Zyrada

That progression in E minor would be i VI flat-VII V. You get a little bit of chromatic flair from the resolution between the flat-VII and V chords, since flat-VII only works in the Aeolian mode. The V works fine since it's a simple dominant chord. Scale-wise then, you can play comfortably in E natural minor until the B chord, at which point you'll want to raise your D to a D-sharp. And maybe C to C-sharp, but if you like the exotic sound, keeping it at C will give you that.

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guitarreverie

So I could basically play E natural minor (E F# G A B C D) and switch to E harmonic minor when I hit the B chord to grab that D#, or play E harmonic minor, (E F# G A B C D#) and switch to E natural minor over the D chord to grab the D note.

Is this all correct? Any other tips/ tricks I could do? This is beginning to make sense I think.

Zyrada

Both are technically "right," but sticking mostly with harmonic minor sounds more interesting to my ear. Playing E harmonic minor over a C-chord is trickier than natural minor, but it can be really cool if you know how to use the dissonance between the G and the F-sharp or the E and the D-sharp. Once you get down to this point, the easiest thing to do is just play and let your ear figure out what you personally like.

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