guitaral
06-05-2008, 04:28 PM
Okay, so lately I've been playing with a few friends who have asked me if learning modes is a worthwhile thing to do. Well, my answer to this oft-asked question is - DEFINITELY! Modes are not a difficult avenue of music to learn, and improvising over a modal progression is not as difficult as it sounds. After all, there are still only seven notes that correspond to any given mode. So, enough yappin' about the stuff, let's get to it!
Okay, so we all know that modes are built off a parent major scale, right? If not, here's a refresher-
A mode is a scale derived from any major scale that begins on a note other than the tonic (I). For example, here are the modes of a C Major Scale -
--------------------------------------------------------
| Mode Name | 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 | Accidentals |
--------------------------------------------------------
C Ionian - C D E F G A B C (no flats, no sharps)
D Dorian - D E F G A B C D (flat 3, 7)
E Phrygian - E F G A B C D E (flat 2, 3, 6, 7)
F Lydian - F G A B C D E F (sharp 4)
G Mixolydian - G A B C D E F G (flat 7)
A Aeolian - A B C D E F G A (flat 3, 6, 7)
B Locrian - B C D E F G A B (flat 2, 3, 5, 6, 7)
Groovy. Now all we need to know is how to apply this knowledge to some chord progression (or a vamp, whatever). Let's say a bassist wants to vamp on a E Phrygian and you look at him like, "Wha?" Well, my friends, no need to fear the modes any more, because vamping over them is relatively simple. If we were to look at a major scale, we would notice a very unique thing about the chord qualities and their order. In the case below, major chords are indicated by upper-case roman numerals, and minor/diminished chords are indicated by lower-case roman numerals.
C Major Scale Harmonized -
C d e F G a b(dim) C
I ii iii IV V vi vii(d) I
Notice how there are only two places where two chords of the same quality follow each other - between the ii and the iii, and also between the IV and the V. So what does this mean to us? Well, we can use these chord tones while playing a vamp in another mode. Going back to the E Phrygian vamp that the bassist so boldly declared, we can play an F and a G chord while playing an E as the bass. Think of playing over modes as playing slash chords in a way. You can also play a d and an e chord with an E bass, too. So, for the C Major scale, the vamps are-
C Ionian - F/C G/C OR d/C e/C
D Dorian - F/D G/D OR d/D e/D
E Phrygian - F/E G/E OR d/E e/E
F Lydian - F/F G/F OR d/F e/F
G Mixolydian - F/G G/G OR d/G e/G
A Aeolian - F/A G/A OR d/A e/A
B Locrian - F/B G/B OR d/B e/B
And that's about it! Just transpose the vamps to different keys, and you'll be on your way to sounding like the Miles Davis of guitar! Post any questions that may pop up, and keep rockin'!
Guitar Albert
Okay, so we all know that modes are built off a parent major scale, right? If not, here's a refresher-
A mode is a scale derived from any major scale that begins on a note other than the tonic (I). For example, here are the modes of a C Major Scale -
--------------------------------------------------------
| Mode Name | 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 | Accidentals |
--------------------------------------------------------
C Ionian - C D E F G A B C (no flats, no sharps)
D Dorian - D E F G A B C D (flat 3, 7)
E Phrygian - E F G A B C D E (flat 2, 3, 6, 7)
F Lydian - F G A B C D E F (sharp 4)
G Mixolydian - G A B C D E F G (flat 7)
A Aeolian - A B C D E F G A (flat 3, 6, 7)
B Locrian - B C D E F G A B (flat 2, 3, 5, 6, 7)
Groovy. Now all we need to know is how to apply this knowledge to some chord progression (or a vamp, whatever). Let's say a bassist wants to vamp on a E Phrygian and you look at him like, "Wha?" Well, my friends, no need to fear the modes any more, because vamping over them is relatively simple. If we were to look at a major scale, we would notice a very unique thing about the chord qualities and their order. In the case below, major chords are indicated by upper-case roman numerals, and minor/diminished chords are indicated by lower-case roman numerals.
C Major Scale Harmonized -
C d e F G a b(dim) C
I ii iii IV V vi vii(d) I
Notice how there are only two places where two chords of the same quality follow each other - between the ii and the iii, and also between the IV and the V. So what does this mean to us? Well, we can use these chord tones while playing a vamp in another mode. Going back to the E Phrygian vamp that the bassist so boldly declared, we can play an F and a G chord while playing an E as the bass. Think of playing over modes as playing slash chords in a way. You can also play a d and an e chord with an E bass, too. So, for the C Major scale, the vamps are-
C Ionian - F/C G/C OR d/C e/C
D Dorian - F/D G/D OR d/D e/D
E Phrygian - F/E G/E OR d/E e/E
F Lydian - F/F G/F OR d/F e/F
G Mixolydian - F/G G/G OR d/G e/G
A Aeolian - F/A G/A OR d/A e/A
B Locrian - F/B G/B OR d/B e/B
And that's about it! Just transpose the vamps to different keys, and you'll be on your way to sounding like the Miles Davis of guitar! Post any questions that may pop up, and keep rockin'!
Guitar Albert