The most common use for the harmonic minor scale is over the v dominant 7th chord referred to as v7 in a minor key. Chord harmonization over minor scales scaleschords. Use the scale chart generator below to help you learn the harmonic minor scales in any key and just about any kind of guitar. Harmonic minor scale guitar lesson guitarskillbuilder. Take a look at how the raised 7th of the harmonic minor scale affects the dominant chord. Scale harmonic minor 1,2,b3,4,5,b6,7 fullth pattern root note a guitar tuning. The harmonic minor scale was created when composers wanted to create minor sounds but still retain the powerful resolution that comes from the major v i cadence a natural minor scale has a minor v chord. It is commonly used in solos when musicians want to spice things up and add. If you need to remember what chord harmonization is visit our page on harmonizing chords over major scales. The v chord becomes v, making a much stronger dominanttonic vi chord.
Download your free 62 page pdf beginner jazz guide. Hungarian minor double harmonic minor gypsy minor how to read the charts. In the last music theory blog article, i introduced you to the odd and sometimes dissonant chords derived from the melodic minor scale. Harmonic minor scale guide jamie holroyd guitar jamie. How to play the harmonic minor guitar scales fender play. For example, augmented chords or chords of diminished 7th or minor chords with major 7th. The reason probably being the harmonic minor is such a strong sound, that using it for extended periods of time can sound almost cliche. I became more efficient in analyzing and memorizing chord progressions and it was also a helpful tool for song writing and understanding how to improvise over these chords. This gs changes the em chord, egb, to e major, egsb. Building chords and progressions of the minor scale. The harmonic field created by am harmonic scale is the following. The e minor harmonic scale learn how and when to play the e minor harmonic scale. Click to get all examples in this jazz guitar chords in scales pdf.
By tertian, we mean they are chords built by stacking only minor and major thirds more on tertian harmony here. Intro to the harmonic minor scale community guitar. The best way i have found to use these charts is to hang them on a wall, strap your guitar, start up a backing track with the proper chord changes happening and just jam. Harmonic minor scale guitar patterns fretboard chart, key. The harmonic minor scale is so named because, particularly in baroque and classical times, it was this scale, rather than for example a natural minor or melodic minor scale, which would have been used to harmonise music in a minor key. When it comes to writing songs with a minor scale, you have 3 minor scales to choose from. Modes of the harmonic minor scale for guitar jazz guitar licks. To describe this, here are the 3 minor scale variations in the key of a. Now lets take a look at the natural minor scale notated. Guitar chord poster available at roedy black music. Guitar scales printable charts of the most commonly used.
The scale is found in many musical genres such as jazz, metal, manouche jazz and classical music and so much more my favorite chord progression to practice. Harmonic minor guitar scale tab and notation click here for a. The ebook contains the most important scales for beginners, such as major and minor, but shows also more advanced. Phrygian dominant is more a major mode that sounds fantastic when played over a long ringing major chord. Get the creating minor key chord progressions pdf tutorial here. This scale is a favorite among shredders like yngwie malmsteen, steve vai, joe satriani, and marty friedman. All thats left to do is stack a 3rd, 5th, and 7th on top of each root note. The minor scale in its purity is called the natural minor scale, and it is the base for 2 more scales, the harmonic minor scale sharp 7th degree, and the melodic minor scale sharp 6th and 7th degrees. Chords of the harmonic minor scale arthur fox music.
I want to know what the chords are in the harmonic and the melodic minor scales. Overall, the harmonic minor scale is an extremely important scale to learn, both on guitar and to understand music in general, however it is not a good choice for beginners as there are other scales that are used far more than this one, and correct usage and good usage of harmonic minor requires you know how they work. Big list of common triads and four note chords of the scale c harmonic minor. Learn these two scales, the harmonic and melodic minor scales through this lesson and start applying them to your playing. The v chord becomes v, making a much stronger dominanttonic vi chord progression. Lets now look at the tertian seventh chords of the c harmonic minor scale. Check out my free video lessons on my free lessons page. What are the chords in the harmonic and melodic minor scales. Charts for f harmonic minor on guitar and piano all scales not normal were excluded from the results, please use the options below to see f harmonic minor again with all the other scales compared to it. Use my search bar to find exactly what youre looking for. The harmonic minor scale is one of several minor guitar scales that can be used in improvisation.
Click here for a high quality printable pdf file of this scale chart. This scale is the 5th mode of the harmonic minor scale and we get to that mode by going through the harmonic minor scale. This entry was posted in resource and tagged beginner guitar, caged. Writing minor scale songs all 3 minor scales every guitar. And you can use chords from any of the 3 minor scales. Roman numerals indicate each chords position relative to the scale. The chord chart below lists the common traid and four note extended chords belonging to the key of a harmonic minor. I cover the harmonic minor scale in general and cover all 52 chords that can be built from the d harmonic minor scale. The raised seventh gives the harmonic minor a distinctive threesemitone interval three halfsteps between the sixth and the seventh note. Blues sometimes uses this scale too, particularly if that blues starts out with a minor chord. All we do next is consider each note of the scale the root of an individual chord.
