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Let’s run G7 and G7sus4 chord voicings throughout C harmonic minor: Now, moving on to a different chord, how about our dominant 7th, G7? This will instantly add variety to your music. How about we add a 9th to that? Let’s see how that works out:īy exploring the scale this way, you can get a lot of chord voicings out of one chord. Now let’s take that up a notch and run the chord through its inversions with the right hand like this: Here’s the Cm(maj7) chord in root position:
D HARMONIC MINOR PLUS
Minor-major 7th chords are simply minor triads plus the note a major 7th from the root. This “weird” minor-major 7th chord is actually one of Steve’s favorite chords. If we use the harmonic minor scale as basis, we’ll get instead a Cm(maj7) chord. In the natural minor scale, you’ll have a Cm7. Matter of fact is that you can start grabbing a lot more than just the staple dominant 7th chord. That dominant 7th chord is thus a must-have chord in your arsenal. The scale was practically invented so you will have a dominant 7th chord in a minor key.
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That dominant 7th chord naturally occurs in the harmonic minor scale. The second example is still a 2-5-1, but this time it’s based on the harmonic minor scale:Ĭan you hear how the notes move smoothly from one to another with the ii(b5) – V – i chord progression? The 1stexample is a 2-5-1 chord progression based on the natural minor scale. To see how much impact the harmonic minor scale has over harmony, watch and listen to the video below. Whenever you’re playing something like Autumn Leaves or Stella By Starlight, you have these ii(b5) – V – i chord progressions. The harmonic minor scale was invented so that you can have a V7 chord in a minor key. This opens up a lot of colorful possibilities. This is the edge of minor keys over major. Let’s Instantly Grab A Chord From The Harmonic Minor Scaleĭid you know that you can actually use three scales over any minor key? These are natural minor, melodic minor, and harmonic minor.
D HARMONIC MINOR HOW TO
Now that you have an idea about how to use harmonic minor in melodies and solos, let’s try grabbing some chords from the harmonic minor scale. Get instant access to the Jazz Masters Method here. This will certainly help you express your ideas in clear and interesting ways. Inside the Jazz Masters Method, you’ll discover a step-by-step exploration of 9 different legendary jazz piano players and their improvisation concepts. Speaking of grabbing more ideas and inspiration from legends, the Jazz Masters Method is the perfect place to start. Here’s a riff I came up with that uses this jazz scale over a G7 chord: Second, use the harmonic minor based on the 4th note above the root of your dominant 7th chord.įor example, you can use your C harmonic minor over a G7 chord. You may say, “Wait! Doesn’t a dominant seventh chord contain a major triad? And aren’t we talking about a MINOR scale? How’s that going to work?”įirst, don’t use the harmonic minor scale based on the root note of your dominant seventh chord. How To Use The Harmonic Minor Scale Over A Dominant 7th Chord However, the fact remains that you can do so much more with one scale. Use chromatic embellishments to connect one chord tone to the next.įrom these two, you can already generate a lot of soloing ideas.Break up the harmonic minor scale up into chord tones (since each of the chords in a minor key get their notes from it).So, from a jazz piano perspective, here are a few items you can use for improv over minor chords with this scale: Notice how all the notes of A harmonic minor are distributed over those chords? The melody towards the end of “Minor Swing” is a derivative of A harmonic minor in the form of a i – iv – V chord progression in arpeggios: Despite all the embellishment, the harmonic minor scale forms the backbone of Peter Beets’ solo.