For the past two posts, we’ve been talking about the altered scale.

Now I want to teach you a trick that will have you playing ANY altered scale you want in 3 seconds… that is, if you know your major scales!

Here’s the ONE and only rule you need to know:

1) Take any major scale and sharp the first and last note. Bam! That’s it!

Yup! I taught you all that other stuff so that you’d understand it… but this is the shortcut I use to play the altered scale!

Of course, it can still be thought of as the ascending melodic minor scale, starting and ending on its seventh note. It can still be thought of as the super locrian mode. All that stuff remains the same.

But what I’m saying is when it’s time to play and you need to think of an altered scale really fast (…because you’re playing some type of dominant chord with a b9 or #9 or b5 or #5… or combination thereof) — this trick will do the job!

But let me make it even plainer for you…

1) If you want to play a particular altered scale, go down a half step. That will be the major scale you’ll need to know…

2) Then basically raise the FIRST and LAST notes of that major scale to get your altered scale. The first and last note will be the same note.

So if I want to play a C altered scale, what do I do?

1) I go down a half step to “B” and determine its major scale.

2) Now I change the “Bs” to “Cs” and I’m ready to go! I’m basically playing a B major scale but replacing the B with C. “B major” just got carjacked! :-)

Here’s the correct way to spell the C altered scale (the notes will essentially sound the same as the ones above… just spelled to take into account the “Db melodic minor” scale, ascending). Remember, that’s the other way you can think of the C altered scale — as the Db melodic scale from “C” to “C.” But to me, this “major scale” shortcut is a lot easier…

C Db Eb Fb Gb Ab Bb C

(I would use my piano graphic here but it doesn’t do Fb yet, darn).

This altered scale will work perfectly over any chord that has the following alterations:

C7 #9#5
C7 b9 #5
C7 b9
C7 #9
C7 #5

These chords are commonly found on 2nd, 3rd and 6th degrees of a scale. They substitute perfectly for minor chords when you need to pull strongly to another minor chord of the scale. I guess you can say they operate as secondary dominant chords… just altered.

I know, I know! Another big one to digest!

Take it slowly and let me know what you think.

Until next time —

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I’m back!

Things have been so hectic. From the launch of GMTC to server problems and Thanksgiving, I’ve had enough to keep me busy indeed.

But now, my head is clear and I’m ready to go full force!

Recall, the other day, I taught you the altered scale (a.k.a. - the ‘super locrian‘ mode)

You’ll really want to check out this past post if you haven’t already. You’ll be lost if you don’t.

You learned, step-by-step, how to play the altered scale.

It’s basically any melodic minor scale played from the 7th tone to the 7th tone (… in other words, instead of starting and ending on the first tone of the scale like you’d normally do, you start and end on the 7th tone of the SAME scale. It gives it a totally different feel). So in essence, we’re mixing together two past ideas you’ve already learned: 1) the melodic minor scale and, 2) modes.

So here’s the “B Super Locrian” scale you learned from my previous post:

Now, let’s take it a step further and show you how to multiply your usage of scales, modes, and “runs.”

In my last lesson, I explained that you can play this scale pretty much over any of these types of chords:

B7 #9#5
B7 b9 #5
B7 b9
B7 #9
B7 #5

…Basically, any chord with a sharp or flat 9 or a sharp or flat 5… essentially, some of the most commonly used “altered” chords (thus the name, “altered scale”).

Why? Because those are the tones represented in the scale (if you write the scale degree numbers out)…

Altered / Super Locrian scale = 1, b9, #9, 3, b5, #5, b7

But these aren’t the only chords you can use this scale with…

Remember the concept of “tritones?” I taught this a few months back.

Every note has another note that’s a “tritone” away in distance. I told you to memorize these “pairs” as if your music career depended on it — because they’re used EVERYWHERE!

I don’t have enough space to talk about tritones in depth but check out this past lesson and similar ones in my archives.

So in order to find out where else you can use this “B super locrian” (a.k.a - “B altered scale”), among many places, ask yourself this question…

“What is a tritone away from B?”

Hint: A tritone is either 3 whole steps up or 3 whole steps down… you’ll arrive at the same place!

The answer is: F

F is a tritone away from B and they collectively create a tritone if you play them together (”B + F”).

So that means you can play the same scale over an F dominant chord (or even altered chord but you may have to omit some “avoid notes.”). I personally prefer a dominant 13 chord or some type of extended dominant chord (9th, 11th, 13th, etc).

