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a question about modes


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Posted

ok so i've been reading up a little bit on modes and i have a question. it seems that everyone who writes about them writes like someone who already knows them inside and out, and although they are trying to make it easy for a layperson to understand, it is still difficult to know what the writer is trying to communicate. i wish someone would write an explanation for dummies like me that takes it slow... anyway, as i understand it now, modes are just the notes of any given scale played with a different emphasis. so in the key of C Major, the notes A B C D E F G A, played in that order, would be the Aeolian mode even though it contains the exact same notes of the C major scale, because the emphasis is on the A. i'm having trouble understanding when to play which modes and which note to start on when playing them. each mode has its pattern of whole and half steps, correct? just as the major scale has the pattern W H W W W H. a new pattern (a mode) is created by starting on a different note of the scale and going through all 8 notes in order from there. that pattern is given a name i.e. Dorian, Phrygian, etc. Dorian always starts on the 2nd note of the scale, Aelion on the 6th, etc. BUT lets say i'm playing in G major and all my chords are in that key. if I wanted to play the Dorian mode over the progression, would the mode start with a G note and follow the W H W W W H W pattern of the Dorian mode, or would it start on the 2nd note of the G major scale, A, and just go through the G major scale until it got back to A? also, can modes be applied to minor keys in the same way as they are applied to major keys? thanks a lot guys - this has been driving me crazy!

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Posted
The whole idea of modal harmony and melody is that you stay in the same mode- you don't keep skipping shapes every time there's a chord change.


Modes can be thought of as musical keys in their own right, with their own chord sets and scales...


Joe Bennett: Reach for guitar on tap!.






i'm no expert really, but that makes sense to me :)

oh and also........

Aristotle in the "Politics" said that


the Mixolydian mode can make you sad and grave.


The Dorian mode settles the mind and is gravest and manliest and "avoids extremes".


The Phrygian mode inspires enthusiasm and is exciting and emotional and the best for expressing "Bacchic fury".


The "relaxed modes", i.e., Lydian and Ionian make people stupid.


Complaints about styles of music corrupting young people aren't new.

:D :D

Posted

Originally posted by rivenbeef

BUT lets say i'm playing in G major and all my chords are in that key. if I wanted to play the Dorian mode over the progression, would the mode start with a G note and follow the W H W W W H W pattern of the Dorian mode, or would it start on the 2nd note of the G major scale, A, and just go through the G major scale until it got back to A?

 

 

 

If you're in G major and all the chords are in that key, then you play the G major scale.

 

Harmony is what determines the modes. You can't play in A dorian if the harmony doesn't revolve around an Am chord. Each mode is very strongly tied to a specific chord in the scale.

 

 

When you're dealing with functional harmony; i.e. music that is diatonic to a single key, then it's not the time to use modes. That is the time to simply use the major scale since all the chords are functioning within that key.

 

There are two places were modes are appropriate: modal music or non-diatonic chord progressions.

 

Modal music is not all that common, but you can find examples from time to time. Modal music takes the normal chords of a major key and uses a different chord as the tonic. Modal chord progressions are usually very sparse, consisting of only 1-2 chords. The more chords used, the less it sounds modal and the more it sounds like it's in a major key. Say you had a modal vamp of "Am Bm," which would be A dorian. In this case, you would use the A dorian scale (G major) and use it just like you would the major scale over a normal progression in the key of G. The only difference here is that Am is the tonic and not G major.

 

The other place to use modes is over non-diatonic chord progressions, or in other words, a progression that doesn't fit into one key. As I said before, each mode is associated with a chord type (major, minor, dominant). Simply match up a minor mode with a minor chord, major with major, dominant with dominant. This is the jazz approach to modes, as jazz music is very chromatic and modulates frequently within songs. For further information on how to use this approach to modes, read any jazz theory book (such as The Jazz Theory Book by Mark Levine).

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Posted

Grab a partner and do this exercise:

In G major...

First learn the G major scale 5 different places on the neck. If you don't know what I'm talking about, ask. Once you know all the positions connect them and make them one whole scale. All the notes in the G major scale should light up on the fret board. THATS how well you should know them.

2. Get a friend to strum a G major chord, not anything fancy. Let the notes ring out so you can really hear the chord tones.

3. Play all over the neck, but in G major. Play slowely and listen. LISTEN. So when I mean play G major, play any of the notes in any order of the neck but ONLY NOTES out of the G MAJOR SCALE - G A B C D E F# - you are only allowed to play those notes!!!! IN ANY ORDER ok?

4. Get your partner to play a G major chord, YOU SOLO AND YOU LISTEN.

5. After about 5 minutes get your partner to switch to Amin7:

---------------------- ----------5-----------
----------5----------- ----------5-----------
---------------------- ----------5----------- and to mute!!! the 5th string


6. Continue playing G major. SOLO and LISTEN. You will notice it sounds a bit different by the Amin7 chord your partner is playing.

7. When you play Gmajor and your partner plays Amin7 - YOU GET A DORIAN SOUND. The Dorian MODE!!!!

8. Now tell your partner to go back to G major and you continue to play G major. Sounds Good, but kinda boring huh? Its the IONIAN MODE - MAJOR MAJOR!!!!

9. Now tell your partner to play Bmin7!!!! AND YOU CONTINUE TO PLAY G MAJOR!!!! WHAT DO YOU HEAR??? PHRYGIAN!!!

10. ...do this with all the chords in the scale to hear what all the modes sound like. A mode is a sound. This is how I have been taught and this is how I know and hopefully you can understand me. Any questions, just ask.

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Posted

Another thing with modes--and this has been touched on already, though not in detail--is to change your mode for each chord in the progression. So, say you're playing from the key of G major and you have the chords G D C. I'm keeping it very basic here. You can solo straight out of the G major scale, no problem. But some of the G major notes will sound a little funny over the D and C chords. For instance, the F# note won't fit so well over the C major chord. Of course, because the overall tonality of the progression is based in G major those notes won't sound out of place as if, say, you were in the key of C and played an F#. Anyways, what you can do is to play different modes over each chord. So play the G myxolidian over the C chord and the G Lydian over the D chord.

Or something like that; I'm really rusty at this because I stopped playing for a few years and have just started up again. :D

Again, because this chord progression is really simple it's not a leading candidate for modes. Jazz music with all the weird chords and substitutions lends itself to this kinda thing much more. To get your head around it more, check out a Robben Ford instructional book or DVD.

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