29/10/2016 How to Harmonize Minor Scales With 7th Chords ­ Learn Jazz Standards

How to Harmonize Minor Scales With 7th Chords

By Brent Vaartstra - October 27, 2016

This lesson is continuing oö of the How to Harmonize a Major Scale with 7th Chords
post. If you don’t know how to harmonize a major scale or haven’t checked out that
lesson yet, I would encourage you to do so. I go into much more detail on how I come
up with the results, which will help you understand harmonizing minor scales better.

It’s important for jazz musicians to know how to do this because it helps us understand
chord progressions, helps us understand how chords can be related by a consonant
scale and can help us become better improvisers.

In this lesson, I’m going to use the three basic kinds of minor scales: natural minor,
harmonic minor, and melodic minor. 

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It’s important to note that the harmonic and melodic minor are variations of the natural
minor scale, and so understanding how to harmonize the natural minor scale with 7th
chords is the place to start.

Formula for a natural minor scale: Root-2-b3-4-5-b6-b7

Understanding how to construct a natural minor scale, let’s take a look at the Minor
Diatonic Series of 7th Chords:

Now, if you go back to the harmonizing major scales lesson, you will have seen a
similar chart. It’s almost like a cheat sheet, but it’s helpful to look at. The top line is the
scale, 2nd line is the chord quality, 3rd line is the chord name, and the 4th line is the
roman numeral quality and interval within the scale.

Now let’s take a look at the natural minor scale notated:

All we do next is consider each note of the scale the root of an individual chord. All
that’s left to do is stack a 3rd, 5th, and 7th on top of each root note.

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If you go through each one of these chords and identify the intervals in relation to the
root, you would ñnd that they spell out each chord quality listed. If you are unsure how
to spell some of these chords, I suggest checking out this jazz chords guide.

Try playing through these yourself. Play the chords if you are a pianist, guitarist, or
another chordal instrument. If you are a horn player, play the arpeggios of each. Let’s
move on to the next minor scale: the harmonic minor.

Formula for a harmonic minor scale: Root-2-b3-4-5-b6-7

The only diöerence between the natural minor and the harmonic minor is the major 7.
Take a look at this scale notated:

Keep in mind, when harmonizing this scale with 7th chords, you will need to make sure
the B is natural and not òatted when present in a given chord. Here it is harmonized
with 7th chords:

Changing that b7 to a major 7 clearly has changed the 7th chord harmonization up from
the natural minor. The changed chords from the natural minor are the root
(Cmin(maj7), the 3rd (Ebmaj7(#5), the 5th (G7), and the 7th (Bdim7). Go ahead and play
through that so you can hear what it sounds like. After you’ve done that, let’s move on
to the melodic minor.

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Formula for a melodic minor scale: Root-2-b3-4-5-6-7

Now we are taking the b6 and b7 in the natural minor scale and making them major.
Essentially the only diöerence between a melodic minor scale and a major scale is that
quality deñning b3. Take a look:

Now let’s stack the 3rds, 5ths, and 7ths on each individual scale tone, keeping in mind
that the A and the B are natural and not òatted.

Knowing how to harmonize these minor scales can be really handy for your
compositional skills, as well as using this harmonic knowledge to apply in your
improvisation. Try playing around with these harmonized minor chords in your
practicing this week and see what kinds of ideas you can create.

About the Author
Brent Vaartstra
http://www.brentvaartstra.com

Brent Vaartstra is a professional jazz guitarist and educator living in New York City. He is a lead writer and
editor for learnjazzstandards.com which he also co­owns and operates. He actively performs around the New
York metropolitan area and is the author of the Hal Leonard publication "500 Jazz Licks". To learn more, visit
www.brentvaartstra.com.

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