In this lesson, I’m going to teach you how to build Melodic Minor Scales. The Melodic Minor Scale is one of the 3 types of the Minor Scale that we have. The other 2 types of the Minor Scale that we have are the Harmonic Minor Scale and the Natural Minor Scale. In this lesson, we are going to be focusing on the Melodic Minor Scale. It is very important for you to know all the 12 Melodic Minor Scales because certain songs are based on the Melodic Minor Scale i.e. there are songs that use most or all of the notes of the Melodic Minor Scale.
Now, let me teach you how to build a Melodic Minor Scale for any musical note. The musical note that you want to build a Melodic Minor Scale for will be the first note of that particular Melodic Minor Scale and that Melodic Minor Scale will also be named with the name of its first musical note. So, if we want to build a Melodic Minor Scale for the note C , the first note of this Melodic Minor Scale will be the note C and this Melodic Minor Scale will be known as the C Melodic Minor Scale.
There are 2 types of the Melodic Minor Scale. We have the Ascending Melodic Minor Scale and we also have the Descending Melodic Minor Scale. The Ascending Melodic Minor Scale is a type of the Melodic Minor Scale that is played in an Ascending way. The Descending Melodic Minor Scale is a type of the Melodic Minor Scale that is played in a descending way.
The Descending Melodic Minor Scale is made up of the same notes that the Natural Minor Scale has. So for example, the notes of the A Natural Minor Scale are: A , B , C , D , E , F , G , A
The notes of the A Descending Melodic Minor Scale are: A , B , C , D , E , F , G , A
So, whenever you want to play the notes of the Descending Melodic Minor Scale , just play the notes of the Natural Minor Scale in a descending way.
Even though the normal way of playing the Descending Melodic Minor Scale is to play the notes of the Natural Minor Scale, please note that there are musicians that play the notes of the Ascending Melodic Minor Scale for the Descending Melodic Minor Scale. So, the Melodic Minor Scale can also be played in an Ascending and in a Descending way by only using the notes of the Ascending Melodic Minor Scale.
Now, let me teach you how to build an Ascending Melodic Minor Scale. The Ascending Melodic Minor Scale is played in an Ascending way. There are different methods that you can use to build an Ascending Melodic Minor Scale. I will teach you 4 methods that you can use to build any Ascending Melodic Minor Scale in this Lesson. You can use any of the methods that I will teach you in this lesson to build an Ascending Melodic Minor Scale. Each Method will give you the same answer.
Method 1
If you choose any Major Scale and you decrease its 3rd note by a half step, this will give you the Ascending Melodic Minor Scale. For example, the notes of the C Major Scale are: C , D , E , F , G , A , B , C ; the 3rd note of the C Major Scale is the note E. If you decrease the 3rd note (i.e. the note E) by a half step, the 3rd note will become the note E flat. Therefore the C Ascending Melodic Minor Scale will have the following notes: C , D , E flat , F , G , A , B , C
Let me repeat this important point: even though the normal way of playing the Descending Melodic Minor Scale is to play the notes of the Natural Minor Scale, please note that some musicians might choose to play the notes of the Ascending Melodic Minor Scale for the Descending Melodic Minor Scale.
For example, some Musicians might choose to play the C Melodic Minor Scale in an ascending and descending way with these notes: C , D , E flat , F , G , A , B , C
Method 2
If you choose any Natural Minor Scale and you increase its 6th note by a half step and you also increase its 7th note by a half step , this will give you the Ascending Melodic Minor Scale. For example, the notes of the C Natural Minor Scale are: C , D , E flat , F , G , A flat , B flat , C ; the 6th note of the C Natural Minor Scale is the note A flat. If you increase the 6th note (i.e. the note A flat) by a half step, the 6th note will become the note A. The 7th note of the C Natural Minor Scale is the note B flat. If you increase the 7th note (i.e. the note B flat) by a half step, the 7th note will become the note B. Therefore, the C Ascending Melodic Minor Scale will have the following notes: C , D , E flat , F , G , A , B , C
Method 3
If you choose any Harmonic Minor Scale and you increase its 6th note by a half step, this will give you the Ascending Melodic Minor Scale. For example, the notes of the C Harmonic Minor Scale are: C , D , E flat , F , G , A flat , B , C ; the 6th note of the C Harmonic Minor Scale is the note A flat. If you increase the 6th note (i.e. the note A flat) by a half step, the 6th note will become the note A. Therefore, the C Ascending Melodic Minor Scale will have the following notes: C , D , E flat , F , G , A , B , C
Method 4
Another method that you can use to build an Ascending Minor Scale is to use a Musical Formula. The musical formula for building an Ascending Minor Scale is:
Whole Step , Half Step , Whole Step , Whole Step , Whole Step , Whole Step , Half Step
So, if you want to build an Ascending Melodic Minor Scale for any musical note, all you have to do is to use the musical formula above. Let me give you an example: if you want to build an Ascending Melodic Minor Scale for note A, the first note of that Ascending Melodic Minor Scale will be the note A since it is the note A that we want to build an Ascending Melodic Minor Scale for.
