TUTORIALS 1 Intervals 2 Triads 3 7th Chords 4 Major & Minor Scale Tone Harmony 5 Modes of the Major Scale 6 Composite Minor Scale Tone Harmony 7 The Major II-V-I Progression 8 The Minor II-V-I Progression 9 Type A&B Left Hand Piano Voicings HOME ABOUT MIKE NELSON ABOUT JENNY WRENN CONTACT ABOUT US (WNP) JAZZ EDUCATION [including FREE Tutorials] RECORDINGS LINKS CLIENT PAGES GIGS - WHAT'S ON

TUTORIAL 6 - Composite Minor Scale Tone Harmony The minor tonality is somewhat more complex than the major tonality. While the major tonality uses a single parent scale (major / ionian) as the source of melodies and chords, the minor tonality uses 3 parent scales. Pure Minor (Aeolian) - ex.1 Harmonic Minor - ex.2 Melodic Minor - ex.3 These 3 parent scales generate their own family of scale tone chords. The V I cadence in Pure Minor (Aeolian) scale tone harmony (ex.4: Gmi7 - Cmi7) tends to sound ambiguous. It lacks the cadential strengh of the Major V I (Dominant7 - Major7). Pure Minor harmony is used fairly widely in folk or pop music but not generally in jazz harmony. * Chord V in Harmonic and Melodic Minor are both dominant 7th chords - identical to V in major but V in Harmonic Minor when extended to the 9th (ex.5: G7b9) gives us a V chord which is distinctly "Minor". The following table shows all possible scale tone chords in C minor Composite Minor harmony. I II III IV V VI VII PURE: Cmi7 Dmi7b5 Ebma7 Fmi7 Gmi7 Abma7 Bb7 HARMONIC: Cmima7 Dmi7b5 Ebma7#5 Fmi7 *G7b9 Abma7 Bo7 MELODIC: Cmima7 Dmi7 Ebma7#5 F7 G7 Ami7b5 Bmi7b5 [next tutorial] ©Mike Nelson 2001