The ascending form of the melodic minor scale: the natural minor scale with a raised sixth and seventh. The traditional classical descending form is the natural minor; in jazz practice the ascending form is used in both directions, which is why it is also called the jazz minor.
1 = D
2 = E
b3 = F
4 = G
5 = A
6 = B
7 = C#
Root
D
Scale
Melodic minor (ascending)
Type
minor-variant
Notes
D E F G A B C#
Notes in the scale
7
Degree formula
1 2 b3 4 5 6 7
Semitones from the root
0 2 3 5 7 9 11
Step pattern
W H W W W W H
Aliases
Jazz minor
Key signature of this root
D major / B minor · F# C#
Written use
Named 1 2 b3 4 5 6 7. The scale on its fourth degree is the lydian dominant; the scale on its seventh degree is the altered scale.
Notes and degrees
Each degree of the scale, its note name in this key, and its distance from the root in semitones.
Degree
Note
Semitones
Interval from the root
1
D
0
Perfect unison
tonic
2
E
2
Major second
b3
F
3
Minor third
4
G
5
Perfect fourth
5
A
7
Perfect fifth
6
B
9
Major sixth
7
C#
11
Major seventh
Positions on the guitar
The five windows below are computed, not copied from a shape chart. The script locates the lowest
occurrence of D on each of the five upper strings within the first twelve frets and takes a
five-fret window centred on it. Because a scale repeats every twelve frets, these five windows cover
the whole neck; the same sequence returns an octave higher. The positions are numbered from the lowest
fret upwards, so position 1 is always the window nearest the nut and position 5 the window nearest the
twelfth fret.
Position 1 — frets 0–2
Root on the 4th string D3 at fret 0. 12 notes of the scale inside this window.
Read the grid as a chord diagram: the top row is the first string. Degrees appear in the
notes and degrees table above; a filled cell is a note of the scale, and the shaded cell is the tonic.