Fretboard fluency

This month we start a mini-series which looks at the seventh mode of Melodic Minor – the Superlocrian, otherwise known as the Altered scale: R- b 2-#2-3- b 5-#5- b 7. One of the most commonly used Melodic Minor modes, Superlocrian is applied over altered dominant chords. That is, dominant chords that contain alterations to the 5th and/or 2nd degrees. To recap: a dominant chord is said to be functional if it is acting as a V chord which resolves to a tonic chord a 5th lower (or 4th higher). For example, E7 would be treated as a functional dominant if it’s followed by an A major or minor tonic chord. The V dominant