as i know the diatonic quite well. i find it not too hard to augment or diminish the odd note hear and there. i normally stick in aeolian minor, then change a bit. harmonic minor is only one different note, and i find once ive played it for a bit it gets in my head and i know were the weird interval lies and so i dont get too lost as long as i dont journey too far from my most comfortable diatonic position.

i also like puttin some flat fives on the aolian to make a sort of blues scale. or i flatten the second note, which is the phrygian mode. ( but i tend not to dwell on the names, or even if my alterations just make different modes, like this one.