Collectible Guitar SepOct16 | Page 36
FRETBOARD
LESS TRAVELED
HEXATONIC SCALES CONTINUED Rich Severson
ALTERED DOMINANT SOUNDS RESOLVING TO MAJOR AND MINOR WITH BLUES SCALES
D&7(#9)
Last issue we took a look Hexatonic scales,
which
simply
means
a
six-note
scale.
This issue I’d like to explore two sounds, one,
a somewhat unfamiliar sound, altered dominant,
and the other, a familiar sound, the blues scale,
used in a non-traditional way.
4fr
b œ œ nœ
n
œ
#
œ
b
œ
bœ œ œ bœ
4
œ
œ
& 4œ b œ nœ#œ b œ
#œ nœ b œ œ œ
bœ
"D" Altered Hexatonic
⁄
3
5
It has tension built into the chord. When I alter
that D7, like raising the 5th to a #5 (augmented
5th) or add a flatted 9th (b9), that increases the
dissonance and tension of the chord which
makes it point toward tonality even stronger. If I
now the scale wants to resolve as well as the
chords underneath. These sounds are prevalent
in modern jazz.
The altered dominant scale, which could be
played over a D7 sound, would look like this,
starting on the note D: D Eb F F# Ab Bb
C
D.
b5 #5 b7 root
The scale has many names; “Eb Melodic Minor”
starting on D (Super Locrian Mode) “Jazz Minor”
starting on D, or the easiest is simply “D Altered”.
7
7
use the Hexatonic approach and leave it out.
4
3
5
3
4
3
6
6
5
3
GŒ„Š7
œ œ
œ
&
n
œ
#
œ
œ
œ œ
œ
⁄
5
"B" Blues scale
5
3
2
2
2
œ ˙˙˙
˙
nœ #œ
based on the 3rd of Gmaj7
3
6
7
7
7
5
7
4
4
5
D&7(#9)
G‹9
4fr
G‹7
8fr
3fr
b œ œ œ b œ œ b œ œœ
n
œ
#
œ
b
œ
œ
œ b œœ b œœ b w
w
& œ b œ nœ #œ b œ œ
œ w
w
w
w
"G" Blues scale
Ex.2
"D" Altered Hexatonic
6 8 10
⁄
6
5
7
based on the root of Gmin7
9 8
7
11
10 7
8
5
6
8
3
3
3
3
5
3
8
8
1110
8
9
10 8
G‹7
G‹9
D&7(#9)
3fr
3fr
4fr
b œ nœ#œb œ œ œ b œ œnœ œ œ
œ
œ
b
œ
œb œ œ œ œ
& œb œnœ#œ
œ
Ex.3
"D" Blues scale
"D" Altered Hexatonic
6
The Ab in the scale is the most dissonant so let’s
6
4
5fr
Defining each tone as it relates to the
D7 gives us, root b9 #9 3rd
6
GŒ„Š13
play an altered dominant scale over a D7 chord,
the scale will hint at those altered sounds, and
4
5
6
What does “Altered Dominant” even mean? Well
points to the tonal center of G major or G minor.
6
3
3
First, let’s look at the altered dominant sound.
a dominant chord or a dom7th chord like D7
Rich Severson
Ex.1
⁄
3
3
3
5
4
6
7
5
4
based on the 5th of Gmin7
3
7
6
3
5
5
4
6
6
Now we have D Eb F F# Bb C . We could
2
5
3
5
3
w
bw
w
w
w
w
3
3
3
3
5
3
Copyright © 2016 by Guitar College, Inc.
now call this scale “D Altered Hexatonic”. If you
could get this scale into your ears, fingers, and
a D7#5#9 chord resolving to a Gmaj13 where
the “G Blues Scale”. This is a common choice,
playing, you’d be on your way to playing jazz
we move to a “B Blues Scale”. Base a blues
but notice the fingering of both scales.
guitar.
scale on the 3rd of any ma7 chord to really bring
out that maj7 note.
Now
let’s
most
common
“Blues
Scale”.
In Ex.2 we again use the D Altered Hexatonic,
In Ex. #1, I’m playing “D Altered Hexatonic” over
but this time resolve it to Gmin7 where we play
hexatonic
36
look
scale
at
the
Finally in Ex. 3 the “D Altered Scale” played over
the
the D7#5#9 resolves to a “D Blues Scale” played
Sep Oct 2016
over a Gmin9. Building a blues scale from the
CollectibleGuitar.com
continued on page 43