With some of the great Melodic minor sounds like Lydian dominant and altered dominants, it is difficult to find arpeggios that really work, especially if you only check out the diatonic arpeggios.
In this video, I am going to show you some arpeggios that you can use that really nails the sound of these chords and adds some beautiful colors. And once you get started using them here you will discover how they also great in some other places.
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Melodic minor is an awesome sound! It is a really beautiful rich minor sound. But sometimes we immediately get lost in Altered scale, Lydian dominant, Locrian Natural 2, etc and that is a pity because the tonic minor sound is certainly worth exploring.
In this video I am going to show you how to start using it, some of the things you can use to make lines and also how you can use it to get into some other great melodic minor sounds on other chords.
Hearing the sound in the chords
To have a place to use this, maybe take Autumn Leaves in G minor. (Sheet music)
In bars 7-8 there are two bars of tonic Gm.
A tonic minor chord is either a Gm6 or a GmMaj7 chord.
In a cadence that sounds like this:
Or like this:
In Autumn Leaves there is also a riff used on the Gm which is in fact a Gm6 arpeggio.
The Scale (The way we use it in Jazz🙂 )
A G minor melodic scale is G natural minor scale like G A Bb C D Eb F G where we change it so it has a maj6th and a maj7th:
G A Bb C D E F# G
If you play the scale it could be something like this:
In classical music, you use the melodic minor ascending and the natural minor descending.
That’s not how we do it in Jazz in part because that would mean that the one playing chords has to change the chord depending on the soloist playing descending or ascending melodies.
You can hear me play these two examples in the video if you want an idea about the difference:
Exploring the Harmony and the Sounds
If you want to improvise over a tonic minor chord then it is good to have the scale and also some arpeggios. Let’s start with the diatonic triads
So here we have the diatonic harmony of the scale in Triads: Gm Am Bbaug C D Edim F#dim Gm
In the example below I am using a Edim and D major triad pair over the Gm6 chord:
The great thing about Melodic Minor
A great aspect of Melodic minor is that the lines that fit one of the chords also mostly works over other sounds. In this way you can use a Gm6 line as an F#7 altered:
Or a Lydian dominant sound like this C7 backdoor dominant in D major:
A great progression for Melodic Minor: Minor Blues
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Melodic Minor is a huge part of the sound of Jazz and especially Modern Jazz. In this video, I am going to go over how you make some great Melodic Minor Licks. In the examples, I will also breakdown the way I am thinking and which arpeggios and melodic devices I use in the lines.
Of course, I am using some of the arpeggios that you need to know to work with melodic minor, but there are also a few great options that most people don’t get around to mentioning because they are not considered a part of the diatonic arpeggio set.
The Melodic Minor Scale
The melodic minor scale is a minor scale with a major 6th or major 7th. In the key of C this is:
C D Eb F G A B C
1 2 b3 4 5 6 7 8
The scale is shown here below:
#1 The mMaj9th arpeggio
This line is build around the CmMaj7th arpeggio in bar 1. The 2nd bar also contains a part made using leading notes for chord tones.
#2 Ebmaj7(#5)
This line is chaining together two arpeggios from the Scale: Ebmaj7(#5) and CmMaj. The 2nd bar is made using chromaticism and a Cm triad.
#3 The Augmented Triad
One of the most flexible and useful parts of the of the sound of the scale is the augmented triad. In this example I am combining the Augmented triad with a Dsus4 triad. The Dsus4 is a good way to emphasize the extensions of 9 and 6th on the Cm chord.
The 2nd bar is mainly using some chromaticism and repeats the augmented triad in a higher octave.
The B7(#5) arpeggio is a great arpeggio to use on a Cm melodic chord like CmMaj7 or Cm6. The arpeggio contains the augmented triad and the A adds a nice set of colors on the chord:
B7(#5) : B Eb G A
Relative to C: Maj7 3rd 5th 6th
#5 The G7(#5) and Gsus4
The G7(#5) is another way to use a non-diatonic arpeggio on a CmMaj7 chord. In the example below I am combining it with a Gsus4 triad, which is also a good device for a CmMaj7 arpeggio.
Using Melodic Minor on a Minor Blues
If you want to learn how to use Melodic minor in the context of a minor blues then check out this lesson:
Melodic minor is a key sound when it comes to modern and traditional jazz guitar. In this lesson I will map out some of the basic and more advanced arpeggios and triads contained in the scale. These structures are also the material I use for the 3 melodic minor jazz licks included in the video.
The Scale
The melodic minor scale is constructed as a minor scale with a major 6th and 7th.
