Easy Mode Lesson

[blakem]

The mode thing is great ... its really easy..(if you dont know already)..each note in the major scale is a mode. There are 7 notes in a major scale, the 8th note is the same as the first note just an octave higher. We will number each note in the major scale 1 through 7. Each note can be used as a starting point in the scale. That will be a different mode. Here are the names. Next to there corrisponding number in the major scale.
1. Ionian
2. Dorian
3. Phrygian
4. lydian
5. mixolydian
6. aeolian
7. Locrian
Each mode or MOOD has a different feel. How it works is, say you are playing a song in A minor, you want to play a great minor scale, Dorian is a great mode , Santana Etc etc..so what you do is figure out wich major scale has the note A as its second note. That would be the G major scale..so you play the G major scale emphasisng the A note, what you get is A dorian... It works for every key.. so, you are playing in the key of G and Say you want to play G Phyrigian...all you have to do is find what major scale has G as the 3RD note, play that major scale emphasising the G note... It will be G phrygian..so on and so forth, where you start and end on a major scale gives you the modes...pretty cool...I personally Love Dorian and Lydian...
Also, whats important in playing modes is figuring out wich Mode Is minor and wich mode is Major..so remember that each mode has a number in the major scale..1 through 7.. The 1, 4 and 5, are Major scales, the 2,3,6 are minor and 7 is diminished. Hope this opens up a great new world for your solos!!!

[capitalalchemy]

Yes, its really that simple. I like to teach scales and modes using the major scale, but unfortunately it can produce a different fingering, and so students can get confused. The concept of what you were talking about is all that any student needs. There are so many different fingerings for modes, they just need to keep that in mind and realize that they are playing the same thing. You explained this brilliantly. Thank you.

GuitArticles

[Steve Lowe]

dude - that's first explanation of modes that's made sense to me, thanks!!!

[blakem]

Originally Posted by Steve Lowe

dude - that's first explanation of modes that's made sense to me, thanks!!!

Glad I could help!! Enjoy..it willl open a whole new world for you

[blakem]

Originally Posted by capitalalchemy

Yes, its really that simple. I like to teach scales and modes using the major scale, but unfortunately it can produce a different fingering, and so students can get confused. The concept of what you were talking about is all that any student needs. There are so many different fingerings for modes, they just need to keep that in mind and realize that they are playing the same thing. You explained this brilliantly. Thank you.

GuitArticles

Glad to help

[blakem]

also try and memorize the different ways and positions to play the major scale, its all you need. If you are not sure of the major scale, a good way to sound it out is to do the old tune from "The Sound of Music" Sing it from the starting note of any key..and find the notes..Doe, Rey, Me , Fa , So ,La ,Ti ,Doe.... sounds cheesey but it really works..use your ears..

[Gunner]

Thanks Dude!

[Boleskinehouse]

Very cool. Thanks!

[djwilbanks]

Flippin' Sweet, thanks!

[JasonC]

Thanks for posting this! So it's really just the major scale moved around depending on what mode you want??

[blakem]

Originally Posted by JasonC

Thanks for posting this! So it's really just the major scale moved around depending on what mode you want??

You guessed it!! Pretty easy.. depending on the key of the major scale...just remember what key you are playing in and find the major scale that has the mode you are looking for in the key you are playing..Remember the 7 names of the modes, wich interval they start at ,1 through 7 and weather you are playing major or minor. Remember that the mode you pick has to start on the Key note you are playing in.

[ThrashPirate]

Originally Posted by Steve Lowe

dude - that's first explanation of modes that's made sense to me, thanks!!!

+1, Thanks!

[Phil47uk]

Posted this in the other thread, so thought I'd post it here too..



