Melodic Minor Triad Pairs
This post is a follow up from my last, which explored the use of augmented triads from the melodic minor scale. I was interested in the other triads that make up melodic minor, especially since all but the augmented triad are featured twice consecutively. This unique feature makes melodic minor especially ripe for the use of triad pairs as a soloing technique.
The melodic minor scale is built up of 7 triads:
1st degree: minor
2nd degree: minor
3rd degree: augmented
4th degree: major
5th degree: major
6th degree: diminished
7th degree: diminished
My exploration of this concept comes with perfect timing as I'm diving into June 2019's tune of the month, which is Stella by Starlight. In the past I've come across this lesson on how to use melodic minor over nearly every measure of the tune. Melodic minor is also useful in several other applications, such as a minor blues* (first, fourth, and seventh modes of melodic minor), any altered (seventh mode of melodic minor) dominant chord, and a non-cadence 7th chord that can use a lydian dominant sound (fourth mode of melodic minor).
Minor Triads
This example is built mostly from triads of the melodic minor scale over the last bars of a minor blues. The line doesn't hit many of the characteristic notes over the changes, such as the #4 in lydian dominant or the tense notes of altered. You do get some tense notes from a minor triad used as a passing chord from Dm to Cm (Dbm), which is not a triad built from the G altered (Gb melodic minor- Gbm and Abm). Still, you squeeze another minor triad into the line, which sounds good because it connects two minor triads a whole step apart. Overall, you milk 5 minor triads out of this progression.
You can also play minor triads over bar 4 in a blues. This is because the movement from I-IV is actually a cadence from V down to I as much as it is I up to IV. Because of this, you can alter it as you would any dominant V chord. So Cm7 becomes C7alt, resolving to an Fm7. You can play the triads C#m, D#m, Fm7. Each of these minor 7th chords are a whole step apart. Thjis example very clearly outlines the m7 arpeggios. In practice you may want to disguise them, or not- when the harmony becomes complex, it is sometimes better to keep the lines simple. The interesting harmony is in the spotlight and should be clearly outlined.
Diminished Triads
This is one of my favorite techniques. Diminished triads are built from minor 3rd intervals, and when you stack them you get the tritone interval. This sound literally splits the octave in half and has a very angular, pointy sound. It's a great way to build excitement with dissonant harmony. The gypsy jazz guys also use diminished arpeggios, however they use tetrads instead of triads. Triads cover more ground (larger harmonic range) more quickly and more directly imply a tritone interval, whereas a diminished tetrad run implies the tritone but individually sounds out minor third intervals.
Here's another example...
This example builds lines off the two diminished triads embedded into the melodic minor scale. The first bar is a pattern of triplets.
The following two examples are built upon diminished triad pairs that sound lydian dominant. One goes up and one goes down. The second example in this line is clever in that while it features two diminished triads side by side, it disguises a dominant 7th arpeggio. So even within the angularity of a melodic minor line, it features the smoothness of a plain 7th arpeggio.
Here's a line resolving to a Cmaj7.
While the following line doesn't express all three notes of the triad, it takes advantage of the b5 interval embedded within diminished triads (a tense sound I like to use, along with the augmented 5th). Try in a song like Take the A Train, over the D7#11 and the G7alt.
same as above but in 6, takes three bars to realign.
This cool one sounds a rootless Db7 triad, which is the tritone sub of G7.
Major Triads
Here's a line that uses the two major triads in G7alt (G# melodic minor)
Augmented Triads
As noted in my last post, you can also use the augmented triad. Note that harmonic minor shares an augmented triad from the third degree. While you can triad pair with a minor (second degree) or major (fourth degree) triad, you can also use the augmented triad to play whole tone lines. This abandons the melodic minor sound, but is a commonly used (and great-sounding) tactic by many jazz guitarists, including Wes Montgomery. Just repeat the augmented triad a whole step up to sound out the whole tone notes. Moving up a whole step from that will bring you to an inversion of the first augmented triad.
*Note on the blues:
The chords which make up a C minor blues are Cm7, Fm7, Ab7, and G7. You can play C melodic minor over the I chord (melodic minor from the first degree). I wouldn't use melodic minor over the Fm7 because the major 7 (E) is the major third of C, which doesn't sound great over a minor blues (it implies a major blues). I would play lydian dominant over the Ab7 (melodic minor from the fourth degree) and altered over the G7 (melodic minor from the seventh degree). So that's melodic minor over 75% of the changes (and 5/6 of the tune itself).
