Thoughts as you look at the minor scales today
As always in this 30 day routine, there is some review and some “new” material. There is a method to the madness with this approach. If you do this everyday, you’ll find that reviewing a scale or pattern two days in a row will help it stick better.
The other thing to note is that there are different scale patterns for minor keys – most notably, there is the “harmonic minor” and the “melodic minor.” If you’re not familiar with them, you can look them up. But these exercises are pretty much done around the concept of the melodic minor.
For the purposes of this exercise, it isn’t really important to be so mechanical as to worry about both. This is ultimately about ear training and being able to improvise and you’ll generally want to stick to the melodic minor approach when improvising anyway.
Review: F# major scales and 3rds
Review this scale and in 3rds.
Do: E minor scales and 3rd exercises
Learn the E minor scale and the E minor scale in intervals of thirds. Note what is mentioned above about harmonic and melodic minors.
Review: D Arpeggio Exercises
Review these exercises with the goal of eventually being able to them in different patterns, different rhythmic patterns and the like.
Do: B arpeggio exercises
Get familiar with these arpeggios – try doing with different rhythms and the like.
