Let’s Play Music #16
An Intro to Melodic Minor
It Was a Dark Stormy Night…
The Melodic Minor Scale is a staple of film noir jazz. It has so many overlapping colors that it begins to sound like a sea of shimmers against a dark canvas. These “colors” translate into what many of us know as the background music of a black-and-white 1940’s mystery movie.
Of course, many jazz musicians use the sounds of Melodic Minor to texture other scales like Melodic Major, Harmonic Major, and Harmonic Minor. When I play Melodic Minor, I tend to think of it as a scale of textures that I can add in. Imagine a laid back song being played on a guitar by a campfire. Suddenly one chord goes into the realm of “film noir”. It’s just for a moment, but that added texture makes all the difference.
A simple progression like | Am | F | G | C | can be modified to sound like it belongs in a jazz night club. Check out this audio example and the below diagram and you’ll see how this kind of texturing works. Keep in mind that this is not limited to jazz. All forms of music can benefit from Melodic Minor by using it to make subtle changes for a huge effect.
An Overview of Melodic Minor
There are many names for the modes of this scale due to the ways that we can describe them. Each name is valid because it gives us some insight into how each mode operates. We are going to a musical world where ideas begin to blur, so to make this easier I’ll show you the full picture and then break it down into smaller ideas and label them A through F.
A: Melodic Minor is a minor scale, so comparing it to another minor scale makes sense. The closest “scale” to Melodic Minor is Harmonic Minor. In Harmonic Minor we have degrees 1-2-b3-4-5-b6-7. To create Melodic Minor, we raise the b6 to a natural 6, to get 1-2-b3-4-5-6-7.
B: With the b3 as our only altered degree, we can also use the Major Scale to help describe these modes. In this way we can name 1-2-b3-4-5-6-7 as Ionian b3. Keep in mind that this is like saying, “Ionian-Major has become Ionian-Minor”. This is our first “blurring” of musical ideas.
C: Since this is a minor scale, we can also use Aeolian (or Natural Minor) as a tonal center for comparison. By starting with Aeolian, we can name Melodic Minor as Aeolian ♮6♮7. Having two changes to Aeolian causes us to have two changes in every related mode. This can help us to understand what alterations occur in each mode, but the naming of each mode can be confusing.
D: Highlighted in yellow are the common names for each mode. Notice how they are all modes of the Major Scale with only one altered degree. Some unfamiliar mode names may be Lydian Dominant, which is Lydian with a b7, and Altered Scale. Altered Scale is also known as Altered Dominant because it lets you play a Dominant chord without the 5th degree. When playing “Altered” Scale, think of it as flattening every degree except for the 1st degree.
E: Melodic Minor is special because we can also compare it to Harmonic Major by focusing on Harmonic Major’s fourth mode of Lydian Minor. Think of Lydian Minor as Melodic Minor with a #4th degree. We can easily blend modes/scales through single degree changes. Now we have Melodic Minor as a way-point that connects to the Major Scale, Natural Minor, Harmonic Major, and Harmonic Minor.
F: If we play A Melodic Minor, then A is the Tonic note. Going to Harmonic Major gives us A Lydian Minor. The fifth mode of A Lydian Minor is E Ionian b6, or E Harmonic Major. This means that if we start with C Melodic Major, then we can easily move the Tonic to A Natural Minor. That can be altered to become A Harmonic Minor, A Melodic Minor, and then A Lydian Minor. By the time we get to A Lydian Minor we have E Ionian b6, which can become E Melodic Major and it’s relative minor C# Natural Minor. All this movement (as shown below) is a long drawn out way of moving the Major-Tonic of C up a Major Third interval to E.
After that last part you’re probably thinking, “wasn’t this supposed to be an INTRO to this subject?” I admit that I’ve really pushed the limit on Melodic Minor, but if students don’t take time to talk about bigger concepts, then they often miss out on them completely. We’re not going to start moving tonal centers so dramatically just yet. For now, know that there are many ways to connect musical ideas that are outside of a single scale.
The Modes of Melodic Minor
Now let’s put all these overlapping uses of the scale aside and focus on each mode. I’ll be using the more common names for each mode so that you talk can about these modes with other musicians and be on the same page.
Ionian b3 (1-2-b3-4-5-6-7) is not a major mode even though we use the word Ionian to help describe it. The main chord of this mode is the mMaj7, which we’ve seen in previous lessons. This time we have a major 6th degree that can be used to create a m6 chord. When we think about the modes of the Major Scale, only Dorian can create a m6 chord. This is important because a m6 is an inversion of a diminished triad. If the m6 comes from Dorian, then the diminished triad comes from Locrian: ii6 = vii°.
