BazzLow
ENIT
Module 6 · Lesson 5

The melodic minor scale

Know the melodic minor in its classical and jazz forms.

Before this lesson: 6.4 The harmonic minor scale

The harmonic minor has a leap in it. The melodic minor smooths that leap away by raising one more note.

Raising the 6th and the 7th

The melodic minor raises both the 6th and the 7th: 1 2 ♭3 4 5 6 7. This keeps the leading tone and removes the augmented 2nd. It is the major scale with a ♭3. The scale is still minor, because its 3rd is minor.

The three minor scales on A. The notes that differ from the natural minor are in bold.
Scale1234567
NaturalABCDEFG
HarmonicABCDEFG♯
Melodic (up)ABCDEF♯G♯

Classical and jazz

  • Classical use: the raised 6th and 7th are used going up. Going down, the natural minor is used (♭7, ♭6).
  • Jazz use, also called the jazz minor: the same raised form both up and down. In jazz it is also the source of several modes and chord scales (an overview only in this course).

More examples of the raised form going up: A melodic minor is A B C D E F♯ G♯; G melodic minor is G A B♭ C D E F♯.

TonicThirdFifthSeventh2nd, 4th, 6th
Bass neck, frets 0–12A melodic minor going up, root at fret 5 on the E string: A B C (frets 5, 7, 8) | D E F♯ on the A string (frets 5, 7, 9) | G♯ and A on the D string (frets 6, 7).DAE34567891012♭345678
A melodic minor going up, root at fret 5 on the E string: A B C (frets 5, 7, 8) | D E F♯ on the A string (frets 5, 7, 9) | G♯ and A on the D string (frets 6, 7).
TonicThirdFifthSeventh2nd, 4th, 6th
Bass neck, frets 0–12The classical form going down is the natural minor: A on the D string (fret 7), then G (fret 5), F E D on the A string (frets 8, 7, 5), and so on down.DAE34567891012♭345♭6♭78
The classical form going down is the natural minor: A on the D string (fret 7), then G (fret 5), F E D on the A string (frets 8, 7, 5), and so on down.
Try it

Play A melodic minor up and natural minor down. Then play the jazz form both ways and compare.

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