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August 07, 2007

By Robert Renman - www.dolphinstreet.com

Learning Scales and Modes

I have noticed that a lot of guitar players have sketchy knowledge of the 7 musical modes. Sometimes you hear people say the " modes of the major scale". We are talking about the same thing - the seven musical modes.

The 7 modal scales have funky names. They are called Ionian mode, Dorian mode, Phrygian mode, Lydian mode, Mixolydian mode, Aeolian mode and Locrian mode. They got their names from the good ol' Greeks.

Does it sound complicated to learn all this?

Hey, it is actually pretty easy! The fact is, all the 7 modes can be seen as using exactly the same notes. For example, let's look at the C Major scale. Starting from the root note going up to the octave, we have the notes C, D, E, F, G, A, B, C. This is the first mode, and it's called the Ionian mode. We can play all the modes by using the exact same notes:

  1. C Ionian mode - C, D, E, F, G, A, B, C
  2. D Dorian mode - D, E, F, G, A, B, C, D (look at how we start on the 2nd note in the C major scale and play eight notes!)
  3. E Phrygian mode consists of E, F, G, A, B, C, D, E (look at how we start on the 3rd note in the C major scale and play eight notes!)
  4. F Lydian mode consists of F, G, A, B, C, D, E, F (look at how we start on the... well you get the idea?)
  5. G Mixolydian mode consists of G, A, B, C, D, E, F, G
  6. A Aeolian mode consists of A, B, C, D, E, F, G, A
  7. B Locrian mode consists of B, C, D, E, F, G, A, B

When we look at the modes this way, it's not so complicated, is it? We see that all of the modes consist of exactly the same notes - in this case the notes of the C Major scale. The difference between these modes is where the tonal center is. Look at the D Dorian mode. You can view it as the C Major scale where the tonal center has been shifted to the D note, instead of the C note. Because of this shift, we now have a minor scale mode called the D Dorian mode. However, the notes are identical to the notes of the C Major scale.

This is a really cool thing! If you know the major scale shape all over the neck, you can play all the 7 modes of the scale by just moving this "scale shape".

For example, if you play C major over an F Major chord, you have F Lydian. Here are the different modes and how the C major scale relates:

  1. C major scale over C - C Ionian
  2. C major scale over D - D Dorian
  3. C major scale over E - E Phrygian
  4. C major scale over F - F Lydian
  5. C major scale over G - G Mixolydian
  6. C major scale over A - A Aeolian
  7. C major scale over B - B Locrian

In order to hear how these modes fit in over chords, try playing the modes over these chords:

Notice how you can play C Major over all of these chords? Awesome! I know some people who prefer to look at it as playing the major scale over a certain chord, but others may want to view it as a different mode. It doesn't really matter how you view it, as long as you know how it all fits together.

I hope this makes sense to you. Feel free to ask or comment if I was unclear!

By Robert Renman - www.dolphinstreet.com

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Posted by Robert Renman on August 07, 2007

Great Deals at Musician's Friend

Comments on this blog entry

Amy said...

Are these these modes all movable if you start say a dorian in the key of a can you move the whole scale down to say B does this then become b dorian scale and dose it apply to all the modes??? some one get back to me with the answer

Comment added on October 31, 2010
Peters said...

Thanks dude it was really helpful! Make some more dude we need that!

Comment added on November 05, 2009
Matt said...

thanks alot! this really helped alot, you put it into just the right wording (for me at least).

Comment added on June 24, 2009
Andy said...

This isn't actually very useful without an understanding of how to effectively establish a tonal centre.

Comment added on February 29, 2008
Nasir said...

Great Stuff. Can we also get the SHAPES of each mode please.

Comment added on February 13, 2008
Francis said...

dude your explanations so good man!! this reeli helps alot..thnx!
jus reading about the names before made ma head spin...haha

Comment added on January 22, 2008
guy said...

This is a good and simple explanation. Thanks. However, can you show scale shapes for each mode so we are starting on the root tone of the chord each time? Instead of playing the same frets each time?

Comment added on January 16, 2008
Robert said...

Tim, there are many other scales, and I will cover a few more of those soon. This time I just wanted to clarify the 7 different modes and that they can all be viewed as the same major scale.

Comment added on September 14, 2007
Tim Bianco said...

What about those other scales Ive seen in books (that dont explain a whole lot just as a example A super lydian or something like that (Idont remeber the exact name of the scale ) I think they are modes of some minor scale Any shedding of light would be appreciated Thanks , Tim

Comment added on September 14, 2007
miguel said...

thanks master i see now
other world in my guitar!!!!!!!!!!!

thanks again

Comment added on September 11, 2007
Jimbo said...

Great intro, thanks.
Check out TC's cartoon game of the modes:
http://www.guitarshredshow.com/carpet/

Comment added on August 24, 2007
Toby Arianna said...

I can't beleive how long it has taken me to find an easy explanation about this. Thank You. Donation on it's way.

Comment added on August 18, 2007
John said...

Wow! this is a really neat way to explain the modes. It really opened my eyes to what is happening with the modes. All I can say is thanks for unscrambling a lot of questions I had about this.

Comment added on August 17, 2007

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