Melodic Minor Modes

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Instructor: Robert Mussatti Level: Advanced Topic: Scales Style: Any Style

Excerpt: The Melodic Minor Scale is one of the 3 minor scales that you are going to encounter. This scale has two versions to it: the ascending version and the descending version. The ascending version can can be thought of as being a major scale with a lowered 3rd. The descending version is just going back to the natural minor scale. The reason we have these 2 ve...

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Instructor: Robert Mussatti Level: Advanced Topic: Scales Style: Any Style

Excerpt: The first mode of the melodic minor scale is the one known to most people, which is simply known as the melodic minor scale. This mode is the same as the major scale except it has a minor 3rd to it. The character pitches of this mode are the minor 3rd, major 6th and major 7th. |------Octave-----||---Extensions---| 1-2-b3-4-5-6-7-8-9-b10-11-12-13 By stacki...

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Instructor: Robert Mussatti Level: Advanced Topic: Scales Style: Any Style

Excerpt: This mode is just like the Dorian mode but the second is lowered. But because of this change, it is a lot harder to play this over minor chords so this mode isn't used very often. |---------Octave-----||-----Extensions-----| 1-b2-b3-4-5-6-b7-8-b9-b10-11-12-13 By stacking 3rds above the root, we get a series of minor sounding chords: 1-b3-5= Minor Triad ...

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Instructor: Robert Mussatti Level: Advanced Topic: Scales Style: Any Style

Excerpt: This mode is the same as the Lydian mode, except that it has one alteration to it, which is that the perfect 5th is raised to make it an augmented 5th. This mode, along with the Ionian #5 is a good choice to use over maj7#5 chords. |--------Octave-----||----Extensions----| 1-2-3-#4-#5-6-7-8-9-10-#11-#12-13 By stacking 3rds above the root, we get a series ...

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Instructor: Robert Mussatti Level: Advanced Topic: Scales Style: Any Style

Excerpt: This mode is the same as the Lydian mode, but because it has a minor 7th in it, it makes this mode very useful when soloing over dominant chords, especially those with a b5 or #11. The character pitches in this mode are the 3, #4 and b7. |--------Octave-----||----Extensions----| 1-2-3-#4-5-6-b7-8-9-10-#11-12-13 By stacking 3rds above the root, we get a li...

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Instructor: Robert Mussatti Level: Advanced Topic: Scales Style: Any Style

Excerpt: This mode is the same as the mixolydian mode, but it has one alteration to it, which is the minor 6th that is added. You could also respell the minor 6th as an augmented 5th. |-------Octave------||----Extensions----| 1-2-3-4-5-b6-b7-8-9-10-11-12-b13 By stacking 3rds above the root, we get a list of dominant chords that are formed: 1-3-5= Major Triad 1-...

Media Length: 0:39

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Instructor: Robert Mussatti Level: Advanced Topic: Scales Style: Any Style

Excerpt: This mode suggests a minor sound due to the b3rd and b7th pitches. However, the b6 and b5 cause tension in minor chords. |--------Octave-------||-----Extensions-----| 1-2-b3-4-b5-b6-b7-8-9-b10-11-b12-b13 By stacking 3rds above the root, we get a list of minor chords: 1-b3-b5= Diminished Triad 1-b3-b5-b7= Minor 7b5 (AKA Half-Diminished) 1-b3-b5-b7-9= Mi...

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Instructor: Robert Mussatti Level: Advanced Topic: Scales Style: Any Style

Excerpt: This mode is probably the most important one used in jazz music because it contains every potential tension tone commonly heard in Dominant 7th chords. These notes are the b5, #5(b6), b9(b2) and #9(b3). This mode can also be thought of as the Altered Scale, or the Diminished/Whole-Tone scale. Because of the second name, this scale is also a combination scal...

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