Harmonic minor

 Exploring harmonic minor

1. Harmonic minor
2. Locrian #6
3. Ionian #5 (aug maj)
4. * Ukrainian dorian (dorian #4)
5. Phrygian dominant
6. * Lydian #2
7. 6 Super-Locrian (alt)

* these 2 are of interest bc they both have a m6 or a m7b5 that can be built off them.

Visualizing it in C

Make a c dim triad (C,Eb,F#,A)

Now build 4 harmonic minor scales off of each of those root notes.

Sounds like 4 random keys

What do all these keys have in common?

A 7b9 chord on the 5

This chord can be spelled out rootlessly using 1 diminished chord, D dim (D,F,G#,B)

F dim,  G# dim, B dim are all inversions.

In C the minor 1-5 Cm to G7b9

In Eb the minor 1-5 Ebm to Bb7b9

In F# the minor 1-5 F#m to C#7b9

In A the minor 1-5 Am to E7b9

The most Interesting thing is the Major7 that lives on the 6th degree of Harmonic Minor.

The Lydian #2 mode is so cool.

You’ve got these 4; 

In Cm you’ve got Abmaj7

In Ebm you’ve got Bmaj7

In F#m you’ve got Dmaj7

In Am you’ve got Fmaj7

This is your new home, your new point of reference. Meet the neighbours.

A half step down you’ll find the 5 chord.

The Phrygian dominant: its like a mixolydian b2, b6 and of course b7.

But what’s so cool about that maj7 chord is its not just major 7 

its also maj 6 AND minor 6.

And where theres minor 6s that means theres m7b5 because m6 inverted are the same as half diminished.

In Cm:

Abm6 = Fm7b5

Second degree: Locrian #6 is home to another half diminished. 

In Cm: Dm7b5 = Fm6

 

The fm6 lives on the 4th mode: Ukrainian Dorian. What’s cool about this guy is you can add the 9 to get fm69.

So thats cool 4th mode has fm7b5 AND fm6 with a 9.

One last thing i wanna say is that in Cm, the abmaj7 you can flat the 5th. UNIQUE! 

work these chords into your hands in close voice block chords.

Then  once you’ve got that down you will be able to harmonize the harmonic minor scale by alternating between each of the different voicings and warping into the 3 other keys with the d diminished.

These are my diagrams for the other keys.

That’s visually how I think about it.

Harmonic minor doesn’t have a minor 6 chord on the one like melodic minor. I often like to borrow it anyway because I like the movement options it brings.

7th mode of melodic minor has more even sound imo 

than the harmonic minors 7th mode.

These are some hand signals for musicians. My  teacher told me he played with some jazz ppl who also had secret signals to modulate and alter chord quality. Highly skilled improvisers can really run with this.