Harmonic Minor over Dominant Chords

You may have read my tech blogs before: turns out I actually enjoy blogging (though not every day, that's a lot of work). To that end, I've decided to extend my blog scope into music, which is something I spend as much time as possible with when I'm not working on my software thing.

With that said, welcome to Tcoz Music Notes first post: Harmonic Minor over Dominant Seven Chords.

I ran into this recently when practicing with a band I play lead in at the NYC Guitar School. We were doing the Santana song "Smooth". The score indicates A minor, or in terms of modes, A Aeolian.

I noticed right away that something was interesting; the core progression is Amin, Fmaj, E7. Fmaj is the VI chord, which is diatonically correct, and although the V in a minor progression is diatonically minor, it's not unusual at all to make it major, or even dominant, to get the stronger harmonic resolution back to the tonic minor chord, but...

...making that V chord change imposes some thought time on the part of the would-be improviser: E7 is E, G#, B, D. The third isn't diatonic to A minor/Aeolian (A minor has no sharps or flats).

Simply avoiding a G when playing the E7 is one thought, and just slushing over it with ascending/descending runs is another, and it might work in a pinch, but both are sorta cheapy. No good for Smooth though. The signature riffs hit that G# very visibly. You can't avoid it if you want to pull the song off right, even if you're not following note for note.

This took me back some years to my Yngwie days, when I studied the harmonic minor scale up and down the neck (I mean lets face it, love him or hate him, NOBODY played a Strat with the fury and technical prowess of Yngwie). Lots of guitar players seem to think that harmonic minor is only for "that" sound ("slaying the dragon", you know what I mean). I'd be lying if I said that has nothing to do with why I pursued it, but I was intrigued by it, so did some outside reading, and found that it was used to enable that stronger harmonic resolution by raising the seventh a half a step (a sharp seventh screams to be resolved up a half step).

So, the E7 in an A minor scale is used to create a stronger resolution to the "i" chord...the harmonic minor scale is used to create a stronger resolution to the root of the scale. Break it down, and there is indeed a simple relationship that can add a completely different sound to your improv...or clean up an issue you may have heard, but not fully understood.

The formula; raise the third of your dominant chord a half step. That's the harmonic minor key you can play in over that dominant 7 chord (and, depending on the chords, the entire progression).

Written out:

E7 = E, G#, B, D
A minor = A, B, C, D, E, F, G, A (close, but not 100pct).
A harmonic minor = A, B, C, D, E, F, G# A (money...the G# of E7, raised a half step, is A, and A harmonic minor includes all the notes of the E7).

It might seem intuitive to say, "so if you'd usually play in A minor, but they changed the V chord to a dominant, just use A harmonic minor, no need for this 'raise the third' logic".

True, on the surface. But, say you're in some sort of jazz progression, and one of those "random" chords gets kicked in for an extended vamp. You might default to the Mixolydian mode over it, and that's fine.

E7 = E, G#, B, D
E mixo = E, F#, G#, A, B, C#, D, E

Nothing wrong there at all, and you get that dominant/mixo sound, and also get a standard base for improvising all over the neck if you know all your mode patterns.

But try this (a little pseudo pitch axis theory I suppose); start your improv in E mixo, then when you hit the G# (which will sound great since it's an E7 chord tone, use it as a target note or some such when beginning a phrase), switch to A harmonic minor. You're still right on, but have taken the whole thing somewhere else, and everybody listening will know it. Bring it back around to the mixo when you know the E7 vamp is going to end, and then back into the song you go, following the melody properly and so on.

I did this recently when we performed Smooth; I didn't blow all over A harmonic minor, actually only doing a full ascending riff once, but suggested it during the solo at the end a couple of times, and with short trills during the transitions from verse to pre-chorus during the song (which accents that E7). After the set, which everybody seemed to enjoy, I got some positive comments (and no negative ones) about it, and one guy actually asked me what the theory was.

To this end, I've added something to my practice regimen; in addition to warming up with my standard pentatonic and mode patterns, I've added the harmonic alternatives so that I can quickly switch from a standard mode to a harmonic one.

So, E mixo, which is fine over a dominant 7th chord, can be converted to A harmonic minor in the same position by thinking this way:

- E mixo = E, F#, G#, A, B, C#, D, E
- Raise the third a half step; that indicates A harmonic minor.
- A harmonic minor = E, F, G#, A, B, C, D, E.
- The difference: drop the second and sixth notes of mixo a half step. Bam, A harmonic minor.

Take that logic, and blow it out to all your other patterns.

Give it a try; use wisely. Like anything else, it doesn't always work depending on the melody, what the bass player is doing, etc. Communicate your intention to the band, let them know you're going for it. If nothing else, it'll show you're thinking about what you're doing.

Have fun with that, see you out there.

Fretboard Framework, the name, and all related articles, are the creations and property of Tim Consolazio.

Copyright 2009 By Tim Consolazio. All rights reserved.