Why Everyone Is Fascinated By Modes….

Spoiler Alert: There’s no great secret to be found with the modes.

In some Facebook groups I’m a member of, there’s questions literally EVERY day about the lydian, mixolydian, phrygian, and other modes. 

I understand this because I was once fascinated by this word “modes” and what it might mean if I could crack the secret codes to using them. 

A dictionary definition of modes calls them, in the non-musical sense, a way or manner in which something occurs or is experienced, expressed, or done.

So I think that this definition explains some of the fascination behind this concept….

It’s the hope that, if we play the right exercises, and construct our licks in the “right” way….that we’ll unlock some spiritual power to move a listener in powerful ways. 

But don’t be seduced by this thought. Every mode is just a set of notes. 

As a musician, your task is to take a set of notes, like these modal scales, and make melodies, licks, and chord progressions out of them. To hopefully some day make some full songs out of them. 

So in this short ebook, I’m going to help you do that. I’m going to add the pieces of knowledge that aren’t revealed by the scale formulas or by changing a major 7th to a minor 7th….

I’m going to show you lots of chord progressions that express the sounds of these modes, and reveal an area of music that guitarists have unfortunately ignored for a long time….

HARMONY! 

Harmony is the art of putting tones together into musical arrangements. Think of the roman numeral symbols you’ve seen before. If you don’t know it, we’ll go over it briefly. 

Basically though, it’s just putting chords together. 

So….are you ready to conquer this concept once and for all? 

Good! Let’s do it then. 

 

The Basic Theory Of Modes In A Few Hundred Words

I’m hoping to give you the most crystal clear explanation of modes you’ve ever read. However none of this matters if you only see this information in terms of scales….

What I’ll be doing after this section is showing how chords are made from these scales and then put together into chord progressions. 

So…..

A mode can be made from any scale by starting on a note other than the root, the first note of the scale.  

That’s all that a mode is, basically.

Most commonly, we’re referring to the modes of the major scale like dorian (the 2nd mode), phrygian (the 3rd mode), lydian (the 4th mode, seeing the pattern?), mixolydian (5), aeolian (6th or minor), and locrian (7). 

This is what is most often discussed first with modes, using the key of C: 

C major scale = C – D – E – F – G – A – B

D Dorian (starting on D) = D – E – F – G – A – B – C 

E Phrygian (starting on E) = E – F – G – A – B – C – D 

F Lydian (starting on F) = F – G – A – B – C – D – E 

G Mixolydian (start on G) = G – A – B – C – D – E – F 

A Minor/Aeolian (start on A) = A – B – C – D – E – F – G 

B Locrian (start on B) = B – C – D – E – F – G – A 

 

It’s also important that you start seeing the chords made from C major, by stacking thirds: 

C (I) = C – E – G

Dm (ii) = D – F – A 

Em (iii) = E – G – B 

F (IV) = F – A – C 

G (V) = G – B – D 

Am (vi) = A – C – E 

Bm7b5 (vii) = B – D – F – A 

 

Basically, all of this is saying that these 7 scales are the exact same thing and they all can create the exact same 7 chords seen above. 

Every mode of C major will create the same chords as C major, and you’ll be playing C major when playing B Locrian, basically. 

B Locrian = A Minor = G Mixolydian = F Lydian = E Phrygian = D Dorian = C Major

 

Now many people will start naming off the interval differences between the Dorian and Minor scales, for example. There’s an easy way to remember this if you read the next few sentences carefully. 

The Dorian, Phrygian, and Locrian scales are closely related to their parallel minor scales. 

This means D Dorian is almost the same as D minor, except for one note. D to Bb is an interval of a minor 6th, and turns into D-B, a major 6th interval. 

D Minor = D – E – F – G – A – Bb – C 

D Phrygian = D – E – F – G – A – B (major 6th!) – C 

 

E phrygian is almost the same as E minor, except for one note. E-F# is a major 2nd, while E-F is a minor 2nd interval. 

E minor = E – F# – G – A – B – C – D 

E phrygian = E – F (minor 2nd!) – G – A – B – C – D 

 

B Locrian is weird and has two notes of difference from B Minor. B-C is a minor 2nd, while B-F is a diminished 5th. 

B Minor = B – C# (major 2nd) – D – E – F# (B-F# perfect 5th) – G – A 

B Locrian = B – C (minor 2nd) – D – E – F (diminished 5th) – G – A

 

The Lydian and Mixolydian scales are very similar to their parallel major scales, which are F major and G major respectively. F-Bb is changed in F major, while G-F# is changed in G major. 

F Major = F – G – A – Bb (perfect 4th) – C – D – E 

F Lydian = F – G – A – B (raised 4th!) – C – D – E

 

G Major = G – A – B – C – D – E – F# (major 7th!)

G Mixolydian = G – A – B – C – D – E – F (minor 7th!) 

 

Changing any major or minor scale into a mode is about knowing which notes to adjust and where.

You can remember these modes by remembering what scale degrees to adjust by a half or whole step, which is how many remember how to use them as scale licks and patterns. 

For instance, to turn D minor into Dorian, I would take that minor 6th interval I put in parentheses up above, and raise it a half step (Bb => B).