In this case the m6 is from our 1st mode and is an inversion of the diminished chord in our 6th mode, so we get i6 = vi°. Try out a progression like |CMaj7 |Am7 |Am7b5 |Cm6 |CMaj7|. This progression starts out with CMaj7 from Ionian and Am7 from Aeolian. We then flatten Aeolian’s 5th degree to gain access to Am7b5, which is found in Locrian ♮2. We then play a Locrian ♮2 inversion with the chord Cm6, which in turn becomes part of Ionian b3. The last bar drops the b3 and brings us back to where we started. The shift to Locrian ♮2 and Ionian b3 is stark, but that is the point of Melodic Minor.
Dorian b2 (1-b2-b3-4-5-6-b7) combines the brightness of our “Carlos Santana mode” with the b2 used in heavy metal. This mode is also one degree change away from Phrygian, so we can think of it as Phrygian ♮6.
To put Dorian b2 to good use we can play chords from the C Major Scale and modify two chords to get |FMaj7 |Em7 13 |Dm7 b9 |CMaj7 |. We start off with standard F Lydian. The second bar uses Dorian b2 over an E Phrygian chord, which simply takes Phrygian’s b6 and makes it a ♮6. To add color, I opted to make the ♮6 a ♮13. The third bar is a Dorian chord, so to add color I made the b2 and b9. Then we finish by going back to where we started in the Major Scale, but let the progression descend to C Ionian. Check out this audio example and listen for E’s ♮13: C# and D’s b9: Eb in the melody to color the progression.
Lydian Augmented (1-2-3-#4-#5-6-7) does not take the place of Phrygian. Yes, this is the third mode, but it is built from the b3 of our scale. Since Phrygian is built from a major third of the Major Scale, we have two different degrees and two different modes.
Because Lydian Augmented is built from a b3, we can use it in a simple way. With C Ionian as our Tonic mode, we can place Eb Lydian Augmented between D Dorian and E Phrygian and play |Em7 |Eb+ #11 |Dm7 |C |. A simple melody will use the notes D, A, and C because D is the b7 in Em7, A is the #11 in Eb+ #11, and C is both the b7 of Dm7 and the root note of C major. Try playing these chords yourself and focus on the note A in Eb+ #11 (Eb-G-B-A) as it “colors” this augmented chord.
Lydian Dominant (1-2-3-#4-5-6-b7) has both sharp and flat degrees and helps us combine the blues of Mixolydian’s b7 with the brightness of Lydian’s #4. A simple vi-IV-V-I progression like |Am |FMaj7 |G7 |C | always works, but it can be textured with that film noir grace by playing F7 #11 in the second bar. Any dominant chord will lead down a fifth to a major or minor, so let’s use F7 #11 leading down a fifth to BbMaj7.
If you think F Lydian Dominant’s notes of F-G-A-B-C-D-Eb, then you might be wondering where Bb came from. Bb is a fifth down from F, so a dominant chord like F7 #11 easily moves to BbMaj7. Now we just need to make sense of Bb.
The notes of BbMaj7 are Bb-D-F-A. This helps us find our way to G7 because Dm (D-F-A) is imbedded in the BbMaj7 chord. We can therefore think of BbMaj7 as Dm/Bb (a Dm chord over a note of Bb). Now we have turned a standard ii-V7-I into a ii/b6-V7-I.
Now our progression is |Am |F7 #11 |BbMaj7 G7 |C |. Using the dominant note in Lydian Dominant helps draw out Bb as a non-diatonic note that works because Bb adds tension to the Lydian mode, F7 leads down a fifth to BbMaj7, and the root note of Bb in BbMaj7 can be dropped to create Dm. Dm then leads to G7 and C in a ii-V-I progression.
Mixolydian b6 (1-2-3-4-5-b6-b7) can help our previous progression by adding a b13 to our G7 chord. |Am |F7 #11 |BbMaj7 G7 b13 |C | still functions as |vi |V7/bVI (V7 of bVI) |ii/b6 (ii over b6) V7| I |. The difference is that the b13 of G is Eb, which is F’s b7. By taking F7 #11’s dominant note and using it again as a bright, yet tense, b13 of G7 makes our resolve from G7 b13 to C even stronger.
Check out this audio example that uses F Lydian Dominant and G Mixolydian b6.
Locrian ♮2 (1-2-b3-4-b5-b6-b7) is the common name for our sixth mode, but I like to think of it as Aeolian b5 as well because both names imply the use of degrees 1-2-b3-4-b5-b6-b7. In fact, we could name this Phrygian ♮2b5 or Dorian b5b6, but starting with one mode and making one adjustment makes the most sense.
The previous audio clip starts off with Am, which is from our natural minor mode: Aeolian. The melody that follows Am and leads us to F7 #11 is an “A Locrian ♮2” melody because of the note Eb modifying Aeolian as shown above. The note Eb is the b5 of A, so “A Aeolian b5” is another valid way to view the same degrees used in Locrian ♮2.
If want to exploit Locrian ♮2 further, then we could use this mode over Phrygian or Dorian, but we need to change two degrees within these modes. As we modify a “key”, we need to make sense of the changes.
