What other modes/scales can i play over a song in the Key of Eb Minor

Question

I'm wanting to have two pieces of music flow from one to another, first one will be completely original and performed by me the other one is a song that already exists. I've already discovered that the artist's song is in the Key of Eb Minor; however despite being in a minor key when i listen to it it doesn't sound that sad. As it's a eurodance track it tends to be more upbeat

Now when im improvising i naturally default to blues. However i need to make the piece sound a bit more upbeat towards the end (so that the feeling flows from my piece into this other track) so i'm not sure how to make a naturally blusey solo get more upbeat towards the end

I'm doing this to honour a family's members memory who died a few years ago and i've chosen his favourite song. What other modes/scales would work

In case anyone is wondering the artists song is "Can't Stop The Rain" - Cascada. Also if the song isn't in Eb minor please correct me

Answer 1

Nothing wrong with the minor blues scale, but by removing a single note you turn the minor blues into the minor pentatonic scale. I.e., Eb-Gb-Ab-A-Bb-Db becomes Eb-Gb-Ab-Bb-Db. Eb natural minor will do the trick as well. Personally I would stay away from harmonic and melodic minor for the song you listed (Can't Stop The Rain) as they imply harmony that moves toward a goal (high emphasis on V-i sound), and this song has more of harmony that is highly repetitive (very common in dance music like this). Minor pentatonic will work the entire way through, however. A blues note here and there will be fine.

Answer 2

You didn't really explain if your song is also in Eb minor.

Knowing only the key probably isn't enough to recommend what to do except in general terms.

Assuming you are playing minor blues, maybe try changing to Eb Dorian mode to change the mood away from bluesy.

But also think about rhythm and melodic contour for that change of mood. You might be able to get different rhythms and more of a 'singing' line in Dorian.

Answer 3

It depends on the chords. As a general principle, you can play any note against any chord. But it might be very dissonant if it is the 'wrong' note, which means you have to resolve it. So you need to play a chord tone to resolve it.

If the piece is in E minor, you need to identify if it uses a V-i or v-i. And if it uses a V-i, does it use the major 7th in other chords? It is generally not a good idea to play a b7 against a V chord. If you want a safe scale, look for a pentatonic with only chord tones and make sure none of your pentatonic notes scales with any of the chords. If you want to use a full 7 note scale, you need to identify if you can just keep playing natural minor (b6 b7) or if you need to change to melodic minor (6 and 7, over the V in a V-i).

As for connecting the piece, if they are in totally unrelated keys, you need to change the key ofone of them. If they are in neighboring keys, you play some chords both keys share, and do a cadence on the I or i of the new key.