The melodic minor scale is one of my favorites. Maybe even the favorite. I didn’t learn it until I was in college, but once I learned how to use it, I was hooked.
It’s got some interesting options for soloing in minor keys. Kind of a unique sound you don’t get from your other minor patterns.
But there’s more to this scale.
Once you learn it, the melodic minor scale can almost be your jazz guitar cheat code for playing better solos.
It can be used to create advanced sounds and alterations on certain chords, and even make you sound like a more advanced player than you really are – once you learn how to use it.
I first learned about the melodic minor scale in a lesson with John Stowell in 2004. He was super nice, teaching me the scale, and the more advanced applications that go along with it.
This scale gave my soloing almost an immediate boost – and let me start playing altered, “outside” sounds in my solos. It was an almost instant level-up.
We’ll talk more about the advanced stuff in another lesson – the most important thing to do right now is to learn what the melodic minor scale is, and how to play it on your guitar.
Once you can actually play it, you’ll open up a new world of sounds you can use in your solos.
Melodic Minor Scale Structure
The melodic minor scale is built with a root (1), major second (2), minor or flat third (b3), perfect fourth (4), perfect fifth (5), major sixth (6), and a major seventh (7).
Now for an important point – I’ve given you the “theory class correct” terms above. I don’t really like to use terms like “major seventh” or “perfect fifth” – I just don’t use them in real life.
They’re correct, but not always helpful. Sometimes they even lead to confusion when you’re talking about chord qualities or scale degrees.
Going forward, we’ll only use the numbers – 1, 2, b3, 4, 5, 6, and 7.
This is simpler to think about and use on the guitar. And much easier for you to think about.
After all, we’re not trying to pass a theory test here – we’re just trying to play the melodic minor scale.
Scale Construction Option 1
The simplest way to think about this scale is as a major scale – but with a b3. This gives you a pretty straightforward approach to both understanding the scale shape, and putting it on your fretboard.
If you know your major scale, move all of the 3s down one fret – and you’re good to go!
Scale Construction Option 2
Another common way people think of this scale is as a natural minor scale – but raising the b6 and b7 by one fret.
Personally, I don’t love this way of thinking. There are too many moving pieces and a lot can go wrong in your calculations.
I’ve also met with students who got themselves completely confused about how scales are built – just because they were using more complicated methods then they needed to.
But a lot of people do think about it this way – so check out the diagram below.
You’ll notice that each of the above approaches gives you a slightly different finger pattern.
It’s more common to see the second pattern (coming from the natural minor scale) in guitar books – and I’ll admit I like that one a little better from a guitar fretboard theory point of view. It’s just less stretchy and in general I do like that.
But over the years I’ve found that the earlier example coming from the major scale pattern is easier for me to use and apply in my solos – so that’s what I use on a day to day basis. And that’s what we’ll be focusing on today.
Movable Scale Patterns
Movable scale patterns are an essential part of everything we do on jazz guitar. The instrument is complicated enough – so it’s important to have a way to organize your fingers as you play. And that’s where the movable patterns come in.
Below you’ll find the 5 common movable finger patterns for the melodic minor scale on guitar.
Check out the suggested finger pattern, the scale tones/intervals, and practice example for each of the 5 shapes below:
6th String Form
Practice Example:
5th String Form
Practice Example:
4th String Form
Practice Example:
3rd String Form
Practice Example:
2nd String Form
Practice Example:
Practical Exercises and Tips
Learn One Pattern at a Time
Don’t make the mistake of trying to learn all 5 scale shapes at once. It’s tempting to do, but it’s also a fast way to get frustrated and confused.
Pick one of these melodic minor scale patterns and really work with it for a while – until it feels easy and natural to play. Once you can play through it, try adding in the next one.
It will take a little while to get them all this way, but you’ll spend much less time reviewing scales and fixing problems.
And it’s always better to be really good at one or two patterns than to be able to hack through all five.
Play All Over the Guitar Neck
To really get these scales under your fingers, it’s important to play them at every fret you can
There are a couple of approaches to this –
- You can play around the circle of 5ths (or 4ths)
- You can do it the easy way – play the scale, move up a fret, and play it again (this one is my favorite for students to do)
It doesn’t matter how you approach it.
You just want to be able to
- Play the scale pattern accurately at any fret on the guitar you can realistically play it at
- Be comfortable with the different fret distances under your fingers
- Get used to the way the scale sounds different in some keys
Don’t Just Practice It – Play With It
If you want to be able to play solos with your scales, you can’t just play exercises. They won’t magically make you be able to play great solos.
If you want to play good solos, you have to practice improvising – playing around with the scale and creating melodies.
Here’s what you do:
Once you know where your fingers need to go, let yourself explore a little bit. Just pay enough attention to the finger pattern that you know you’re playing the right notes.
If you’re unsure of what to do, start by changing direction randomly (and more often) as you play the scale.
As you get more comfortable, start adding some jumps or skips. That’s it! Now you’re improvising!
Be on the lookout for melodies you like, and then try to recreate them as time goes on. You’ll be able to use those melodies in your next solo.
Conclusion
The melodic minor scale is one of my personal favorites. To be fair, it’s one of the scales I’ve used the longest. But it has also been a super helpful sound throughout my playing career.
It’s also a pretty simple pattern for you to visualize on the fretboard – just a major scale with the 3 lowered one fret. And that makes it really friendly for most players to get their fingers around.
Make sure you practice these shapes all over the neck to make sure you can play it whenever and wherever you might need to.
And once you’re solid with these patterns, you’ll be able to use them for way more than just playing in minor keys – so you’ll thank yourself later for learning them now.
Check out our complete guide to jazz guitar scales here.
Do you use melodic minor scales in your own playing? Let me know in the comments!