Melodic Minor Mapping Madness! (Part 2)

The Melodic Minor Molecule:

The symmetry of the Melodic Minor is expressed clearly in its 5th mode, also known as "Mixolydian b6". 

In A Melodic Minor we have the scale; "A B C D E F# G# A"... This sequence can be expressed in intervals as "W H W W W W H" ...

If we play a scale in A Melodic Minor with the final note of E, the interval structure is "W W H W H W W" based on the notes "E F# G# A B C D E" ...

When played on the four bottom strings of the guitar, this mode takes the hexagonal shape shown below:

Because this shape is quite easy to remember, it can serve as a kind of scale molecule around which you can develop your melodic minor riffs.

Notice where this mode fits in the Melodic Minor Compass (see previous post in this blog):

The centrality of this mode within Melodic Minor is quite clear, both tonally and geometrically on the fret board. Play the four-note augmented arpeggio starting from C on the 6th string — ascending and descending; "C E G# C G# E C" ...  then play the 4-note tritone arpeggio from the same root; "C F# C F# etc" ...  then play the mode scale from E to E and resolve to an A minor 7.

This will give you a sense of the flavor of this scale and open the door to its modes.

Here is a map of all the positions of the 5th mode of Melodic Minor in the key of Cmaj/Amin:

Notice how the shape changes when it crosses the 3rd-Rail (the 2nd and 3rd string juncture), indicated by the green forms. Also notice that the green form spanning strings 2,3,4 is the same shape as the form spanning strings 1,2,3 but rotated 180º.

(Read Part 1)

Melodic Minor Mapping Madness! (Part 1)

The Melodic Minor scale is one of the more challenging patterns for the guitar. The myriad of fingering possibilities make it a daunting task to develop a full command of this scale and its modes.

Using the Fretography® principle of fretboard symmetry and teasing out the symmetry of the scale itself, a few interesting patterns emerge that can be very useful in navigating the Melodic Minor landscape.

Fundamentally, Melodic Minor starts out as an alteration of the Aeolian Mode. Starting with the key of A minor, we raise the 6th and 7th, resulting in this group of notes: A B C D E F# G#. At first you may find it's easy enough to take a familiar minor scale pattern and just change the two notes, but you'll quickly realize that all your well practiced fingerings will have to be thrown out and you'll have to retrain your hand to 'instinctively' find these new note positions else it will be hit-or-miss when it comes to applying this scale effectively. 

There are many applications of Melodic Minor beyond the Tonic mode, and memorizing all seven modes with their many hand-position shifts takes great effort and time. As with any difficult pattern, it helps when you can find some aspect that can be easily visualized. On the fretboard, scales are inherently non-linear and the variations involving crossing between the 3rd and 2nd strings add even more complexity. But whenever symmetry is present in the theory of a musical structure, it can also be found on the fretboard if you know where to find it.

Playing scales is — ironically — not enough to be able to play scales. In other words; you need more than just scale patterns to visualize the structure of the Melodic Minor as it is arrayed across the whole fretboard.

Enter: "The Melodic Minor Compass" ...

This pattern is drawn from the notes of the Melodic Minor, but presents them as a set of arpeggios. The blue lines represent a Tritone arpeggio, the Orange line is an Augmented arpeggio. In addition, the green trapezoids are two modes: "D Lydian Dominant" and "F# Aeolian Flat5." These modes are emphasized because of their symmetrical relationship with the overall pattern. 

Below is a more elaborate look at the pattern as it is arrayed across the whole fretboard:

Play the indicated notes on the staves and experiment with finding your way around the pattern. Notice the gray notes ... these are the natural tones which are replaced by sharps. They can still be played when appropriate, but if you want to develop command of Melodic Minor you may want to avoid them until you've gotten the lay of the land in this new environment.

(Read Part 2)

Note Finder

Reading notation for guitar can be challenging since there's more than one position for most of the notes, and it's usually up to the player to decide which position to play a note. 

This chart shows all the note positions from the open strings to the 12th fret as they are written on the staff with string numbers indicated for each. 

Click on the image for a high resolution printable version (3300 × 2550 pixels)

Diminished Lattice

This pattern is made up of minor 3rds which form a kind of symmetrical lattice across the fretboard. In this instance the pattern begins and ends on G, but as long as the internal geometry is maintained, it can be placed anywhere on the fretboard.

Notice that there are two "phases" shown. Phase One spans from the 3rd to the 9th fret, and Phase Two covers the 9th to the 15th. Study both phases carefully. You'll see that they are identical in their structure, but because they cover different areas, they each have a different relationship to a given key.

Also notice that both phases combined completely cover an entire octave span, which would be the case regardless of the key.