Chords for Why Learn Harmonic Minor Scales Rich Severson

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_ Hi there.
Hey, you know, a lot of guys ask, why learn harmonic minor?
Is it just to play
this Spanish sounding stuff?
The answer is no.
Or the Yngwie, or the heavy metal thing.
No, not at all.
It's used all the time in [E] jazz.
You know, I once took a lesson from
Joe Pass, and you know what he said?
I've told this story before.
He said, hey, pretend
you're the lead trumpet player in a big band, and we're at the very end of the song.
I'm
going to set you up, and you're going to take a C chord, and you're going to jam on it.
Let me hear what you're going to do.
And he goes. _
_ _ [Abm] _ _ And [G] then he said, go.
And I went, _ [Am] _ _ _ [Bb] _
is
that it?
I said, yeah.
He said, go home and learn harmonic minor.
It took me a little
while to figure out why.
But after looking at a lot of transcriptions and a lot of things
that he did, it finally occurred to me.
He's playing harmonic minor over the five chords.
Actually, he's playing it over a lot of different [E] things.
But especially over the five chord.
So let's take the key of D for a minute, and [B] let's take a look at that.
If I'm in [E] the key
of D, the one chord, I would play a D major scale, right?
But on the five chord, [A] if I
play harmonic minor, it's going to bring out the flat nine and the sharp five of the
dominant chord.
So it's going to make [G] [A] this particular sound. _ _
And then it's [A] going to resolve
to [D] D, right?
That's where the five chord usually goes.
[A] _ _
_ _ [Dbm] All right.
[Eb] So over the five chord, I
can play D harmonic minor, and over the one chord, D major.
Now that's a very easy transition,
isn't it?
Now what about over the two chord?
That's just two, five, one, the strongest
progression in jazz.
So over the two chord, you're going to play D major.
Over the five
chord, you're going to play D harmonic minor.
And over the one chord, you're going to play
D major again.
Now the key is never start on a D note or to end on [E] a D note, because
that's the sure giveaway, hey, that it's really sounds like a scale.
If I take that two chord
and [Em] I play, start on the note, let's say F sharp and play a D scale.
[E] _ _ [Em] And then [G] take that
five [A] chord and start on, let's say the note G of harmonic minor.
_ _ [E] _ And then [A] play that one
chord and start on, how about A?
_ _ _ [B]
Okay.
Now, if I play that one chord, I'm going to play
that one chord.
Now it doesn't sound so much like [D] a scale.
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Right?
_ [E] _ _ _ _ [A] _ _
[B] _ [E] Get the idea?
So it's
really important to learn your harmonic minor scales.
Now, I have several lessons where
we methodically go through all the keys and play all the shapes of the scales.
It's really
important that you really get a good handle on them and shifting from major to minor to
major to minor.
It's a great way of getting altered sounds into your playing with a minimal
amount of effort.
Okay?
You don't have to do a whole lot of thinking, right?
Once you
get those scale patterns in your fingers.
So, go to Guitar College 99 Cent Guitar Lessons
and you're going to find under the scales and technique several lessons on harmonic
minor.
And let's get this stuff down.
Okay?
So you can plug it into your playing and start
playing altered sounds.
Now, it works especially in minor keys.
The two chord in a minor, D
minor is E minor 7 flat 5.
The five chord [A] is, let's say, a flat 9.
And you definitely
have to play [Gm] those together.
_ [A] It's definitely going to work for the D minor key.
_ [Dm] _ _ [A] _ _ [E]
Now, there's
several other things, references to the five chord that can happen when you're playing
jazz and we'll talk about that in the lessons.
So, get started on harmonic minor.
Really.
You won't regret it and it's going to really add some new colors to your playing.
Alright?
Hey, I will talk at you later.
Bye for [A] now.
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