What is the melodic minor scale?
- Jazz minor scale
- Ascending melodic minor
- GourimanohariCarnatic melakarta
- ≈PatdeepपटदीपHindustani raga
The melodic minor scale is natural minor with both the sixth and seventh raised: 1, 2, ♭3, 4, 5, 6, 7. Classical practice used that form going up and plain natural minor coming down; jazz uses the raised form in both directions and calls it the jazz minor. Only the ♭3 separates it from the major scale, so it sounds minor at the bottom and major at the top, with the smooth -by-step climb that harmonic minor's interrupts.
This page is a lesson, not a poster. Read it top to bottom; every section has something to press, and the whole page follows one root and one octave — change either and everything below changes with it. If the low keys are hard to hear on your speaker, use Octave + to lift the whole lesson.
1. First, hear it
The keyboard below is locked to A melodic minor. Keys with a green number are in the and play; keys with a red dot stay silent. Press Play and listen to where it changes character. The bottom half is minor — the third is low. The top half is the major scale, step for step. It is a scale that starts in one mood and climbs into another, and it does so smoothly, with no leap anywhere.
2. Counting from home: one flat
Every scale has a home note, the — here A, and the picker above moves it. The other notes are named by how far above the root they sit: their . Count keys to the right, black and white alike; each key is one . The plain numbers 1 to 7 belong to the major scale; a (♭) means “that note, one key lower.”
| Degree | Half steps (keys) above the root | In A | What it is |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 0 | A | the root — home |
| 2 | 2 | B | second |
| ♭3 | 3 | C | lowered third — the only flat |
| 4 | 5 | D | fourth |
| 5 | 7 | E | fifth |
| 6 | 9 | F♯ | major sixth — raised |
| 7 | 11 | G♯ | major seventh — raised, the leading tone |
One flat. Of the three minor scales this is the one closest to major — only the ♭3 separates them. Click a chip to hear each degree in A.
3. Move one key: harmonic minor becomes melodic minor
The harmonic minor raised natural minor’s seventh to get a leading tone, and paid for it with a wide, dramatic step between ♭6 and 7 — an , three keys in one stride. Melodic minor keeps the leading tone and closes the gap by raising the sixth as well: F becomes F♯. Flip the toggle and play both runs. The leap is gone; the top of the scale walks up in even steps.
Melodic minor keeps every other note but changes ♭6 (F) to 6 (F♯). Flip the toggle and watch one key go dark while its neighbour lights up.
4. One key from major
Compare it with the major scale on the same root and only the third moves. Everything above the third — 4 5 6 7 — is major, unchanged; the scale is major with a minor floor. That is why it can sound so bright for a minor scale, and why jazz players, who use this form going both up and down, call it the jazz minor.
Melodic minor keeps every other note but changes 3 (C♯) to ♭3 (C). Flip the toggle and watch one key go dark while its neighbour lights up.
5. Up one way, down another
Classical theory teaches melodic minor as two scales in one. Going up, the sixth and seventh are raised, so the melody leans into home. Coming down, there is nothing to lean toward, so both notes drop back and the scale descends as plain natural minor. Press the two runs one after the other to hear the classical shape.
A keyboard lock cannot be direction-dependent — a key is either in the scale or out — so every keyboard and comparer on this page uses the ascending form, the one jazz treats as the whole scale. When you read “melodic minor” elsewhere on this site, that is the form it means. The descending half is the natural minor, which has its own page.
6. What to do with it
Keep the lock on and play over a held root. Settle on 1, ♭3, or 5; climb through 6 → 7 → 1 when you want the minor key to arrive as firmly as major does. Then compare the three minors side by side — natural, harmonic, and this one — all opening on the same root: the same floor, three different ceilings.
Quick reference
- Formula
- 1 – 2 – ♭3 – 4 – 5 – 6 – 7
- In A
- A – B – C – D – E – F♯ – G♯