Scales for improvising
Each scale goes up and down two octaves while the left hand holds the chord it fits. Get to know how every note sounds over it — then use them to make up your own lines.
Blues scale
Minor pentatonic plus the ♭5 — the sound of the blues, over a dominant 7th
Minor pentatonic
Five notes with no wrong ones over a minor 7th chord
Major pentatonic
The major scale without its 4th and 7th: bright, and safe over a major chord
Dorian
Minor with a raised 6th — the jazz minor sound, over a minor 7th (the ii chord)
Mixolydian
Major with a flat 7th, over a dominant 7th (the V chord)
Lydian
Major with a raised 4th — dreamy, over a major 7th