Modes of Melodic Minor

The melodic minor scale (1-2-b3-4-5-6-7) and its modes are essential to jazz vocabulary. In jazz, melodic minor is used in its ascending form both up and down, making it a symmetric, fixed collection rather than the classical ascending/descending variant.

1. Melodic Minor

Formula: 1-2-b3-4-5-6-7 Character: Minor but with a bright upper tetrachord. The "jazz minor" sound. Use: Over minor-major 7th chords (mMaj7). A major scale with a b3 — one note separates it from Ionian.

2. Dorian b2 (Phrygian #6)

Formula: 1-b2-b3-4-5-6-b7 Character: Dark with a bright 6th. Combines Phrygian's dark b2 with Dorian's bright 6th. Use: Over sus(b9) chords, or Phrygian contexts that need the natural 6.

3. Lydian Augmented

Formula: 1-2-3-#4-#5-6-7 Character: Extremely bright and floating. Lydian sound with an augmented 5th. Use: Over Maj7#5 chords. Beautiful, spacious sound for composition.

4. Lydian Dominant (Lydian b7)

Formula: 1-2-3-#4-5-6-b7 Character: Bright dominant sound. The #4 adds Lydian color to a dominant chord. Use: Over dominant 7#11 chords. Also called the "Bartok scale" or "overtone scale" because it closely mirrors the natural harmonic series. Frequently used on IV7 chords and tritone substitutions.

5. Mixolydian b6 (Aeolian Dominant)

Formula: 1-2-3-4-5-b6-b7 Character: Bittersweet — major 3rd with dark b6. The Hindu scale. Use: Over dominant chords resolving to minor. Creates a V7 sound in harmonic minor context.

6. Locrian #2 (Aeolian b5)

Formula: 1-2-b3-4-b5-b6-b7 Character: Dark but more stable than Locrian due to the natural 2. Use: The preferred scale for half-diminished (m7b5) chords in jazz. The natural 2nd softens Locrian's harsh b2, making it more melodic.

7. Altered (Super Locrian)

Formula: 1-b2-b3-b4-b5-b6-b7 (enharmonically: 1-b9-#9-3-b5-#5-b7) Character: Maximum tension. Every extension is altered. Use: THE dominant scale in jazz. Used on V7 chords, especially when resolving to I. Contains b9, #9, b5/#11, and #5/b13 — all the altered tensions a dominant chord can have. It is melodic minor built from the 7th degree, so playing Ab melodic minor over G7alt gives you every altered tension.