Modes: Clearing up the confusion

[funky]

Nice explanation Roger. Thanks for taking the time and making the clips. It's guys like you, who take those extra steps, that make HC so kick ass.

Thanks Bro!!!

Now, what are modes?

Just jokin'

[r0g3r]

Thanks funky. Not that you needed the lesson I'm sure.

[SAF_Jon]

Roger,

Great job with the explanation! I just had one thing that I wanted to add. A lot of people are talking about playing modes over certain scales and/or other modes and no one really has had a name for this occurance of "wildcard" notes, or it seems that the "keys change around." We are basically talking about modal interchange here, am I right? Forgive me if I am somehow misunderstanding.

Many modern "artists" make use of modal interchange in a lot of songs. I suppose you could consider this one of the "secrets" of modal music, though it can easily be applied to classical theory. For instance, if you were playing in the key of C Major:

C, D, E, F, G, A, B, C

You might write a little diddy that went like this:

C, Bb, F, C

You'd think to yourself: "Well, Bb isn't in the key of C Major."

But it is in the key of C Minor:

C, D, Eb, F, G, Ab, Bb, C

I think the occurance of flats and sharps that are not a part of the key the song is written in (known as modal interchange) is what we are talking about here. I've known a few guys who, when describing the scales of a song they wrote, would often say: "Okay, now there's a key change here because I play an F# and a then a D," when in reality they are just interchanging modes between G Major (Ionian) and G Minor (Aeolian).

I hope I've helped out a bit.
Jon

[r0g3r]

Originally posted by SAF_Jon Roger, Great job with the explanation! I just had one thing that I wanted to add. A lot of people are talking about playing modes over certain scales and/or other modes and no one really has had a name for this occurance of "wildcard" notes, or it seems that the "keys change around." We are basically talking about modal interchange here, am I right? Forgive me if I am somehow misunderstanding. Many modern "artists" make use of modal interchange in a lot of songs. I suppose you could consider this one of the "secrets" of modal music, though it can easily be applied to classical theory. For instance, if you were playing in the key of C Major: C, D, E, F, G, A, B, C You might write a little diddy that went like this: C, Bb, F, C You'd think to yourself: "Well, Bb isn't in the key of C Major." But it is in the key of C Minor: C, D, Eb, F, G, Ab, Bb, C I think the occurance of flats and sharps that are not a part of the key the song is written in (known as modal interchange) is what we are talking about here. I've known a few guys who, when describing the scales of a song they wrote, would often say: "Okay, now there's a key change here because I play an F# and a then a D," when in reality they are just interchanging modes between G Major (Ionian) and G Minor (Aeolian). I hope I've helped out a bit. Jon

 

 

Right, I believe Modal Interchange is an application of parallel modes. So if we're borrowing chords from G minor in a song that is in the key of G major, then we're using Modal Interchange.

 

This is certainly something I don't see mentioned often in discussions of modes, and which I neglected to mention in my explanation. Excellent post.

[WattsUrizen]

I think it should be mentioned that even if you 'borrow' from other modes, you most likely will not sound as though you are playing in that mode. You will still be heard relative to the current modality/tonality and so the 'borrowed' notes will be heard as chromatic inflections.

[funky]

[r0g3r]

Originally posted by spacedog thanks for the cool thread roger ! but now (if you dont mind )i have a question thats been on my mind for awhile: are these the only modes out there? and if not how many more do i have to learn before i can say" i know my modes"? thanks alot !

Wow, I thought this thread was gone for good

Anyways, these are all of the modes of the Major (diatonic) scale. These are certainly the most important ones to learn. All scales have their own set of modes though. Some important ones to learn are the Melodic Minor, and Harmonic Minor. These are the most commonly used scales besides the Pentatonic and Diatonic scales.

[telecaster_lou]

this is making more sense than any other mode explaination i've seen, i still can't get it though. I'm too tired i'll come back and try to crack it in the morning.

how long does it take to crack modes???

[r0g3r]

Originally posted by telecaster_lou how long does it take to crack modes???

I don't know the answer to that, but it seems like at some point it will just be like a light bulb coming on in your head. And it will all make sense