I recently learned of the "Hungarian Minor" from, of all places, a dissection of guitarist Ritchie Blackmoore's solo in "Highway Star" by Deep Purple. A, B, C, D#, E, F, G#, A. Also called "Gypsy Minor."
This is motivation for practicing my arpeggios and chord progressions in the minors. I've been practicing them, but mastery is another matter. It hasn't yet been 18 months of playing and I'm satisfied with my progress. I was learned seventh chords and other stuff in the first couple months, and wasn't going anywhere. So I stepped back and also really practiced sightreading. And Bach.
I didn't realize that the melodic minor was different ascending from descending. That's like Indian ragas, which have different scales ascending and descending (I was in a band with a sitar player, back when dinosaurs roamed the earth). Another scale I would have included in the grand tour of minors was the dorian scale, aka the "mountain minor" - - with a minor root chord, a major fourth and a minor fifth (Am, DM, Em). Very groovy flavor -- that I-IV opens up such a majestic vibe.
I've never understood the melodic minor - how can a scale can have two sets of notes, one for going up one for going down? I mean surely that's just two different scales? Are then any other scales (Western or otherwise) that do this?
weird, agreed. it's down to usage, and there are tons of examples of this type of convention from around the world. (India etc.) Melodic tones have different tendencies depending on how they're approached. that's one way to begin to think of it. also, try to de-couple your conception of Scale from your conception of Key Signature.
There are more than that even. I’ve touched the three conventional ones, the three that are in every method book, etc. several comments have mentioned Dorian, and it does deserve its own post
With the Dorian mode being a mode of the major scale, it would be more appropriate to branch it along with natural minor which is also a mode (Aeolean) of the major scale. Phrygian is another minor mode derived from the major scale. But since they all come from the same major scale step pattern, they can be grouped together in a way that harmonic minor and melodic minor cannot since they have their own step patterns as well as their own corresponding modes.
@@mikegrisafi541 in my humble opinion, what makes a minor scale is the flat 3. The quality of the 6th and 7th degrees distinguishes which minor scale. The Phrygian mode is a different beast. Just how my brain organizes this.
@@chriscopeman8820 yea thats one way to think of it. I guess I tend to think of how the scale sounds extended across octaves as a whole. And thats where the church modes tend to show their common parent step pattern of whole and half steps that make up the major scale. Doing the same with melodic minor will reveal its characteristicly large sequence of whole tones making up span between the 3rd and 7th degrees while the harmonic minor has its characteristic 'tone and a half' interval beteen the 6th and 7th that jumps like a bump on the road. But it is also good to be able to assign an identity toward the individual modes as you have, I have seen countless others struggle with the ability to see the true musical value of living in the context of an individual major scale mode (and Dorian certainly is place worthy of exploring!) Phrygian would actually be equivilent to natural minor if only describing it as a scale with a minor 3rd, flat 6th and flat 7th degrees. But of course the 2nd degree is also flattened which gives it the darker character relative to natural minor. Changing the subject slightly, I tend to organize all the modes in order of perceived brightness based on amount of sharps and flats relative to the major scale. Lydian (#4) Ionian (baseline major scale, all naturals) Mixolydian (b7) Dorian (b7, b3) Aeolean (b7, b3, b6) Phrygian (b7, b3, b6, b2) Locrian (b7, b3, b6, b2, b5) This also links modes to the circle of 5ths since the key signatures also move in around the circle to change keys with a flat or sharp gained or removed 1 at a time. Long winded response, sorry!
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I recently learned of the "Hungarian Minor" from, of all places, a dissection of guitarist Ritchie Blackmoore's solo in "Highway Star" by Deep Purple. A, B, C, D#, E, F, G#, A. Also called "Gypsy Minor."
I love the soft, sometimes eerie sound of the minor scale. Thanks for explaining.
MERCI, Chris !
Again, thanks. It is good to have the new vocab, plus a new trick for sparkling up a composition.