B Locrian ♮2 could be used in a modified ii-V-I progression like |Dm |G7 |Bmb5 add9 |C |. This takes the note D found in Dm and G7, walks it down through C# in Dmb5 add9, and then ends at C as the root note of a C major chord.
E Locrian ♮2 can be used over E Phrygian in |C |Em7b5 add9 |Fsus4 F#m7b5 |G7 |C |. Starting with a C major chord we can make our piece sound like it is just the C Major Scale: C-D-E-F-G-A-B. The second bar uses Em7b5 add9, which adds in the notes Bb and F#. Bar three uses Fsus4 because the sus4 note of F is Bb. F# is then used in F#m7b5 to move the note F to F#. That note continues to ascend to G in G7, which helps us return to C.
A Locrian ♮2 can be used to draw out non-diatonic chords. Am7b5 sounds like a standard Locrian chord that could lead up to BbMaj7, which as we discussed earlier contains a Dm chord. Playing |C |Am7b5 add9 |BbMaj7 |G7 |C | shifts the Tonic from C to Bb because the diminished A chord makes Bb feel like the new Tonic. The first three bars also takes the note C, moves it down to B as the add9 of Am7b5 add9, and then moves it down again to Bb in BbMaj7. Notice how out of the notes C, B, and Bb that C and Bb are root notes, while B is the add9 color tone that fits between the two root notes. We then take the Dm hidden within BbMaj7 and move to G7 and C just like any ii-V-I progression.
D Locrian ♮2 is a little wild because Dorian needs three degrees flattened to become Locrian, which are degrees 2, 5, and 6. To make sense of Locrian ♮2 over Dorian we can split up the altered degrees. |Am |Dm#5 |G7 |Dm7b5 |C | starts off with a vi chord of Am from the key of C. Bar 2 uses D Locrian ♮2 in a way that makes D’s b6 note (Bb) act as a #5 in Dm#5. Since Dm is our ii chord, we can then play G7 as the V7 and move to C as I. Along the way we stop by at Dm7b5 to use the b5 of D Locrian ♮2, which draws out some more tension before going to C.
Altered Scale (1-b2-b3-b4-b5-b6-b7) is a staple in jazz due to its versatility. Just look at all the enharmonic possibilities. Sure, we have a half diminished chord, but we also have an augmented chord due to b4 being equivalent to a major third and b6 equivalent to #5. If we opt to not play the b5, then we can play a dominant chord using just 1-b4-b7.
We can also think of Altered Scale as Locrian b4. This one change gives us access to so many sounds that easily go over Locrian. Notice how each of the chords below all have tension. We can play a m7b5, but now we have other options due to the b4. We also have b9 and b13 to help color these new chords, so B+ b9 and B7 b13 are great ways to create tension and color from a single mode.
What to Practice
We’ve gone over quite a lot in these last 16 lessons of the “Let’s Play Music” series. For THIS lesson I want you to continue to use the Major Scale and Natural Minor. Then use Melodic Minor to MODIFY any of the chords and modes from those scales. In the chart below we have the C Major Scale and A Natural Minor with their corresponding Harmonic Scales. C Melodic Minor is then added at the bottom of each set. There’s a lot in this chart, so let me break it down for you.
(1) In the C Major Scale, flattening A to Ab creates C Harmonic Major. (Shown in green text.)
(2) In A Natural Minor, sharpening G to G# creates A Harmonic Minor. (Also shown in green text.)
(3) In C Major Scale AND A Natural minor, flattening E to Eb creates C Melodic Minor. (Shown in red and blue text.)
(4) C Melodic Minor’s sixth mode is Locrian ♮2, but I’ll call it Aeolian b5 so we can see how it lines up with A Natural Minor.
(5) Both scales have a dominant chord built from the fifth degree of the scale. (Highlighted in purple.
(6) If we Tonicize the note C or A with a dominant chord, then we can move between these two sets.
Overall, we have C Major Scale and A Natural Minor which both use only natural notes. We can then use Ab or G# to access the Harmonic Scales. We can also use the note Eb to draw out Melodic Minor modes at any time. If we are in C Major, but want to mellow things out, then we can tonicize the note A and move into a Minor tonality. When we are ready, we can tonicize the note C and move back to a Major tonality.
Below is an example of using the above chart. Follow along as I highlight modes relative to the C Major Scale in blue and modes of A Natural Minor in red. The roman numeral analysis will be included along with functions, such as “E7 (V/A)” where Ey is the fifth (V) of the note A. I’ll also put in a little bonus modulation in green for flair.
Next, try playing something simple using the C Major Scale. Write it down and start modifying it a little at a time using the notes Ab, Eb, and G#. As you do this also write down what mode you are using and the roman numerals. As you find interesting movements be sure to let me know what you discover in the comments along with any questions. Now go have some fun with this!
