A Melodic Minor Scale

A melodic minor scale notes and intervals

A melodic minor has 7 notes. Each is named by its distance from the root, which is the same in every key — learn the numbers once and every melodic minor scale reads the same.

Step pattern from the root: W – H – W – W – W – W – H (W is a whole step, two frets; H is a half step, one fret).

Scales it shares notes with:

• A natural minor — natural minor — the same scale with b6 and b7

A melodic minor scale positions on guitar — all 7

Three notes on every string gives A melodic minor exactly seven positions — one starting on each note of the scale — that together cover frets 0 to 16. Position 5 sits lowest on the neck. Because each shape starts on a different note of the scale, each is also the natural fingering for one of its modes (below). Move any of them twelve frets and you have the same shape an octave up.

Position 1 — frets 5–10

Starts on the 1 (A) on the 6th string. Practice this position →

Position 2 — frets 7–12

Starts on the 2 (B) on the 6th string. Practice this position →

Position 3 — frets 8–14

Starts on the b3 (C) on the 6th string. Practice this position →

Position 4 — frets 10–16

Starts on the 4 (D) on the 6th string. Practice this position →

Position 5 — frets 0–5

Starts on the 5 (E) on the 6th string. Practice this position →

Position 6 — frets 2–7

Starts on the 6 (F#) on the 6th string. Practice this position →

Position 7 — frets 3–9

Starts on the 7 (G#) on the 6th string. Practice this position →

The seven three-notes-per-string positions on their own page →

Chords built from A melodic minor

Stacking this scale in thirds gives a major IV and a major V over a minor tonic — the jazz-minor sound — plus an augmented III and two diminished chords.

For the plain minor key’s chords, see chords in the key of A minor →

Modes of the A melodic minor scale

Start the same seven notes on a different degree, treat that note as home, and you have a mode. Each three-notes-per-string position above starts on one scale degree, so position 1 is the natural fingering for the first mode, position 2 for the second, and so on. The shape alone does not make the mode: with A as home, every one of these positions still sounds like A melodic minor. A position becomes its mode when its first note is the one you resolve to, over that note’s chord or a drone on it.

• A Melodic Minor
  position 1 · starts on the 1
• B Dorian ♭2
  position 2 · starts on the 2
• C Lydian Augmented
  position 3 · starts on the b3
• D Lydian Dominant
  position 4 · starts on the 4
• E Mixolydian ♭6
  position 5 · starts on the 5
• F# Locrian ♮2
  position 6 · starts on the 6
• G# Altered
  position 7 · starts on the 7

How to practice the A melodic minor scale

1. Start with position 5 at frets 0–5, slowly, until every note lands on the click. The loop keeps the shape and the tempo for you.
2. Add five beats a minute each time it feels easy. When straight runs get dull, play the same position in thirds — the pattern that turns a scale into lines.
3. Hear A melodic minor harmonized in 3rds on the Fretboard: press Play and every note sounds with its partner while the neck lights up. Then switch Harmony to 6ths and play it again.