Module 9: Scales and modesLesson 4advanced⏱ 75 min + two weeks of drills

Harmonic minor, Phrygian dominant and harmonic major

Where the b9 and b13 of a minor-key dominant come from, how to play Phrygian dominant lines that resolve, what harmonic major adds to a major key, and when players actually reach for these scales.

Why these scales are worth a lesson of their own

Melodic minor gets the headlines, but the oldest dominant sound in minor-key jazz comes from harmonic minor. Every time a chart writes V7b9 in a minor key, every time a bebop line over a minor ii–V–i uses the b9 and b13 of the dominant and then lands on the minor 3rd of the tonic, you are hearing harmonic minor played from its 5th degree, the mode called Phrygian dominant. It is also the scale behind the Spanish and Middle-Eastern colours in jazz, from Django Reinhardt's minor-key swing to Latin jazz dominant vamps. Harmonic major is its lesser-known relative, a major scale with a b6, and it explains a handful of chords that nothing else does: the minor iv in a major key, and the maj7 with a b13. This lesson covers all three honestly, including the part most theory books skip: how often good players actually use them.

Harmonic minor: the raised 7th and its consequences

Harmonic minor is natural minor with the 7th raised. The raised 7th gives the key a leading tone and turns the v chord into a V7; the b6 that natural minor already had stays where it is. Compare the four scales from C:

The price of the raised 7th is the augmented 2nd between the b6 and the 7, three frets with no scale tone in between. On guitar that is a stretch inside a position and a sound you cannot hide; the exotic flavour of harmonic minor is that gap, and lines that use the scale well either feature it or step around it with chord tones.

Harmonise the scale in sevenths and the minor ii–V–i falls out of it: the chord on degree 2 is half-diminished, the chord on degree 5 is a dominant seventh, and the tonic is a minor-major seventh. The table shows the diatonic sevenths of C harmonic minor, and the progression table gives the minor ii–V–i in every key with the V7b9 that this scale produces.

Here is the scale in position V from A, two octaves, with the augmented 2nd falling between the 5th and 4th strings on the way up.

\tempo 88
.
\ts 4 4
:8 5.6 7.6 8.6 5.5 7.5 8.5 6.4 7.4 | 4.3 5.3 7.3 5.2 6.2 4.1 5.1 7.1 | 8.1 7.1 5.1 4.1 6.2 5.2 7.3 5.3 | 4.3 7.4 6.4 8.5 7.5 5.5 :4 5.6 |

Phrygian dominant: V7b9 in minor

Play harmonic minor from its 5th degree and you have Phrygian dominant, also called Mixolydian b9 b13 because that is exactly what it is: a dominant scale whose 9 and 13 are both lowered. The engine confirms that G Phrygian dominant is C harmonic minor started on G: the C harmonic minor notes above, read from G, give the G Phrygian dominant row below.

This table also answers a question every student asks: how is Phrygian dominant different from the altered scale, when both are "dominant scales with a b9 and b13"? Read the two rows. Phrygian dominant keeps the natural 5 and the natural 4; the altered scale replaces them with a #11 and a #9. Phrygian dominant is a dominant chord that still belongs to its minor key; the altered scale has left the key and is pulling with every note. Use Phrygian dominant when the V7b9 resolves to a minor chord and you want to stay inside the key; use the altered scale when you want the maximum tension. Many bebop lines use both within a bar: Phrygian dominant for the scale run, an altered note or two at the point of resolution.

The chords Phrygian dominant fits are the dominant chords with b9 and b13 and no natural 9 or 13. The chord dictionary lists them with their tones so you can see where the b9 and b13 sit.

Phrygian dominant lines

The open-position fingering of E Phrygian dominant is one of the most played shapes on the guitar: it is the Spanish sound, and it is also exactly what you play over E7b9 going to A minor.

The first line is an Andalusian-flavoured vamp: E7b9 to Fmaj7 and back, resolving to the AmMaj7 tonic. Everything is A harmonic minor, which is why the Fmaj7 chord sits inside the line without a change of scale; the b2 and the 3 of E Phrygian dominant carry the sound.

\tempo 116
.
\ts 4 4
:8 0.6{ch "E7b9"} 1.6 0.6 4.6 0.5 2.5 3.5 2.5 | 3.5{ch "Fmaj7"} 0.5 1.6 0.5 :2 0.2 | :8 2.4{ch "E7b9"} 3.4 2.4 0.4 3.5 2.5 3.5 1.3 | :4 2.3{ch "AmMaj7"} :8 1.3 2.3 :2 1.2 |

The second line is a bebop-style minor ii–V–i in C, built on chord tones and checked against the chord symbols: G7b9b13 for the dominant so that both altered tensions count as chord tones, and CmMaj7 for the resolution. Position II–III.