Example:

F9 (add 13)
(F not shown but play it on your bass)

And you can use the same “B altered / super locrian” scale from above to solo over it:

Why does this work so well?

Because if you simply keep the chord the same and only change your bass from “F” to “B,” you’ll be back to a “B7 #9#5″ altered chord and as you know from the list of chords above, it’s one of the ones the work really well with the altered scale.

B7 (#9#5)
(B not shown but play it on your bass)

Note: This is actually how all dominant chords work. If you just keep your right-hand chord the same and switch your bass to a "tritone" away, you'll have two chords that can be substituted for each other! Works most of the time... like a charm! We call this idea... "tritone substitutions.”

See… I told you this post would be detailed! Just making up for a few MIA days!

Take it slowly. Repeat it if you have to.

Until next time —

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In this past lesson, we covered the melodic minor scale. And in this past lesson, we covered the modes of the major scale.

In today’s lesson, we’ll actually combine the two concepts.

But let’s review first…

Recall my easy way of remembering the melodic minor scale. There’s tons of ways to think about the melodic minor scale but the easiest way is to simply look at it as a major scale with a lowered 3rd tone.

C major scale

C melodic minor scale

The only difference is the 3rd tone. In the melodic minor scale, it is lowered by a half step. Simple!

Now that you’re caught up on playing melodic minor scales, let’s recap on the concept of “modes.”

Modes are a system of scales that began in Ancient Greece. Basically, if you start and end on a different degree of the major scale, you’ll get a different mode.

Let me explain…

If you play the C major scale starting and ending on C, that’s called the Ionian mode. Now most of us would think of this as the regular C major scale and we’re correct… it is! The Ionian mode is the regular major scale. But this isn’t the case for the other modes of the scale.

For example, if you play the same C major scale starting and ending on D, this is what we call the “Dorian” mode.

And when you look at what’s really going on when you play a “C major” scale from “D” to “D,” you’d realize that it’s basically a regular minor scale with the 6th tone raised a half step.

Think about it…

The regular D minor scale is…

And the “D Dorian” mode is…

The only difference is the 6th tone.

So basically, every mode gives you these unique changes and therefore provides great soloing tools over certain chords.

Here are all 7 modes…

If you play a major scale from the first tone of the scale to the first tone of the scale (e.g. - “C major scale from ‘C’ to ‘C’), this is called the IONIAN mode.

If you play a major scale from the second tone of the scale to the second tone of the scale, this is called the DORIAN mode.

If you play a major scale from the third tone of the scale to the third tone of the scale, this is called the PHRYGIAN mode.

If you play a major scale from the fourth tone of the scale to the fourth tone of the scale, this is called the LYDIAN mode.

If you play a major scale from the fifth tone of the scale to the fifth tone of the scale, this is called the MIXOLYDIAN mode.

If you play a major scale from the sixth tone of the scale to the sixth tone of the scale, this is called the AEOLIAN mode (you should know this as the “natural minor scale”).

If you play a major scale from the seventh tone of the scale to the seventh tone of the scale, this is called the LOCRIAN mode.

So now that you’re refreshed on the modes, let me combine the two concepts.

See that last mode… the Locrian mode?

Well, what if you applied that same thinking to the melodic minor scale?

What if you played the melodic minor scale from the 7th tone of the scale to the 7th tone? This is what we call the “altered” or “super locrian” mode.

Here’s the scale you’d get…

B Super Locrian

In terms of the scale itself, here’s what you end up with…

Altered / Super Locrian scale = 1, b9, #9, 3, b5, #5, b7

If you think about it, this is the basis for a lot of altered chords.

For example, if you’ve watch our GospelKeys 202 or GospelKeys Urban Pro 600 courses, you’ve undoubtedly seen these chords:

C7 #9#5
C7 b9 #5
C7 b9
C7 #9
C7 #5

All these chords come from the altered scale. That means if you just find out what the C altered scale is, you could play that scale over any of these chords and it would sound awesome!

So let’s recap…

How do you play an altered scale?

1) You’ll need to know your melodic minor scales

2) That’s easy! Just play a major scale with lowered 3rd note

3) And then play THAT scale from the 7th tone to the 7th tone. So if you know your locrian mode, just change your mindset a bit to think of the 7th tone of the melodic minor scale and you’re good to go!

In other words, if you play this chord on your left hand:

B7 #9#5 (B on bass not shown)

…and solo with the B super locrian mode…

…you’ll sound great and people will think you’ve been playing for years!

Well, I know this is a lot to digest so take your time!

Until next time —

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