Altered Dominant Harmony

Melodic minor

There are five common usages of [the modes of] the melodic minor scale to bring out
altered harmony over dominant 7
th
chords.

They are listed below with both the modal (the scales relationship to the parent scale) and
parallel (named from the root of the scale in question) view of the usage:

Lets assume that the chord is G7alt

1. Play G#/Ab Melodic minor [half-step higher than the root of the dominant 7
th
chord]

Mode name: G Diminished-whole tone or Super Locrian
All four altered pitches present: b9, #9, b5, #5


2. Play Bb Melodic minor [minor third higher than the root of the dominant 7
th
chord]

Mode name: G Locrian #2
Three altered pitches present: #9, b5, #5


3. Play C Melodic minor [fourth higher than the root of the dominant 7
th
chord]

Mode name: G Mixolydian b6
One altered pitch present: #5 (b13)


4. Play D Melodic minor [fifth higher than the root of the dominant 7
th
chord]

Mode name: G Lydian dominant
One altered pitch present: b5 (#11)


5. Play F Melodic minor [whole step lower than the root of the dominant 7
th
chord]

Mode name: G Dorian b2
One altered pitch present: b9

_________________________________________________________________________________________________



Harmonic minor

(assuming the chord is G7)

1. Play C harmonic minor [a fourth higher than the root of the dominant 7
th
chord]

Mode name: G Phrygian dominant
Two altered pitches present: #5, b9


2. Play G# harmonic minor [a half-step higher than the root of the chord]

Mode name: 7
th
mode
Three altered pitches present: b9, #9, b5, #5

Harmonic major

Upper structure chords

If you listen to all 12 notes in the chromatic scale played from the root against a
given dominant 7
th
chord voiced as a shell (Root, 3
rd
, b7) you will find that there are
two notes that will not sustain as consonant extensions or alterations: the 4
th
above
the root* and the natural 7
th
. We do know that in a sus7 chord you can include the
third above (10
th
) the 4
th
, but this is a unique type of sound. For our purposes we
want a simple consonant dominant 7
th
with its possible extensions and alterations.

So, if we begin by building all the four possible triads types (major, minor,
diminished and augmented) on all twelve pitch classes while avoiding any triad that
include the 4
th
or the natural 7
th
you begin to discover all the possible
colors/moods/emotions/tensions of the Dominant 7
th
chord at the triadic level.

Begin with a C7 chord (shell voicing): C, E, Bb

The notes that will work are: C, C#(Db), D, D# (Eb). E, F# (Gb), G, G# (Ab), A, and
A# (Bb)

Begin by building all of the four possible triad types:

Major:
Triad roots: C, D, Eb, Gb, Ab, A
Interval relationships 1, 2, b3, b5 (#4), b6, 6
to the C root note

Minor:
C min, Db min, Eb min, F#min, G min, A min
1, b2, b3, b5 (#4), 5, 6

Augmented:
C aug, D aug, E aug, F# aug, G# aug, A# aug (Do you understand why this series?)
1, 2, 3, #4, #5, #6(b7)


Diminished:
C dim, C# dim, D# dim, E dim, F# dim, G dim, A dim (Do you see the relationship?)
?

the fourth sounds fine as long as the 3
rd
of the dom 7
th
chord is not present but,
then IS IT really a dominant 7
th
or something else?



Scale comparisons

An interesting exercise is to compare the triad shifting that occurs from the ii chord to the
V7alt chord. Lets use d-7, G7

Individual triads built from the scale of the ii chord (dorian in this case):

Scale degree: 1 2 b3 4 5 6 b7
DFA, FAC, ACE, CEG, EGB, GBD, BDF
Triad quality: min Maj min Maj min Maj dim


Extension: triad -7 -9 -11 -11/13 add 11/13 min6



Individual triads built from the scale of the alt. Dominant chord (7
th
mode of melodic min)

These are placed in order as they occur related to the ii chord triads above