Jazz Scales - Melodic Minor Modes incl. Altered Scale

[@PfhorShark]

Man I learnt music theory over 15 years ago, I WISH I had you as a teacher. I was never taught a thing about jazz or any of this, it's great. I've been learning saxophone this year, just teaching myself, and I keep coming up with things and feeling like they are wild new things I've not heard before, but it's all explained in here. Minor major chords and the mixolydian b6 are some of my favourite sounds, along with the Barry Harris diminished scale. Love your website.

[@edzielinski]

Wow. Thanks so much for your eloquent and lucid explanation. I chose this video to understand why the Altered scale works over a V7 and got a whole lot more. Your videos are top notch.

[@CaeSharp]

This is great! Would be nice with a video with you talking about possibilities and analyzing uses.

[@ciousli]

i really like what you're doing here! thanks for all those amazing videos! you already helped me so much, i always feel happy when i see you uploaded a new video :)

[@WalkThatBass]

+cious li Glad you're finding them useful and interesting, Cious Li. I quite enjoy making them, too. Thanks for commenting.

[@jezjante]

Quick question: When you improvise, what is going on in your mind like in 21:42 when you play a B half diminished? Do you instantly think of playing a B half diminished scale on the Bm7b5, or do you instantly think of playing a D melodic minor scale on the Bm7b5? I understand it's the same notes but, I mean, what's your thought process on the root note? You also later on in Summertime wrote a G major scale over D7, but do you actually think of a G major scale or the D myxolydian scale?

[@metamusic4074]

Neat stuff. Thanks. And a neat short cut came to me about an altered 7th. Rh plays a pentatonic scale a tritone above the root chord. So, C7 alt equal C E Bb (C7) plus F# pentatonic in RH. Or A7alt is A7 plus Eb penta. neat, just thought i'd share my momentary fun.

[@mattnewman6049]

Regarding the 5th mode, it sounds great to me over a 7#5 chord (augmented) going back to the 1 of a minor key, I use it alot.

[@zekelee4505]

Instablaster...

[@rodrigocortez6099]

Very subscribed! Perfect lessons. Thank you

[@mandrew_h]

omg all i could do was clap at the end of this. creds to you for explaining this and allowing me to understand the summertime JAZZ at the end

[@damicomn]

Gran trabajo!

[@yeojboy]

as always, very good job, this is a really good supplementary material for jazz theory books

[@dannyfryer384]

Thanks for the awesome video!

[@aligogusoglu4762]

Amazing! Thank you

[@melputra919]

Thank you for your useful lesson. Just want to check summer time bar 6, is it Dm7 b5 instead of F7 # 11? Thank you

[@14niepce]

Hi everyone, I can't find the video about harmonic minor modes he's talking about at around 4:20... Can someone point me to it? Was it ever done?

[@s.vidhyardhsingh3881]

Julien Bourgeois kzbin.info/www/bejne/Z3isi5KmZ7mahpo Not a ‘Walk that Bass’ video, by the way. I haven’t watched it yet, so if it’s not so good, sorry 😊

[@abhishekmestry5114]

Thank u so much 🙏☺️for wonderful tutorial ..

[@WalkThatBass]

Thanks, mate :)

[@abhishekmestry5114]

can u able to take my personal skype classes ???

[@WalkThatBass]

No sorry. Not doing skype lessons at the moment.

[@PIANOSTYLE100]

Very good rundown. Jazz challenges you. Like the way you teach.

[@eransolomonmusic]

Hey dude! Thanks once again! As a classical musician I'll just add that there are so many classical examples with descending melidic minor (plenty in Bach cf. his Double Violin Concerto) that when I teach theory I tell my pupils that descending natural is but a myth...

[@doulsonmathis2288]

Thank you !

[@drins.ishmaku9483]

is there anything wrong if we play a line that uses a certain scale in the lower octave and another in the higher(of course fitting the chord ex: combining phrygian with the Lydian dominant for a V7), like if we think of a two octave as a scale?

[@WalkThatBass]

That's perfectly fine. You don't need to stick to one scale per chord or anything like that. Jump around to whatever scale or note you like, as long as it fits over the chord and you avoid the avoid notes.

