B Melodic Minor: Notes and the Open B String

B, C#, D, E, F#, G# and A# are the notes of the B melodic minor scale. The open B string rings the root, and G# and A# are the two raised notes that make the scale smoother than natural minor.

On the neck, the root appears on the 2nd fret of the A string and the 7th fret of the low E string. It is B major with a flat 3rd, so a major sound and a minor centre sit side by side. To use it over chord changes, read about choosing a scale for a given chord.

Play the B melodic minor scale

Use the step menu in the player to switch between the single-string run and the box shapes.

Notes of the B melodic minor scale

NoteDegreeIntervalSemitones from root
B1Root0
C#2Major 2nd2
Db3Minor 3rd3
E4Perfect 4th5
F#5Perfect 5th7
G#6Major 6th9
A#7Major 7th11

Structure

B melodic minor scale notes:

B C# D E F# G# A#

How the melodic minor scale is built:

The melodic minor scale is built from the degrees 1 2 b3 4 5 6 7, which gives the step pattern W-H-W-W-W-W-H (W = whole step, H = half step).

Counting in semitones from the root: 0, 2, 3, 5, 7, 9, 11. That makes it a 7-note scale.

It is the parent scale of its own modal family.

It is also known as Jazz Minor.

B Melodic Minor Scale Guitar Patterns

Static diagrams of every position shown in the player above.

B Melodic Minor Scale scale guitar pattern - On one string (B)

On one string (B)

B Melodic Minor Scale scale guitar pattern - Box pattern — position 1

Box pattern — position 1

B Melodic Minor Scale scale guitar pattern - Box pattern — position 2

Box pattern — position 2

B Melodic Minor Scale scale guitar pattern - Box pattern — position 3

Box pattern — position 3

B Melodic Minor Scale scale guitar pattern - Box pattern — position 4

Box pattern — position 4

B Melodic Minor Scale scale guitar pattern - Box pattern — position 5

Box pattern — position 5

B Melodic Minor Scale scale guitar pattern - 3 notes per string — position 1

3 notes per string — position 1

B Melodic Minor Scale scale guitar pattern - 3 notes per string — position 2

3 notes per string — position 2

B Melodic Minor Scale scale guitar pattern - 3 notes per string — position 3

3 notes per string — position 3

B Melodic Minor Scale scale guitar pattern - 3 notes per string — position 4

3 notes per string — position 4

B Melodic Minor Scale scale guitar pattern - 3 notes per string — position 5

3 notes per string — position 5

Chords in the B melodic minor scale

Stacking thirds on each degree of the scale gives these chords.

DegreeTriadSeventh chord
1 Bm Bm(maj7)
2 C#m C#m7
b3 Daug Dmaj7(b13)
4 E E7
5 F# F#7
6 G#dim G#m7(b5)
7 A#dim A#m7(b5)

Related modes

These scales share the same notes as the melodic minor scale, starting from a different degree.

Dorian b2 Scale Lydian Augmented Scale Lydian Dominant Scale Mixolydian b6 Scale Aeolian b5 Scale Super Locrian Scale

The melodic minor scale in other keys

C C# Db D D# Eb E F F# Gb G G# Ab A A# Bb B

All about the melodic minor scale →

Giancarlo Facoetti, founder of FaChords Guitar

Created by

Giancarlo Facoetti

Giancarlo is a musician (teaching guitar since 2000), software engineer, AI consultant and published researcher