Harmonic And Melodic Minor Scales

Harmonic and Melodic Minor are two more commonly used scales that you need to know. They are both closely related to the minor scale.

The harmonic minor can be formed by raising the 7th note of the natural minor scale by a half step. Here is the A harmonic minor scale:

A B C D E F G#

This is the scale played on your guitar:

E-------------------|
B-------------------|
G-------------1-2---|
D-------0-2-3-------|
A-0-2-3-------------|
E-------------------|

The melodic minor scale is formed by raising the 6th and 7th notes of the minor scale by a half step. This is the A melodic minor scale:

A B C D E F# G#

This is the A melodic minor scale played on your guitar:

E-------------------|
B-------------------|
G-------------1-2---|
D-------0-2-4-------|
A-0-2-3-------------|
E-------------------|

Traditionally, the melodic minor was a pretty technically advanced scale. It was only used when a melody was ascending. The natural minor was used in it's stead when a melody was descending. But this not true for rock. The ascending-descending concept of the melodic minor is applied in jazz and classical music, and is out of the scope of these lessons. You can think of melodic minor as a simple scale, just like all the others, if you don't plan to go deep into music theory.

The harmonic and melodic minor scales can also be formed by using these scale formulas:

harmonic minor: W H W W H WH H
melodic minor: W H W W H W H