The harmonic minor scale is a great tool for improvising and playing melodies in minor keys. It’s a similar finger pattern to the natural minor scale you probably already know. But it’s just a little bit more colorful.
One of the great things about the harmonic minor is that it’s the easiest way to play through minor ii V i progressions diatonically – using a single scale.
Also – because it’s closely related to the natural minor scale, it’s a fairly quick scale pattern to learn. So you can add it to your toolbox pretty quickly.
It does have its challenges though.
Because of the different interval structure, you’ll end up making a little bit more of a stretch than you’re probably used to.
That’s ok – take it slow, and that extra stretch in the pattern will be easy in no time.
Once you’re comfortable, you can even use the harmonic minor and natural minor scales interchangeably in your solos to create more variety in your melodies.
If you’re confused at this point, check out our complete guide to jazz guitar scales here.
Understanding the Harmonic Minor Scale
The harmonic minor scale is built with 7 intervals – a root (1), major 2nd (2), minor third (3), perfect 4th (4), perfect fifth (5), minor or flat 6th (b6), and a major 7th (7).
For our purposes, I’ll only be using the numbers and flat numbers (like b6) do describe the intervals. I do this for a couple of reasons.
I feel like using the correct theory terminology (like major 7th and minor 6th) can get confusing in this context.
It’s great information to know, but I’ve seen too many well meaning jazz students get their wires crossed by worrying about theory terms.
Personally, I think in only the numbers/flat numbers to keep it simple – so I teach it that way too.
Another way to think about your harmonic minor scale is by making a simple adjustment to your natural minor scale.
This is the way I prefer to think about it, once you’re comfortable with the finger patterns. Here’s how you do it:
Take your natural minor scale, and move the b7 up one fret – now you have a 7, creating a harmonic minor scale.
When we go to the full scale pattern, you’ll notice this occasionally creates a stretch on one or more of the strings. I don’t love this – and I’m with you if you feel like the stretch is uncomfortable at first.
But it helps me keep a consistent overall finger pattern between the natural and harmonic minor scales.
I’ve tried a lot of approaches to this scale, and this is the one I’ve ended up liking the best.
It keeps things simple, and lets me choose between natural and harmonic minor sounds without actually having to think of 2 different scale patterns.
Five Movable Harmonic Minor Scale Patterns
For this kind of playing, we need to rely on movable scale shapes.
When there are no open strings, you can move a pattern around the neck to play in different keys – using the same finger pattern.
You learn one finger pattern, and can nearly automatically play all 12 keys of that scale. Pretty cool, right?
Movable patterns help simplify your playing so you can focus on the music – not thinking about what notes are under your fingers.
Let’s dive into the 5 harmonic minor scale patterns for jazz guitar.
6th String Form
5th String Form
4th String Form
3rd String Form
2nd String Form
Practice Tips and Exercises
The danger with this kind of scale is to think “oh – I know it’s just one note different from the natural minor, so I’m good here.”
It’s not going to work like that – especially if you’re under any kind of pressure.
You need to spend time getting the new finger patterns into your muscle memory, and the sound of the scale into your ears.
So here are some of my favorite exercises and tips for practicing the harmonic minor scales.
Mechanics First
It would be a mistake to try and jump straight into using these scales in your solos. Take it slow, and learn one scale pattern at a time.
Go for reps – the more times you play through the pattern, the faster you’ll get it to sink in.
Play your scales all over the neck. The simplest approach is to play the scale, move up a fret, and play it again – over and over until you’ve played it 12 times.
(And then work your way back down the neck if you’re really serious about it)
We’re just working out here – it’s not music yet, but we’re getting the skills together.
The more comfortable you get with the scale at every fret you can, the easier it’s going to be to use it in your solos.
Practice Improvising with the Harmonic Minor Scale
Ultimately, you want to be able to play some solos using your harmonic minor scale, so you should probably work on improvising a little bit with it.
Try playing with no backing track for a while. Use the time to explore the scale, and listen for melodies or sequences that sound good to you.
This will give you some time to get used to how your melodies will sound, without any outside pressure form a metronome, backing track, or band.
I think this is an important step that too many students rush past – you’ll sound better if you go through it.
Play over ii V i Tracks
Use a program like iRealPro or look for backing tracks on youtube.
I like ireal pro because it’s cheap, easy to use, and it sounds good.
(I don’t make any money if you buy from them – I just think they’re the best program for creating your own backing tracks)
Playing melodies over the minor ii V i progression will help you find out how your scales sound in context with common chord progressions.
Take your time, and really listen for what sounds good to you as you play over these changes.
This is another crucial step that people miss – actually listening to what they’re playing over the chords. So don’t miss out – keep your ears open!
Find some minor tunes to play harmonic minor scales over
Autumn Leaves, Beautiful Love, and Alone Together are all good options that let you play with a single scale for the entire song.
You can download the files for these songs at the ireal pro forums in their jazz standards section. (You’ll need ireal pro to use them…)
Playing over tunes is fun – so make that a regular part of your scales practice!
Conclusion
Harmonic minor scales are an essential part of improvising with jazz guitar. They’re your best option for playing diatonically over minor ii V i progressions.
And they’re a great option for soloing in minor keys in general.
Once you’re good with these, they can also be used almost interchangeably with natural minor scales – letting you choose what sound you want to play in the moment.
Switching between a 7 or b7 in your minor scale can make a big difference in how a phrase sounds. So experiment with it!
And remember – just knowing how to form these scales isn’t enough to improve your playing…
… You need to put in some time to learn the muscle memory, and develop your own melodic approach to using these scales. So pick a scale and get playing!
How are you using harmonic minor scales right now? Let me know in the comments!
More Scales
If you’re looking for more scales to learn, check out our complete guide to jazz guitar scales. We also have detailed lessons on major pentatonic and minor pentatonic, the major scale, the natural minor scale, and the melodic minor scale.