There are several scales to choose when expanding a minor 7 chord into a key. The trick is to determine how the minor 7 chord is being used in the progression. Often a minor 7 is part of a II-7 – V7. See Moments Notice excerpt above. Many standards use III-7 and VI-7 a lot. The tune “Blame it on My Youth” by Oscar Levant is a good example. So….the choices of scales that you could assign to a minor 7 chord include natural minor scale (also known as Aeolean mode), harmonic minor scale, melodic minor scale, the dorian, phrygian or locrian modes. That’s a lot of scales! For most of them the only differences are in the 6th and 7th degrees. For example:

• Natural minor scale – flatted 6th and 7th
• Dorian scale – natural 6th and flatted 7th
• Harmonic minor scale – flatted 6th and natural 7th (also called major 7th)
• Melodic minor scale – natural 6th and natural 7th
• Phrygian scale – flatted 6th, flatted 7th, and flatted 2nd

If you work hard on the exercises in lesson 1 you’ll get good at identifying the 6th and 7th degrees of minor scales, which will help you greatly with this.

Our next step is to find out how to use the notes in these scales to create minor 7 chords. If the min7 chord is part of a II-7 – V7 progression you may want to give special attention to the 3rds and 7ths. These notes are often called guide tones, and can really help you establish the well-known II-V sound. Otherwise you can generally say the notes all have equal value, that is, any combination of available notes can be used to build a chord. The minor scale you are using will determine which notes are available and which should be avoided. Stay away from flatted 6ths and flatted 2nds. They are difficult to work with. If your chord scale contains a flatted 5th, as in a min7 b5 chord, make sure you include it. The b5 note sets up a tri-tone interval with the root of the chord, and is a very strong and distinctive interval. Natural 9ths, 11th, and 6ths are usually good choices. If you encounter a minor chord with a major 7 note be sure to include that note. You can find an example in the opening of the Miles Davis tune “Solar”.

Let’s try to boil all this down into a simple game plan: roots, natural 2nds, flatted 3rds, natural 4ths, 5ths, and flatted 7ths can be used most of the time. When working with II-V progressions you usually want to have the 3rd and 7th notes in there (often in the bottom hand). You use natural 6ths and natural 7ths mostly when the chord symbol tells you to, as in A-6 or C-(maj7). For Min7 b5 chords be sure the b5 note is included.

The excerpt below is from Horace Silver’s tune “Silver’s Serenade“. Pay special attention to the top voice of these chords. A nice little melodic phrase was taken from the tune and simplified a bit to become a part of this example. As was discussed earlier with major 7 voicings, the top mallet should play something melodic and interesting and the bottom mallets play notes that support the top voice and fill out the chord. Play the top voice alone so you can hear the line. Notice also the use of open and closed voicings, 3 and 4 part chords, and the variety of intervals. Notice also that some of the chords have no 3rd.

Listen:

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The trick to doing this well is seeing the notes you want to play quickly. To practice this, pick a set of 3 or 4 notes that make up a nice minor 7 sound. Start with 1 3 5 7 if you want. Set your metronome to a medium slow tempo and play your chord in all keys. Don’t move through the keys chromatically. Use a cycle of 5ths or 4ths. If you miss a chord don’t stop, just keep going on to the next key. Repeat the whole thing once or twice if you want. Make up lots of shapes like 2 3 5 6, or 5 3 4 9 (a big shape!), or 1 4 7 3 (all 4th intervals). Memorize the shape and run ‘em through the keys. Just do it!

The next chord type we’ll study will be dominant 7 chords. Take this link.

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