Harmonic Minor Modes

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

Excerpt: The Harmonic Minor scale is one of the 3 "traditional" minor scales that we use in music. The other 2 are the Aeolian mode (natural minor) and Melodic Minor. The other 2 "minor" scales that we use are the Phrygian and Dorian Modes The Harmonic Minor scale is basically the same as the Natural Minor Scale except that the Harmonic Minor Scale has one differe...

Media Length: 1:21

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

Excerpt: The Harmonic Minor mode is usually used for soloing over minor chords. The character pitches of this mode are the minor 3rd, minor 6th and major 7th. |-------Octave------||---Extensions---| 1-2-b3-4-5-b6-7-8-9-b10-11-12-b13 Triadic chords from the harmonic minor scale: 1-b3-5= Minor triad 1-b3-5-7= Minor #7 (aka Minor nat.7) 1-b3-5-7-9= Minor #7/9 1-...

Media Length: 2:02

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

Excerpt: The Locrian Natural 6 has a very dark sound to it because of the minor 2nd, minor 3d and diminished 5th. Like the Locrian mode, with this mode you can usually use over a min7b5 chord. Another cool fact about this mode is because of the b3, b5 and b7, it has a nice bluesy sound to it. |--------Octave-------||-----Extensions-----| 1-b2-b3-4-b5-6-b7-8-b9-b10...

Media Length: 1:59

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

Excerpt: The Ionian #5 is different than many of the other modes because even though it has a major 3rd and major 7th, which makes it out to have a major tonality, it has that #5 in it, which is a dissonant tone, so that alone makes this a mode that isn't used too often. |------Octave-----||---Extensions---| 1-2-3-4-#5-6-7-8-9-10-11-#12-13 The chords from this mod...

Media Length: 0:28

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

Excerpt: The Dorian #4 is a very useful scale because while it has the minor 3, augmented 4 and minor 7 notes in it, which are all "blues" notes, it also has the minor 3rd and minor 7th, which means this mode can be used over minor and dominant chords as well. |--------Octave------||-----Extensions-----| 1-2-b3-#4-5-6-b7-8-9-b10-#11-12-13 Here are the chords we ge...

Media Length: 1:41

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

Excerpt: The Phrygian-Dominant scale is defined by the Major 3rd, minor 2nd, minor 6th and minor 7th. The minor 2nd will be heard as a b9 and the b6 as a #5 so any altered dominant chord that has these notes in them will work with this mode.. |-------Octave------||----Extensions----| 1-b2-3-4-5-b6-b7-8-b9-10-11-12-b13 Here are the chords we get from stacking 3rds ...

Media Length: 1:12

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

Excerpt: The Lydian #2, like the Lydian and Ionian modes, have a major sound to them because of the major 3rd and major 7th. Because this mode has the augmented 2nd (same as the minor 3rd), this has a bluesy sound to it because the blues scale has a minor 3rd. The augmented second can also be thought of as a sharp 9, but this note isn't used very much in major chords...

Media Length: 1:20

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

Excerpt: This is the last mode of the harmonic minor scale, and because it has so many alterations (everything except the root is flatted) the use of this mode is somewhat limited, so the main chord this mode is used over is the diminished 7th. |----------Octave------------||-----Extensions-------| 1-b2-b3-b4-b5-b6-bb7-8-b9-b10-b11-b12-b13 Chords generated by stac...

Media Length: 1:29