[@drins.ishmaku9483]

thank you so much, makes my head clearer. You are doing a nice volunteer charity to the music community :) I would beg one more advice from you: I have a composition: chords Bb- to A+ and F#- to F+ a couple of times before going from F#- to G7 and than C+ as dhe tonic. In what keys (or modes) should I think of...???

[@WalkThatBass]

Are these just triads? Like Bb- = Bb D F and A+ = A C# E# Is that correct?

[@drins.ishmaku9483]

Walk That Bass :Sorry by + I meant major. Bb Db F to A C# E than F# A C# to F A C and closes from F# A C# to G B D F and C E G as tonic.

[@drins.ishmaku9483]

Walk That Bass : No answer?? Poor me , gonna die ignorant :)

[@obisraelngawani1373]

alterd scale, whole tone scale, dim scale don't have modes and chord degrees ?

[@bennytahn432]

What are the common chord progressions on the melodic minor scale?

[@WOHEI62X]

Wonderful Tutorial, but I wonder if it should rather be at min 26:28 in Bar 13 (Summertime 2nd ex.) the VI´th degree of mel.minor under Am7b5 instead of the IV´th? And concerning Bar 16 I think E7alt ist rather the VII´th degree of F mel min - is it correct?

[@WalkThatBass]

Thanks. Yep, sorry. Bar 13 is supposed to be a VI rather than a IV, and bar 16 is supposed to say VII instead of VI. My mistake. Clearly I did not proof these slides adequately. Apologies.

[@WOHEI62X]

Thanks a lot for your response, it´s only because I got a little confused about that - I love your videos, I learned a lot from you (and am still learning)

[@metallica3604]

can you do one on the harmonic minor?

[@WalkThatBass]

Yep, it's on my list. I'll get to it eventually :)

[@oneeyemonster3262]

Just flatten the b3 and b6. It's actually easier to comprehend it in C MAJOR..Then shift ONE NOTE AT A TIME. ( KEYS ARE JUST PITCH)( b3 = melodic minor) ( b6 = Harmonic MAJOR) ( b3,b6 = Harmonic minor)(b3, #4, b6 = Double harmonic minor) (b3,b6,b7= natural minor)...NOTICE these the SECOND ARPEGGIO of the I, IV, V chords....So for medolic minor...only the I chord truns into a min...The IV becomes a DOMINANT also ( maj3 and b7 combo)....So you'll have IV and V as DOMINANT).....For the harmonic minor the I and iV chord turns into a minor...the V remains a DOMINANT.....The #4 in the double harmonic also turns the ii chord into a dominant....There also the double Harmonic MAJOR...you simply turn the b3 back into a MAJ....It just gives you almost every possible Maj/min intervals within the chromatic scale....This way you can MODULATE...SINCE KEYS ARE JUST PITCH...You'll get bored out of your mind playing the same old 7 modes with the MAJOR scale in different PITCH.

[@isaiahmaze95]

I see that you start every mode in serial but what about parallel. Like instead of starting dorian b2 on D what if you started on C.

[@Bflatest]

doesn't matter. still the same mode in relation to the key your in

[@lawrencetaylor4101]

Merci

[@Flat-Five]

Why not use the Dm7 just without the b9?

[@WalkThatBass]

Sorry for the late reply. I was away on holiday for the last month. Yep, you can do that, and use the D Dorian b2 scale over a Dm7 chord. But the b2 (Eb) will be an avoid note. So it's just not a very strong/good scale to use over Dm7. My video on Phrygian Chords explains why this is in detail: kzbin.info/www/bejne/omGXmaZ6nZeLeJY

[@Bflatest]

but is it really a mode if the chords behind it are the same?

[@pewllycop254]

can u show a jazz melodic minor scale

[@WalkThatBass]

Hey mate. The jazz melodic minor scale is the regular ascending melodic minor scale but used both up and down. So unlike the 'classical' melodic minor scale which uses the 'real' melodic minor scale up but then the natural minor scale down. So this video is about exactly that - the Jazz melodic minor scale, because I play the same thing up and down.

[@PIANOSTYLE100]

Walk That Bass I used to wonder why the jazz melodic minor was the same ascending and descending.. then it hit me for one thing the altered scale is derived from it and it just wouldn't do to have to altered scales .. I am putting this in walk that base jazz to the max and watch later.. the watch later category is for videos that I want to review over and over again.

