Melodic minor scale 3 notes per string here is an overview of the melodic minor scale in the key of c, using the 3 notes per string system. Plus, understand the theory, how to practice it, and what chords to use it on in your jazz guitar. Mar 16, 2012 the formula for the natural minor scale is. Major scales for classical guitar pdf beginner to intermediate classical guitar. So when a jazz musician improvises over a scale derived from melodic minor harmony, he will play notes from the melodic minor scale. Notice the interval between the 6 and 7 is a step and a half, hence the wh. A melodic minor scale is made up of eight consecutive tones in a specific pattern of half steps and whole steps. Hey guys, today i want to show you how you can make scales on guitar sound like beautiful melodies. Guitar melodic minor scale chart printable pdf subject. Melodic minor arpeggios jazz guitar lesson 37 youtube.
This melodic minor scale is based on the natural minor scale with the same key tonic note g natural minor scale. So if harmonic minor was created for harmony is melodic minor for melody. In classical music the melodic minor scale is played going up and the natural minor scale is played going down. Because the only difference between the melodic minor and the major scale is one note the flat 3 the scale patterns are also similar. Understanding minor scales free guitar lessons by carl brown. The root note is the key that the melodic minor scale will be played in. In order to do this, you play an aeolian mode but lower the fifth note of the fingering to form the sixth mode of melodic minor. Without indicating the dominant and half diminished, we can simplify the formula for memory purposes to. Melodic sequences on guitar fundamental changes music. Melodic minor is an essential scale type to know for every style of music but is most predominantly used in jazz and fusion styles. Note the use of the odd b2nd f in an otherwise e minor hexatonic line e minor pentatonic with an added 2nd.
The best way to deal with modes is simply to consider them as types of scales. The harmonic minor scale was created when composers wanted to create minor sounds but still retain the powerful resolution that comes from the major v i cadence a natural minor scale has a minor v chord. Outside lines the melodic minor scale is an animal that i will forever be trying to tame. Major scales for classical guitar pdf sheet music, tab. Here is an overview of all the charts and other resources that are available on this site to view and also to download. In this lesson i want to explain how i deal with the altered scale in the context of a cadence and how hearing the notes related to where they are going gives a better understanding of how the chord works. These eight melodic minor lessons consist of an introduction, how to use the scale, 5 shapes of the scale and how to connect them. It is used in jazz to bring out unusual and exotic altered tones common to jazz. We already studied the harmonic minor scale and we saw that it has a long distance between 6 and 7 degrees one and a half tone. 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 itself. Guitar scales printable charts of the most commonly used. Melodic minor scale is really similar to the harmonic minor scale. As you can see the difference between the natural minor scale and the major scale is the 3rd, 6th and 7th notes have been flattened by half a step. A jazz melodic minor workout uo blogs university of oregon.
Melodic minor scale positions play across the entire neck. Melodic minor scale lessons free melodic minor scales. A scale very used for the great modern blues players such robben ford, larry carlton, matt schofield. For example, ascendingdescending diatonic seventh chords. Other technical exercises that are usually played in major sound great in melodic minor. Which degree of this scale would you need to change, to make it into a scale of d natural minor. Scales are a really important tool for guitar players and music in general. To have a place to use this, maybe take autumn leaves in g minor. A total of 298 minutes, almost 5 hours, of m4v video instruction with explanations, examples and close up fretboard demonstrations plus printable pdf in tab and notation. Learning the melodic minor scale simplifying theory. Adjust the start fret option to further highlight a finger pattern for playing the selected scale in a different position on the fretboard. I have a dvd and download called master the major scale which goes into a detailed practical approach to learning to use that. Relative major and minor scales there is a unique relationship between the keys of major scales and minor scales.
Melodic minor mode 3 is built by lowering the root of phrygian by a fret on the guitar. The whole tone scale is a harsh sounding dissonant scale. Here are three licks in the key of am using our melodic minor scale. Want more shapes, printable pdfs and guitar pro sound files.
Below is the animated guitar gif showing the suggested fingering and picking of the 5. The 5 melodic minor guitar scale patterns each one connects to the next and continues down and up the fretboard. The primary purpose of the harmonic minor scale is to give the v chord a major quality more about chords later the primary purpose of the melodic minor scale is to avoid the 1. The melodic minor scale is commonly called the jazz scale. The minor scale is the scale which sounds negative it is used by composers to depict sad, melancholic or even angrydramatic moods. A set of music theory worksheets that look at the subject of identifying individual chords and then combining the chord types major, minor and diminished to give all seven triads that can be constructed from a single scale and which can therefore be found within a single key.