\tempo 132
.
\ts 4 4
:8 4.3{ch "G7b9b13"} 6.2 4.2 3.2 2.5 3.4 4.6 3.6 | :4 4.2 :8 3.2 2.5 :2 3.4 | :8 3.5{ch "CmMaj7"} 4.2 3.1 4.3 4.2 5.4 4.3 3.5 | :4 4.3 :2 3.5 :4 r |

Now the whole minor ii–V–i from one scale. Because Dm7b5, G7b9 and CmMaj7 are all diatonic to C harmonic minor, one scale covers all three chords, the way one major scale covers a major ii–V–I. This is the main practical advantage of harmonic minor over the three-scale melodic-minor approach of the previous lesson: on a fast tune you can think one scale.

\tempo 126
.
\ts 4 4
:8 5.5{ch "Dm7b5"} 3.4 6.4 5.3 3.2 5.3 6.4 3.4 | 4.3{ch "G7b9"} 3.2 6.2 4.2 3.2 2.5 4.6 3.6 | :4 3.5{ch "CmMaj7"} 6.5 :8 5.4 4.3 :4 3.5 | :2 4.3 3.5 |

Compare the two ii–V–i lines in this lesson with the melodic-minor version in the previous one. The harmonic-minor lines are darker and more "inside"; the melodic-minor version is brighter on the ii chord (natural 9) and more dissonant on the V (#9, #11). Both are correct; the choice is stylistic, and most players mix them freely.

Harmonic major: a colour for major keys

Harmonic major is the major scale with a b6, the mirror image of harmonic minor's raised 7th. It is not a common scale, and you should not expect to use it every night, but it explains three sounds you will meet:

1. The minor iv in a major key. The chord progression I – iv – I (and the "minor plagal cadence" iv – I at the end of a tune) uses a minor subdominant whose b6 is foreign to the major key. Harmonic major contains both the I chord and the iv chord, so one scale covers the whole cadence. The chord-scale table shows it: Cmaj7 and Fm6 both sit inside C harmonic major.
2. maj7 with a b13. A rare symbol, but it appears in modern writing, and harmonic major is the only common seven-note scale that contains a major 7th chord with a b6.
3. V7b9 resolving to a major chord. G7b9 going to Cmaj7 can be heard as C harmonic major on both chords, which gives the b9 of the dominant without borrowing from the minor key.

The line below runs Cmaj7 – Fm6 – Cmaj7 entirely in C harmonic major. The b6 appears over the Fm6 chord as its b3, and again over the final Cmaj7 as a chromatic-sounding passing note to the 5th, which is the most common way players use this scale: a single b6 inside an otherwise ordinary major line.

\tempo 108
.
\ts 4 4
:8 8.6{ch "Cmaj7"} 7.5 10.5 9.4 10.4 7.3 9.3 8.2 | 9.2{ch "Fm6"} 8.2 10.3 7.3 :2 10.4 | :8 9.4{ch "Cmaj7"} 10.4 7.3 9.3 10.3 9.3 7.3 10.4 | :4 9.4 :8 11.5 10.5 :2 7.5 |

When players actually use these scales

Be realistic about the repertoire. The dominant-chord vocabulary of bebop and everything after it draws far more on the half-whole diminished scale, the altered scale and plain chromaticism than on harmonic minor as a scale. Where you will hear harmonic minor and Phrygian dominant:

• The minor ii–V–i, as a chord-tone source. Bebop players outline the V7b9 with its arpeggio (3, 5, b7, b9, which is a diminished seventh chord) and approach notes; the Phrygian dominant scale is the pool those notes come from, even if nobody plays it straight up and down.
• Gypsy jazz and Django-style swing, where whole minor-key solos live in harmonic minor and the augmented 2nd is a feature, not a problem.
• Latin, flamenco-influenced and "Spanish" dominant vamps, where a 7b9 chord sits for a long time and Phrygian dominant is the modal scale.
• Ballads in minor, where the slower tempo lets the b6 to 7 step be heard as a melody.

Harmonic major is rarer still: a colour for a bar or two at a minor plagal cadence, or a way to understand a chord you could not otherwise explain. Learn it in the keys you play most, know its sound, and do not force it.

The honest practising advice: learn these scales in the positions here, play the three lines until they are under your fingers, and then spend most of your dominant-chord practice time on the symmetric scales of the next lesson and the altered scale. Harmonic minor is a sound you add, not a system you live in.

Exercises

1. Raise the 7th. Play A, D, E, G and C natural minor in position; raise the 7th in each and feel the augmented 2nd. Then play each from its 5th degree as Phrygian dominant.
2. V7b9 arpeggio. Over each dominant chord in the progression table, play 3 – 5 – b7 – b9 ascending then descending, then connect it to the root of the i chord. This is the core of the Phrygian dominant sound with four notes.
3. One scale, three chords. Play the minor ii–V–i in C, F, G, D and A entirely from harmonic minor in one position, scale only; then improvise.
4. Compare. Over a looped G7b9 to Cm, alternate one chorus of Phrygian dominant with one chorus of the altered scale. Listen for the natural 5 and 4 against the #11 and #9.
5. Plagal cadence. Loop Cmaj7 – Fm6 – Cmaj7 and improvise using C harmonic major; then do the same in F, G and Bb.

Quiz