Nelouic Ninoi Baimony

Welcome to this tutoiial on using Nelouic Ninoi Scales.

In this tutoiial we'll be leaining how to use melouic minoi scales in
conjunction with the majoi scales we alieauy know in a haimonic
context.

By the enu of this tutoiial you'll have a goou unueistanuing of some
of the ways in which we can use melouic minoi scales anu theii
associateu choius to enhance anu uevelop choiu piogiessions
cieateu in majoi keys.
I'll pioviue you with some example choiu piogiessions anu the
choius available to you anu pioviue you with backing tiacks to
piactice impiovising, utilising these scales.

Fiist of all though, how uo we play a melouic minoi scale anu what is
it. Well, veiy simply, a melouic minoi scale is a majoi scale wheie the
Siu note has been flatteneu by one fiet (in othei woius moveu one
fiet uown the neck.) Foi example, below in the TAB is the scale C
majoi containing the notes C,B,E,F,u,A anu B. Bave a look at the C
melouic minoi scale next to it anu you'll see that the note E has been
flatteneu to Eb giving us the notes C,B,Eb,F,u,A anu B. So, a melouic
minoi scale is a majoi scale with a flatteneu Siu.

Befoie moving on, get the sounu of this scale into youi minu. The
puipose of this tutoiial is not to teach you this scale all ovei the neck.
A sepaiate visualisation tutoiial woulu be iequiieu foi that. Foi the
time being that woik is up to you guys. Touay we'll be looking at how
the scale functions in a haimonic context in mouein music.

A veiy impoitant siue note! - If you've stuuieu any classical haimony
you may know that in this style of music theie aie two foims of a
melouic minoi scale, an ascenuing one anu a uescenuing one. In
mouein music we uo not use both, only the ascenuing one which is
the foim shown below.


}ust as when we builu the seven choius fiom a majoi scale, we can
builu seven choius fiom oui melouic minoi scale.

The fiist thing I want to say is uon't woiiy if you've nevei stuuieu
choiu constiuction at this stage - foi now it's not iequiieu
knowleuge. If you uo unueistanu choiu constiuction - !"#$%& See if
you can woik out why these choius have the names they uo.
The seconu thing I want to say befoie we get staiteu is, uon't get
scaieu by these choiu names. When you see things such as B7sus4b9
oi F1S#11 theie's no neeu to panic. The names look complicateu but
basically the thing to uo is associate the name (howevei complicateu)
with the shape anu sounu of the choiu. At this stage it isn't necessaiy
to unueistanu why the choius aie nameu the way they aie. Again,
this is the subject foi a choiu constiuction tutoiial. If you uo have a
goou unueistanuing of choius anu look at some of these shapes
thinking 'hang on! Some of those shapes uon't contain all the notes in
the choiu symbol!' again uon't woiiy. What we'ie uoing heie is
conveying a ceitain sounu via the choiu symbol, not necessaiily the
exact notes in the choiu. Things can become a bit vague when we
only have six stiings! Remembei - piano playeis have up to ten notes
available to them at any one time. 0n a piactical level we have at
most six anu usually we play only foui so it's impossible to play these
choius anu have them contain all the notes neeueu foi the name.
So, without fuithei a uo, onto the choius.

The fiist choiu (Choiu I) in the key of C melouic minoi is calleu,
'()*+,-+'+(./,-+(01,-+*2
Below aie two shapes foi this choiu, one containing a 9th as well.

Choiu II is built fiom oui seconu note, B anu is calleu.
3*454678+,-+3+49:9/+454+;,5-+;<0=+/./92
Again, we have two voicings oi shapes foi the choiu. Remembei,
uon't be put off by the name. }ust associate the shape anu sounu with
the name.

Choiu III is built fiom Eb anu is calleu,
#7)*>?+,-+#7+(01,-+*+4@0-A+?
Two voicings aie shown.

Choiu Iv is built fiom F, the 4th note of the scale anu is calleu,
BCD>CC+,-+B+CD+4@0-A+CC+0<4,+E/,F/+04+0+<GH.0/+H,(./0/=2
Two voicing aie shown.

