Music Theory Monday | 05: Harmonic and Melodic Minor
Added 2020-04-14 00:14:59 +0000 UTCWhere to Start • Lesson Archive • Recommended Lesson Plan • Book a Private Lesson
In this video we discuss what the heck harmonic and melodic minor are and start to get into a little bit about how to use and think about them.
Click here for the community post about this specific lesson to ask questions, post pictures or audio, or to see what other people are saying about this lesson.
More from this series:
Other helpful links:
Scott's Recommended Lesson Plan
Searchable Lesson Archive
How to Join the Community Forum
Scott's Jam Tracks
SPJ Live YouTube Channel
Scott's Main YouTube Channel
Comments
Just realized the notes follow the alphabet up to g, i feel every lesson opens my eyes more and more.
Erdna Seyer
2024-09-01 14:16:28 +0000 UTCI want to do the same exercise for harmonic minor and I think I will get into more trouble. If you would derive the chords from the scale for the harmonic and melodic minors I would appreciate it. Perhaps it is already in another lesson. Many thanks for your help. This is the closest I have come to understanding this.
william rubenstein
2022-10-06 12:08:41 +0000 UTCI have been taught this many times over the years and never really understood it or how it was used. Like others here, I tried to work out the chords that go with the harmonic minor in Am. The G# turns up in the III chord, C E G#. What is that? and G# also shows up in G# B D, the VII chord. The part where the Em morphs into the E I understand.
william rubenstein
2022-10-06 12:05:57 +0000 UTCThe "easy" way to think of it is that Melodic minor contains all the chords in Natural minor: Min Dim Maj Min Min Maj Maj Except that the iv and v can both be Dom7 chords - THAT is the most important take away. The weird things are the wonky diminished chords, but I'd focus mostly on the iv a v for now. Think of the dom7 IV and V as the main course, with the side effects of melodic minor being that some fully diminished weirdos that are useful sometimes to play around with.
Scott Paul Johnson
2022-08-10 23:19:49 +0000 UTCWoah, this is a long and heavy lesson... So I was trying to work out all the chords in melodic minor (like we have in major and minor scale e.g. Maj min min Maj Maj min dim). I had to look it up, as there seemed to be so many weird chords in there. Are the chords in melodic minor: minor, minor, augmented, Maj7(dom), M7aj(dom), diminished, diminished?
Graeme B
2022-08-10 20:38:20 +0000 UTCYour PDFs make everything so much easier. Thank you!
Brenda Thomas
2022-02-26 18:10:32 +0000 UTCEmil. You can think of it in the name "melodic" - the primary "reason" the melodic minor scale came about. The initial sharp 7 was there to get a dominant V chord, but that left an awkward (and very cool) minor 3rd from the 6th note of the scale to the 7th note of the scale. The note are optional additions to the natural minor scale and NOT required notes the entire time. The melodic minor scale fixed that. And while those sharped "extra" notes are generally thought of as the 3rds of D7 and E7, but they can be their own root notes. Here is the weird deal though: F A C E is the chord in natural minor (including the 7th of the chord) and it's a maj7 chord. F# A C E is a half diminished chord. Weird but ok. I haven't found a nice way to use that chord yet. G B D F is a Dom7 chord but G# B D F is a fully diminished chord, and THIS chord gets used a lot in both harmonic and melodic minor in PLACE of the V chord. This fully diminished chord resolves back to Am very nicely.
Scott Paul Johnson
2021-10-11 13:28:45 +0000 UTCHey, Scott! I was trying to figure out with chords that fit in melodic minor key. And here's the thing - if we sharped 6 and 7 notes of the scale, does that mean, that now we have to get 6# and 7# chords as well? For example: we have the following sequence Am Bdim C Dm Em F G But in A melodic minor, with sharped 6 & 7 notes we should now get Am Bdim C D7 E7 F# G# But it seems, you have regular, not sharped chords 6 and 7 in the progression. Why it is so?
Emil
2021-10-08 14:30:02 +0000 UTCoh and I just see you are doing this on the next video :)
Magela Crosignani
2021-09-30 17:04:03 +0000 UTCLoved this video, would love more examples music wise of the melodic minor :)
Magela Crosignani
2021-09-30 16:55:31 +0000 UTCThe key here is "depending on where it resolves" However, generally speaking, the reason D7 is invited to the C Major party is mainly because it resolves to G as a perfect V7-I cadence. D7 doesn't really "resolve" to Am so much as it exists in the key of A melodic or dorian.
Scott Paul Johnson
2021-05-12 22:43:40 +0000 UTCIf I have a D7 in the key of C would it be possible to be both a V7/V ( G is the 5 and contains a F# diatonically) and or a IV7/vi (due to melodic minor sharping the F) depending on where it resolves?
Leah Nicole
2021-05-09 22:12:09 +0000 UTCIt's partly tradition! But also music theory is not prescriptive! I'm sure there is a historical reason. I'll look into it. I'm so glad you're enjoying. I would love to hear your ten turds.
Scott Paul Johnson
2021-04-13 19:12:03 +0000 UTCIt was so satisfying and enlightening for me to watch your explanations in this video and the one on modes, because this gives me so much more options to spice my music. Not that I ever really created a whole song (yet). But that is another topic related to my lack of confidence, where your other video on ten turds is a great help. The important thing is, that I'm having great fun playing around with what I learn here. Now, I have a question that I could not find an answer to so far. Maybe you can indicate another video you already made or have an answer else: When I hear or play a IV -> iv -> I, that minor iv has a super strong pull towards the root. But I don't know how that can be explained with music theory.