Your Melodic Minor Breakdown🔥🔥🔥🔥
I love the bit starting at 4:51
This is motivation for practicing my arpeggios and chord progressions in the minors. I've been practicing them, but mastery is another matter. It hasn't yet been 18 months of playing and I'm satisfied with my progress. I was learned seventh chords and other stuff in the first couple months, and wasn't going anywhere. So I stepped back and also really practiced sightreading. And Bach.
I didn't realize that the melodic minor was different ascending from descending. That's like Indian ragas, which have different scales ascending and descending (I was in a band with a sitar player, back when dinosaurs roamed the earth).
Another scale I would have included in the grand tour of minors was the dorian scale, aka the "mountain minor" - - with a minor root chord, a major fourth and a minor fifth (Am, DM, Em). Very groovy flavor -- that I-IV opens up such a majestic vibe.
Dorian needs its own video, no doubt.
Harmonic minor. The Yngwe Malmsteen mode…
Super video - what’s the software with the piano roll which identifies the scale please? Thanks Chris.
it's a mac app called "Chordie." super useful, though sometimes it'll miss-spell things.
@@ImpliedMusic thanks so much for the very prompt reply Chris - I'll grab a copy 😁
I've never understood the melodic minor - how can a scale can have two sets of notes, one for going up one for going down? I mean surely that's just two different scales? Are then any other scales (Western or otherwise) that do this?
weird, agreed. it's down to usage, and there are tons of examples of this type of convention from around the world. (India etc.) Melodic tones have different tendencies depending on how they're approached. that's one way to begin to think of it. also, try to de-couple your conception of Scale from your conception of Key Signature.
I’ve always thought there were four minor scales: melodic, Dorian, natural and harmonic minor.
There are more than that even. I’ve touched the three conventional ones, the three that are in every method book, etc. several comments have mentioned Dorian, and it does deserve its own post
With the Dorian mode being a mode of the major scale, it would be more appropriate to branch it along with natural minor which is also a mode (Aeolean) of the major scale. Phrygian is another minor mode derived from the major scale. But since they all come from the same major scale step pattern, they can be grouped together in a way that harmonic minor and melodic minor cannot since they have their own step patterns as well as their own corresponding modes.
yes, i like this avenue of thought.@@mikegrisafi541
@@mikegrisafi541 in my humble opinion, what makes a minor scale is the flat 3. The quality of the 6th and 7th degrees distinguishes which minor scale. The Phrygian mode is a different beast. Just how my brain organizes this.
@@chriscopeman8820 yea thats one way to think of it. I guess I tend to think of how the scale sounds extended across octaves as a whole. And thats where the church modes tend to show their common parent step pattern of whole and half steps that make up the major scale. Doing the same with melodic minor will reveal its characteristicly large sequence of whole tones making up span between the 3rd and 7th degrees while the harmonic minor has its characteristic 'tone and a half' interval beteen the 6th and 7th that jumps like a bump on the road.
But it is also good to be able to assign an identity toward the individual modes as you have, I have seen countless others struggle with the ability to see the true musical value of living in the context of an individual major scale mode (and Dorian certainly is place worthy of exploring!)
Phrygian would actually be equivilent to natural minor if only describing it as a scale with a minor 3rd, flat 6th and flat 7th degrees. But of course the 2nd degree is also flattened which gives it the darker character relative to natural minor.
Changing the subject slightly, I tend to organize all the modes in order of perceived brightness based on amount of sharps and flats relative to the major scale.
Lydian (#4)
Ionian (baseline major scale, all naturals)
Mixolydian (b7)
Dorian (b7, b3)
Aeolean (b7, b3, b6)
Phrygian (b7, b3, b6, b2)
Locrian (b7, b3, b6, b2, b5)
This also links modes to the circle of 5ths since the key signatures also move in around the circle to change keys with a flat or sharp gained or removed 1 at a time.
Long winded response, sorry!