This is the most modern approach to this scale. Jazz: The sixth and seventh notes are always raised, exactly as the pictures below illustrate. This scale is kind of peculiar since it is sometimes played differently ascending and descending. In the next advanced blues topic we will talk about concepts of functional harmony. The Melodic Minor Scale differs from the Natural Minor Scale by the sixth and seventh notes, which are raised one semi-step. In this topic, we talk only about improvisation. Now you can consider yourself a special musician! How often do you usually listen to outside notes in blues? We can do almost everything within the blues, but 99% of the musicians do not explore any of this, they just thrash the minor pentatonic with a blue note. This scale sounds better that way because it is used a lot on the idea of “passing chords”, as we already studied. Do the same thing in the transition from the fourth degree to the first. For example, before leaving the first degree to the fourth, try to apply the diminished in that moment. Note: just as a tip, the diminished scale in blues sounds better when it is played moments before the transition from one chord to another. If you are not comfortable with the major pentatonic shape and still love the minor pentatonic shape, you can think about the relative minor of G (E minor) and then play, in this case, the minor pentatonic of E. King a lot and notice the way he uses the major pentatonic. If you want to perfect yourself in this style, listen to B.B. So, there is no problem in doing that!Ī curious fact: the major pentatonic within blues is widely used by guitarist B.B. That is, when playing the major pentatonic of G, we are doing nothing different than using notes from previous scales that we have already applied. The B note is present in the mixolydian scale of G. The E and A notes are present in the D minor melodic scale (which is the minor melodic one fifth above G7). Okay, so I don’t have to worry about that note. Let’s see if these notes are already present in some other scale that we are using:įor the G7 chord, the D note is present on the minor pentatonic scale of G. chord, A Mixolydian for most of the bar 11 - A Dorian bar 12 - F melodic minor. In the case of the G chord, the major pentatonic would then take the notes G, A, B, D, E. Note - A melodic minor (honest) bar 5&6 D Dorian or melodic minor don't use the diminished scale throughout, it won't work Try A bar 7& 8 A dorian or melodic minor bar 9 & 10 - Ab diminished diminished over the D dim. Follow the logic: the major pentatonic takes the following degrees, 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 5th and 6th. Once you learn the minor pentatonic scale, it should be relatively easy to learn the The Natural Minor Scale or the Aeolian Mode. In the same way that we use the minor pentatonic, we can also use the major pentatonic on the first degree. The new thing here is the major pentatonic.
#MELODIC MINOR SCALES BLUEW HOW TO#
We don’t need to mention the melodic minor, diminished, hexatonic, bebop and mixolydian scales here, since justification for applying each one of them is to think that each blues chord acts as a dominant chord (we have already studied this approach for each one of these scales).Įven though these dominant seventh chords are not resolving in their tonalities, they are still dominant, so we think of each one as if it were a V7 chord.Ĭhromatism with target notes has also been fully explained in other topics and you already know how to use it. Major pentatonic scale (over the first degree).Diminished scale one semitone above (dom-dim scale).It’s time to apply the other approaches we know! Let’s summarize what you can use over the blues chords (first, fourth and fifth), which are all unaltered dominants: What we are going to do now is to take all the concepts we learned about dominants and apply everything within the blues after all, the blues is basically made up of dominant chords! You already know the basic structure of blues, so now it’s time to get off the surface and go far beyond the minor pentatonic scale + blues scale. It is the most explored type of chord in terms of outside notes. After studying several subjects, here we are returning to the blues world! You have already learned that the dominant V7 chord allows us to use many interesting features in improvisation.