The Melodic Minor #5 Scale

Juampy Juarez teaches the Melodic Minor #5 — a dark, tense seven-note scale from the diminished tonality (C, D, Eb, F, G#, A, B) that few players know, despite its prevalence in jazz and classical music. It's the eight-note diminished scale with the #4 omitted, and it produces chords favored by expressionist composers like Richard Strauss and Wagner, and by jazz writers like Wayne Shorter, Herbie Hancock, and Allan Holdsworth.

What's covered

• All seven modes of the scale, one by one — from Ionian b3#5 through the "magic mode" Mixolydian #2#4 (which works over half-diminished, dominant, and minor sounds) to Altered nat6
• Applying the modes over minor, major 7, dominant, and half-diminished chord qualities
• Blues applications — new colors over both major and minor blues progressions, with demonstrations
• II-V-I applications for jazz standards
• Quartal harmony and clusters — applying the scale to fourth-based voicings on dominants
• Single-line patterns and chordal exercises for each mode, plus intro and outro performances

One of the most satisfying courses on a type of harmony you'll find very little information about elsewhere, in books or online.

• Running time: 67 minutes
• 8 pages of PDF material