This system repeats in every single harmonic system. For instance, to play the 5th mode of D major, you play the D major scale starting on the A note (the 5th scale degree of D major). 

To play the 7th mode of G Major, you would start on F# instead of G. 

It’s that simple, I hope. 

Modes can be made from any exotic scale, the melodic minor and harmonic minor scales, and literally any other scale. 

The theory is one thing. Making music with these concepts is another issue, and what’s often lost in these discussions. 

To create music with a mode, you must use the notes of the mode’s scale to create chords. This is how a key signature works. 

If you don’t pay attention to the F in G Mixolydian, for example, and start playing chords that belong to G major instead….you won’t be playing in G mixolydian. 

That’s the biggest mistake you all make! 

On another note, when you go “outside” a key, you’re using notes that don’t belong to the key. This is chromaticism. Using an F# in C major for instance is an example of that because F# is not a note in the C major scale you saw up above. 

What many people get mixed up on is when you start talking about remembering the scale patterns, and then using them in a song. 

This is because many of you may not understand intervals, scale construction, or chord construction yet. 

And it’s hard talking about modes without talking about intervals. You saw all the mentions of minor 2nds, major 6ths, raised 4ths, and so on just now. 

But it also helps if you know the notes of every scale and every chord from memory, which is not what I’m going to ask you to do here. 

The only bit of theory I want you to remember throughout this guide…..is the construction of a major scale, and how half steps and whole steps work. 

 

You can see it right here: 

C Major Scale = C (Whole) D (Whole)  E (Half)  F (Whole)  G (Whole) A (Whole) B (Half) C 

Whole Whole Half, Whole Whole Whole Half or…..WWH WWWH. 

 

Use a mnemonic device for this if you want, like World War Ham, World War Woke Ham. I don’t know I’m not good at those…..

If you go back and reread this section a few times, I think you’ll understand more about modes than many ever will. 

 

A Brief History Of Modes

I get it. You don’t care about the history of the modes and just want to know how to use this stupid dorian scale already. 

But this will actually further help you understand why the modes are not nearly as important as you’ve made them out to be….and why just knowing the major and minor scales will be good enough in most cases. 

 

So here’s something that may blow your mind…..

Modes are barely mentioned in classical harmony textbooks and texts that I’ve studied over the years. One includes a classic textbook used in music programs throughout the country with hundreds of examples….and another written by Pyotr Tchaikovsky himself that didn’t mention modal harmony or modal scales at all. 

It wasn’t really until a book called the Lydian Chromatic Concept came out, and was read by many influential musicians like Miles Davis and Frank Zappa, that the idea of modes started to come about. 

Despite that, did modes exist before the 1950s? Of course they did. 

Many of the chord combinations I’m about to show you have been used for hundreds of years. 

My point though is this….

If Tchaikovsky and many music scholars don’t think the dorian mode is as important as diatonic and chromatic harmony….

Then maybe you shouldn’t place so much importance on it? 

 

Spoiler Alert: You Can’t Use Modes Because You Barely Understand Harmony

When most guitarists talk about modes, all they see and can talk about is this: 

E Phrygian Mode = E – F – G – A – B – C – D 

“1 b2 b3 4 5 b6 b7”

“There’s a minor 2nd in there!” 

“It’s the third mode of C major!” 

“That was used in Metallica songs!” 

It’s really odd to me, after all of my years of studying music, that many of the people who argue and talk about modes don’t talk about chords. 

The big idea you must understand is that…..

There are dozens of chords you can make with this set of 7 notes. You saw 7 of them earlier…

The chords of E Phrygian, 3rd mode of C Major, cannot be created with the E minor scale of E – F# – G – A – B – C – D.  

 

All of this is the study of harmony. The study of putting chords together either with the guitar, or with several instruments playing parts of the chord in an arrangement. 

In order to understand harmony better, you’ve got to start understanding many of the symbols and ideas I threw at you….

Like how major and minor chords are made. 

Which chords are minor and major in a major scale, and a minor scale….

What you’ve got to understand when a chord contains notes out of a key….

Etcetera, Etcetera. 

 

Some of you by now are probably like….”Shut up already! And tell me how to solo with this mode already!” 

Well, you can just take a mode pattern and noodle away if you want. That’s all it really takes to solo. 

However, in order to make a piece of music similar to the music we’re going to talk about, you must understand how important it is to learn how to put chords together. 

This will help you create a context where the notes of these modes will come alive and work to create interesting licks and melodies. 

Sure, at its core, you just slap two chords together and you’re done. 

However, that won’t help you understand why Mixolydian is used a lot in Rock and Country music…..

Or why Dorian is used a lot in R&B, Funk, and Jazz….

And why so many of you songwriters and lead guitarists are stuck playing some variation of G C D. 

You threw in an F chord? Woah! How does that make sense????

It makes more sense after you learn this junk, which is not a set of rules by the way…..

Modes can be tools for creating harmonies (chord progressions) that immediately put the listener into these genres.  

To better understand this, let’s put all of that random info you have about modes (the minor 2nd!) into context…..