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Altered Scale over Dominants

5/29/2015

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Here is a nugget from an Emily Remler video on Dominants:

Dominants either resolve to a tonic (as in a ii-V-I) or not.
If the dominant resolves to a tonic, use the 7th mode of the Jazz Minor (melodic Minor). This means start the scale on the seventh tone. The 7th mode of the Jazz Minor is equivalent to the 'Altered Scale'.
If the dominant is not resolving to a tonic, use the 5th mode of the Jazz Minor (melodic minor).

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Harmonic Minor, Melodic Minor, Altered Scale Charts

5/15/2015

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These are three closely related scales which I'm still trying to learn cold. These are the best fingerings I've found so far, via Jimmy Bruno. As he suggests, I start with a scale with a 6th-string root and then move a fourth down (e.g., D to G) and play the 5th string root version. Proceeding with the circle of fourths, I cover all the keys this way.

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The Harmonic Minor Scale is the base scale for the harmony of a minor progression with a Maj-min chord as the i chord. I found it to be a good scale to learn before the Melodic Minor, which is so similar to the Major scale that I kept messing up from muscle memory. It is essentially the Aeolian Mode or "Natural" minor with a Major 7 instead of a b7.

The Melodic Minor Scale or "Jazz Minor" is a major scale with a flat third. It is typically used in Jazz instead of the Aeolian mode. In classical music, the scale technically uses a b7 when descending. Don't worry about that. The "Jazz Minor" is the ascending version, a major scale with a b3.

The Altered Scale is the same as the Melodic Minor/Jazz Minor, except that the root is on the 7 instead of the one. It is the 7th mode of the Melodic Minor (aka Super-Locrian, if you want to impress somebody). It is a great scale to play over any Dominant chord -- especially one with alterations (b9, #9, b5, #5, etc.) All the alterations are in this scale. The altered notes lead into notes of the I7 in a ii-V-I progression in a "jazzy way."

Practice them in 4ths. Start with the root on the sixth string, then find the the root on the fifth string a fourth away and cycle through until you play every scale. Use a metronome. Practice them with string-skipping and other patterns. Then practice interconnecting them. Finally, when you have a good map of them, play them over a vamp. A minor or Min-major chord is good for the minors and an altered Dominant is good for the Altered scale. Then slowly start to apply them with a minor ii-V-i.

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Altered Scale over Dominants

Harmonic Minor, Melodic Minor, Altered Scale Charts

HI!

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