After many articles I figured it was about time I put this together into one, huh? After all, there is a lot of information on the Seymour Duncan website about tone and the best way to get it. My job when writing a series on the modes of the major scale was to put those notes into a context where they sound great. If we’ve learned anything, we’ve figured out that modal playing isn’t just about the notes you choose but the harmony (chords) you play them over. In other words, you can’t ‘hear’ the modes unless you listen to their relationship to the chords underneath. So let’s hop in our personal TARDIS and travel back in time a bit to revisit our journey back through these modes of the major scale.
In the beginning…
Seven notes for seven modes…ah ah ah!
We learned what modes actually are in an early article. Remember, the major scale has seven notes, and each successive mode is an inversion of the previous mode. That is, we take the first note, remove it, and add it to the end:
C D E F G A B C 1st mode
D E F G A B C D 2nd mode
E F G A B C D E 3rd mode
F G A B C D E F 4th mode
G A B C D E F G 5th mode
A B C D E F G A 6th mode
B C D E F G A B 7th mode
Each of these modes get slightly better names than 1st, 2nd, 3rd, etc. To remember them, a sentence helps:
In: Ionian
Dark: Dorian
Places: Phrygian
Love: Lydian
Making: Mixolydian
Always: Aeolian
Lasts: Locrian
Knowing what to call them helps us communicate with our non-guitar playing friends. This will be important if we ever want to break out of a guitar-centric universe.
The Modes, One at a Time
Reach for the stars! A Saturn-inlayed Brian Moore with SD pickups.
Or maybe two. The first article combines the first mode, Ionian, with Dorian, the second mode. The first mode is more commonly called the major scale, and the second is used a lot in place of a minor scale, for a brighter, happier sound.
The Phrygian mode’s article explains the unique, almost Spanish sound of the third mode. Now that we are getting into more exotic sounds, it is very important the chords you are improvising over are correct. It would be correct to use the Phrygian mode over a static Em in the key of C, or if the chord progression went Em-F-C-F. These are all chords in the key of C too!
The next mode is Lydian, and a favorite of Steve Vai and Joe Satriani. Unique because of the #4 note when compared to the parallel major scale, it has an unresolved quality which sounds great over a major chord. In the key of C, a good Lydian chord progression might be F-G-Am-F.
The Mixolydian mode combines aspects of a major scale and minor scale. It has the major 3rd of a regular major scale, but the b7 of a minor scale. You can hear this scale used a lot in country and southern rock by bands like the Allman Bros. You can use the Mixolydian mode over a G7 funk groove.
The Aeolian mode is more commonly known as the minor scale. Used in all music from blues to metal, the characteristically sad, dark sound is perfect when you want to break out of boring pentatonic and blues scales* yet still remain in key.
*These aren’t boring if you don’t make them boring.
The last mode is the least used, and the most dissonant – which is why I like it. The misfit Locrian mode would be used over a diminished or m7b5 chord.* Since this mode isn’t as utilized in modern western music, you totally should use it. This mode is usually played over a pretty dissonant chord, so we tend to use it when one of those weirdo chords appears in a chord progression, and rarely for an entirely solo. But hey, music needs a few trailblazers about now, so go for it.
*m7b5 chords are sometimes called ‘half-diminished’ chords. You might see them written that way in older music theory books you might find in a used book store.
You mentioned something about chords, too?
Unlock the 12 keys of music. But not with these.
We know by now that before exploring the sounds of the modes, you need some groovy chords to solo over. This way, you can hear the unique sounds of each mode. Each mode does indeed sound different, and in order to get the most out of your musical vocabulary, you will need to figure out the correct chords in all 12 keys. In this article, I explain that each key has a unique group of chords, but it isn’t difficult to figure out what they are.
Certain modes sound better over major chords, and some sound better over minor chords. Using the right mode over the correct chord progression will get your playing out of a ‘one size fits all’ approach and make your musical statements much more colorful.
And don’t forget…
Our musical heroes are a combination of tone, taste, and style. Their choice of notes when composing or improvising made their unique musical vision attractive to us in the first place. As artists, it isn’t enough to copy their licks or their tone. Our musical vision and life experiences are unique to us and no one else: using a varied and colorful language in our music will make that vision that much clearer to our audience. Who knows, maybe one day there will be a blogger dissecting your unique musical vision and presenting it to an audience who has yet to venture out on their own quest.
Slash doesn’t need a different Les Paul for each mode. But it doesn’t hurt.
Do you use any of the modes in your playing? What do you want to improve on in your own playing?
