Melodic Minor Scales Using 3 Notes Per String – Advanced Guitar Lesson

In Advanced Guitar Lessons | on May, 20, 2010 | by Carl Brown | 10 Comments

In this lesson we are going to apply the 3-notes per string format to Melodic Minor scales.

Melodic Minor scales are essential for many styles of music, but they are predominately used in Jazz and Fusion styles.

We are continuing our study of the 3-notes pre string method by applying melodic minor scales using this format. Once again you will need to memorize all seven scale forms and be able to spell your melodic minor scales fluently to get the most out of this lesson. If you don’t know how to spell your melodic minor scales yet make sure you check out the “Understanding Minor Scales” theory lesson. That should get you caught up nice and quick.

Also make sure you download the PDF for this lesson, it has all of the scale forms with their respective fingerings.

Melodic Minor Scales Using 3 Notes Per String PDF

Hope everyone enjoys incorporating melodic minor into their playing. We will definitely be using this scale a lot in the Jazz Guitar University course. Enjoy!!

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Melodic Minor Scales 3-Notes Per String

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10 Responses

Dennis

05.20.10

Innovative!!!!!

jake

05.20.10

would this be a good scale to practice economy picking with?

Carl Brown

05.20.10

Oh yes definitely. It works perfectly with economy picking in both directions.

Frank

05.20.10

Hey Carl really cool website. I would be grateful if you would describe what type of rig your playing through when demonstrating Eric Johnson’s pentatonic stuff. Maybe amp and any processing that is used. Thanks

Carl Brown

05.20.10

Hey Frank, thanks for checking out my lessons.

I record all of my video lessons using a Line 6 POD X3 Live. I think I got a lot of the EJ sounding stuff by downloading a free EJ preset from the Line 6 site into my POD. I then slightly tweaked the sound to fit my guitar.

Cheers!! Carl..

tobi

05.20.10

wondering why i should go for MM 3 notes per string , as i would´nt use this scale for speed purposes really.
the challenge seems to be to get the sound into your mind and do a nice phrasing in a logical sense as you would do with a common scale.
thats why i use normal fingerings instead of 3 notes per string

Carl Brown

05.20.10

Hey Tobi, the 3-notes per string thing isn’t just for speed. The main reason I use it is because after a while it makes visualization of the fretboard much easier since there are no uneven shapes and every form connects to the others the same way.

When I improvise I am always using many different ways of playing these notes because I use a bunch of different techniques like slides, bends and so forth, but I still visualize them using the 3-note method because to me it is more logical when there is a scale shape built off of every note in the key instead of just 5.

Thanks!! Carl..