz Minor - Because when you’re improvising a zillion notes a minute you don’t want to have to think about which direction your going, Jazz players will use the melodic minor with the #6 and #7 in both directions.

You can also think of the Melodic Minor as a major scale with a b3.

Listen up rock guitar players… Don’t shy away just because it says “Jazz”. All these concepts work great for rock and metal players of all types.

Let’s first look at the chords that are derived from the melodic minor to get some ideas of where the scale will work. I’ll present the basic triads and the more interesting 7th chords.

i - A C E = Am

A C E G# = Am (maj7)

ii - B D F# = Bm

B D F# A = Bm7

III - C E G# = C aug

C E G# B = Cmaj7#5

IV - D F# A = D major

D F# A C = D7

V - E G# B = E major

E G# B D = E7

vi - F# A C = F#dim

F# A C E = F#m7(b5)

vii - G# B D = G#dim

G# B D F# = G#m7(b5)

Now we know we can use the A Melodic Minor over any of these chords. You can also write chord progressions based on these chords.

Let’s say you’re face with a chord like Em7(b5). That type of chord can either be the 6th or 7th chord in the melodic minor. Which means you could use either D# or F Melodic Minor to play over it. Or both. Are you starting to see the myriad of possibilities here?

July 13, 2010  Author:   Posted in: Feature

Leave a Reply

You must be logged in to post a comment.