Harmonic Minor Modes

Are you familiar with the modes of the harmonic minor? If you’re like the great majority of jazz guitarists, or musicians in general, the answer is probably “No”!

When was the last time you used the Romanian scale or the Lydian #2 when improvising over a standard? Most likely never! And that’s because like most of us, you are probably content using just the modes of the natural minor and maybe a select few from the melodic minor. If this is your case, I want you to keep in mind that there is a vast world of harmonic colors and improvisational resources to be explored in the modes of the harmonic minor.

In this lesson, I not only demonstrate all the modes of the harmonic minor, but I show you how to use them to improvise over your favorite standards. To do so, I teach you how to apply them over II-V-Is as well as what scale degrees to play in order to emphasize each mode’s unique color.

Last but not least, I teach you how to form some very exotic chord voicings derived from these modes, that you can use over those same II-V-Is. I even show you how I improvise over a known standard employing exclusively the modes and chords of the harmonic minor!

PDF & AUDIO DOWNLOAD:

The Harmonic Minor Modes lesson files, can be downloaded for $8.50 . Your contribution is much appreciated, as it helps support the site and allows me to keep investing the long hours required to produce these lessons. The download includes the following files:  PDFs with both regular notation and TAB, The I’ll Remember April etude, MP3s of the modes and etude, & Band in a Box file of the etude, and a Midi file if you want to practice using the free downloadable notation app: “Muse Score”.