Melodic minor scale chart click here for a free printable pdf file of this scale. This melodic minor scale is based on the natural minor scale with the same key tonic note a natural minor scale. An acoustic guitar is a wooden instrument thats shaped like the number eight and has a hole at its middle part. Common open and closed scale patterns up to four sharps or flats, two octaves some three octaves, and examples of open string shifts. Download a free pdf of all of the melodic minor charts. Musictheoryworksheet22melodicminorscale lesson 22 the. Position shifts with the melodic minor scale guitar lesson. Lets now alter one note from the aeolian mode to create the sixth mode of melodic minor, otherwise known as the locrian natural 2 scale. The minor scale bass is also called the natural minor scale because this is how we differentiate it from other minor scales such as the harmonic minor or melodic minor.
Use these instructional materials to help open up guitar avenues and to examine different chords and rhythms, lead guitar techniques, learning the fretboard, music theory,scales, and the world of playing over chord changes. You can get more fretboard charts in the tuning of your choice by. This chord is found in countless tunes, from being entire sections in so what, to being a part of the classic ii v i progression, and everything in between as well as using the dorian mode to solo over iim7 chords, you can add a bit of tension to this. The smaller scale is degree vi of the larger scale so it will also have another name which is aeolian mode. Melodic minor scale shapes cm shape am alt shape gm shape dm shape 2 3 3 2 2 em shape 3 2 4 1 4 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 1 1 1 2 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1.
My blues lead guitar series will teach you all about using the minor pentatonic, the blues scale, the major pentatonic, dorian and mixolydian modes. Notice the chord formula as depicted by quality below. The pattern changes depending on if the scale is ascending or descending. Clicking here and on the image below will open a pdf file whole tone guitar scale chart that prints nicely.
Many will explain it as a major scale with a minor 3rd. Melodic minor is a key sound when it comes to modern and traditional jazz guitar. View notes musictheoryworksheet22 melodic minor scale from music 49a at university of california, berkeley. Easy to learn melodic minor scales guitar lesson for jazz. Melodic minor modes the melodic minor scale is closely related to the major scale with its natural 6 and 7. Since the natural minor key is itself on the circle of 5ths a minor on circle of 5ths, this means that this is a commonly used melodic minor scale key. Guitar practice melodic minor scale life in 12 keys. We have created this guitar learning software to help you understand modes in an easy and interactive way in many online guitar lessons there is a lot of confusion about modes, in particular when related to guitar scales. In the introductory lesson, we learned that the melodic minor scale is made up of seven degrees, like most other scales we learn known as a heptatonic scale. The easiest way i know to learn all 7 melodic minor scale shapes on the guitar neck, based on cycling through 3 note groups, or fragments. The melodic minor scale the melodic minor scale is made up of the following. The melodic minor scale for guitar guitarskillbuilder. As you probably know already from my guide on the modes of the major scale, the 6th mode of the major scale is always the natural minor scale, or the aeolian mode.
The melodic minor scale is a major scale with a flat 3rd b3 and its used mostly in its modal forms of the altered scale superlocrian and the funky lydian dominan. It therefore has all the notes of both the ascending form of the melodic minor jazz minor and the harmonic minor. Key signatures flash cards a set of 20 cards in a5 size, ready to print. Ill show you how you can use many iterations of it over dominant chords to achieve many outside notes. This is under construction but will be done in the coming weeks. Remember, each mode is the same as the scale you started. Melodic minor scale 3 notes per string jens larsen. Each page provides an opportunity for the student to draw scales, key signatures, learn the patterns of tones and semitones and fill in the letters of the notes on the keyboard.
The first item on our checklist of altered scale studies is digging into the construction of this commonly used melodic device the altered scale is the 7th mode of the melodic minor scale, which means that it is like playing ab melodic minor starting from the note g. Jan 21, 2019 the third mode of melodic minor follows the same formula, you lower one note of phrygian to form this mode, only its a strange note to lower. The other common function for minor chords in jazz, beyond the im7 chord, is the iim7 chord. Some feature graphic assistance in the form of guitar necks or keyboard diagrams while others require learners to consider scale formula and key signatures etc. This document was created with prince, a great way of getting web content onto paper. Link to free printable guitar scales pdf file with all 5 positions of the guitar melodic minor scale. Link to page dedicated to guitar melodic minor scale. The melodic minor scale is usefull when imporovising or soloing in jazz gauitar. These sequences will initially be given around the first position of the major scale before being applied to the other major scale shapes and different types of scales. This melodic sequences on guitar lesson teaches you the important scale patterns that build fluency and melodic vocabulary on the guitar. This post were going to be discussing three minor scales. These structures are also the material i use for the 3 melodic minor jazz licks included in the video. Each scale sounds similarly minorlike, but they each also. This book of written lessons is an excellent tool and reference manual to develop and enhance your guitar skills.
How to use the melodic minor scale jazz guitar online. Aug 21, 2017 get the free beginner guitar starter kit. The way modern musicians use melodic minor is quite different from the composers before the 20th. Free printable music worksheets opus music worksheets. The rules in this lesson apply to all melodic minor keys. Modes of the melodic minor scale if you have been following the previous lessons in this series, you should feel pretty comfortable with working out the modes of a particular scale by now. But i want to write for guitar players, and take into consideration the peculiarities, limitations recommended. B melodic minor guitar scales guitar scales chart 8notes. You might be surprised at what your playing the next day. Mastering the scale and understanding its application will change your playing and offer new choices for a more outside sound when playing over chords. Major scale worksheets in the classroom the image above shows a variety of our scale worksheets aimed at students with differing levels of understanding and capability. Early classical musician used it ascending and pure minor descending but jazz musicians use it both ways.
