The melodic minor scale is a useful scale in music that can be used to sweeten your bag of
tricks. To understand this post you will need a moderate understanding of Music Theory. The
melodic minor scale is a major scale with a minor 3rd. Thats it!
Melodic Minor Intervals/Scale Formula:
1 2 b3 4 5 6 7 1
This scale can be used over minor chords to add an interesting flavor into your playing. This
scale is commonly used in jazz however it can be useful in many other genres if used tastefully.
The leading tone (similar to a harmonic minor scale) creates a nice tension, and can be mixed
with a dorian scale to add a chromatic passing tone into the scale.
The fourth mode of melodic minor is also commonly used over dominant chords and is called
lydian flat 7. It’s as simple as it sounds, it’s a lydian scale with a b7 as opposed to a major 7.
Lydian Flat 7 Intervals/Scale Formula
1 2 3 #4 5 6 b7 1.
Play a melodic minor scale up a fifth from the root achieves this lydian flat 7 sound. For example
while playing over an E7 chord you could play B melodic minor to achieve this sound.
The other very common use of the melodic minor scale is it’s last mode the altered scale. This
scale is generally used over chords that are moving in a 5 to 1 cadence and gives you all
possible alterations over dominant chords. Meaning b9 #9 #11 b13. Playing a melodic minor
scale ½ step up from the root of the dominant chord achieves this sound.
It is important to take notice of what notes you are adding to scales you may already know when
implementing these new scales. For example melodic minor is only one note different from a
major scale and a dorian scale, and lydian flat 7 is only one note different from a mixolydian
scale. By being aware of these subtle differences you can use these scales without over
complicating and confusing yourself by thinking about them as “new” modes and can likely put
them into use more efficiently and tastefully. Always think about the intervals in scales, not just
the geometric patterns they form on your particular instrument!