Nabil Edelbi
2021-04-13 06:03:18 +0000 UTCThanks. I'm grooving on Paint It Black and Robin Hood, love those secondary dominants!!
albergo
2021-03-10 18:23:10 +0000 UTCExcellent question! Generally speaking, the "purpose" of that #7 is to create a dominant V chord. Because that note is optional, you CAN ignore it when playing the 7th chord version of "i". However, if you want play it, you get a chord called an AmMaj7 - A C E G# This chord was used a lot in the 60's (think Beatles) in a situation like this: Am AmMaj7 C C All My Lovin by the Beatles uses this in the Chorus I think?
Scott Paul Johnson
2021-03-10 18:17:21 +0000 UTCWhat’s going on with the four note i chord in harmonic minor? It’s different than the Amin7 in natural minor, yes? Is there anything significant about that?
albergo
2021-03-10 13:07:49 +0000 UTCI had already more than 3 diferente private teachers, no one like this staff like you. It is kind of fascinante how you really like this. Great Scott! Gonna leave some question in the comunity! Those Dom chords are really messing around with me.
DeDé
2021-02-05 22:57:55 +0000 UTCclearing up a subject from theory 101 that was presented in the most confusing way! this video has helped me to realize major chords when they should be minor diatonically is a dead giveaway!
Leah Nicole
2021-01-27 04:34:30 +0000 UTCI have been working my way through the "Music Theory For Guitar" and now "Music Theory Monday" series in order (starting with near zero music theory knowledge), and enjoying every step of the way. However this lesson is something else altogether, it really brought it all home in a fascinating way. Thanks so much for allowing the lesson to run long, the examples are gold. That moment when you examined Rocky Raccoon's chord progression in particular was mind-blowing, it really explains why this familiar melody fits together so well. Thank you!
Jeremy Lainé
2021-01-18 23:10:47 +0000 UTCSo happy to hear that, Bill! Thanks for being here. Glad you're learning some new things.
Scott Paul Johnson
2021-01-04 19:08:53 +0000 UTCScott, for years I have been confused with some songs' chord progressions and trying to make sense of what key they were in. It seemed that rules were being broken and for the life of me I didn't know why they worked. Now I do! You have really lit up my chord progression vocabulary in one hour. Thank you so much. Wow.
Bill MacDonald
2021-01-03 19:03:06 +0000 UTCpixies > bach....great lesson.
John D'Agostino
2020-11-06 14:52:05 +0000 UTCWow, what a lesson! You have no idea how long I struggled with minor chord progressions... tried making spreadsheet charts... but nothing really made sense nor sounded right. I feel like I reached the next evolution! There are so many individual aspects I can finally really delve into now, which all make so much sense since this video ties everything together. Thank you!
George Brotherston
2020-09-19 17:04:14 +0000 UTCNow I finally understand the difference among natural minor, relative minor, harmonic minor and melodic minor! I like how you explain things. And good shout-out to Django Reinhardt, he was amazing.
Jeanna
2020-07-16 19:28:51 +0000 UTCThanks scott. I understand the relationship between natural minor, harmonic minor, and melodic minor. However, the major chord progress below is confusing. 1. 1-6-2-5 (secondary dominant) OK I understand. 2. 1-4- "5of6" -6 : I'm not sure why the name is "5 of 6". : In my guess, the "5 of 6" chord is "5" of the relative harmonic minor. : "6" in major key is "1" in relative minor key. : In other words, "5-1 (secondary dominant)" of the harmonic minor was mixed with the progress of the major chord. 3. 1-6- "5of5" -5 : I don't know why the name is "5 of 5". : Because "5 of 5" is "4" of relative melodic minor. (???) sorry for the loooooooooooooooong question !!
WonSeob Cho
2020-05-08 17:36:00 +0000 UTCCreating tension to resolve
Erick Walsh
2020-04-18 14:49:40 +0000 UTCGreat lesson! Thanks for going over some of the stuff we covered before, it really helps to hear it in a slight different way.
Didier Garcia
2020-04-16 23:28:20 +0000 UTCBach Bourree Tab: https://www.classtab.org/bach_js_bwv0996_lute_suite_in_em_5_bourree.txt
Didier Garcia
2020-04-16 22:31:28 +0000 UTCHi Davin - Music Theory Monday next week should help explain more of this stuff!
Scott Paul Johnson
2020-04-15 20:10:46 +0000 UTCHi Scott, great lesson and very clear explanation as always. You have a way of explaining these concepts in a way that makes so much sense, can't thank you enough for putting your time and effort into this. You answered the question of why the Melodic Minor scale is different on the way down (it's the upward motion that creates the leading tones). Is there a way to identify when Melodic and Harmonic minor scales are being used in a song, such as picking out the major chords that would normally be minor, for example? It seems this is pretty common in Beatles songs. "In My Life" for example, which I believe is in the key of A has 5 separate major chords in it - A, E, D, G, and B. What's going on there? Secondary dominants? Thanks again, keep up the awesome content!
Davin
2020-04-15 01:40:10 +0000 UTCHi Scott, very interesting lesson! I've tried several times to understand how melodic / natural minors work. They make chord progressions so much more interesting. I think now I got it (at least most of it, have to rewatch though to get everything as this is a massive lesson. Thanks for the quick recap at the beginning). Now it's time to apply all of that to my actual sessions.
Sebastian Z.
2020-04-14 22:03:32 +0000 UTCFor some reason I couldn't cast the video. Didn't connect to Vimeo like the other videos....??? Maybe just me. Anyways I'm sure I'm gonna watch it couple more times.
RobbieD
2020-04-14 05:51:14 +0000 UTCDeep and fascinating. The issue becomes remembering enough to put to use. I guess the whole notion of anything being the 5th of something and resolving to the 5th should stick. Pretty cool. Thanks
Robert Morrow
2020-04-14 05:08:24 +0000 UTC
