Module 9: Scales and modesLesson 3advanced⏱ 2 hours + three weeks of drills

Melodic minor and its modes

One scale, four of the most important sounds in jazz: the jazz minor itself, Lydian dominant for 7#11, the altered scale for 7alt, Locrian natural 2 for m7b5 and Lydian augmented for maj7#5, applied through the minor ii–V–i.

Why one scale does so much work

In Theory I you learned melodic minor as "the jazz minor": the major scale with a lowered 3rd, played the same way up and down. What that lesson could not yet tell you is that this scale's modes supply the chord-scales for nearly every altered chord you will ever see. The 7#11, the 7alt, the m7b5 with a natural 9 and the maj7#5 are all melodic minor heard from a different degree. Learn one scale in all keys and you own four of the most characteristic sounds of post-bebop jazz. The guitar makes this especially efficient: a melodic-minor position is a major-scale position with one note moved, and every mode is that same shape re-labelled, exactly as in the major-modes lesson.

The jazz minor itself

Melodic minor is the major scale with a b3, or equally the Dorian mode with a natural 7. Compare it with its neighbours from the same root:

Two things make it the default minor scale in jazz. First, its tonic chord is the minor-major seventh (1 b3 5 7), and with the 6 added it gives the m6 and m6/9 sounds that are the standard "minor I chord" voicings. Second, unlike harmonic minor, it has no augmented 2nd and no half step above a chord tone except the root above the 7th: as a chord-scale over a minor tonic it has no avoid note at all. Over a minor ii–V–i the i chord is where you use it.

Here is the scale in position VIII, two octaves. The fingering is the C major position you already know with every E lowered to Eb; find those two notes first and the rest is familiar.

\tempo 92
.
\ts 4 4
:8 8.6 10.6 11.6 8.5 10.5 7.4 9.4 10.4 | 7.3 8.3 10.3 8.2 10.2 7.1 8.1 10.1 | 11.1 8.1 7.1 10.2 8.2 10.3 8.3 7.3 | 10.4 9.4 7.4 10.5 8.5 11.6 :4 8.6 |

And a line over the tonic minor chord. The natural 7 and the 6 both appear as long notes; these are the two notes that say "jazz minor" rather than "Dorian" or "natural minor".

\tempo 116
.
\ts 4 4
:8 8.6{ch "CmMaj7"} 11.6 10.5 9.4 10.4 9.4 7.4 10.5 | :4 8.5 :8 7.3 8.3 :2 9.4 | :8 8.3 10.3 8.2 10.2 7.1 8.1 10.1 8.1 | :4 7.1 :8 10.2 8.2 :2 7.3 |

The seven modes

Build a mode from each degree of C melodic minor, exactly as you did with the major scale. The engine names them and lists the chords each one fits.

Modes 1, 3, 4, 6 and 7 are the ones to learn now. Mode 2 (Dorian b2) and mode 5 (Mixolydian b6) have their uses, over 7sus4b9 and 7b13 chords respectively, but they are rare enough to pick up later from the scale finder. The four that matter, and the chord each one belongs to:

Here they are from a common root, so you can hear each one as a colour rather than as "C melodic minor from somewhere".

Parent-scale shortcuts

On the bandstand you will not have time to derive a mode. You need a rule that converts the chord symbol into the melodic minor scale to play, and here it is. For each chord, play the melodic minor scale whose root is:

• 7alt: a half step above the chord's root. G7alt is Ab melodic minor.
• 7#11: the 5th of the chord. D7#11 is A melodic minor.
• m7b5: the b3 of the chord. Dm7b5 is F melodic minor.
• maj7#5: the 6th of the chord. Cmaj7#5 is A melodic minor.

The engine confirms the first of these below: Ab melodic minor built from each of its degrees, and the 7th row is G altered. Check the other three the same way on the scale finder; the quiz will ask you to.

Because the altered scale is where the shortcut is used most often, the habit to build is "see 7alt, think melodic minor a half step up". It is the single most valuable reflex in this module.

Lydian dominant for 7#11

A 7#11 chord appears as a II7 in standards, as the bVII7 of the backdoor progression, as a tritone substitute, and on any dominant that does not resolve down a 5th. Lydian dominant gives it the Mixolydian 9 and 13 plus the #11, so it has no avoid note: every non-chord tone is a whole step above a chord tone.

\tempo 120
.
\ts 4 4
:8 10.6{ch "D7#11"} 9.5 12.5 10.4 9.4 10.4 12.4 11.3 | :4 13.3 :8 10.2 12.2 :2 13.2 | :8 10.1 12.1 10.1 13.2 12.2 10.2 9.2 11.3 | :4 9.3 :8 12.4 10.4 :2 9.5 |

The altered scale for 7alt

Spelled from G, the altered scale is G, then every tension in its altered form: b9, #9, #11, b13, and the b7. There is no natural 5 and no natural 9; the 3rd is there, which is what keeps the chord sounding dominant. In the engine's spelling, and in this course, the #9 and 3 are written as two separate degrees (Bb and B over G) rather than as a diminished 4th, because that is how players read it.

