So much like my Pentatonic Version of this post, I wish more pop tunes were in Minor Keys. I don’t want to learn a whole new vocabulary so why not just start moving my licks from my minor scale to my major scale!
This way tends to be a bit simpler, our Major Scale is: 1-2-3-4-5-6-7. Our Minor Scale is: 1-2-b3-4-5-b6-b7. Since we’re going from the Minor scale to the Major scale, we have to think about which notes need to be raised (to compensate for their flatted-ness) to fit into our Major Scale!
First Example
Minor Scale Lick
This one is: 5-b6-5-4 | b3-2-b7-5-1. Now in comparing the two scales, all we have to do is switch 3 notes and we get the major equivalent. The second note is a b6, that has to be moved to a normal 6. The fifth note is a b3. We need to move that up to the 3. The seventh note of the lick is a b7 so that one needs to be moved up to a natural 7.
Second Example
Minor Scale Lick
So this one goes: 1-b3-5-b6-b7 | 2-b3-4 | b7-1-b3. You guessed it we have to just change the b3’s to 3’s! b6 to 6! b7 to 7!
Third Example
Minor Scale Lick
This one is 5-b6-5-4 | 2-b3-2-1-b7-b6-5. This one we do the same thing as the previous two, move the 3’s, 6’s and 7’s. This one though, I found some of the notes to be placed differently to accommodate for the alterations.
This isn’t as easy as learning licks, but the more you analyze them, the easier they get and the easier it is to spot the differences between the licks and scales.