Modes of the Melodic Minor Scale
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Raga Chords Chords and Ragas based on the Melodic Minor scale Example: the F major and melodic minor scales The melodic minor scale The F major scale: F G A B♭ C D E F The C melodic minor scale The F melodic minor scale: F G A♭ B♭ C D E F For ease of comparison, let us use C Melodic minor as the example. Finding chords for Melodic minor, C melodic minor notes: C D E♭ F G A B C based on the Major scale chords There is just one note difference from the C major scale: C D E Three note chords for the C major scale F G A B C Below table shows the triad chords of the C Major scale, made by The third note of the major scale is flattened to get the melodic choosing three alternate notes starting from each note position. minor scale. The major scale has a major 3rd note (E), while the The chord notes are listed below the chord names. melodic minor scale has a minor 3rd note (E♭). Major scale notes C D E F G A B Major scale chords C Dm Em F G Am Bdim Major scale chord C E G D F A E G B F A C G B D A C E B D F notes Raga Chords Chords and Ragas based on the Melodic Minor scale Three note chords for the C Melodic minor scale Since the melodic minor scale has the same notes as the major melodic minor scale has the same notes as the C major scale, scale with just the third note flattened, let us try to find out except the E (3rd note in the scale) which is flattened to Eb. chords for the melodic minor scale by flattening the third note, whenever it is used in the chords. The last row in the above table has the chord notes of each triad chord of the C Major scale. Whenever the note E appears in the The chords and chord notes in the above table are for the C chord notes, we flatten it to Eb, so that all the notes should be major scale. The third note of the C major scale is E. The C within the C melodic minor scale and the resulting chord should be diatonic (chords that use only the scale notes). Mel min scale notes C D Eb F G A B Major scale chord notes C Eb G D F A Eb G B F A C G B D A C Eb B D F with E changed to Eb New chord names C minor D minor Eb aug F major G major A dim B dim The new chords we have on the last row of the above table are diatonic triad chords (three note chords with all the chord notes within the parent scale, in this case, the melodic minor scale). A dim (chord notes: A C Eb) and F7 (F A C Eb) have three notes in common. The fourth note in the seventh chord is a scale note, hence the 7th chord can be used instead of the dim if needed. Similarly Bdim (chord notes: B D F) and G7 (G B D F) have three common notes. Again, since the fourth note in the seventh chord is a scale note, the 7th chord can be used instead of the dim if needed. Raga Chords Chords and Ragas based on the Melodic Minor scale The minor major 7th chord and the Melodic minor scale The melodic minor scale has a minor 3rd note and a major 7th note, which along with the root and 5th note gives us the Minor major 7th chord, which is considered as the chord for the first mode of the Melodic minor scale. (Detailed chords from each mode is discussed later) C mM7 chord notes: C Eb G B Melodic minor scale to Raga Gaurimanohari The notes of the C melodic minor scale are: C D Eb F G A B C. When written as intervals: Root – Major 2nd – minor 3rd – perfect 4th – fifth – major 6th – minor 7th - octave These notes correspond to the Sa Ri2 Ga2 Ma1 Pa Dha2 Ni3 Sa of the Raga Gaurimanohari. (The details of the relation between intervals and swaras is found in the pdf about notations.) Watch this video of the Arohana Avarohana of Raga Gowrimanohari as shown on the guitar fretboard, to see how the notes are connected when played as the raga. Raga Chords Chords and Ragas based on the Melodic Minor scale Modes of the Melodic minor scale As we saw in the first part, the minor major 7th chord is Start from the D note to get the notes: D Eb F G A B C. This is associated with the Melodic minor scale. The minor major 7th the second mode of the melodic minor scale. If we take the D chord is derived from the first mode of the Melodic minor scale – note as the root and find interval relations between the notes, this the scale, starting from the first note. set of notes form a scale with a defined pattern of intervals. Play the notes of the melodic minor scale, in the same order, Similarly, start from Eb to get: Eb F G A B C D Eb – the third starting from each note till the same note one octave higher, to mode (starting from the 3rd note of the melodic minor scale, get the different modes of the melodic minor scale. hence called the 3rd mode) For example, C melodic minor scale: C D Eb F G A B C. This can be done from each of the notes to get the 7 different modes of the melodic minor scale. Detailed chords from each mode of the melodic minor Each mode of the melodic minor scale has associated chords. Which Mode? 1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th 7th Melodic Minor scale notes C D E♭ F G A B Swaras Sa Ri2 Ga2 Ma1 Pa Dha2 Ni3 Chord from each mode C-Δ D sus♭9 E♭ Δ#5 F7 #11 G7♭13 A Ø B7alt Mark Levine, in his book The jazz theory book, mentions that Melodic minor scale does not have ‘avoid notes’, which makes it possible to use the chords from any mode of a particular melodic minor scale with any of its modes. Therefore, each chord in the bottom most row of the table can be used along with the C melodic minor scale and its modes. Similarly we can find chords for melodic minor scale starting from any root. Those chords can be used for any mode of that particular melodic minor scale. Raga Chords Chords and Ragas based on the Melodic Minor scale Example: D melodic minor scale D melodic minor scale notes: D E F G A B C# D (D major scale notes: D E F# G A B C# D) Which Mode? 1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th 7th Melodic Minor scale notes D E F G A B C# Ø Chord from each mode D-Δ E sus♭9 F Δ#5 G7 #11 A7♭13 B C#7alt Each chord in the bottom most row can be used for the D mel minor scale and its modes. Scales and ragas from each mode of the Melodic minor scale Mode I C Melodic Minor notes: C D Eb F G A B C Intervals: Root – M2 – m3 – 4 – 5 – M6 – M7 - octave Chord: CmM7 (root – m3 – 5th – M7) Swaras: S R2 G2 M1 P D2 N3 S Raga: Gowrimanohari The only difference from the major scale (Raga Shankarabharanam) is the third note. Major scale has a major 3rd note, while the melodic minor scale has a minor 3rd note. Raga Chords Chords and Ragas based on the Melodic Minor scale Videos shows the ascend and descend of the raga Gowrimanohari using a guitar fretboard. Note how the scale notes are connected to form the raga. Also, one can compare the connections Raga Shankarabharanam’s ascend and descend. Ri, Ga and Ma are treated a bit differently in the two ragas. Mode II The 2nd mode of the C melodic minor scale starts from D: D Eb F G A B C D Intervals: root – m2 – m3 – 4 – 5 – M6 – m7 - octave Chord: sus b9 (m2nd interval contributes to the b9 part of the chord) Swaras: S R1 G2 M1 P D2 N2 S Raga: Natakapriya The interval sequence shows that the only difference with the Dorian mode (2nd mode of the major scale/ Raga Kharaharapriya) is the 2nd note. The dorian mode or scale has a major 2nd note, while the second mode of the melodic minor scale has a minor 2nd note. The 2nd mode of the melodic minor scale is similar to the Phrygian mode (3rd mode of the Major scale/ Raga Hanumatodi). Phrygian has a minor 6th note, while this mode has a Major 6th note. One can think of this mode as a Dorian with a b9th note (flat ninth note) or a Phrygian with a Major 6th note. III mode The third mode of the C melodic minor scale starts from Eb: Eb F G A B C D Eb Intervals: root – M2 – M3 - #4 – m6 – M6 – M7 – octave Chord: Δ#4#5 (Major 7th #4, #5) also written simply as Δ#5. The #4 part notes the Lydian part of the scale while the #5 shows the augmented nature of the scale.