Quote:
Originally Posted by guitarreverie
Hi all, sorry for my late response... Thank you everyone so much for your thoughtful replies!
I've discovered that playing E natural minor then switching to harmonic minor over the B chord is a great solution. However I've also discovered that there is a scale (or mode of a scale) that works wonderfully! It's the Phrygian dominant scale, also known as the Spanish Phrygian scale or gypsy scale. It is the 5th mode of the harmonic minor scale!
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Quote:
Originally Posted by guitarreverie
Well I've done a bit more reading and I'm a little disappointed that I was wrong. I thought the B Phrygian dominant scale was perfect. It's notes are B C D# E F# D A. Close but no cigar. I just need that darn D# to drop to a D! Are there any scales that contain the notes B C D E F# A?
Please excuse my limited understanding I'm still learning. Thanks again all! Music theory is really exciting!
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Allow me to point something out. This is the E harmonic minor scale:
E F# G A B C D#
This is the B phrygian dominant scale:
B C D#E F# G A
Notice anything? They're the same notes. If you play B phrygian dominant, you're essentially playing E harmonic minor. So, the original equation still fits: E natural minor (E F# G A B C D) over the first three chords, then E harmonic minor/B phrygian dominant (E F# G A B C
D#) over the last chord. You won't be able to play one single pitch collection over the entire progression. However, depending on what you're doing, you might like the sound of E minor pentatonic (E G A B D) over the whole thing. It's an E natural minor scale minus the 2nd and 6th notes. When you reach the B chord, when you play D, it will sound like a B7(#9) chord (B D# F# A D):
Code:
e-
B-3
G-2
D-1
A-2
E-
It can be interesting. If you don't like the way that sounds though, you're pretty much going to have to suck it up and switch to E harmonic minor when you get to B.