Without going into a big theory thing, it's quite simple.
For every mode there is a chord and for every chord there is a mode.

eg..
The Primary related chords of C major

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

C Dm Em F G Am Bdim C


( Sorry this page setup doesn't allow me to put each number over each chord for some reason )


The notes of the C major scale

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
C D E F G A B C


The Modes

C D E F G A B C = C Ionian........................Against chord of C

D E F G A B C D = D Dorian...................... " " " Dm

E F G A B C D E = E Phrygian .................. " " " Em

F G A B C D E F = F Lydian ...................... " " " F

G A B C D E F G = G Mixolydian................. " " " G

A B C D E F G A = A Aeolian......................... " " " Am

B C D E F G A B = B Locrian....................... " " " Bdim

Notice that against each chord, you are only playing the scale of C major, except starting on a different note every time. You also look at it as this.. If all these chords are constucted from the scale of C, then the scale of C must fit them all except different root notes each time sounding strong against that chord.

Apply the same principle to all twelve harmonized keys and you have all the modes. Learn five ways of playing each major scale like the five ways of playing each chord and pentatonic scale.( See C.A. G .E .D system )
And you now have sixty mode patterns under your belt, by only having to learn five major scale shapes. ( 5 patterns x 12 major keys = 60 )

Of course one can go much further into all this, but for a start try the above.

Modes in the past have been explained in a very complicated manner and most people thought they had to learn a whole new set of scales for each mode.. You don't.. All you have to know are your major scales, except each time having a different root note. .. Simple really!!

Of course another application that many people don't know about are the application of pentatonic scales, but that's another time..

The secret of success with soloing is knowing what scales go with what chords to provide different flavours.

Sorry that I couldn't line everything up on the page. It won't allow me.

Phil.

[JasonC]

Ah... well I'm so bored with the pentatonic that my instructor showed me way back when... looks like if I practice what you guys are talking about I'll have a good basic structure for what the hell I'm doing.

[Phil47uk]

Originally Posted by JasonC

Ah... well I'm so bored with the pentatonic that my instructor showed me way back when... looks like if I practice what you guys are talking about I'll have a good basic structure for what the hell I'm doing.

Yeah, it's good fun. The problem with most books and on line stuff about guitar theory is that it dissapears up it's own arse with people trying to make something which is really simple look like rocket science, so everyone will think they are geniuses.

I have just written a book about guitar tuition, which sets out all this sort of stuff in the easiest way possible with the minimum amount of theory. It's not on the market yet, but with a bit of luck should be in the not too far future..

The ultimate technique is to have no technique, but obviously one has to transcend the theory stage before you can achieve this.. In other words, you don't have to think about it when you are doing it.

Now from the initial primary chord stage you can then stack another third on top of your triad to produce the 7th chords, so what was.

C Dm Em F G Am B dim C .......now becomes

Cmaj7th Dm7th Em7th Fmaj 7th G7 Am7th Bm7b5.

Now you also use those initial modes against these chords too, as they too are only constructed from the notes of the C maj scale.

Think of primary chords as giving you primary colours on your pallette.. Bright red..Bright yellow..Bright Blue..

Now by adding another third to the stack and producing the seventh chords we get pastel shades of sound to use. Maj 7ths for instance.. Dreamy summers day sounding chords..

If you think of painting in sounds you can't go far wrong.

Without going into any theory and keeping things simple, take a 12 bar..say in C using C---F---G.
The sounds are very strong. Not a great choice if you want to get the feel of a sleazy blues night club. So changing the sequence to say C7....F9....G9, we get a real slinky feel if we use scale of Cm pentatonic against it.

The weakest part of most guitarists repetoire these days is their knowledge of chords and rhythms.
They are so obssesed with worrying about how fast they can play they miss the plot completely sometimes.

Stick on u-tube and you can find a million and one bedroom guitarsist shredding away as if it were some sort of Olympic sport..
Now type in rhythms and see what comes up... Other than the power chord fraternity..Not much really. Now this in itself should speak volumes.

[lowe]

Thanks a lot Phill. This is great. But I have one question....

Originally Posted by Phil47uk

Of course another application that many people don't know about are the application of pentatonic scales, but that's another time..

?

[JasonC]

You rock Phil. Thanks a ton for that. What you're saying is pretty universal... you hear a lot of the same talk with martial arts... talk of transcending theory and technique.

[Sven]

Can anybody name a composition/song in the Locrian mode?

[Phil47uk]

Originally Posted by lowe

Thanks a lot Phill. This is great. But I have one question....




?

Gotta go out with the missus, but will answer that one later.. Hey! I'm giving all my short cut theory away here..No one will buy the book.

[Phil47uk]

Originally Posted by JasonC

You rock Phil. Thanks a ton for that. What you're saying is pretty universal... you hear a lot of the same talk with martial arts... talk of transcending theory and technique.

Thanks Jason. Yeah, too many people do to much talking these days and not enough playing. It's like most of the shred heads on u-tube. All very impressive for the first 20 seconds, but hardly any of the silly buggers could do session work as most suck at rhythmical skills and don't know many chords.
Other than a few famous ones like Vai, Satriani etc, most are, and will forever be confined to the bedroom.

[Phil47uk]

Originally Posted by Sven

Can anybody name a composition/song in the Locrian mode?

Not so much in pop music, other than shred heads showing off against one chord on u-tube. Not very enlightening though.
It can be heard in passages of some classical music such as 'Scriabin Sonata No. 5 '

You Tube

[blakem]

Originally Posted by Phil47uk

Yeah, it's good fun. The problem with most books and on line stuff about guitar theory is that it dissapears up it's own arse with people trying to make something which is really simple look like rocket science, so everyone will think they are geniuses.

I have just written a book about guitar tuition, which sets out all this sort of stuff in the easiest way possible with the minimum amount of theory. It's not on the market yet, but with a bit of luck should be in the not too far future..

The ultimate technique is to have no technique, but obviously one has to transcend the theory stage before you can achieve this.. In other words, you don't have to think about it when you are doing it.

Now from the initial primary chord stage you can then stack another third on top of your triad to produce the 7th chords, so what was.

C Dm Em F G Am B dim C .......now becomes

Cmaj7th Dm7th Em7th Fmaj 7th G7 Am7th Bm7b5.

Now you also use those initial modes against these chords too, as they too are only constructed from the notes of the C maj scale.

Think of primary chords as giving you primary colours on your pallette.. Bright red..Bright yellow..Bright Blue..

Now by adding another third to the stack and producing the seventh chords we get pastel shades of sound to use. Maj 7ths for instance.. Dreamy summers day sounding chords..

If you think of painting in sounds you can't go far wrong.

Without going into any theory and keeping things simple, take a 12 bar..say in C using C---F---G.
The sounds are very strong. Not a great choice if you want to get the feel of a sleazy blues night club. So changing the sequence to say C7....F9....G9, we get a real slinky feel if we use scale of Cm pentatonic against it.

The weakest part of most guitarists repetoire these days is their knowledge of chords and rhythms.
They are so obssesed with worrying about how fast they can play they miss the plot completely sometimes.

Stick on u-tube and you can find a million and one bedroom guitarsist shredding away as if it were some sort of Olympic sport..
Now type in rhythms and see what comes up... Other than the power chord fraternity..Not much really. Now this in itself should speak volumes.

You are so right Phil..Jimmie Vaughn said the same thing, everyone wants to shred and they have forgotten about good rythem..

[axslinger]

Originally Posted by JasonC

Ah... well I'm so bored with the pentatonic that my instructor showed me way back when... looks like if I practice what you guys are talking about I'll have a good basic structure for what the hell I'm doing.

One thing that I didn't pick up on when I was studying modes on my own, was that you don't really get the "feel" of modes with pentatonics. For instance, with D Dorian, you would think that you could just play a Dm pentatonic. It won't sound bad but it won't have the "feel" of the mode because the notes that make up the major scale and give it it's "feel" are missing from the pentatonic. So playing a Dm pentatonic is just going to sound like you are playing in Dm. When you add the extra 2 notes, you are really adding notes from the C major scale to the Dm pentatonic...if you want to look at it that way.

Look at the Dm pentatonic shape at the 5th fret position then look at the D Dorian shape...You are just adding the E and B to the shape. Since I already knew all 5 pentatonic shapes, I use those as a foundation, then figure out which notes I can add to those shapes for a given mode.