George Harrison and the Melodic Minor Scale

This is the first in a series of posts that looks at the music of ex-Beatle George Harrison. Often, his music has an ethereal quality, no doubt influenced by his passion for spirituality and his never ending quest for answers. It is rare indeed that a musician continues in this vein throughout his career, but that he did.

The first piece we are going to look at, is his classic from his triple album All Things Must Pass. Released 55 years ago this month, it contains the song Beware of Darkness.

The beguiling feel to the piece comes from its unusual chord progression, and in particular, one specific chord change. Written in the key of E Major/C# minor, the verse has the following progression:

B Major – B7/A – G Major – G7 – G# minor ……

As you can see highlighted above, the G to G7 chords are what interest us here. In the key of E Major, the chord on degree III is G# minor, so we are now outside of the key of E, but where, exactly?

Well, the G Major chord contains the notes G B and D, and by altering those notes in the E Major scale, we get: E F# G A B C# D. But G7 also introduces F instead of F#, and now we have

E F G A B C# D. Rearranging the notes, we can now see what it is:

D E F G A B C# = D Melodic

Now, remember this is all happening over a G bass note, so what we are hearing is the ethereal sound of:

G A B C# D E F = G Lydian Dominant (Mode IV of D Melodic)

This mode is a gem, used in the right place, and George has chosen well here. Using it is simple enough to pull off. Here are a few suggestions:

1) Play a modal position from E Major, such as A Lydian, and when the G chord is played, slide into A Mixolydian b6 modal position, switching back into an E Major modal position at the sounding of the G# minor chord.

2) When G is played, choose an arpeggio or two from D Melodic, which are as follows:

D minMaj 7 – E min7b9 – FMaj7#5 – G7b5 – A 7#5 – B min7b5 – C#7 alt

This opportunity to play the D Melodic scale over the chords G and G7 lasts for a bar and a half, so you have plenty of time to milk it and mix a scale and an arpeggio in if you wish, as the tempo of the song is also quite slow. I particularly like to play the F Maj7#5 arpeggio ascending and the resolving to a G# minor arpeggio before continuing on, but that is just me.

We will be sticking with George’s use of the Melodic scale in the next instalment. Thanks for reading.