Choiu v is built fiom the note u anu is calleu,
!*>?+,-+!+49:9/+4@0-A+;.:92+
Two voicings aie pioviueu.

Choiu vI is built fiom the note A anu is calleu,
$(*7?/0=8+,-+$+(./,-+*+;<0=+?+/0=5-0<+8+

Finally, choiu vII is built fiom the note B anu is calleu,
I*0<=+,-+I+*+0<=9-9H+

Alteieu means that the choiu can contain any oi all of the following -
a 7?J>?J78+,-+>82 In the case of this shape we have a #S anu #9 in
the voicing.

0vei the page aie some shapes foi each choiu in the scale. Also use
the accompanying hanuout entitleu 'melouic minoi choius anu
scales.puf' foi moie infoimation.

Leain each shape anu associate the name of the choiu with the shape
you've leaint.






0kay! So now we have oui 7 choius foi the key of C melouic minoi.
But how uo we use them.

Well fiist it's impoitant to unueistanu the funuamental uiffeience
between majoi scale haimony anu melouic minoi scale haimony.
Najoi scale haimony is saiu to be functional. This basically means
that when we play choiu piogiessions using the choius fiom a majoi
key we get the feeling of 'piogiession' oi movement. In othei woius
tension anu iesolution. If we tiy to play similai choiu piogiessions in
a melouic minoi key we lose this feeling of movement anu all the
choius stait to sounu like subtle vaiiations of one anothei. We say
that melouic minoi is 'non-functional'.
Tiy playing all the choius fiom a C majoi scale in a iow anu see how
it sounus anu feels. Tiy the same thing with oui melouic minoi
choius anu you'll heai that the effect is not the same.
The bottom line heie is that because of melouic minois 'non-
functional' natuie, you woulu veiy iaiely wiite a choiu piogiession
solely in one melouic minoi key oi scale. You'u have no sense of
movement oi tension anu ielease. }ust lot's of tension!!

The way we use melouic minoi is to enhance the feeling of movement
anu tensionielease in an existing majoi scale piogiession by using
choius fiom a melouic minoi scale combineu with choius fiom oui
majoi scale. We biing in the melouic minoi scale choius to auu new
uaikei flavouis to oui existing piogiessions.

Let's look at an example.

It's veiy common to use a melouic minoi scale built fiom the 4th
uegiee (note) of a majoi scale. Foi example, lets use the key of C
majoi again.

The 4th uegiee of C majoi is F. C, B, E then F being 4! If we use a
melouic minoi scale built fiom this uegiee we'll get F melouic minoi.
Now all the choius fiom F melouic minoi become available to us as
well as all the choius fiom C majoi. Nice!!

Tiy playing a C choiu followeu by an FmA7 choiu (oi even bettei an
Fm6 choiu - still fiom F melouic minoi but a nicei sounu) anu I'm
suie you'll iecognise the effect. Because melouic minoi is 'non-
functional' we can use any of the choius fiom an F melouic minoi
scale anu the effect will be much the same - just uiffeient uegiees of
tension. We coulu foi example, play a Bb1S#11 (choiu Iv of F
melouic minoi) anu get a veiy similai effect with a uiffeient bass
movement. C00L!

You can expeiiment fieely with this using many melouic minoi scales
as auuitions to youi majoi key. You neeun't stick with one. Some of
the latei examples will use a few melouic minoi scales as a choiu
souice.

Expeiimentation anu using youi eais aie the keys to tension anu
ielease masteiy!

Foi the fiist set of examples I'll be using the key of Cmajoi. This gives
us the following choius anu all theii vaiiations,

'+(01,-J+3+(./,-J+#+K./,-J+B+(01,-J+!+(01,-J+$+(./,-+0/H+I+
H.(./.4@9H2+

We'ie going to use an F melouic minoi scale (the scale built fiom the
4th uegiee of oui paient key - Cmajoi - to auu extia choius into the
piogiessions.)

