Combining Major and Minor Scales?

[bobsguitars09]

Is this something that people do? If you combine the C Major Scale with the C Minor Scale you get these notes.

C D Eb E F G Ab A Bb B

and these chords. does anyone write songs with this idea?

C Eb F Ab

D E G A

Eb F Ab Bb

E G A B

F Ab Bb C

G A B D

Ab Bb C Eb

A B D E

Bb C Eb G

B D E G

[BigDaddyLoveHandles]

I think you might as well go chromatic when you reach 10 notes in the scale.

[jdaguitar2]

I agree that this scale is essentially chromatic or twelve-tone. I believe what you may be referring to is the melodic minor scale or jazz minor scale.

C D Eb F G A B C

Essentially a major scale with a flatted third. Most jazz players will avoid the classical idea of reverting to the natural minor form when descending as this will "trick" the ear into hearing a major scale on the way down until the b3 is encountered.

[bako]

Moving between a major and minor I chord is a usable musical event.
What are you hoping to achieve through scale mergers as an approach?
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It is a smaller leap to mix scale pairs with only one different note like C major and C melodic minor (C D Eb E F G A B C)

Building chords by skipping note wouldn't be my first analysis move.
I would first look at the chords from each scale independently and then look for new structures made possible by the additional note(s).

Ex. adding an Ab note to a C Major scale

CMa7------CMa7+
Dm7-------Dm7b5
Em7--------E7
FMa7-------FmMa7
G9----------G7b9
AbMa7+
Am7--------AmMa7
Bm7b5------Bdim

And many more implications at the 9,11,13 level just from 1 additional note.

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At times I study/practice in a kind of free modal interchange way in relation to a pedal tone.
My goal is not so much to combine scales as it to hear all 12 notes in relation to dominant, major and minor functions.

Dominant function for example can be expressed through 11 of 12 notes, everything but the Ma7.
Different modes/scales each contribute a coherent piece of the package.
Mixolydian and altered would be one way to address all 11 dominant notes.
The major 7th can re-enter the picture as part of a dominant of the dominant ( Key of F----C7 is V7---the B note is part of G7)

I am also interested in learning to hear movements between different harmonic areas while still fulfilling one principal harmonic function.

I don't have exact language for this activity and so I hope this can be at least partially understood.