[jazztele]

mixolydian mode, or as i think of it, major scale with a flat seventh. use it too much and you sound like a vintage hippie band on a bender, so watch it.

the "blues tango" scale is 1, 2, b3, 5, b6. essentially a natural minor scale (or aeolian mode, if you like that mode talk) without a fourth or a (flatted)seventh. I'm going to call it charlie.

try melodic minor over the i chord in a minor blues. hip. you can also use that melodic minor up a half step over an altered dominant chord (b5, #5, b9, #9) we're getting jazzy and "out" here, but it's cool. The idea there is you're really playing the seventh mode of the melodic minor scale, which is also lovingly referred to as the "altered scale." i say that's as confusing as heck, and i just think "altered dom? melodic minor up a half step."

a diminished chord and a 7b9 chord have a lot in common...so that works.