The Melodic Minor scale

  • This scale is used a lot in Jazz. It\'s a great way to add a slightly different sound to a minor chord. (or other chords, if you use various melodic minor modes)

  • This scale is only different from the Dorian mode by 1 note. (7th is sharpened)

  • Another way to think about this scale is as C Major, but the 3rd is dropped by a semitone, making it minor.

  • Choose a way to think about this scale, such as C Major with flat 3, or C Dorian with sharp 7th. Either way can work. Then just memorize where the changed note is from the original major scale.

  • As you can see, just like the Harmonic Minor scale, this scale is again only different from the vanilla major scale by just 1 note. It\'s an easy and cheap way to memorize a whole new scale (with it\'s own modes), by simply memorizing where a difference of 1 note lies.

  • Figure out the modes by playing the C melodic minor scale over C, D, Eb, F, G, A, and B

  • The mode names are:

    Melodic Minor (1st mode)

    Dorian flat 2 (2nd mode)

    Lydian Augmented (3rd mode)

    Lydian flat 7 (4th mode)

    Mixolydian sharp 13 (5th mode)

    Locrian sharp 2 (6th mode)

    Super Locrian (7th mode)
















    • 5 patterns of the Melodic Minor

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