How to Use Melodic Minor for Half-Diminished and Super-Locrian

Two very practical melodic minor links are:

• for a half-diminished chord, think melodic minor a minor third above
• for an altered dominant, think melodic minor a half-step above

Half-diminished from a minor third above

For Bm7b5, think D melodic minor:

D, E, F, G, A, B, C#

Played from B, that gives the half-diminished color:

B, C#, D, E, F, G, A

This gives a more usable minor color than plain Locrian because of the natural 9.

Super-Locrian from a half-step above

For E7alt, think F melodic minor.

That gives the Super-Locrian sound on E:

E, F, G, G#, A#, C, D

Use them in a minor ii V i

A classic place for both is:

Bm7b5 - E7alt - Am6

One practical routine

1. On Bm7b5, think melodic minor a minor third above.
2. On E7alt, think melodic minor a half-step above.
3. Loop Bm7b5 - E7alt - Am6.
4. Resolve the altered line clearly into the tonic minor chord.

One thing to remember

You can memorize the relationships like this:

• m7b5 = melodic minor up a minor third
• 7alt = melodic minor up a half-step

That shortcut is often enough to get the sound under your fingers before you analyze every alteration in detail.