In this exercise, I taught you the melodic minor scale.

It was around the time we were talking heavily about minor concepts.

We studied:

• The natural minor scale, triads, and sevenths
• The harmonic minor scale, triads, and sevenths
• The melodic minor scale (but we never got to triads and sevenths).

So in this lesson, I want to introduce you to the chords that are naturally created by the melodic minor scale.

But first, let’s review…

The melodic minor scale is basically the regular natural minor scale with a raised 6th and 7th tone.

So if you already know how to play your regular C minor scale, simply raise the 6th and 7th notes of the scale and there’s your C melodic minor scale!

Easy!

C minor

C D Eb F G Ab Bb C

The 6th and 7th tones are “Ab” and “Bb.”

Raise em’!

So “Ab” becomes “A” and “Bb” becomes “B.”

C melodic minor

C D Eb F G A B C

By golly… want to know an even easier shortcut?

I think it’s just easier to think of a melodic minor scale as a MAJOR scale with a flatted third note.

In other words, you just find your third tone in the C major scale and lower it a half step.

C major

C D E F G A B C

Which gives you…

C D Eb F G A B C

So whichever way you like best is up to you. But either way, here’s your C melodic minor scale:

C D Eb F G A B C

But this is all review…

Let’s play the chords of this scale, shall we?

Just like any other scale, all we do is play block chords on each tone of the scale, skipping every other note.

So on C, we play “C + Eb + G” (again, all I did was take C and skip every other note of the scale until I had a 3-toned chord).

If you do that with the rest of the scale tones, you’ll get:

So basically, the chords that correspond to each tone of the melodic minor scale are as follows:

1st tone - minor
2nd tone - minor
3rd tone - augmented
4th tone - major
5th tone - major
6th tone - diminished
7th tone - diminished

Compared to the chords of the harmonic minor scale:

1st tone - minor
2nd tone - diminished
3rd tone - augmented
4th tone - minor
5th tone - major
6th tone - major
7th tone - diminished

… and major scale:

1st tone - major
2nd tone - minor
3rd tone - minor
4th tone - major
5th tone - major
6th tone - minor
7th tone - diminished

So there you have it!

The triads of the melodic minor scale (and believe me, they’re used a lot… we’ll talk about their application in future posts. But for now, play around with them and see what you come up with!)

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• How to form various types of seventh chords and why they are so important in playing by ear.
• Why seventh chords are the foundation of many more extended chords like ninths, elevenths, thirteenths, and altered voicings.
• The power of the "magic 3rd & 7th" and how manipulating them can help you to instantly play dozens of chords in all twelve keys… very easily!
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Until next time —

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