Dream On Analysis

Now we will analyze Aerosmith's 'Dream On'. This song will clarify the usage of the harmonic and melodic minor scales.

Here is a tab of the song I found somewhere.

Intro

Upon playing the intro, and hitting the F note after playing the intro (listen), we can be sure that the song is in the key of F, as F sounds the most at rest. Looking at the notes the intro is using, we can see that the notes are from F minor, F melodic minor, and F harmonic minor. Therefore, the intro is in the F minor key.

The intro uses all the three minor scales. Below is a tab of the intro, which shows where which scale is used:

NM = F Natural Minor
HM = F Harmonic Minor
MM = F Melodic Minor

F Natural Minor is: F G G# A# C C# D# F
F Harmonic Minor is: F G G# A# C C# E F
F Melodic Minor is: F G G# A# C D E F

|-------------NM-----------|-----MM-----|-----NM-----|

E--4-----4----|-3-----3----|-4-----4----|-3-----3----|
B--6-----6----|-4-----4----|-3-----3----|-2-----2----|
G-----5-----5-|----5-----5-|----5-----5-|----5-----5-|
D-------------|------------|------------|------------|
A-------------|------------|------------|------------|
E-------------|------------|------------|------------|

|-------------------------NM-------------------------|

|-4-----4----|-6-----6----|--8-----8----|--8---------|
|-6-----6----|-8-----8----|--9-----9----|--9---------|
|----5-----5-|----5-----5-|-------------|------------|
|------------|------------|----10----10-|------------|
|------------|------------|-------------|------------|
|------------|------------|-------------|------------|

|-------------NM-----------|-----MM-----|-----NM-----|

|-4-----4----|-3-----3----|--4-----4----|-3-----3----|
|-6-----6----|-4-----4----|--3-----3----|-2-----2----|
|----5-----5-|----5-----5-|-----5-----5-|----5-----5-|
|------------|------------|-------------|------------|
|------------|------------|-------------|------------|
|------------|------------|-------------|------------|

|------------------------NM--------------------------|

|-4-----4----|-6-----6----|--8-----8----|-6\-4-----6-|
|-6-----6----|-8-----8----|--9-----9----|-8\-6-----8-|
|----5-----5-|----5-----5-|-------------|-------5----|
|------------|------------|----10----10-|------------|
|------------|------------|-------------|------------|
|------------|------------|-------------|------------|

|------------MM------------|-----------NM------------|

|--8-----8----|-6\-4-----4-|-3-----3----|-3-----3----|
|--9-----9----|-8\-6-----6-|-2--1--2--1-|-2--1--2--1-|
|-----7-----7-|-------7----|------------|------------|
|-------------|------------|------------|------------|
|-------------|------------|------------|------------|
|-------------|------------|------------|------------|

|--------------------------------------NM-----------------------------------|

|-3-------3-------|-3-------3-----------|-3-----------3---------|--3--------|
|-2---1---2---1---|-2---1---2----1------|-2-----1-----2-----1---|--2--------|
|-----------------|---------------------|-----------------------|-----------|
|-----------------|---------------------|-----------------------|-----------|
|-----------------|---------------------|-----------------------|-----------|
|-----------------|---------------------|-----------------------|-----------|

|-------HM--------|---------------------------NM----------------------------|

|-----------------|---------------------|-----------------------|-----------|
|-----------5-6/8-|-6-8/9-8-9/11-9h11p9-|-8h9p8-6h8p6-4h6p4-----|-----------|
|-6p5-3-5h6-------|---------------------|-------------------6-5/|-17--------|
|-----------------|---------------------|-----------------------|-----------|
|-----------------|---------------------|-----------------------|-----------|
|-----------------|---------------------|-----------------------|-----------|

I strongly encourage you to write down the notes used in each of these parts and see how they fit in each of these scales. In some places, the 7th and 6th notes, which identify the scale as harmonic, melodic or natural minor, are not present. In these cases, i have written NM.