different modes

Modes are seven-note scales.

Each mode has a pattern that can be compared to the major scale - the major scale is WWHWWWH (whole steps/half steps). If you start that pattern from a different place, like the second note, you get a different pattern: WHWWWHW.

That way of looking at modes is about 1500 years old, and doesn't have a lot to do with popular music. If you think of modes as major scales 'starting from a different note' they'll be close to useless for you. On the other hand, if you think of them as alterations from a major scale, you can use them quite well in soloing.

For example, that second pattern above, the 'C scale starting from D', you get these notes:

D-E-F-G-A-B-C-D

Compare that to the D natural minor:

D-E-F-G-A-Bb-C-D

So if you would normally be in D minor, and you flat the B notes, you're playing modally.

Names of modes:

Ionian (same as the major scale)
Dorian
Phrygian
Lydian
Mixolydian
Aeolian (same as the natural minor scale)
Locrian

ok my understanding of modes has grown 80% im still a little confused about a few things though. when would i use a differerent mode? especially for soloing...do the chords i am playing have to be changed? and are each of those modes just the next step up weather it be a half or whole in the natural major scale? thats why im gessing the 6th step is the natural minor.

You'd use them to substitute for other scales. For major, you could play Lydian or Mixolydian instead; for minor, Dorian or Phrygian. The Locrian doesn't resolve, so it's not really used.

You don't need to change the chords - the unexpected scale notes work best over expected harmonies.

And yes, it's a tonal shift to the next scale degree, whether it's a half step or whole step.

i use locrian occasionally... but i am strange... :-S

thanks a bunch man.....

really appreciated

sorry one more thing though:

if lets say i am playing e major to a major to b major just that repeating chord pattern....

would i goto my E string lets say and instead of just playing the major scale which would sound right i could move up 4 scale degrees to the lydian mode and play the scale there and it would still sound correct, but different?

or....because the 4th scale degree of the e major scale is an A would the key of my chord p[attern have to be A major? - this is how i believe it works? am i correct with this one or the first one.

thanks

You wouldn't normally change the chords. The modal sound really comes out when the chords stay the way they were and only the scale changes. If you wanted to change to another mode, then you would just alter your scale to fit that mode, keeping the rest of the notes the same. From E major to E mixolydian, you would just replace D# with D natural, because the mixolydian mode has a flatted seventh.

That's the crux of the mode problem, maxo - if you move up to A, and play only notes in E, you're in A Lydian. But if you do that over the E major progression, odds are really good that the result you hear will be E major - you're using E major notes, there's an E major harmony, and your ear is probably going to take you to a resolution to E instead of A.

A better approach is to learn that the lydian mode sharps the fourth note - E major is E-F#-G#-A-B-C#-D#-E; E Lydian (relative to B major) is E-F#-G#-A#-B-C#-D#-E.

So if your chord progression is in E, and you play E notes except for the A (and you sharp all of those) your tonal center will remain E, and you'll truly be playing in E Lydian.

one thing that i dont't quite understnad is that if you move up in your scale degree the notes stay the exact same your order of playing them is jusst different. why would it sound different?

Because the relationship between the tones change. That's why the tonal center is essential in defining a mode (rather than a fingering pattern).

It's what makes the natural minor sound different from the major scale - you expect a natural third and hear a b3 instead.

It has to do with the tonal center, and the way the notes of the scale relate to it. In E major the fourth is a perfect fourth. The notes of the E major scale have a distinctive pattern to them and create a different sound. The E Lydian scale has mostly the same pattern, but the fourth note is sharped. So it creates a different sound when you make sure your audience gets to hear that changed note. Now, what makes it different from a B major scale? They share all the same notes (although you may want to check me on that). The trick is to make sure your audience knows you're in E, by treating it like the root note of the scale (which it is, in E Lydian, or E anything for that matter). When you do that and you also let them hear the sharped fourth, hallmark of the Lydian mode, you'll establish a Lydian sound pretty effectively. So establishing your tonic and showing off the interesting notes of the mode is what will make it different from any other scale using the same notes.

Now, you may also be having trouble with another aspect of modes. As you've learned, they're related to each other by the notes they share. E Lydian has the same notes as B major (Ionian), C Dorian, and D Phyrgian. I've explained how you make them sound different from one another (in general terms), but I think that their shared notes are giving you trouble because you're thinking of them as related by the notes they share. While that's a true relationship, it's not the primary one you should worry about. It's interesting, but not useful to know in most situations.

The big question when you come from that direction is, "When you shift from B major to E Lydian, what do you change? How do you make them different?" The short answer is, "You don't." The long answer is what Noteboat's post-before-last was about.

It's exceedingly difficult to make a noticeable change in a situation like that. If you're listening to the rest of the band (which is a must) then you'll probably just stumble back into whichever mode you started in, or whichever key the band is playing in. That's not a disparagement of your skillz; it's going to happen to anyone who tries a stunt like that.

The trick is to switch to a mode that has notes which differ from the one that you'd normally play in. If you were playing in B major then it would be very ineffective to switch to E Lydian. It's just not going to happen; all the notes are the same, and you've already got the B tonal center in your head. On the other hand, if you want to switch to B Lydian, then you've got an easy task. Instead of playing lots of E notes like you do in B major, play lots of E# (F) notes, because that's what you do in B Lydian. It's about tonal center, which the band will help you establish*, and about characteristic scale alterations, like the sharped fourth, for Lydian, and the flatted seventh, for Mixolydian.

* I should mention that the band, the harmony you're playing against, does not in any way determine what mode you're playing in. It does, however influence your note choice. If you've got a band playing in B you're not going to manage a solo in E Lydian, because B major and E Lydian are so similar that the B major sound will just fall out of you in response to the band, assuming you can play in key at all. It's that tonal center. On the other hand, if you pick a mode that has different notes from those the rest of the band is using, it's easier to do your own thing, which is the essence of modal playing. It's even easier if you pick a mode that shares its tonal center with every one else's scale.

That way of looking at modes is about 1500 years old, and doesn't have a lot to do with popular music. If you think of modes as major scales 'starting from a different note' they'll be close to useless for you. On the other hand, if you think of them as alterations from a major scale, you can use them quite well in soloing.
Locrian

I wouldnt entirely agree with them being just alterations of the major scale. Most of em - yeah. But phrygian mode, really gives a totally different and more exotic sound than the regular major scale. So you wouldnt really (I certainly dont) look at it as an alternation of the major scale cos some of em dont sound at all major scale-ish...
lol I dont know how clearly that was expressed.