For those of you who arent familiar with chord theory, the v7 chord in a minor key is seven frets up from the first chord in the key. In this article, i show examples of songs that use only 1 of the scales for harmony. Learning the harmonic minor scale simplifying theory. Scale harmonic minor 1,2,b3,4,5,b6,7 5th pattern root note a guitar. Today i want to cover the harmonic minor scale, including some shapes, harmony and practical application that i hope you will enjoy and of course get some real world use from in your own guitar playing.
The harmonic minor scale is an efficient choice when you want to improvise over a minor chord in a minor iivi sequence. Like if we take c major scale, then the chords are c dm em f g am bm. Chord progressions using the harmonic minor scale will often be mixed with chords taken from the other minor scales. The other chord tones of v7 are also included in the scale, but the 3rd is. Jan 10, 2010 in part two of this lesson, i will once again apply the minor chord progression chords we learned in part one to the guitar in a video lesson. May 31, 2018 lets build some chords of the harmonic minor scale. Scale harmonic minor 1,2,b3,4,5,b6,7 5th pattern root note a guitar tuning. It is a great exotic sounding scale and i suggest you begin by getting familiar with the shape on guitar or your instrument of choice and also start to try recognizing the unique feeling it. I also have examples that use a combination of the 3 scales. The lesson steps then explain the triad chord construction from this scale, and how to name the quality of each chord based on note intervals. The major chords form a little family of three on the right side of the harmonic scale. The harmonic minor scale is another variation of the natural minor scale. This free guitar lesson includes shapes, chords and harmony for harmonic minor. By raising the seventh note of the natural minor to a major seventh interval, this scale resolves to the tonic with more movement.
This article will explain how to derive the chords from this dramatic scale. Harmonic minor scale 3 notes per string jens larsen. Apr 12, 2019 although the harmonic minor scale over a single minor chord is a sound you hear occasionally in pop and rock music, truthfully, its not too common. The big list of chords and scale notes scale notes. Because the parent harmonic minor scale of the minor iivi contains the third of the dominant 7th chord. Check bellow the drawing of a harmonic minor scale the seventh degree is highlighted in red. They usually have a sort of dark yet exotic sound when used yngwie malmsteen uses them. However, this leaves a minor third interval between the sixth and seventh note.
Learn how to play the harmonic minor scale on guitar with tab, audio examples and etudes. Guitar practice the harmonic minor scale life in 12 keys. Learn to play the harmonic minor scale on guitar and get started with exercises to build your skills. The d harmonic minor scale is a good minor key to start with because 5 of the open strings in standard tuning are in the key. Drop 3 voicings in g major, melodic minor and harmonic minor. The harmonic minor scale yields 12 tertian seventh chords. Scales of chords and the harmonic scale how music really. Writing chord progressions in harmonic minor music theory. Getting started with harmonic minorleads and jamming guitar. In this new guitar tutorial, were going to learn the harmonic minor scale, in the key of e. The harmonic minor scale guitar diagrams and theory. If you want to download a pdf of the scales then you can do so by signing up for my.
The harmonic minor scale is the most recognizable guitar scale. Instead of using one of the above styles to use this scale, we will derive the chords used from the scale itself. Notice how just the scale itself has already a pleasant sound. In level of importance, i place this scale pretty low unless you are specifically looking to play classical baroque style music. Heres a free guitar scales pdf ebook 22 pages with plenty of scales and arpeggios patterns. Harmonic minor scale on bass fingeringsfor bass guitar. How to harmonize minor scales with 7th chords learn jazz. The harmonic minor scale is common scale classical and neoclassical yngwie and co. The harmonic minor scales are used in all types of music from classical to metal. Learn the note names all harmonic minor scales in table form, in all 12 circle of 5ths keys, including single and double accidental theoretical keys home mobile view scale. The e7 chord is naturally found as the v chord in the key of a major, but if you look above at the natural minor scale you will see that the v chord in a minor key is a minor 7 chord.
So, why is the harmonic minor used over minor iivis and not other minor scales, like the natural minor scale. The triad and extended four voice chord sequence derived from the harmonic minor scale are as follows. In this video, we go over the chords in harmonic minor and some suggestions on how to put them together in order to write music only using. Harmonic minor scale guitar patterns fretboard chart, key of. Because the harmonic minor scale is usually used as a transitionalscale within a natural minor environment,we do not often see many of these chords in practical use. Of course you have to have them under your fingers so start out with a metronome and learn it all the way up and down the neck of your. Its important to note that the harmonic and melodic minor are variations of the natural minor scale, and so understanding how to harmonize the natural minor scale with 7th chords is the place to start. All chords are covered with the exception of the augmented biii chord. This time well look at the prettierbutslightlyaloof older sisters of the melodic minor chords. I forgot to mention that the chord is nearly useless to me and i have yet to find a use for it in the context of harmonic minor. In fact, you can read about the use of the harmonic minor scale s use in blues in a previous article. So, lets play the drop3 chords in the three scales major, melodic minor and harmonic minor but in the key of g which makes more sense as a starting point for guitar.
