Descending Minor Pattern in Dua Lipa's Levitating
Tuesday, April 13, 2021
This simple and catchy melodic pattern is an excellent introduction to putting minor scale tonality into practice. The melody of Levitating by Dua Lipa (Feat. DaBaby) starts off using 4 sixteenth notes on each degree of the minor scale starting on the 5th and descending to the root.
Circle of Fifths Excercise
This exercise is an excellent way for beginning and intermediate players to get to better know their minor scales. While this exercise does not cover the 6th and 7th scale degrees and thus avoids the melodic vs harmonic minor distinctions, it is still a good way to cover the first 5 notes of a minor scale and get the feel of the minor 3rd scale degree. When possible try to perform this exercise without reading the notes. This will give the player a stronger feel for changing chords and a faster, more intuitive understanding of minor tonality.
Another similar but slightly more advanced minor scale snippet is the E-Minor Scale and Triad Pattern in Outkast's Hey Ya!
Several excercises similar to this 5-4-3-2-1 pattern and many, many others are available in Patterns for Jazz by Jerry Coker, James Casale, Gary Campbell, Jerry Greene. It provides a ton of pattern examples and excercises for reading chord changes, applying ideas to chords, and improving technique. Working through this book will help any musician, jazz or classical, improve their technique and understanding of harmony and melody. It is available for both treble-clef and bass-clef instruments.