Soloing With Melodic Minor Scale II
We’re exploring the melodic minor scale for soloing over dominant 7 chords. Please see the previous entries listed below for details.
The last time we looked at playing the D melodic minor scale over a G7 chord. We saw how that D scale contains all the notes in a G7.
Now we’ll see that D melodic minor is not the only scale to contain a G7. Look at the C melodic minor scale:
C D Eb F G A B C
Just one note different from the C major scale. Once again, G7 is present: notes G, B, D, F. We’re going to use this C scale to solo over G7. Here’s a pattern:
|-------------5-7-8-|-7-5--------------| |---------6-8-------|-----8-6----------| |---5-7-8-----------|---------8-7-5----| |-------------------|----------------9-| |-------------------|------------------| |-------------------|------------------|
Record yourself strumming the G7 chord onto a tape recorder and then play back the recording. Play around with the C melodic minor pattern just given.
Let’s cap this exploration of using the melodic minor scale for soloing over dominant 7 chords by adding one more point:
It’s possible to use two other melodic minor scales over the G7 chords, besides the D and C scales mentioned. Without getting into details here, you can try the F melodic minor scale and also the Ab melodic minor scale. Neither fully contains the G7 notes, but both may still sound good to you.
Thanks for reading. Next time: soloing over minor chords.
Copyright © 2007 Darrin Koltow
This first appeared in the Guitar Noise News - November 1, 2005 newsletter. Reprinted with permission.
Scales and Soloing Series
- Scales To Use For Soloing
- Scales To Use For Soloing Part II
- Improvising With The Blues
- Scales To Play Over Dominant Chords
- Soloing With Melodic Minor Scale
- Soloing Over Minor Chords
