Ab Melodic Minor Step by Step

Learn the Ab melodic minor scale as Ab, Bb, Cb, Db, Eb, F and G. The Cb is the flat 3rd, and on the neck it is just B, so the fingering matches every other melodic minor shape.

Find the root on the 4th fret of the low E string, or on the 11th fret of the A string. The tonic chord is Abm(maj7). In flats this key is easiest to read; if you prefer sharps, the page for G# is the same sound. See practising scales in context to put it to work.

Play the Ab melodic minor scale

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

Notes of the Ab melodic minor scale

NoteDegreeIntervalSemitones from root
Ab1Root0
Bb2Major 2nd2
Cbb3Minor 3rd3
Db4Perfect 4th5
Eb5Perfect 5th7
F6Major 6th9
G7Major 7th11

Structure

Ab melodic minor scale notes:

Ab Bb Cb Db Eb F G

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.

Ab Melodic Minor Scale Guitar Patterns

Static diagrams of every position shown in the player above.

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

On one string (G)

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

Box pattern — position 1

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

Box pattern — position 2

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

Box pattern — position 3

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

Box pattern — position 4

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

Box pattern — position 5

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

3 notes per string — position 1

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

3 notes per string — position 2

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

3 notes per string — position 3

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

3 notes per string — position 4

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

3 notes per string — position 5

Chords in the Ab melodic minor scale

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

DegreeTriadSeventh chord
1 Abm Abm(maj7)
2 Bbm Bbm7
b3 Cbaug Cbmaj7(b13)
4 Db Db7
5 Eb Eb7
6 Fdim Fm7(b5)
7 Gdim Gm7(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