The melodic minor scale is a minor scale with a major 6th and major 7th: 1, 2, flat 3, 4, 5, 6, 7. A melodic minor is A, B, C, D, E, F sharp, G sharp. Use it over a minor tonic, minor 6 and minor-major 7 chords, and a dominant a half step below for the altered sound.
For a long time, I used the pentatonic, some scales, even minor scales, but I thought the melodic minor was way too complicated. I felt like I couldn’t understand it, I couldn’t hear it, I didn’t know the fingerings. In this lesson I divide it into five clear sections: hearing the sound, using it, one position, five positions, and the altered sound.
What does the melodic minor scale sound like?
It sounds minor, still minor. The difference is at the top: the bottom half has the minor flat 3, and the top half has a major 6 and a major 7 leading back to the 1.
Here’s how it compares with the natural minor scale in A:
- A natural minor. A, B, C, D, E, F, G.
- A melodic minor. A, B, C, D, E, F sharp, G sharp.
It’s very much like A minor, but two notes are different. To hear it, play it really slowly over an A minor sound and sing it. Close your eyes, listen to the notes and see how they feel. You don’t even need to verbalize it. Just listen to the color.
Then play A minor, just the 1, 3 and 5, and add the 6. There’s something very, very beautiful about that sound, almost painful to me. The G natural of the regular minor scale is beautiful too, and the painfulness of that G sharp is another option.
Think of it like going to a dinner and saying, I can eat with a fork, it’s fine. It’s true, it’s going to work. But you can get more nuanced. You can be more specific, slice something more accurately and taste it. That’s what this scale gives you: more ways to express ideas.
When do you use the melodic minor scale on guitar?
There are three main places, from the clearest to the most complex.
- On a minor tonic. When the harmonic center is a minor key, like A minor, you can use this color over the A minor chord.
- On minor 6 and minor-major 7 chords. A minor-major 7 is minor, 1, 3, 5, but the 7 is a major 7, so it has a kind of haunting quality. It comes up more often in jazz, but not only. Over A minor 6 or A minor-major 7, this scale is a really great choice.
- As a tension point. Over an A flat 7 chord, you can play A melodic minor and get what we call the altered scale. Knowing the melodic minor fingerings gives you access to a whole world of tensions and extensions.
When I’m playing A minor, I don’t have to play pentatonic all day, which is of course beautiful and a universe. But there are other colors. They’re not better or worse, they’re just other colors.
Rotem Sivan
If you already live in the pentatonic, the pentatonic scale lesson covers all five positions. The melodic minor is one more color to put next to it.
Level 3: how do you learn the melodic minor in one position?
Map only one position first, loop one chord in time, and improvise with the color. The point is to understand the sound and feel how it sounds against a chord and a harmonic center.
Play the fingering slowly and surely, always thinking about the notes. There are many ways to finger these scales, three notes per string or two notes per string, and they’re all valid. For now, just do one position.
Then loop one chord, A minor 6, nothing crazy, literally just one chord. Hear the scale against it, then play simple melodies in that area of the guitar. You can also just throw your fingers down and see what happens against the center. Little by little, associate the sound of that G sharp with a feeling, and the feeling of that 6, and you’ll start to understand the color. That’s how it becomes part of your personal sound, and it gives you more freedom and more colorful things to choose from.
Level 4: how do you play the melodic minor in five positions?
Break the neck into five areas and learn the scale in each one, slowly. This step takes more time. You can use three notes per string, two, even four. All is a go, but focus on the task of five positions.
- Sing as you go. Hold an A with your voice while you play, and sing the notes. It’s all about hearing, understanding and locking it into your system. The more we connect emotionally, the better we know it and the better we can interact with it.
- Think the note names. In the fifth position I’m literally thinking D, E, F sharp, G sharp, A, as much as I can.
- Be consistent with fingerings. You can change them, there are many options, but in the beginning stay consistent so you build a framework, a kinesthetic memory.
If you want a bigger map of the neck to hang these positions on, the fretboard lesson goes one note at a time.
Level 5: how does the melodic minor make the altered scale?
Play A melodic minor over an A flat 7 chord. The same notes, heard against A flat 7, become the A flat altered scale. This is where we really meet the altered sound.
Here’s what the notes do against A flat 7. A flat is the root. A is the flat 9, B is the sharp 9, C is the 3rd, D is the flat 5, E is the sharp 5 and F sharp is the flat 7. So besides the root, you keep the 3rd and 7th of the dominant chord, and every other note is a tension.
Loop the A flat 7 for a moment, hear the scale against it, and then start messing around with the positions. The more comfortable I am, the easier it is to create. Take small fragments of information: one position, one scale, one color, one area, not the whole thing. We’re not trying to master the universe. We’re asking, how does A melodic minor, the altered scale, sound against A flat 7 in this area?
Then ask more questions. Can I mess around with it? Can I express something with it? Can I play it in time? Can I be creative? If not, maybe the question is about the framework. Maybe I need to understand more about the fingerings and where the notes are, maybe I need to hear it more, maybe I need to sing it.
A melodic minor practice idea for today
Loop A minor 6 and play one position of A melodic minor over it, slowly, singing along. Spend a few minutes on just the 6 and the G sharp, listening to how each one feels against the chord. Then switch the loop to A flat 7 and play the same position over it. Same notes, new color.
If you want this inside a bigger picture of improvising, Solo Mastery is my full framework for improvising, with over 40 concepts for soloing, 10 real performances broken down note by note, plus shell chords, harmony, ear training and rhythm work. And if you want the neck mapped on purpose first, Unlocking the Fretboard covers the C major scale in five positions, seven three-notes-per-string positions and the A minor pentatonic in all five positions.
Frequently asked questions
What’s the difference between melodic minor and natural minor?
Two notes. Melodic minor raises the 6th and the 7th. A natural minor is A, B, C, D, E, F, G, and A melodic minor is A, B, C, D, E, F sharp, G sharp. The bottom half stays minor, and the top half sounds major.
What chords go with the melodic minor scale?
A minor tonic chord, a minor 6 chord and a minor-major 7 chord. In A, that’s A minor, A minor 6 and A minor-major 7. Played over a dominant 7 chord a half step below, like A flat 7, it gives you the altered sound.
Is the altered scale the same as melodic minor?
It uses the same notes, starting a half step lower. A flat altered has the same notes as A melodic minor. Over A flat 7 those notes become the root, 3rd and 7th plus the flat 9, sharp 9, flat 5 and sharp 5.
Does melodic minor come down differently than it goes up?
In classical theory it descends as natural minor. In jazz, players usually keep the raised 6th and 7th both ways, and this lesson treats it the same way, as one set of notes you map across the neck.
Take this color seriously, because it’s really beautiful. Start with one position and one chord today.
