The Melodic Minor Scale

Jazz and fusion players love using this scale to the point where it's staple vocabulary for the improvising musician.

Ofcourse, regardless of what kind of music you're into, this scale creates an interesting and very likable addition to your harmonic and linear vocabulary.

Let's take a look at the melodic minor scale and how it's created.

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What Is The Melodic Minor Scale?

The melodic minor scale, in simple words, is a major scale with a b3. Let's compare it to a major scale to visualise the differences. We will take C as our root:

C Major	Scale Degree	C Melodic Minor	Scale Degree
C	1	C	1
D	2	D	2
E	3	Eb	b3
F	4	F	4
G	5	G	5
A	6	A	6
B	7	B	7
C	8	C	8

Please note that, the melodic minor mentioned above is speciafically called the Jazz Melodic Minor or simply, Jazz Minor.

We also have the Traditional Melodic Minor, which ascends as the jazz minor, and descends as a natural minor scale.

Melodic Minor Harmony

The harmony for melodic minor is as follows:

Roman Numerals	Triad Type	7th Chord Type	In The Key Of C
I	Min	Min/Maj7	C
II	Min	Min7	D
bIII	Aug	Maj7(#5)	Eb
IV	Maj	Dom7	F
V	Maj	Dom7	G
VI	Dim	Min7(b5)	A
VII	Dim	Min7(b5)	B

Modes Of Melodic Minor

Roman Numerals	Mode Name
I​	Ascending Melodic Minor
II	Dorian b2
bIII	​Lydian #5
IV	​Lydian b7
V	Mixolydian b6
VI	Locrian Natural 2
VII	Altered Scale

I will be writing about each mode and it's relative harmony in the next few blogs. Consider subscribing to my blog here to never miss out on any new posts!

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