[@fundorinlive]

I don't understand, from which perspective C is a flat 9 and avoid note for that Eb chord or scale. Could you explain it to me, please?

[@WalkThatBass]

+fundorinlive So I was just trying to explain that, as a general rule, an avoid note is a note that is a flat9th away from a chord tone. The Chord associated with the Eb Lydian Augmented Mode is the EbMaj7#5, which has the following notes: Eb G B D The note C is a flat 9th above the #5th or the note B. So per the little rule above C should be an 'avoid note'. However, as I mentioned in the video, it is NOT considered an avoid note, essentially because the EbMaj7#5 is already a dissonant sounding chord, therefore adding another dissonant note on top is ok. Essentially, I'm just trying to explain that the C melodic minor scale is generally considered to not have any avoid note. That's all you really need to remember. The theoretical underpinning of why there are no avoid notes in melodic minor scales is a little bit fuzzy, but it's just something that is generally accepted (though not universally accepted) by jazz musicians.

[@fundorinlive]

+Walk That Bass Sorry. I still don't get it. Lydian for C melodic minor contains the following triads in a corresponding chord: Eb (1), G (3), B (5), D (7), F (9), A (11), C (13). There's no way C can be a ninth or flat 9th, as I can see. I may be stupid, but I really want to understand this particular part. I understand all other concepts of this lesson, except this part.

[@WalkThatBass]

+fundorinlive No worries, feel free to keep asking if you don't get it. Lets build the chord CMaj7, just coz it's easier with no flats of sharps. So to build that chord we would go: C (1), E (3), G (5), B (7) Now if we add a flat 9 (above the root (C)) to this chord we will have a CMaj7b9: C (1), E (3), G (5), B (7), Db (b9) Because the flat 9 interval is considered very 'dissonant' but the Maj7 chord is considered very 'consonant' then this chord would never (rarely) be found in practice. The reason is that the Db (b9) creates a dissonant interval with the root note (C). Therefore this is not allowed. Now when I talk about a 'flat 9 interval' I don't necessarily mean a flat 9 above the root. An interval of a flat 9 just means an interval of 13 semitones or 1 octave plus 1 semitone above ANY of the notes in the chord. We can have a flat 9 interval above any of the note in the chord CMaj7. (1) C --> Db is flat 9th interval above the C (3) E --> F is a flat 9th interval above the E (5) G --> Ab is a flat 9th interval above the G (7) B --> C is a flat 9th interval above the B This means that the notes Db, F and Ab are NOT allowed when playing a CMaj7 chord (the note C is already in the chord so this note is allowed). The reason it's not allowed is because these notes create a flat 9 interval (are 13 semitones above) one of the notes in the 7th chord. All of these notes are 'avoid notes'. Now notice the F is a natural 11. C (1), E (3), G (5), B (7), D (9), F (11), A (13) This means in practice you will never find the chord CMaj11 (you would generally play CMaj#11 instead). And if you find the chord CMaj13, in practice you would leave out the 11 (F) and just play: C (1), E (3), G (5), B (7), D (9), A (13) Hopefully this makes sense. I've got a separate video on avoid notes which goes into this in a bit more depth, so check that out if you haven't already. But now lets go back to the EbMaj7#5. The notes are: (1) Eb --> E is flat 9th interval above the Eb (but E note is not in the C mel minor scale) (3) G --> Ab is a flat 9th interval above the G (but Ab note is not in the C mel minor scale) (#5) B --> C is a flat 9th interval above the B (C IS in the C mel minor scale) (7) D --> Eb is a flat 9th interval above the D (the note Eb is already in the chord so this note is allowed) So because the note C is 13 semitones (flat 9th) above the B (#5th) it should technically be considered an 'avoid note'. Though in this particular case, it is not. Does that make it clearer?

[@fundorinlive]

+Walk That Bass Thank you for your detailed answer. I might want to check Google if the same concept is true for flat 2nd or, a semitone up from any chord note, like F to E in a C major scale. I've watched the other video earlier, but didn't realise, that flat 9 is true not only for the root note of the chord.

