Harmonic Minor and its Modes
Basically the same as the natural minor scale only you raise
the seventh degree of the scale.
Although slightly unconventional, I favour diagonal, 2 octave
box shapes for illustrating and playing scales. I have shown
then starting on the 6th and 5th strings. The tabbed examples
may not match up to the box pattern but they are the same scales
I promise/hope! You may want to adopt your own fingering for
playing these scales.
"R" refers to the root note of the scale.i.e. if you wanted to
play a C harmonic minor scale you would start the shape at the
8th fret of the bottom string.
The modes of the harmonic minor scale have no common names so
I have simply referred to them as Mode (HM), HM being an acronym
for 'harmonic minor'. If you know any accepted names for these
scales then please post a comment, i.e '"Phrygian (HM)" is often
referred to as "Phrygian Dominant"'.
Just a little warning - most of these won't sound nice and are
very rarely used in music apart from Aeolian(HM) (classical
minor tonality - i.e Bach) or Phrygian(HM) (a Spanish flavour).
"R" refers to the root note of the scale. So if you wanted to
play a C harmonic minor scale you would start the shape the 8th
fret of the bottom string.
_______________________________________________________________________
Aeolian (HM)
Probably the most commonly used of all these modes, this is the
basic harmonic minor scale. Its just Aeolian mode with a sharp
seventh.
|---|---|---|---|---|---| |---|---|---|---|-0-|-R-|---|
|---|---|---|---|-0-|-R-| |---|---|---|-0-|---|-0-|-0-|
|---|---|-0-|---|-0-|-0-| |---|-0-|-R-|---|-0-|-0-|---|
|---|-0-|-R-|---|-0-|-0-| |-0-|---|-0-|-0-|---|---|---|
|-0-|---|-0-|-0-|---|---| |-R-|---|-0-|-0-|---|---|---|
|-R-|---|-0-|-0-|---|---| |---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Example: E Aeolian (HM)
|-----------------------------0-|------------------------------11-12-|
|-----------------------0-1-4---|----------------------10-12-13------|
|-------------------0-2---------|-------------8-9-11-12--------------|
|-------------1-2-4-------------|-------7-9-10-----------------------|
|-------0-2-3-------------------|-7-9-10-----------------------------|
|-0-2-3-------------------------|------------------------------------|
E F# G A B C D# E
_______________________________________________________________________
Locrian (HM)
A (pretty much) useless scale but with a sharpened sixth. Still
pretty useless. Like in any other list of modes, it's only here
for completeness.
|---|---|---|---|---|---| |---|---|-0-|-0-|---|-R-|---|
|---|---|-0-|-0-|---|-R-| |---|---|---|-0-|-0-|---|---|
|---|---|-0-|-0-|---|---| |-0-|---|-R-|-0-|---|-0-|---|
|-0-|---|-R-|-0-|---|-0-| |-0-|-0-|---|---|-0-|---|---|
|-0-|-0-|---|---|-0-|---| |-R-|-0-|---|-0-|---|---|---|
|-R-|-0-|---|-0-|---|---| |---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Example: E Locrian (HM)
|-----------------------------0-|------------------------------10-12-|
|-------------------------1-4---|----------------------9-11-13-------|
|-------------------0-1-3-------|-------------7-9-10-12--------------|
|-------------0-2-3-------------|-------6-8-10-----------------------|
|---------1-3-------------------|-7-8-10-----------------------------|
|-0-1-3-4-----------------------|------------------------------------|
E F G Ab Bb C D E
_______________________________________________________________________
Ionian (HM)
A major scale with a sharpened, or augmented, 5th. Try playing it
over I+,IV+ or V#+ chords (notes:I-IV-V#).
|---|---|---|---|---|---| |---|---|-0-|---|-0-|-R-|---|
|---|-0-|-0-|---|-0-|-R-| |---|---|---|-0-|---|---|-0-|
|---|-0-|-0-|---|---|---| |---|-0-|-R-|---|-0-|---|-0-|
|---|-0-|-R-|---|-0-|---| |-0-|---|---|-0-|-0-|---|---|
|-0-|---|---|-0-|-0-|---| |-R-|---|-0-|---|-0-|---|---|
|-R-|---|-0-|---|-0-|---| |---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Example: E Ionian (HM)
|-----------------------------0-|----------------------------9-11-12-|
|-----------------------1-2-4---|----------------------10-13---------|
|-------------------1-2---------|---------------8-9-11---------------|
|-------------1-2-4-------------|-------7-10-11----------------------|
|-------0-3-4-------------------|-7-9-11-----------------------------|
|-0-2-4-------------------------|------------------------------------|
E F# G# A B# C# D# E
[ Tab from: http://www.guitaretab.com/m/misc-scales/66484.html ]
_______________________________________________________________________
Dorian (HM)
The Dorian scale with a sharpened fourth is sometimes referred to as
the Romanian Minor.