This gives us the construction in the key of A:
1 2 b3 4 5 6 7 8
A B C D E F# G# A
A position of this scale can be seen in the example below:
Of course if you really want to dig into the scale you probalby wnat to check it out in all positions on the neck.
Basic Arpeggio Content
Diatonic Triads
The first structure you want to check out is probably the diatonic triads. Triads are constructed in the scale by stacking thirds. The beginring of this exercise is shown in example 2 below:
It is important to realize that along the way you will be better off also knowing what each diatonic triad is and what notes it contains. This will help finding places you can use it and relate it to other chords where it may be a good upper-structure.
To shortly list the diatonic triads:
I – Am
II – Bm
III – C augmented
IV – D
V – E
VI – F#dim
VII – G#dim
Diatonic 7th chords
The next logical step is to check out the 7th chords. These are really just the triads with one extra note and also essential structures for understanding the harmony related to the scale in the from that it is used in a jazz context.
An excerpt of this exercise is shown in the example below:
Here’s a list of the chords:
I – AmMaj7
II – Bm7
III – CMaj7#5
IV – D7
V – E7
VI – F#m7(b5)
VII – G#m7(b5)
Advanced arpeggio structures
Quartal Harmony and Arpeggios
Besides the 3rds based structures that are covered here above it is also possible to start looking into some of the other possibilities contained in the scale.
A very important structure in modern jazz since John Coltrane is the Quartal Arpeggio. In the example below I have written out the quartal arpeggios played along the neck on the middle string set. This way of playing the is quite easy and a good way to connect the different positions.
A more difficult but equally important exercise is to work this out in the scale position. This is shown in the exercise below.
Diatonic Sus4 triads
The sus4 triads are closel related to the quartal arpeggios , just like the quintal arpeggios. In fact stacks of fourths can be seen as an inversion of a sus4 triad.
The diatonic sus4 triads of Amelodic minor are shown below. First as a melodic exercise along the neck and then as chords.
The sus4 triads in A melodic minor are:
Asus4
Bsus4
C(#5)sus#4
Dsus#4
Esus4
F#dim(sus4)
G#dim(susb4)
Some of these triads may have peculiar names, but as you shall see in the melodic minor licks they do have some interesting sounds that we can use.
Diatonic Spread Triads
Spread or open-voiced triads are extremely useful for adding larger intervals into your lines. One reason is that it can be difficult to have larger intervals and still make coherent melodies, and using a structure as strong as a triad really helps with this.
In this segment I have written out the spread-triads along the neck in all three inversions. I find this a good practical way to work on them. You should also consider how great they are as alternate picking exercises, since they contain a lot of string skips and are useful fro string skipping and precision with alternate picking.
Spread triads in position
As I have mentioned with the other exercises it also often very useful to check them out in a scale position. This will help you have a better overview of both the scale in general and the position that you play it in.
Below is the root position spread triads in the position that I am using for this lesson. Consider these exercises more something you do for knowing the notes of the triads and where these notes are found in this position. It probably is not very practical as any type of speed or dexterity exercise.
Melodic Minor Guitar Licks
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.
Diatonic Sus4 triads and Diatonic 7th arpeggios
The first example starts with two sus4 triads: Esus4 and Dsus#4. It then continues with an AmMaj7 arpeggio and ends on the major 6th(F#).
Spread triads and triad pairs
The second example is using an open-voiced or spread triad. In this case a first inversion A minor triad. The part that follows is making use of a D and E majr triad pair which takes it up to an high E where it via a small scale run resolves to the 9th(B) of Am.
Quartal Arpeggios and Open-voiced Triads
The final example is using some stacks of 4ths. As I mention in the video, the construction of the melodic minor scale yields a few peculiar quartal arpeggios. In this line the first example is two quartal arpeggios, though the first one is actually also a G#7 shell voicing. The G#7 shell is followed by a quartal arpeggio from E. Then follows a small scale run build around an Am triad and the final part of the line is an E major root position spread triad. The line ends on the major 6th: F#.
Scale practice thoughts
Keep in mind that it is much more useful for you to keep working on knowing your scales better and trying to use the things you practice in them than trying to be able to play these exercises fast. After all we practice exercises to become better at making music and if we don’t practice making music with the material from the exercises it is going to become either empty knowledge or things that we never really learned,
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You can also download the PDF of my examples here:
If you have any questions, comments or suggestions for topics or how I can make the lessons better then please let me know. Leave a comment on the video or send me an e-mail. That is the best way for me to improve my lessons and make them fit what you are searching for.