The Ascending Melodic Minor Scale will also be named as the A Ascending Melodic Minor Scale since it is the note A that we want to build an Ascending Melodic Minor Scale for.
The 2nd note of an Ascending Melodic Minor Scale will be the note that is a whole step away on the right of the first note of that Ascending Melodic Minor Scale. So, in the A Ascending Melodic Minor Scale, the note that is a whole step away from the note A on the right is the note B.
The 3rd note of an Ascending Melodic Minor Scale will be the note that is a half step away on the right of the 2nd note of that Ascending Melodic Minor Scale. So, in the A Ascending Melodic Minor Scale, the note that is a half step away from the note B on the right is the note C.
The 4th note of an Ascending Melodic Minor Scale will be the note that is a whole step away on the right of the 3rd note of that Ascending Melodic Minor Scale. So, in the A Ascending Melodic Minor Scale, the note that is a whole step away from the note C on the right is the note D.
The 5th note of an Ascending Melodic Minor Scale will be the note that is a whole step away on the right of the 4th note of that Ascending Melodic Minor Scale. So, in the A Ascending Melodic Scale, the note that is a whole step away from the note D on the right is the note E.
The 6th note of an Ascending Melodic Minor Scale will be the note that is a whole step away on the right of the 5th note of that Ascending Melodic Minor Scale. So, in the A Ascending Melodic Minor Scale, the note that is a whole step away from the note E on the right is the note F#.
The 7th note of an Ascending Melodic Minor Scale will be the note that is a whole step away on the right of the 6th note of that Ascending Melodic Minor Scale. So, in the A Ascending Melodic Minor Scale, the note that is a whole step away from the note F# on the right is the note G#.
The 8th note of an Ascending Melodic Minor Scale will be the note that is a half step away on the right of the 7th note of that Ascending Melodic Minor Scale. So, in the A Ascending Melodic Minor Scale, the note that is a half step away from the note G# on the right is the note A.
So, the musical notes of the A Ascending Melodic Minor Scale are: A , B , C , D , E , F# , G# , A
In Summary, you can use any of the 4 methods that I’ve taught in this article to build an Ascending Melodic Minor Scale for any musical note.
All the 12 Melodic Minor Scales are:
The notes of the Descending Melodic Minor Scales are the same as the notes of the Natural Minor Scales
The Ascending Melodic Minor Scales are:
C Ascending Melodic Minor Scale Notes
Note 1: C
Note 2: D
Note 3: E flat
Note 4: F
Note 5: G
Note 6: A
Note 7: B
Note 8: C
C# Ascending Melodic Minor Scale Notes
Note 1: C#
Note 2: D#
Note 3: E
Note 4: F#
Note 5: G#
Note 6: A#
Note 7: B#
Note 8: C#
D Ascending Melodic Minor Scale Notes
Note 1: D
Note 2: E
Note 3: F
Note 4: G
Note 5: A
Note 6: B
Note 7: C#
Note 8: D
E flat Ascending Melodic Minor Scale Notes
Note 1: E flat
Note 2: F
Note 3: G flat
Note 4: A flat
Note 5: B flat
Note 6: C
Note 7: D
Note 8: E flat
E Ascending Melodic Minor Scale Notes
Note 1: E
Note 2: F#
Note 3: G
Note 4: A
Note 5: B
Note 6: C#
Note 7: D#
Note 8: E
F Ascending Melodic Minor Scale Notes
Note 1: F
Note 2: G
Note 3: A flat
Note 4: B flat
Note 5: C
Note 6: D
Note 7: E
Note 8: F
F# Ascending Melodic Minor Scale Notes
Note 1: F#
Note 2: G#
Note 3: A
Note 4: B
Note 5: C#
Note 6: D#
Note 7: E#
Note 8: F#
G Ascending Melodic Minor Scale Notes
Note 1: G
Note 2: A
Note 3: B flat
Note 4: C
Note 5: D
Note 6: E
Note 7: F#
Note 8: G
A flat Ascending Melodic Minor Scale Notes
Note 1: A flat
Note 2: B flat
Note 3: C flat
Note 4: D flat
Note 5: E flat
Note 6: F
Note 7: G
Note 8: A flat
A Ascending Melodic Minor Scale Notes
Note 1: A
Note 2: B
Note 3: C
Note 4: D
Note 5: E
Note 6: F#
Note 7: G#
Note 8: A
B flat Ascending Melodic Minor Scale Notes
Note 1: B flat
Note 2: C
Note 3: D flat
Note 4: E flat
Note 5: F
Note 6: G
Note 7: A
Note 8: B flat
B Ascending Melodic Minor Scale Notes
Note 1: B
Note 2: C#
Note 3: D
Note 4: E
Note 5: F#
Note 6: G#
Note 7: A#
Note 8: B
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