Over G7alt the scale check is the right one, because the chord symbol in the dictionary carries b9, #9 and b13 but not the #11, which the scale also supplies. Every note below belongs to G altered; play the first two bars as the scale, the second two as a line.

\tempo 112
.
\ts 4 4
:8 3.6{ch "G7alt"} 4.6 6.6 2.5 4.5 6.5 3.4 5.4 | 6.4 3.3 4.3 6.3 4.2 6.2 3.1 4.1 | 6.1 4.1 3.1 6.2 4.2 2.2 4.3 3.3 | :4 6.4 :8 5.4 3.4 :2 2.5 |

The altered scale is not for every dominant. It wants a dominant that resolves, almost always down a 5th to a minor or major chord, and a rhythm section that is not playing a natural 9 or 13 at the same time. On a V7 that sits for a long time, or in a blues, Mixolydian and the half-whole diminished scale of the symmetric-scales lesson are usually better choices.

Locrian natural 2 for m7b5

Plain Locrian puts a b2 a half step above the root of the m7b5 chord, the avoid-note situation of the previous lesson. Locrian natural 2, the 6th mode of melodic minor, replaces that b2 with a natural 9, and the result is the modern half-diminished sound: the m7b5 with a 9 on top. Over Dm7b5 it is F melodic minor, and the fretboard map below is the same position V shape you used for D Dorian with the 5 lowered and the 6 lowered.

Lydian augmented for maj7#5

The rarest of the four, and the most striking. A maj7#5 chord appears in a few standards and in a great deal of modern writing; it is also what you get when a composer writes a major triad over a bass note a major 3rd below. Lydian augmented is Lydian with the 5th raised, so both the #4 and the #5 float above a major 3rd. Over Cmaj7#5 play A melodic minor.

\tempo 100
.
\ts 4 4
:8 8.6{ch "Cmaj7#5"} 7.5 11.5 9.4 10.4 9.4 7.4 11.5 | :4 9.5 :8 7.3 9.3 :2 7.2 | :8 9.2 10.2 7.1 8.1 10.1 8.1 7.1 10.2 | :4 9.2 :8 11.3 9.3 :2 7.3 |

The minor ii–V–i with melodic-minor modes

Put the pieces together. In a minor ii–V–i (iiø7 – V7alt – i), each chord takes a different melodic minor scale: Dm7b5 takes F melodic minor (Locrian natural 2), G7alt takes Ab melodic minor (altered), and the tonic Cm takes C melodic minor. Three parent scales, three fingerings, and none of them is the key of C minor. This is the opposite of the major ii–V–I, where one scale covers all three chords.

The line below is checked against the chord symbols, so every note is a chord tone or a tension the symbol carries. Two notes are exempted and explained: the natural 9 over Dm7b5 (the characteristic note of Locrian natural 2, which the plain m7b5 symbol does not include) and the #11 over G7alt (in the altered scale but not in the dictionary's 7alt symbol). The i chord is written as Cm6/9 so that its 6 and 9 count as chord tones.

\tempo 126
.
\ts 4 4
:8 5.5{ch "Dm7b5"} 8.5 6.4 5.3 7.3 7.5 8.5 6.4 | 4.3{ch "G7alt"} 6.3 6.2 4.2 6.4 5.4 4.3 6.5 | 5.3{ch "Cm6/9"} 8.3 8.2 7.4 5.4 7.3 5.3 7.3 | :2 8.3 :4 7.4 5.3 |

Hear how the b13 of the G7alt (the Eb) is the same pitch as the b3 of the Cm chord, and how the b9 (Ab) is the b6 of the key. The altered scale is "the key of the minor i chord, bent towards the dominant": the ear hears the resolution before it arrives, which is why this sound is so strong.

Exercises

1. One note moves. In each major-scale position you know, lower the 3rd and play it as melodic minor. Do it in C, F, Bb, Eb, G, D and A. Say the scale name as you play the root.
2. Four names, one shape. Play A melodic minor in position V. Then play it from C (Lydian augmented), from D (Lydian dominant), from F# (Locrian natural 2) and from G# (altered), starting and ending on that note.
3. Shortcut drill. Shuffle twelve dominant chords. For each, say the altered scale's parent ("Bb7alt: B melodic minor") and play the parent scale from the dominant's root. Time yourself; under two seconds per chord is the goal.
4. Three scales, one progression. Play the minor ii–V–i in C, F, G, D and A, one scale per chord, scale only, one position. Then improvise with the same scales.
5. Resolution. Over G7alt to Cm, play lines that end on the 3rd, the 5th or the 9 of the Cm chord. Every altered-scale line should know where it is going.

Quiz