FRETBOARD FLUENCY
Martin Goulding looks at developing your fretboard fluency, with the 10th and final part in his series on the Harmonic Minor scale.
Martin Goulding shows some great ways to solo melodically over the ubiquitous II-V-I in jazz.
The Harmonic Minor scale consists of the formula: R-2- b3- 4-5- b6- 7, and can be visualised as a Natural Minor scale with a Major 7th degree. Natural Minor scale: R-2- b3- 4-5- b6-b7. Harmonic Minor scale: R-2- b3- 4-5- b6- 7. Over the course of the series, we’ve looked at the five Harmonic Minor shapes based around the CAGED system, as well as the harmonised scale which consists of a family of seven diatonic chords, arpeggios and modes. More recently, we’ve been focusing on the fifth and most commonly used mode – Phrygian Dominant: R- b2- 3-4-5- b6-b7.
This scale is commonly applied over V7 chords in Minor progressions as a means of heightening tension before resolving back to the tonic I Minor chord a 4th higher (or 5th lower). In last month’s lesson, we started a two-part mini series on the Minor II-V-I progression where we looked at some arpeggio-based approaches including an
V7b9 introduction to the sound.
This month, we’ll conclude our Harmonic Minor study with the second part in our series on the same progression – this time viewing it from a scalar perspective. We’ll start by establishing our visualisation of this progression in A Minor with these chords:
Bm7b5
| / / / / | E7 / / / / | Am7 / / / / | / / / / |
As we’ve seen from our study of Minor harmony recently, the E7 is ‘borrowed’ from the A Harmonic Minor scale. The Dominant 7th chord (R-3rd-5th- b7) provides a greater sense of tension than the Em7 chord which occurs naturally from the 5th degree of the harmonised A Natural Minor scale. This is due to the presence of the tritone within the Dominant 7 chord (a b5th between the 3rd and
b7th), and the effect of ‘voice leading’ where the 3rd ascends by a semitone to become the root note of the tonic Minor chord a 4th higher, and the b7th descends by a tone to become its b3rd.
Once we have an overview of the progression based around the Am7 tonic chord, we’ll work through a selection of typical jazz lines. These incorporate a variety of elements, including arpeggio fragments, scales and chromatic passing notes. Over the V7 chord, we’ll be embellishing our Dominant V7b9
arpeggio framework by using notes from Phrygian Dominant.
I hope that you’ve enjoyed this series on the Harmonic Minor scale. Next month we’ll be looking at an eight-note scale that’s commonly used in jazz, jazz-fusion and jazz-blues, the Half-Whole Diminished.