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 _______________________________________________________________________ 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.
