How To Play Harmonic Minor Scales

This is a very common variation on the minor scale that’s used all the time in every style of music.

It’s a minor scale with a raised 7th scale degree.

The most common use for this is to change the 5th chord in a minor key from a minor7 to a dominant7.

This results in a stronger resolution to the tonic chord. The whole/half step pattern for the Harmonic Minor scale is:

W H W W H 1 ½ H

Below you’ll find 4 patterns for the Harmonic Minor scale. Two are located on the 6th string and two are located on the 5th string. These forms will allow you to visualize what notes work together in any given key across the entire range of the fingerboard.

Sixth String Forms

4th finger form:

E |----------------------------------------------4--5--|
B |------------------------------------3--5--6---------|
G |----------------------1--2--4--5--------------------|
D |---------------2--3---------------------------------|
A |-----2--3--5----------------------------------------|
E |--5-------------------------------------------------|

1st finger form:

E |---------------------------------------------4--5--|
B |--------------------------------------5--6---------|
G |----------------------------4--5--7----------------|
D |----------------------6--7-------------------------|
A |------------5--7--8--------------------------------|
E |--5--7--8------------------------------------------|

Fifth String Forms

4th finger form:

E |----------------------------------------------10--12--|
B |----------------------------9--10--12--13-------------|
G |--------------------9--10-----------------------------|
D |-------9--10--12--------------------------------------|
A |--12--------------------------------------------------|
E |------------------------------------------------------|

1st finger form:

E |-------------------------------------------------------12--13--16--17--|
B |----------------------------------------12--13--14---------------------|
G |------------------------------13--14-----------------------------------|
D |----------------12--14--15---------------------------------------------|
A |--12--14--15-----------------------------------------------------------|
E |-----------------------------------------------------------------------|

Want To Learn More …

Do you cringe with fear when you hear the word “scales”?

From the feedback of surveyed guitarists the common struggles with scales is that they just don’t understand them at all and find it difficult to use them in your playing.

Sounds quite complex and difficult just to begin with and you haven’t even started learning it yet.  With the right guidance you can make learning about scales, easy and improve your playing all at the same time.

That is why we created a course that is tailored to this exact topic.