Oct 27, 2016 in this lesson, im going to use the three basic kinds of minor scales. This particular lesson concentrates on the first 3 forms. Its a type of guitar scale that you will not often see in pop music, while it is mostly used in classical, jazz, gypsy, and metal shredding music. With the chords of the scale chords project, you can create nice chord. The harmonic minor scale is one of the most difficult scales to play because of the large interval between the flat 6th and raised 7th degrees and interval of an augmented second, same as a minor third. This is the natural minor meaning that it has the same notes as the relative major. For each scale, you can learn a number of different shapes and patterns, depending on the zone of the fretboard youre working on.
Harmonic minor scale fingering for bass to master well this scale to the electric bass we propose two fundamental fingerings, one with finger 1 and the other with finger 4. So, if you play a minor tetra chord, then a phrygian dominant tetra chord you will have a harmonic minor scale. In this lesson youll learn the theory behind the harmonic minor scale, where to apply it, four licks and an harmonic minor solo over the jazz standard summertime. The harmonic minor scale is an essential guitar scale to learn and apply to your solos. Double harmonic scale learn to play this exotic scale on guitar. The harmonic minor scale and the melodic minor scale. For example, the c harmonic minor scale contains the b natural note. Here is an overview of the harmonic minor scale in the key of c, using the caged system. With the chords of the scale chords project, you can create nice chord progressions easily. The 7th scale degree of the harmonic minor is a major 7th but that interval is a minor seventh in the natural minor scale. However,were we to build a harmonic environment strictly from the harmonic minor scale,here are the diatonic chords. Here are some free pdfs used to supplement my free video lessons.
Dec 18, 2014 the double harmonic scale goes by several other names, including the arabic scale, gypsy scale and byzantine scale. Harmonic minor guitar scale charts guitar endeavor. But did you know that its possible to transform these chords into great sounding melodies and basslines easily. These are not lessons, but supplements to my lessons. Because the notes of the major scale are separated by different intervals, when you form a chord by starting on any note and skipping every subsequent note you get a pattern of chords, major, minor, minor, major, major, minor and diminished, and this applies to any major scale. Practice the scale positions with diagrams, tabs, and chord. C harmonic minor consists of the notes c, d, eb, f, g, ab and b. The minor chords form another little family of three on the left side. Aug 03, 2019 the harmonic minor scale is one of several minor guitar scales that can be used in improvisation. Scale harmonic minor 1,2,b3,4,5,b6,7 fullth pattern root note a. How to play the e harmonic minor scale fachords guitar. In a harmonic minor, the 7th scale degree is raised from g to gs.
It has the unusual feature of two augmented second intervals. Near the bottom of the page i also provide a pdf download of all harmonic minor keys in standard tuning. Its common therefore to see something like i iv v7 progressions where the v7 is taken from the harmonic minor while the rest of the chords are taken from the natural minor. Chords in the key of a harmonic minor guitar chords. Combining the harmonic minor scale with the major scale. Try to play this scale repeatedly to feel its melody. A killer mode within the harmonic minor scale is the phrygian dominant scale. So what composers did in order to be able to write effective chord progressions in minor keys was create a harmonic minor scale. I hope everyone is enjoying these theory lessons and please let me know if you would like to see more theory studies. The only difference between the harmonic minor scale and the natural minor scale is that with the harmonic minor scale we raise the seventh scale degree a half step. Oct 07, 20 once i learned how to build chords of a major or minor scale, the logic of chord progressions made much more sense. Welcome to this longawaited lesson in harmonic minor scale we are going to focus this lesson in a global way, that is to say, apart from studying the minor harmonic scale in the electric bass, any musician will be able to inform himself and apply all this knowledge in his instrument.
The harmonic minor differs from the natural minor by a single note. At feelyoursound, we created a midi plugin that does exactly that. Writing music in a minor key is not an easy thing for most beginner guitar players. There are many chords 99 to be exact that we can build, and this article will go through some common and interesting combinations harmonizing only the notes of the harmonic minor scale. The harmonic minor scale is similar to the natural minor except for a raised seventh. Thats 5 more than both the major and melodic minor. Although there is only one natural minor scale, there are two other minor scales that are also widely used. Scales you can use in the real world, created by a human guitarist. Getting started with harmonic minorleads and jamming. Since you will be using the harmonic minor scale so oft en over the v7 chord, it is worth looking at them together. Use the scale chart generator below to help you learn the harmonic minor scales in any key and just about any kind of guitar tuning. Here is an overview of the harmonic minor scale in the key of c, using. Th e other chord tones of v7 are also included in the scale, but the 3rd is the note that would be left out of any minor scale with a.