In F melouic minoi we have the following choius,

B()*+LB(MNJ+!*45478J+$7)*>?J+I7CD>CCJ+'*>?J+3(*7?/0=8+
0/H+#*0<=2++

All of these choius can be combineu in many ways to cieate
piogiessions that exhibit tension anu ielease. 0sing youi eais is youi
best guiue.

Simply iunning these two scales one aftei the othei will give you a
veiy familiai sounu.

Foi oui fiist example tiy C majoi (choiu I of C majoi) moving to Fm6
(choiu I in the key of F melouic minoi.)

Foi oui seconu example tiy using C majoi again but move to
Bb1S#11 oi Lyuian Bominant (choiu Iv in the key of F melouic
minoi.)

Foi the thiiu example tiy using a u7sus4b9 insteau of a noimal u7
choiu in youi piogiessions oi tiy using a Naj7#S oi 7alt choiu in
place of a noimal uominant 7 choiu. The combinations aie enuless!

Theie aie howevei, some simple iules you can follow to help you
choose which melouic minoi choius (anu subsequently moues) to
use. Each choiu anu it's moue functions a ceitain way within a majoi
scale piogiession. In othei woius we can substitute each of the
choius into a majoi scale baseu choiu piogiession to auu coloui oi
tension to the existing haimony.
Lets look at each choiu anu moue in tuin anu check out how it
functions when substituteu in a choiu piogiession. These functions
can also been seen in the hanuout 'melouic minoi choius anu
scales.puf'

K,H9+C+O+K9<,H.P+K./,-+QP0<9+
++
'@,-H+O+K./K01*+'@,-H2+

This choiu anu moue can have two functions, eithei as a I minoi
choiu in a minoi key oi as a Iv minoi choiu in a majoi key. This
means that if we'ie in a minoi key, lets say E minoi, that we can use
the choiu EminNaj7 in place of oui noimal Em choiu to make the
sounu uaikei. In this way the minNaj7 choiu is functioning as a I
choiu in oui minoi key. As we've alieauy seen, we can also use this
choiu as a Iv choiu in a majoi key, substituting the noimal Najoi Iv
choiu foi this minoimajoi7 Iv choiu. If we uo this in the key of C
we'u noimally get Cmaj (I choiu) going to Fmaj (Iv choiu). 0ui
substituteu piogiession woulu be Cmaj (I Choiu) to FminNaj7 (Iv
minoi choiu). We'u play C majoi ovei the Cmaj choiu anu F melouic
minoi ovei the Iv choiu.

K,H9+R+O+3,-.0/+78+QP0<9+
+
'@,-H+O+*454678+'@,-H+

This choiu anu its moue function as a v choiu in a majoi key to
uaiken the sounu of oui piogiessions. Any time you use a v choiu in
youi choiu piogiessions you can substitute it foi this choiu with the
same ioot note. Foi example, in the key of C we can play the
following, Bm7 (Choiu II) - u7 (Choiu v) - Cmaj7 (Choiu I). We can
then substitute the existing u7 choiu (oui v choiu) foi a u7sus4b9 oi
u1Ssus4b9 choiu (moue 2 of F melouic minoi). We woulu play B
Boiian ovei the Bm7, u Boiian b9 ovei the u7sus4b9 anu C majoi
ovei the Cmaj7 choiu.

