---
title: Melodic Minor Modes
category: Modes
slug: melodic-minor-modes
related: [what-are-modes, major-scale-modes, harmonic-minor-modes, chord-scale-theory]
url: https://fourthshub.com/docs/melodic-minor-modes
---

# 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.