|---|---|---|---|---|---| |---|---|-0-|-0-|---|-R-|---|
|---|---|-0-|-0-|---|-R-| |---|---|---|---|-0-|---|-0-|
|---|---|---|-0-|---|-0-| |---|---|-R-|---|-0-|-0-|---|
|---|---|-R-|---|-0-|-0-| |---|-0-|-0-|---|-0-|-0-|---|
|---|-0-|-0-|---|-0-|-0-| |-R-|---|-0-|-0-|---|---|---|
|-R-|---|-0-|-0-|---|---| |---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Example: E Dorian (HM)
|-----------------------------0-|----------------------------9-10-12-|
|-----------------------0-2-3---|----------------------11-12---------|
|-------------------0-3---------|---------------7-9-11---------------|
|-------------0-2-4-------------|-------8-9-11-----------------------|
|-------1-2-4-------------------|-7-9-10-----------------------------|
|-0-2-3-------------------------|------------------------------------|
E F# G A# B C# D E
_______________________________________________________________________
Phrygian (HM)
The major third brightens this typically minor-type mode.
|---|---|---|---|---|---| |---|---|---|-0-|---|-R-|---|
|---|---|-0-|-0-|---|-R-| |---|---|---|-0-|---|-0-|-0-|
|---|---|---|-0-|---|-0-| |-0-|---|-R-|-0-|---|---|-0-|
|---|---|-R-|---|-0-|-0-| |-0-|---|-0-|-0-|---|---|---|
|---|-0-|-0-|---|-0-|-0-| |-R-|-0-|---|---|-0-|---|---|
|-R-|---|-0-|-0-|---|---| |---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Example: E Phrygian (HM)
|-----------------------------0-|------------------------------10-12-|
|-----------------------0-1-3---|----------------------10-12-13------|
|-------------------1-2---------|-------------7-9-10-13--------------|
|-------------0-2-3-------------|-----6-7-9-10-----------------------|
|-------0-2-3-------------------|-7-8--------------------------------|
|-0-1-4-------------------------|------------------------------------|
E F G# A B C D E
_______________________________________________________________________
Lydian (HM)
First interval is a minor third, turning this usually major-type mode
right on it'd head.
|---|---|---|---|---|---| |---|---|-0-|---|-0-|-R-|
|---|---|-0-|---|-0-|-R-| |---|---|-0-|---|-0-|-0-|
|---|-0-|---|-0-|-0-|---| |---|-0-|-R-|---|---|-0-|
|---|-0-|-R-|---|---|-0-| |---|-0-|-0-|---|-0-|---|
|---|-0-|-0-|---|-0-|---| |-R-|---|---|-0-|-0-|---|
|-R-|---|---|-0-|-0-|---| |---|---|---|---|---|---|
Example: Fb Lydian (HM)
|-----------------------------0-|----------------------------9-11-12-|
|-----------------------0-2-4---|---------------------9-11-12--------|
|-----------------0-1-3---------|---------------8-9-12---------------|
|-------------1-2---------------|---------8-9-11---------------------|
|-------1-2-4-------------------|-7-10-11----------------------------|
|-0-3-4-------------------------|------------------------------------|
Fb G Ab Bb Cb Db Eb Fb
_______________________________________________________________________
Mixolydian (HM)
Very unusual sound since the root note of the scale has been
sharpened.
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---| |---|---|-0-|-0-|---|-R-|---|
|---|---|---|---|---|-R-|---| |---|---|---|---|-0-|---|-0-|
|---|---|---|-0-|---|-0-|-0-| |---|---|-R-|-0-|---|-0-|-0-|
|---|---|-R-|-0-|---|-0-|-0-| |---|-0-|---|-0-|-0-|---|---|
|---|-0-|---|-0-|-0-|---|---| |-R-|-0-|---|-0-|-0-|---|---|
|-R-|-0-|---|-0-|-0-|---|---| |---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Example: E# Mixolydian (HM)
|-----------------------------1-|----------------------------9-10-13-|
|-----------------------0-2-3---|--------------------9-10-12---------|
|-------------------1-2---------|-------------7-10-11----------------|
|-------------0-3-4-------------|-------7-9-11-----------------------|
|-------0-2-4-------------------|-8-9-11-----------------------------|
|-1-2-4-------------------------|------------------------------------|
E# F# G# A B C# D E#
_______________________________________________________________________
Well, there's a lot there, and chances are you'll only ever use
two or three of them since they are typically a little too angular
to sound nice to our ears.
Regardless, I hope that this is useful for study or if you've
reached a dead end in your playing and want to try a different
approach, or simply if you want to sound like a smart-arse at your
local jam nights.
Thanks a lot, MikeOfTheChimps.
