Melodic Minor Applications Concept
Editing Team: Alexander Harnisch, Helga Rosenbauer
Cover Design by Helga Rosenbauer
Copyright © 2016 by Alexander Harnisch, Olching
2
About the Book
My short and hopefully easy understanding concept describes 5 Melodic Minor Scales that in-
clude tensions from the "least" up to the "most" for soloing over Dominant 7th chords.
I have provided for each Melodic Minor scale a Fretboard Position Diagram that helps memo-
rizing all relevant intervals like the sharps and flats.
The shaded dots are the corresponding tensions. Dots with a “R” describe the “root”.
Licks are not yet part of this concept. Create first your own short licks when improvising over
Turnarounds like the “II7 — V7 — I” etc. in the keys you like.
About the Author
The Singer and Songwriter Alexander Harnisch alias John Scrivo, born in São Paulo, Brazil,
enjoyed the feeling of Bossa Nova and the soccer euphoria at the beach of the Copacabana as a
child. For family reasons he grew up with two mother languages, Portuguese and English.
After he had been given an electric guitar, he doggedly practiced the solos of his favourite Band
"The Fab Four" - The Beatles. An interesting musical mixture was born now.
As his Austrian stepfather was a connoisseur of the Jazz Music, he heard the jazz tunes
constantly at home. He was fascinated by the Big Bands, the Vocal Groups and last not least by
Gypsy Jazz.
3
Table of Contents
Melodic Minor Applications Concept 04
D-Melodic Minor 05
C-Melodic Minor 08
F-Melodic Minor 11
Bb-Melodic Minor 14
Ab-Melodic Minor 17
4
Melodic Minor Applications Concept Improvising over altered dominant chords
In addition to other scales the Melodic Minor Scale, also called the Jazz minor, is a very useful
and versatile scale for soloing over Dominant 7th chords especially for altered chords.
This scale is simply a major scale with a lowered 3rd degree. It gives us a combined major and
minor effect.
This Melodic Minor Application Concept is structured from „less altered tension“ to „more ten-
sion“. The root of the Dominant 7th chord is „G“. Try to get familiar with the diagrams and
combine your preferred positions.
„less altered tension“ 5th degree of „G“ D-Melodic Minor
4th degree of „G“ C-Melodic Minor
lowered 7th degree of „G“ F-Melodic Minor
lowered 3rd degree of „G“ Bb-Melodic Minor
„more tension“ lowered 2nd degree of „G“ Ab-Melodic Minor
#11
b13
b9, #9
#9, #11, b13
b9, #9, #11, b13
Tensions overview
minor major
5
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12
G-Dominant 7th D-Melodic-Minor
Intervals
1 2/9 3 4/11 5 6/13 b7 1 2 b3 4 5 6 7
G A B C D E F D E F G A B C#
Intervals
Matching Intervals („Consonant Intervals“) between both scales
1 2/9 3 5 6/13 b7
G A B D E F
Applicable Chords: G7, G7add13, G9, G13
Non-Matching Intervals („Dissonant Intervals“)
#11
Applicable Chords: G7(#11), G7(b5), G9(#11), G13(b5)
R
R
R
R
R
R
F
F
F
F
F
F
G
G
G
G
G
G
A
A
A
A
A
B
B
B
B
B
B A
E
E
E
E
E
E
C#
C#
C#
C#
C#
C#
D-Melodic Minor (5th degree of „G“)
D-Melodic Minor intervals:
6
D-Melodic Minor excerpt:
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
R
R
R
R
R
R
R
R
7
Sample 1:
8
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12
G-Dominant 7th C-Melodic-Minor
Intervals
1 2/9 3 4/11 5 6/13 b7 1 2 b3 4 5 6 7
G A B C D E F C D Eb F G A B
Intervals
Matching Intervals („Consonant Intervals“) between both scales
1 2/9 3 4 5 b7
G A B C D F
Applicable Chords: G7, G9, G11, Db9, Db13
Non-Matching Intervals („Dissonant Intervals“)
b13
Applicable Chords: G7(b13), G7(#5)
C-Melodic-Minor:
R
R
R
R
R
R
G
G
G
G
G
G A
A
A
A
A
A B
B
B
B
B
B D
D
D
D
D
D
F
F
F
F
F
F
Eb
Eb
Eb
Eb
Eb
Eb
C-Melodic Minor (4th degree of „G“)
9
C-Melodic Minor excerpt:
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
R R
R
R
R
R
R
10
Sample 2:
11
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12
G-Dominant 7th F-Melodic-Minor
Intervals
1 2/9 3 4/11 5 6/13 b7 1 2 b3 4 5 6 7
G A B C D E F F G Ab Bb C D E
Intervals
Matching Intervals („Consonant Intervals“) between both scales
1 4 5 6/13 b7
G C D E F
Applicable Chords: G11
Non-Matching Intervals („Dissonant Intervals“)
b9 - #9
Applicable Chords: G7sus2, G13sus4, G7(b9), G13(b9), G7(#9), G13(#9)
F-Melodic-Minor:
R
R
R
R
R
R
G
G
G
G
G
G
C
C
C
C
C
C
D
D
D
D
D
D
E
E
E
E
E
E
Ab
Ab
Ab
Ab
Ab
Ab Bb
Bb
Bb
Bb
Bb
Bb
F-Melodic Minor (lowered 7th degree of „G“)
12
F-Melodic Minor excerpt:
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
R
R
R
R
R R
13
Sample 3:
14
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12
G-Dominant 7th Bb-Melodic-Minor
Intervals
1 2/9 3 4/11 5 6/13 b7 1 2 b3 4 5 6 7
G A B C D E F Bb C Db Eb F G A
Intervals
Matching Intervals („Consonant Intervals“) between both scales
1 2/9 4/11 b7
G A C F
Applicable Chords: no
Non-Matching Intervals („Dissonant Intervals“)
#9 - #11 - b13
Applicable Chords: G7(#9), G13(#9), G7(#11), G9(#11), G13(#11), G7(b13), G9(b13)
Bb-Melodic-Minor:
Bb-Melodic Minor (lowered 3rd degree of „G“)
R
R
R
Eb
Eb
Eb
Eb
Eb
Eb
Db
Db
Db
Db
Db
Db
F
F
F
F
F
F
G
G
G
G
G
G
R
R
R
A
A
A
A
A
A
C
C
C
C
C
C
15
Bb-Melodic Minor excerpt:
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
R
R R
R
R R
R
16
Sample 4:
17
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12
G-Dominant 7th Ab-Melodic-Minor
Intervals
1 2/9 3 4/11 5 6/13 b7 1 2 b3 4 5 6 7
G A B C D E F Ab Bb B Db Eb F G
Intervals
Matching Intervals („Consonant Intervals“) between both scales
1 3 b7
G B F
Applicable Chords: no
Non-Matching Intervals („Dissonant Intervals“)
b9 - #9 - #11 - b13
Applicable Chords: G7(b9), G13(b9), G7(#9), G13(#9), G7(#11), G9(#11), G13(#11)
Ab-Melodic-Minor:
R
R
R
R
R
R
Bb
Bb
Bb
Bb
Bb
Bb
Eb
Eb
Eb
Eb
Eb
Eb
Db
Db
Db
Db
Db
Db
B
B
B
B
B
B
F
F
F
F
F
F
G
G
G
G
G
G
Ab-Melodic Minor (lowered 2nd degree of „G“ a.k.a „Super Locrian“)
18
Ab-Melodic Minor excerpt:
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
R
R
R R
R
R
R
19
Sample 5:
