Dorian and Mixolydian song list from the RGT

[Cpt Matt Sparrow]

Hi amigos

Following on from our recent topic of modal songs, I stumbled across this little article from the RGT (Registry of Guitar Teachers).

Dorian and Mixolydian Song List | Registry of Guitar Tutors

It has a good list of pieces as example for pupils, which I always find handy

Dorian Songs for Guitar

Get Lucky – Daft Punk

Black Magic Woman – Santana

Oye Como Va – Santana

So What – Miles Davis

Wicked Game – Chris Isaac

Boulevard of Broken Dreams – Green Day

Solo to Light My Fire – The Doors

Moondance – Van Morrison

Who Will Save Your Soul – Jewel

Evil Ways – Santana

Horse With No Name – America


Mixolydian Songs for Guitar

Summer Song – Joe Satriani

Solo on Marquee Moon – Television

Verse of Sweet Child of Mine – Guns n Roses

Verse of She Sells Sanctuary – The Cult

Alright Now – Free

Sweet Home Alabama – Lynyrd Skynyrd

On Broadway – George Benson

L.A. Woman – The Doors

Seven Bridges Road – The Eagles

Southern Cross – CSNY

Cinnamon Girl – Neil Young

 

[JonR]

Uh-oh...

Evil Ways - mostly dorian, except it has a major key V chord at the end of the sequence.
Moondance - likewise: dorian vamp, and first 16 bars of verse, but then it does into a minor key sequence, with minor v and major V.

Sweet Home Alabama - as many of us know, there is a long-standing dispute about this one based on how you hear it.
D mixolydian (I-bVII-IV), if you hear the first chord as the key chord
G major (V-IV-I), if you hear the G as key chord.
Your choice, but that's what it depends on - not looking at the chords, but listening to how it pans out.
IOW, not an ideal choice for a list of definite (widely agreed) mixolydian tunes.

Wicked Game is similarly ambiguous. Do you hear it as i-bVII-IV? (B dorian) or v-IV-I (E mixolydian?) For me it's 50/50, I can hear it either way - neither Bm nor E sound quite secure as key chord (and the A certainly isn't).

The Beatles - Lennon and Harrison at least - actually loved mixolydian mode, using it repeatedly, at least in the verses or riffs of their songs. AFAIK, they only made two totally mixolydian songs: She Said She Said, and Tomorrow Never Knows, both from Revolver. But many others were largely mixolydian:
Norwegian Wood: mixolydian riff and main section (shifts to dorian, and a major key ii-V)
Within You Without You: wholly mixolydian, except for a brief appearance of a b3 in the bridge.
Hard Days Night: mixolydian opening chord and verse vamp.
If I Needed Someone: mixolydian verse
Love Me Do: G mixolydian verse (G major chorus)
Day Tripper: mixolydian riff/verse, and all the other chords are dom7s.
(and probably many more)
Their blues-inspired tunes (You Can't Do That, I Feel Fine, She's A Woman) used the blues b7 but tended not to flatten the 3rd, making them more mixolydian in feel than normal blues songs.

More:
Martha & the Vandellas: Dancing in the Street: mixolydian verse
Them, Patty Smith, etc: Gloria
Kinks: See My Friends (wholly mixolydian)
Kinks: Tired of Waiting - mixolydian verse.
Stones: The Last Time
Stones: Sympathy for the Devil -mixolydian verse (major key V in chorus)
G'n'R: Sweet Child o Mine: mixolydian riff and verse

Keep em coming, folks...

 

[drew365]

This is good info. This is where I'm at with my playing, trying to strengthen my dorian and mixolydian chops.

 

[JonR]

For classic mixolydian and dorian, Miles Davis's "Kind of Blue" is a prototype source.

So What = D dorian, with bridge in Eb dorian
[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DEC8nqT6Rrk]So What by.Miles Davis - YouTube[/ame]
tune starts around 0:33 (on the bass)
shift to Eb dorian at 1:02, and back to D dorian at 1:16
Solos in D dorian from 1:32; to Eb dorian at 2:00, and back to D at 2:15. (and so on)

All Blues = G mixolydian vamp, then 12-bar blues format, except bars 5-6 go to G dorian instead of C7. Bars 9-10 are a minor blues V-bVI-V (D7#9-Eb7#9-D7#9).
[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JIfdYs8WErM]All Blues- Miles Davis - YouTube[/ame]
0:32: G dorian (sounds like the usual G blues shift to C7, but the bass stays on the G riff, so effectively it's just a modal switch on the same root)
0:37: back to G mixolydian
0:42: altered D7-Eb7-D7 chords...
0:48: and back to G mixolydian

 

[twst1up]

mlp needs to make a "super VIP" designation for JON R

 

[st.bede]

this is so cool...

 

[huw]

My favourite for using as an example is I Can't Explain by The Who:

The whole song is "in E", with mixolydian verses and major choruses (so that's E mixolydian for the verse - E D A E - and E major for the chorus - E C#m A B).

Another chance to recommend this book: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Songwriting...1&keywords=songwriting+secrets+of+the+beatles

Plenty of examples of The Beatles' uses of modal harmony there, plus much, much, more.

 

[JonR]

Interesting (possibly coincidental) parallels:
Miles Davis: All Blues (1959) = mixolydian vamp in 3/4, switch to dorian and back, then bVI-V cadence back to I.
Beatles: Norwegian Wood (1965) = mixolydian vamp in 3/4, switch to dorian, then ii-V cadence back to I.

Miles Davis : So What (1959) = quartal stacked chords, m11.
Beatles: Hard Days Night (1964) = big 7sus4 chord (or arguably stacked m11) in intro. First one heard in popular music.
Herbie Hancock: Maiden Voyage (1965) = four unrelated 7sus4 chords, prototype of modal jazz.

This is not about who stole from who, but a sign of what good ears the Beatles had, and how in tune with the zeitgeist they were - not just with their beloved rock'n'roll, but with modern jazz vibes too (even if they didn't know or care quite how to go in that direction).

Another point is that while mixolydian became the mode of choice for the "heavy blues" sound of rock (beginning with the Stones and Who, building on hints in rock'n'roll, soul and early Beatles), the Beatles were later more interested in its potential for Indian drone-type sounds, as they stuck carefully to the major 3rd, not flattening it in blues style.
The Kinks See My Friends picked up on the same idea, around the same time the Beatles were getting into their Indian period:
[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Ugr0pgUo1c[/ame]

Compare this obscure single, issued in 1964...
[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C2PBoUBXY4w[/ame]
Mixolydian drones were clearly in the air as early as that...
(Resorts to a major key V, of course, but the mixolydian vibe is clearly the whole central theme and attraction of the sound.)

 

[huw]

That being "Scotland's No 1 Group" leads nicely into the celtic/folk connection for modal sounds.

This is a classic use of mixolydian in folk:

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8cN2JYnBTZw]Fairport Convention - She moves through the fair ( Sandy Denny ) - YouTube[/ame]

Interestingly, Sandy Denny is wonderfully free with the melody, and doesn't use the b7 to tonic cadence every time she sings "...wedding day", saving it for effect.

 

[JonR]

More folk mixolydian, from The Great Bert:
[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hkX7Q2J7k48]Bert Jansch "Black Waterside" - YouTube[/ame]
[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S0TcoVzg39w]Bert Jansch: I Loved a Lass - YouTube[/ame]

and while we're at it, folk dorian:
[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BYQaD2CAi9A]Simon & Garfunkel Scarborough Fair - YouTube[/ame]

and because I can't resist the history/roots angle:
[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aHHrHlRxbqY]Martin Carthy - Scarborough Fair 1965 - YouTube[/ame]
- that's the version Paul Simon stole for his one, and which Dylan adapted for his Girl Of The North Country. They both saw Carthy do it in 1962.

 

[st.bede]

you both rock, the connections I am making are very useful. It is strange how when you learn something as a kid you just take it for granted and never think twice about it... I am not sure if I am making sense.

 

[huw]

...and while we're at it, for She Moved Through The Fair & Black Water Side, read White Summer & Black Mountain Side.

