Mike Campese is an all-around music performer, session artist and teacher competent in many musical styles, electric and acoustic. He has studied at G.I.T. (Honors Graduate), and with Paul Gilbert, Norman Brown, Stanley Jordan, Scott Henderson and Keith Wyatt.
His latest holiday CD is entitled "The Meaning Of Christmas", his own original arrangements of 10 holiday classics and two of his own original compositions.
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Click here for a printer-friendly version of "Melodic Minor".
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Welcome back! In this lesson I will be briefly showing you the melodic
minor scale, how it is used, applying it etc. The melodic minor is
used in different styles of music, you may hear it a lot in jazz and
classical, and you can easily apply it to rock. In this lesson I will
just show you a couple of fingerings, the modes, the chord scale
arpeggios and a few lines you can practice to get you started. It is
really important to get the sound of the scale in your ear so you can
easily apply it to your playing and play it all over the fingerboard.
Let's get started.
How is the melodic minor constructed?
You can look at the melodic minor as a major scale with a lowered
3rd, or you can take the Dorian mode and raise the 7th. The
formula of this scale is (1, 2, b3, 4, 5, 6, 7). In classical music,
the melodic minor is played ascending, and the natural minor descending.
In this lesson we will be using the modern improvising approach; the
scale is the same ascending and descending. It is very important to
memorize the formula so you can construct it in all keys.
Melodic minor scale fingerings
I will just be showing you a couple of fingerings in this lesson to
start you off. Example 1 is a three note per string pattern in the key of
A melodic minor (A, B, C, D, E, F#, G#); this pattern works off the
6th string in every key. Example 1a is the same scale played in a
extended version across the neck. A great exercise is to play the
same scale different ways ascending and descending. For example, if you
are in A melodic minor, play up to the highest A on your guitar and
descend back down to A in a different way.
MP3 - Example 1
MP3 - Example 1a
Melodic minor scale harmony
It is important to learn the chords and arpeggios for the melodic
minor scale. Example 2 is the 7th chord arpeggios in the key of A;
this pattern is the same in all keys. It is really simple to harmonize
scales, just stack every other scale tone. Make sure you play them
all over the neck.
MP3 - Example 2
Modes of the melodic minor scale
Here are the list of modes from the melodic minor. Make sure you
memorize the formulas for each one and play them in different keys,
just like you would with the major scale modes.
Melodic Minor = 1, 2, b3, 4, 5 ,6 ,7
Dorian b2 = 1, b2, b3, 4, 5, 6, b7
Lydian Augmented = 1, 2, 3, #4, #5, 6, 7
Lydian b7 = 1 ,2, 3, #4, 5, 6, b7
Mixolydian b6 = 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, b6, b7
Locrian Natural 2 = 1, 2, b3, 4, b5, b6, b7
Super Locrian = 1, b2, b3, b4, b5, b6, b7
How can I apply this scale?
There are many ways, but I will just show you a few. To start off,
record yourself playing a Am chord vamp for a while, and play the A
melodic minor over it. Also, try mixing the A Dorian scale (A, B, C,
D, F#, G) with the A melodic minor; you will notice the only
difference is the G#, the raised 7th.
A lot of popular melodies use the melodic minor, a really great example is the Christmas song "Carol Of The Bells" in Example 3. You may want to check out my version of "Carol Of The Bells" off my latest CD, "The Meaning Of Christmas". The
first 2 measures are from the E natural minor scale (E, F#, G, A, B,
C, D) and then bar 3 switches to the E melodic minor (E, F#, G, A, B,
C#, D#) starting from the 5th mode B Mixolydian b6.
MP3 - Example 3
Here's another great way to use the melodic minor scale. Record a D7 chord and play D Lydian b7 over it, which is the same as A melodic minor. This approach can
work well in a blues progression.
Be sure to make up lines using this scale so you can apply it to your
playing. Example 4 is a line that I constructed that mixes the A
blues scale (A, C, D, Eb, E, G) and the A melodic minor. You might
want to follow the suggested fingerings.
MP3 - Example 4
Examples 1, 1a, 2, 3 and 4
Click To Enlarge |
OK, that's it for now, I just gave you a few examples to start you off. Be sure to check out my CDs on this amazing site and visit mikecampese.com for more information.
Additional Columns by Mike Campese
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