Harmonic Minor Made EASY: 4 Sneaky Tricks You NEED To KNOW!
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Most guitarists struggle with harmonic minor — but these 4 sneaky tricks make it easy and musical! Learn how to hack the scale using Mixolydian Pentatonic, Triad Pairs, Chord Tones, and Diminished Arpeggios.
Most guitarists avoid the harmonic minor scale because it feels awkward and hard to use musically. In this lesson, I’ll show you 4 simple hacks that make harmonic minor (and its mode Phrygian Dominant) feel natural and playable — without memorizing big, clunky scale patterns.
We’ll use:
✅ Mixolydian Pentatonic – a shortcut to get that exotic sound instantly
✅ Triad Pairs – the melodic glue that connects your ideas
✅ Chord Tones & Half Steps – to outline the harmony like a pro
✅ Diminished 7 Arpeggios – for tension, drama, and smooth phrasing
Then I’ll show you how to combine all four concepts into real licks that sound advanced but are built from simple ideas.
If you’ve ever wanted to sound more exotic, dramatic, and expressive in your solos, this lesson will finally unlock harmonic minor for you.
@ikmultimedia @prsguitars @daddarioandco
0:00 – 0:42 Intro
0:43 – 2:21 Playing Examples and some insight in Harmonic Minor
2:22 – 4:57 Some Theory about Harmonic Minor and how it WORKS
4:58 – 7:52 Sneaky Trick #1 – The Mixolydian Pentatonic
7:53 – 10:25 Sneaky Trick #2 – Triad Pairs
10:26 – 13:14 Sneaky Trick #3 – Chord Tones and Half Steps
13:15 – 14:43 Sneaky Trick #4 – Diminished 7 Arpeggios
14:44 – 16:32 Combining the Tricks into Cool Licks!
16:33 – 17:00 Last Thoughts
#Harmonic #Minor #EASY #Sneaky #Tricks
Originally posted by UCou-yxHTxHINOWByigZWi0g at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IZcJtthBk8c
Great to see you again Charlie, I’ve been subscribed for a long time, you always make exciting sounds. Love that sinister middle eastern sound, going to give it a go now, thanks.
Wonderful video. Can you please post the tab for Slash's crescendo lick in Sweet Child of Mine?
Great video. Maybe this will help me get out of my rut. Thanks!
You mentioned 'regurgitating 3 note per string scales' and that's funny because I know a friend who overanalyzes everything about guitar playing to the point of it being boring, and he is obsessed with the 3 note thing. Your approach to this sound gets the the heart of it.
Hi Charlie, Very good video! One idea to further enhance your lessons here: time-stamped chapters are super-handy, especially when the viewer is reviewing the content you convey the second time around with their guitar to hand: fingers position, play-through etc. It's a minor improvement, but really increases the ”value”, the learning benefit in other words, for the student.
Terrific stuff- the best yet! Many thanks! ????
Brilliant as ever Thanks again
Well done Charlie. Thank you. I was wondering how to work this scale
Nice ???????? great lesson, used to use this with my piano comps thx