 

[JonR]

...and while we're at it, for She Moved Through The Fair & Black Water Side, read White Summer & Black Mountain Side.

I knew I could rely on you for that connection...

 

[Cpt Matt Sparrow]

...and while we're at it, for She Moved Through The Fair & Black Water Side, read White Summer & Black Mountain Side.

here is my lady singing She Moved Through The Fair unaccompanied for you Huw.

I am loving reading this thread, Madonna's 'Beautiful Stranger' thanks to Mixolydian thinking, keeps coming into my tired head lol

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gWlDgJylAb8&feature=c4-overview-vl&list=PLC1564649E280890E]Suzanne Sear -She Moved Through The Fair - YouTube[/ame]

Matt

 

[huw]

That's nice, Matt. I've always loved that song.

Hmm - we're in danger of this becoming a folk thread (it's Jon's fault - posting that Carthy clip was an invitation for me to completely hijack this into a Martin C appreciation festival. )

Quickly, nurse, some rock mixolydian...

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l482T0yNkeo]AC/DC - Highway To Hell - YouTube[/ame]

(That's A mixolydian: A D G, with an occasional E thrown in at the end of the verse as a big build to the chorus)

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pAgnJDJN4VA]AC/DC - Back in Black - YouTube[/ame]

(E mixolydian: E D A; chorus takes a mixolydian type bVII, IV, I riff through a couple of different keys)



Phew - rock credentials re-established, here's another mixolydian folk type one, from Kate Bush:

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rUjjEeM-g6c]kate bush The Handsome Cabin Boy - YouTube[/ame]

(crazy video!)

...and talking of Kate - here's how the dronal approach to mixolydian can work in a dance type setting:

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sV7w5TaYjRA]Kate Bush - The Big Sky - Official Music Video - YouTube[/ame]

...and for no other reason than I'm now totally in a Kate Bush inspired mood, here's pop-Aeolian:

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wp43OdtAAkM]Kate Bush - Running Up That Hill - Official Music Video - YouTube[/ame]

Ok - I'll stop now (for a bit)...

 

[Cpt Matt Sparrow]

I think you are right Huw.

Most people I need to introduce modes too on the guitar, are people who do not know folk or jazz, but are keen on rock/pop styles, so popular and well known pieces are for these students the best as it is familiar territory for them to relate this to.

Matt

 

[JonR]

...and for no other reason than I'm now totally in a Kate Bush inspired mood, here's pop-Aeolian:

Kate Bush - Running Up That Hill - Official Music Video - YouTube

My favourite KB song!

And seeing as you've expanded this thread into Aeolian, here's rock aeolian
[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hTWKbfoikeg]Nirvana - Smells Like Teen Spirit - YouTube[/ame]
(Vocal melody: solid F aeolian.)

And another:
[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TLV4_xaYynY[/ame]
C aeolian (same as Running Up That Hill).

 

[huw]

...Most people I need to introduce modes too on the guita,r are people who do not know folk or jazz, but are keen on rock/pop styles, so popular and well known pieces are for these students the best as it is familiar territory for them to relate this to...

This is very true, yet one of my fears is that, even with the rock/pop stuff, I (personally) tend to reference things that I know, which tend to be, how shall we say, not so current! (Hounds of Love was 1985, for gods' sake)

With the exception of Daft Punk, that RGT list looks like it was written by someone of my generation. Where are the examples that would crop up on the Radio 6 playlist?

I know that Jon collects lists of examples of things, so he's probably got some more current references than I have?

So where are the examples for/from the under 25s? C'mon, you guys are out there somewhere...

 

[Cpt Matt Sparrow]

Hmmm, God I am old, (thanks Huw)

Tonnes of songs by Mumford and Sons use Dorian, but kind of folk so cheating in a way, but at least it's kind of modern...hmmmm LOL

He's a Pirate (from Pirates of The Caribbean) - Hans Zimmer (littered with Dorian tonality, so good for general use with young students as a lot like the film franchise)

 

[Cpt Matt Sparrow]

p.s with my boyish looks I can't believe Huw didn't assume I was a young thing LMAO