The scales and arpeggios are split up into 3 main categories. Natural, harmonic and melodic minor scales end of the game. However, there are in fact 3 minor scales which you will come across and can use. This pdf contains charts of the melodic minor scales for guitar in standard tuning and in all keys. The altered scale is used to solo over dominant 7th chords, both in major and minor keys.
Consider this, almost the entire music system is built on the major scale. Relative major and minor scales share the same key signatures. As you can see, you lower the root note to produce the new mode fingering. Free printable guitar scales 14 most commonly used scales. Jul 04, 2019 major scales for classical guitar pdf beginner to intermediate classical guitar. We can see each of these degrees as the starting position for a fivefretwide box pattern.
You would use the same patterns for the melodic minor modes as well but of course, the tonal centre root note will change. With a goal of reducing this distance, it was added an intermediate note to approximate the sixth degree from the seventh. Minor scales natural vs harmonic vs melodic piano theory. G major scale scale sequences 2 grids melodic minor 14 position system. Major minor minor majormajor minor minor, remembering that the 5 th is always dominant and the 7 th half diminished when in the major scale. In this lead guitar lesson, well be continuing to learn about how to use the natural minor scale on the guitar. Go to the 6th step of the major scale and build an 8 note scale in that key. Pdf includes notation, tab, fingering, some diagrams, tips, and more. Comparing the melodic minor to the natural and harmonic minor scales. Take your time with this study and try to spell all of the minor. Bebop melodic minor scale this scale is derived from the ascending form of the melodic minor scale and has a chromatic passing tone between the 5th and 6th notes. Scales on guitar that sound like beautiful melodies fingerstyle guitar lesson. Melodic minor scale is really similar to the harmonic minor scale we already studied the harmonic minor scale and we saw that it has a long distance between 6 and 7 degrees one and a half tone.
Olav torvunds guitar pages music theory book of the month january 2005 happy traum. This printable pdf method provides 101 dominant arpeggio exercises with tab, theory and standard notation for the jazz, blues and rock guitarist. The next logical step is to check out the 7th chords. Things you need to know in melodic minor jens larsen. 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. These structures are also the material i use for the 3 melodic minor jazz licks included in. All melodic minor scales pdf major minor scales pdf. Nov 29, 2017 the melodic minor scale forms the basis of melodic minor harmony on which are based a lot of scales often used in jazz altered scale, half diminished scale. Guitar strumming patterns for beginners learning to play the chords play guitar tips learn about top guitar scales 4819. Major minor scales guitar harmonic minor scale guitar pdf major and minor guitar scales pdf doc daneeka had been told that people who enjoyed climbing with can handle incest, prostitutiontaboo subjects they about and bent to kiss him. Clicking here and on the image below will open a pdf file of the melodic minor scale chart for guitar that prints nicely.
The melodic minor has the same notes as a major scale with a flat 3rd. A basic approach to this interesting and very useful scale. I iv v online guitar lesson by corey congilio from hip blues. Write a oneoctave scale of a natural minor going up, using semibreves. Often mistaken as a classical guitar, an acoustic guitar is hollow and is composed of six strings made of steel. Jguitars scale calculator will draw scale diagrams showing the fretboard with notes in the selected scale highlighted. Understanding basic music theory open textbooks for hong kong. Understanding minor scales guitarlessons365 free guitar. Two or even all three forms of the minor scale may occur within a single composition.
You can get more fretboard charts in the tuning of your choice by using my interactive web apps listed here. Link to guitar pro file of tab for the guitar melodic minor scale scale 7. Since the natural minor key is itself on the circle of 5ths g minor on circle of 5ths, this means that this is a commonly used melodic minor scale key. Harmonizing scales and chord progressions jazz guitar. Minor scales lesson music theory for musicians, not theorists. It can be useful to think about what fingers to use to limit the amount of positions switches per position. It uses the natural minor s flat 3 and 6 but uses the melodic minor s raised 7. In this lesson i demonstrate how chords derived from melodic minor can be used to substitute for a v7 chord. This pdf tutorial is going to be a prerequisite to the video lessons coming up focusing on how to visualize the minor scales on the fretboard using the 3notes per string format.
The last part of the lesson is 3 examples of melodic minor licks using the different structures and devices i have presented in this lesson as exercises. Guitar arpeggio handbook bonus lessons created date. In this lesson i will map out some of the basic and more advanced arpeggios and triads contained in the scale. Guitar scales and modes explained easy shapes, licks, and. Scales on guitar that sound like beautiful melodies.