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Fig. 1 · Bb melodic minor · first 12 frets

guitar scale

B♭ melodic minor

B♭1C2D♭♭3E♭4F5G6A7

Minor third, major sixth and seventh — the ascending form, and the parent of most of the altered sounds below.

The same sounds spelled from the other side are A♯ melodic minor.

on ukuleleon piano

Written out

Fig. 2 · Bb melodic minor, ascending

Every accidental is written in, rather than left to a key signature, so the letters can be read one at a time.

The step pattern

B♭WCHD♭WE♭WFWGWAHB♭

What is true of it

B♭ melodic minor is B♭, C, D♭, E♭, F, G and A, and back to B♭.

Its steps are W – H – W – W – W – W – H, where W is a whole step and H a half.

On the same tonic, B♭ major differs from it by exactly one note.

Across the first twelve frets of the guitar its notes fall in 44 places, which is what makes a scale a shape rather than a list.

Chords made only of these notes

CmminorCm7minor seventhD♭augaugmentedE♭majorE♭7dominant seventhFmajorFaugaugmentedF7dominant seventh

Found by testing every chord in the catalogue against these 7 sounds, not chosen.

Other scales on B♭

B♭ natural minorminorB♭ harmonic minorminorB♭ majormajorB♭ harmonic majormajorB♭ Dorianmode

C mel minC♯ mel minD♭ mel minD mel minD♯ mel minE♭ mel minE mel minF mel minall 374