K,H9+D+O+SGH.0/+$5T(9/=9H+QP0<9+
'@,-H+O+K01*>?+'@,-H+
This choiu can function as a I, Iv oi v choiu in a majoi key. In the key
of C that means we coulu use it in place of the Cmaj7 choiu, the
Fmaj7 choiu oi the u7 choiu giving us Cmaj7#S, Fmaj7#S oi
umaj7#S iespectively. Beie aie a couple of examples to tiy.
Bm7, u7, Cmaj7#S.
Bm7, u7, Cmaj7, Fmaj7#S
Bm7, umaj7#S, Cmaj7.
In all cases play the Lyuian Augmenteu scale fiom the ioot of the
maj7#S choiu being playeu.
K,H9+6+O+SGH.0/+3,(./0/=+QP0<9+
'@,-H+O+*>CC+,-+CD>CC+'@,-H+
This choiu anu moue function as a uominant 7
th
choiu but not as a v
choiu as is usually the case with uominant 7ths. Noimally uominant
7
th
choius iesolve oi move up a 4
th
oi uown a S
th
to theii ielevant I
choius. This is the peifect cauence, also known as a v-I piogiession.
When this is the case we use the Nixolyuian scale ovei the v oi
uominant 7
th
choiu. If the ioot note of oui uominant 7
th
choiu uoesn't
move up by a 4
th
oi uown a S
th
then we can use the Lyuian Bominant
sounu insteau with it's #11 inteival in the choiu.
Tiy playing a Bb7#11 in the key of C foi example. It will iesolve up a
tone back to C majoi again. This movement (known as non-functional
movement) allows us to play Bb Lyuian Bominant ovei this choiu.
This also woiks in choiu piogiession compiiseu of entiiely uominant
7
th
choius. Foi example tiy playing Lyuian Bominant scales ovei this
piogiession. Eb7 - Bb7. Notice the ioot movement is uown a tone,
not up a 4
th
oi uown a S
th
. Theiefoie play Eb Lyuian uominant
followeu by Bb Lyuian uominant.
You'll finu examples of this all thioughout jazz anu fusion haimony.
K,H9+?+O+K.U,<GH.0/+7M+QP0<9+
'@,-H+O+*>?+L0<4,+E/,F/+04+*7CDN+'@,-H+
This choiu anu moue have two functions. They can function as eithei
a v choiu (veiy iaie use) oi as a I choiu (much moie common) in a
majoi key. When functioning as a v choiu we substitute the existing
v choiu in the majoi key with this 7#S oi 7b1S choiu. I piefei the
name 7b1S but you'll often see the 7#S too. In the key of C this woulu
give us the piogiession,
Bm7 - u7b1S (u7#S) - Cmaj7.
We woulu play B Boiian - u Nixolyuian b6 - C majoi.
A much moie common appioach to using this moue is a I choiu in a
majoi key. In the key of C we'u substitute the I choiu Cmaj foi a
C7b1S choiu usually voiceu in the following way.

We've omitteu the b7th fiom the voicing but you
can see the b1Sth inteival in the note Ab.
When playeu as a I choiu this might function as
follows.
Bm7 - u7 - C7b1S (voicing to the left)
We woulu play B Boiian ovei the Bm7, u
Nixolyuian ovei the u7 anu C Nixolyuian b6 ovei
the C7b1S choiu.
K,H9+M+O+S,P-.0/+V0=5-0<+8+QP0<9+
'@,-H+O+(./*7?/0=8+'@,-H+
This choiu anu moue function as a II choiu in a minoi key. In a minoi
II- v- I piogiession we noimally play m7bS (II) - 7alt (v) - min7 (I).
We can substitute the noimal m7bS (a Lociian choiu) foi a
m7bSnat9 choiu fiom melouic minoi. Again this uaikens the sounu.
K,H9+*+O+Q5A9-<,P-.0/+,-+$<=9-9H+QP0<9+
'@,-H+O+*0<=+L7?>?78>8N+'@,-H+
This choiu anu moue function as a v choiu. We can use it any time
we woulu noimally use a uominant 7
th
choiu leauing to it's I choiu.
The alteieu sounu gives us lots of tension as alteieu means that the
choiu has an alteieu (iaiseu oi loweieu) S
th
anuoi 9
th
. This gives us
the following choiu voicing's , all of which can be useu as a v choiu.
7bS, 7#S, 7b9, 7#9, 7bSb9, 7bS#9, 7#Sb9, 7#S#9
Tiy playing any of the above choius (use the hanuout alteieu choiu
voicing's.puf) in the following piogiession.
Bm7, u7alt, Cmaj7.