The melodic minor scale is built up of 7 triads:
1st degree: minor
2nd degree: minor
3rd degree: augmented
4th degree: major
5th degree: major
6th degree: diminished
7th degree: diminished
My exploration of this concept comes with perfect timing as I'm diving into June 2019's tune of the month, which is Stella by Starlight. In the past I've come across this lesson on how to use melodic minor over nearly every measure of the tune. Melodic minor is also useful in several other applications, such as a minor blues* (first, fourth, and seventh modes of melodic minor), any altered (seventh mode of melodic minor) dominant chord, and a non-cadence 7th chord that can use a lydian dominant sound (fourth mode of melodic minor).
Minor Triads
This example is built mostly from triads of the melodic minor scale over the last bars of a minor blues. The line doesn't hit many of the characteristic notes over the changes, such as the #4 in lydian dominant or the tense notes of altered. You do get some tense notes from a minor triad used as a passing chord from Dm to Cm (Dbm), which is not a triad built from the G altered (Gb melodic minor- Gbm and Abm). Still, you squeeze another minor triad into the line, which sounds good because it connects two minor triads a whole step apart. Overall, you milk 5 minor triads out of this progression.
You can also play minor triads over bar 4 in a blues. This is because the movement from I-IV is actually a cadence from V down to I as much as it is I up to IV. Because of this, you can alter it as you would any dominant V chord. So Cm7 becomes C7alt, resolving to an Fm7. You can play the triads C#m, D#m, Fm7. Each of these minor 7th chords are a whole step apart. Thjis example very clearly outlines the m7 arpeggios. In practice you may want to disguise them, or not- when the harmony becomes complex, it is sometimes better to keep the lines simple. The interesting harmony is in the spotlight and should be clearly outlined.
Diminished Triads
This is one of my favorite techniques. Diminished triads are built from minor 3rd intervals, and when you stack them you get the tritone interval. This sound literally splits the octave in half and has a very angular, pointy sound. It's a great way to build excitement with dissonant harmony. The gypsy jazz guys also use diminished arpeggios, however they use tetrads instead of triads. Triads cover more ground (larger harmonic range) more quickly and more directly imply a tritone interval, whereas a diminished tetrad run implies the tritone but individually sounds out minor third intervals.
Here's another example...
This example builds lines off the two diminished triads embedded into the melodic minor scale. The first bar is a pattern of triplets.
The following two examples are built upon diminished triad pairs that sound lydian dominant. One goes up and one goes down. The second example in this line is clever in that while it features two diminished triads side by side, it disguises a dominant 7th arpeggio. So even within the angularity of a melodic minor line, it features the smoothness of a plain 7th arpeggio.
Here's a line resolving to a Cmaj7.
While the following line doesn't express all three notes of the triad, it takes advantage of the b5 interval embedded within diminished triads (a tense sound I like to use, along with the augmented 5th). Try in a song like Take the A Train, over the D7#11 and the G7alt.
same as above but in 6, takes three bars to realign.
This cool one sounds a rootless Db7 triad, which is the tritone sub of G7.
Major Triads
Here's a line that uses the two major triads in G7alt (G# melodic minor)
Augmented Triads
As noted in my last post, you can also use the augmented triad. Note that harmonic minor shares an augmented triad from the third degree. While you can triad pair with a minor (second degree) or major (fourth degree) triad, you can also use the augmented triad to play whole tone lines. This abandons the melodic minor sound, but is a commonly used (and great-sounding) tactic by many jazz guitarists, including Wes Montgomery. Just repeat the augmented triad a whole step up to sound out the whole tone notes. Moving up a whole step from that will bring you to an inversion of the first augmented triad.
*Note on the blues:
The chords which make up a C minor blues are Cm7, Fm7, Ab7, and G7. You can play C melodic minor over the I chord (melodic minor from the first degree). I wouldn't use melodic minor over the Fm7 because the major 7 (E) is the major third of C, which doesn't sound great over a minor blues (it implies a major blues). I would play lydian dominant over the Ab7 (melodic minor from the fourth degree) and altered over the G7 (melodic minor from the seventh degree). So that's melodic minor over 75% of the changes (and 5/6 of the tune itself).
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