The minor 251 sequence

In the key of C minor the three chords of a II-V-I sequence are Dm7(b5) – G7 – Cm.

In a major 251 sequence the II chord is a minor 7. In the minor version you can see from the above graphic that although it is still a minor 7 chord it is now also has a flat 5.

The dominant 7 chord remains the same as in a major II-V-I sequence.

In a real book you will often see the third chord as a minor 7 but for now I wish to show it as a basic triad without its 4th note.

Here now are three ways that you can improvise through this minor 251 sequence.

1. Use the C blues scale. This is a horizontal approach (meaning one scale fits a group of chords) using the C blues scale over all 3 chords.

2. The harmonic minor scale.

Using this C harmonic scale only works well over chords 1 and 2. However the boxed note Ab will clash with the Cm chord. You will therefore need to change track for this 3rd chord. If you choose to play Cm7 you could use the C Dorian mode.

This takes care of the 6th note (now A natural) and if you choose Cm7 as your final chord, then note 7 (Bb) works.

However, my preference for chord 3 is not Cm7 but either a basic C minor triad (see the top graphic) or Cm6. Here are the 3 chords again, this time with Cm6. I’ll then explain why this works better than Cm7.

3. Use three melodic minor scales, one for each chord.

For the first chord, Dm7(b5) use the melodic minor scale a minor 3rd up (3 semitones) up from root. The root note is D so the note F is a minor 3rd up. Here is the F melodic minor scale.

Now use the same scale but start the scale on the root note of chord (D).

A quicker way to locate the notes of this scale is to play each note of the chord and then go up two half steps.

This scale has two names: the half diminished and Locrian 2.

For our second chord (G7) we use the melodic minor of a half step up from the root, in this case Ab. Here is the Ab melodic minor scale.

As in the previous chord I’ll now start this scale from the root note (G).

This, in fact is the altered scale, which contains all 4 altered notes: b9, #9, #11 and b13.

Here’s another way to look at this row of notes with the 4 alterations.

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