[@WalkThatBass]

+fundorinlive Hey fundorinlive, Sorry for the late reply. I was away for a few days so am just getting through my notifications now. No worries. Yeah, feel free to google it and check out what other people say. The wikipedia page is short but relatively useful: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Avoid_note However, (not to confuse you further) but wikipedia lists the avoid notes in the melodic minor key. I disagree with this and most Jazz musicians generally accept that melodic minor keys do NOT have avoid notes. There are a number of Jazz forums out there which will agree with this, you can google them and check them out. But (like most things in music) it is all a little subjective.

[@SamChaneyProductions]

This is a great video but the explanation of avoid tones is a little lacking. When playing any b9 chord, the note a half step above the root isn't an avoid tone. For instance, G7Alt has a b9 so playing Ab over it is just fine even though it's a b9 above the root. If we're including any chord tone then in a Maj7 chord, the root is a b9 above the 7th if you play it in a higher octave, and just the normal 3rd of a minor chord is a b9 above the 2nd (9th). A better description would be that an avoid tone is any note that is outside of a perfect 13 version of that chord or outside the scale the chord is built from. For example, a perfect CMaj13 is built from C lydian and has C, D, E, F#, G, A and B. Any other note is an avoid tone. A perfect D-13 is built from D Dorian and comprises D, E, F, G, A, B, and C so any flat or sharp would be an avoid tone.

[@midnightbound8324]

Where’s the second part tho?

[@starcubey]

The video can be found in walk that bass's article on melodic minor which he linked in the description: "For more information check out my website: www.thejazzpianosite.com/jazz-piano-lessons/jazz-scales/melodic-minor-modes/" If you don't want to dig around for it for 5 seconds, here it is: kzbin.info/www/bejne/qn7HlqZrmbSrqpo

[@PIANOSTYLE100]

Sounds very informative.

[@thomasisrael5334]

Thanks for this ... One question I realised that peoples play the mineur major 7 on the 6 but not on 2 ..like in your exemple of summertime Am is -> AmM7 Dm is -> Dm7b5 .. so can we use mM7 for Dm are there any rules ...?

[@jezjante]

17:20 i guess that's the hendrix chord....

[@АнтонКузнецов-и8ю]

V mode is called 'melodic major' and it's not rarely used may I say

[@raffaelrameh14]

Deepest harmony content available on youtube

[@alanzelicoff3421]

Sorry to be dull, but I am COMPLETELY lost with what you have done in Summertime. Let's start REALLY simply. How -- EXACTLY PLEASE -- is a Dminb5 "derived" from a A melodic minor? The A melodic minor has an F# and a G#, no? If so, WHERE does the Dminb5 come from as a derivation of the A melodic minor? Then (and I'm almost afraid to ask), where in the world does the F7#11 come from? It isn't 'derived' from the A melodic minor either, is it? Thanks. Your videos are generally wonderful, but this time the jargon overwhelmed the meaning (at least for me) what you are trying to communicate.

[@liam_iam]

the key he is playing in is A minor. however that does not mean he is deriving the scales from A melodic minor. the melodic minor scale you borrow from depends on the type of chord you are playing. - if you want to play melodic minor over a 7 chord (e.g. E7), you generally use the altered scale, i.e. the melodic minor scale *one half step* above the root note of the chord (e.g. E7: root is E so use F melodic minor, starting on E - this makes the E altered scale) - if you want to play melodic minor over a 7b5 (half diminished) chord, such as the Dm7b5 you are asking about, you generally use "half diminished scale" (locrian ♮2), i.e. the melodic minor scale *a minor third* above the root note of the chord. (e.g. Dm7b5: root is D; a minor third above is F, so use F melodic minor, starting on D - this makes the D locrian ♮2 scale) so if you are in A minor you don't necessarily think about using A melodic minor. this is a chord-scale method, not a key-scale method.

[@jdmxxx38]

You absolutely need to tune the piano or get a digital instrument

[@pgroove163]

slow up dude

[@herkimersnodgrass1398]

You can rewind and rewatch anything you wish. No need for him to slow down.

[@rik-keymusic160]

@@herkimersnodgrass1398 you can slow videos down in youtube...

[@vmdp8790]

ionian sharp first