Music Theory lesson part three
- April 29th, 2008
- Posted in Beginner . Lessons . Music Theory . Scales
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Part three of the music theory lessons on guitar. Make sure you watch the other parts so you can be ready for this one.
Part three of the music theory lessons on guitar. Make sure you watch the other parts so you can be ready for this one.
I’m really confused about modes, from what i understand from the video, i just have to take the major scale ( in any of the 5 different positions), and then use the 1st, 2nd etc. degree’s as root notes to form different modes, is that correct? wouldn’t that just form another major scale in some other key. I’m pretty confused.
I sent you a personal email through youtube about this because you said you had problems on my site here. I see that it double posted your message. I think we have the site problems fixed finally. Sorry about that. For everyone else, I will answer this here in case anyone else had this thought about modes.
A mode is what root in the major scale you happen to be cadencing in or resolving to. Lets say you play a G major scale and the bass is playing G C and D. You are playing in the Gmajor or Ionian mode. if you keep playing that same set of scale notes in G major but the bass is now playing E C and D, you are now playing in E minor or the E aeolian mode. (which is the 6th mode of G Major). The mode you are in is all about perception and what notes you place on the strong beats of a measure. This gets very technical in theory and you can really put hours and hours into analysis of this little idea. It is best to just understand that whatever not sounds like home to you when playing is the mode or scale you are playing in.
More to the point of your question. The modes are the same set of notes as their Major scale. Meaning: every Major key has its own set of modes and the order of the modes is the same for every key you play in. Like this:
Major key- Ionian
2nd degree of the Major key – Dorian
3rd degree of the Major key – Phrygian
4th degree of the Major key – Lydian
5th degree of the Major key – Mixolydian
6th degree of the Major key – Aeolian (also known as the minor scale)
7th degree of the Major key – Locrian
and then the Major scale again.
Now. the next thing you should understand is the intervallic relationships of the modes themselves. Use the Major scale as your ruler and see how these are different.
-G Major scale is all natural notes.
-G Dorian is the same as the G major scale except it has a b3rd degree and a b7th degree
-G Phrygian is the same as the G major scale except it has a b2nd degree, a b3rd degree, a b6th degree and a b7th degree
-G Lydian is the same as a G major scale except it has a #4th degree
-G Mixolydian is the same as the G major scale except it has a b7th degree
-G Aeolian is the natural minor scale and is the same as the G major scale except for its b3rd, b6th, and b7th degrees.
-G Locrian is the same as the G major scale except for its b2nd, b3rd, b5th, b6th and b7th degrees.
One way to see this and put the modes into perspective is this:
what makes a mode minor? if it has a b3rd degree.
looking above you find that the modes 2,3,6, and 7 are all minor modes/scales and have a dark sound because of the b3rd. They each have their own types of “dark” or minor because of the variation of the other notes that are or are not flattened in each.
The b3rd scales/modes are:
Dorian, Phrygian, Aeolian, and Locrian so those are minor types of scales or.. dark, sad sounding because they all have a b3rd degree instead of the natural major 3rd degree like a major scale has.
They each have their own qualities because of the other notes that have been altered from the natural major scale:
Dorian – b3rd (b7th)
Phrygian – b3rd (b2nd) (b7th)
Aeolian – b3rd (b6th) (b7th)
Locrian – (b2nd) b3rd (b5th) (b6th) (b7th)
so each has their own combination of notes to give them their unique sounds.
now to the other modes that are major based:
-The Major scale itself
-Lydian
-Mixolydian
Lydian has the major sound except it is more exotic and dreamy sounding because of the raised 4th degree. This is used in many soundtracks and has a strong emotional impact over using the straight Major scale. Its not “sad” sad.. and it isnt “happy major” it is the gray area that we usually feel in life.
Mixolydian is the same as the major scale except it has a b7th degree… it still has the natural 3rd degree so it would not be called a minor type of scale even though it is used on top of rock, blues, and funk all of the time. It has the funky sound because of the b7th and is good over non minor blues and rock.
Now I did not mean to go into a massive music theory lesson … again. I wanted to make sure to clear up what modes are and how to understand them. The next step is to see how it all fits in to the Major scale itself and you might notice some magical things that I see as a matrix or infinite loop of this same value. It is hard to explain but if you ever looked into a fractal and you see how it is showing the same looping mathematical element at different sizes and depths. Music is exactly same thing. This is why you see people using the Fibonacci sequence to create or study music. I did at one time myself.
I will do a video lesson on this magical pattern that I happened to discover while studying music theory in depth. For now… learn about the modes and make sure to ask any other questions you have. I will do my best in helping.
Oh okay cool thanks!! that cleared a few other things too like how to solo using minor scales. I have to use the Eminor (the 6th degree of the G major scale) when playing in the key of G. If i’m playing in the key of C then I have to use the Aminor which is the 6th degree of the C major scale. Thanks!!
Correct. Or you can play the parallel minor, which would be the G minor when you are in G major or C minor if you were in C Major. This is a transposition that has a very dark contrast because of the listener hearing the direct difference between the Major and minor scale. A great example of this would be in the son by Joe Satriani “Always with me…Always with you”.
Ok, holy crap. If the phrygian starts on the 3rd degree of a major scale, then how does that mode have a flat 3rd? I’ve been playing over 20 years but I’m self taught and never learned theory. At all. Just played by ear. In watching your videos (thanks for those btw!) I’m starting to realize how much better I will be just having this knowledge, but it’s getting confusing. There’s an ascending piece in a song I wrote that’s rooted in F#…am I using modes or changing roots? Tabbed it would look like this: 2-3-5-5-3-2 3-5-6-6-5-3 5-7-9-9-7-5 7-9-10-10-9-7…all on the low E string. Now I’m at work playing air guitar here but I think I tabbed it right. I’ll double check it and repost with correction if needed when I can get a guitar in my hand.
Ok MY BAD!!! That run is 2-4-5-5-4-2 4-5-7-7-5-4 5-7-9-9-7-5 7-9-10-10-9-7
Hey Allen,
Could you please explain the parallel approach in more depth?
The knowledge I’ve gathered on it says that parallel focuses on modes starting on the same root note. In other words the Dorian mode starting on the note C is parallel to the C major [Ionian mode] and all the other modes starting on C.
Does this mean that any mode that’s parallel is just fancy talk for a basic scale run?
Because above you mentioned that AJ could “play the parallel minor, which would be the G minor when you are in G major”.
Were you just saying he could play a parallel G Aeolian Mode [natural minor] which to my knowledge would be G-A-B-C-D-E-F#-G or is there a gap in my logic?
Please help put an end to my confusion.
Thanks =]
I think I’m understanding modes, but had a quick question:
So the modes use all the same notes as the major scale, and it’s all about what root note you are resolving to basically. So in G-major if I’m playing in the Dorian mode I’m resolving to A, Phrygian I’m resolving to B, etc.
But, could I take those intervallic relationships from the modes and lay them over (for lack of a better term) the major scale? So I would always be resolving to G, but instead be playing a b3rd or b7th? Does that make sense?
I guess in a nutshell:
A G major scale is: G – A – B – C – D- E – F# – G
If I applied the intervalic relationships from the Dorian mode and played:
G – A – Bb – C – D – E – F – G
would that still be the Dorian mode? Or would it actually be a different scale since I’m not using the same notes?