Oh man this is great great stuff. Everything you said is exactly correct. I was confused about modes for a long time due to having “learned” from the flawed explanations of other RUclips “experts”. It took quite some time and effort to extricate myself from the cognitive quicksand that resulted, but I did manage to figure things out. If I'd started HERE with your cogent and 100% correct instruction, then my understanding would have been so much quicker and easier!
Actually it is incorrect to say, at 10:00, that "what makes the modes is the chord progression and not the melody". Actually, the modes have been used for centuries in a melodic way only, in the Gregorian chant, without chords. And in the video it is said that there are other ways than chords to establish the mode. The correct way to say it would be: "what makes the modes is the identification of a tonic note and how the other notes of the scale (in the melody or in chords) relate to that note". Also, guitar players often get confused because they want to "improvise" on chords, and when they see a chord, say "Gmin", they sweat and say "should I improvise on G eolian, or G dorian, or ...?". This is where context matters but a lot of guitar players don't know how to analyse chord progressions and only see them as a series of letters 😢. That's the main cause of misunderstanding and confusion.
Key point for me at 5:42 - listeners need a reference point to make sense of what they are hearing. And the brain will normally provide this by settling on one pitch as more important than the others. Our ears naturally listen out for this "Tonic" pitch, and will get it fixed in memory as long as the music gives them a few clues. It's then this tonic note that determines the mode, and thus what the sequence of notes sounds like subjectively to us as a pattern - a pattern that can carry feelings and mood.
Totally accurate of any study I have done. At first I questioned the initial statement about starting with..then you made it clear about the C major. note pitches. Jerry Reed would play a G7 and do a thumb scrape of the white piano keys..voila..the mixolydian mode. G base notes of C major.
"It's psychological". GOD THANK YOU. I have heard many times the "it just starts on a different note" and I just couldn't understand why modes sounded so different when they contain the same notes. It's all about context.
I have heard it that, chords and scales are the same thing, with that in mind, I find it helps to think of what chord is the centre of each mode ie Maj 7 flat 5 is Lydian, dominant 7' 9, 11 or even 13 is Mixolydian etc, etc..
Playing them linear is something that took me about 30 years to get round too but it's a huge help, to see the distances, which then teaches you the intervals you are using when you cross strings, I guess this should be the first thing to do before learning box positions, if I teach again I will do this..
So... If the "mode" is determined by the chord progression, What's a I vi IV V out of D "mode". I have a harmony foot pedal that's pretty complex in that it has key selection and scale selection with a choice of harmony voicing: 6th, 4th, 3rd below and 3, 5, 6 plus 3 and 5 also 3 and 6th above. I want to do a simple melody over the chords in harmony, preferably with a 3rd and 5th above. What mode do I set it? For that matter just a third above or below would work. I may as well throw this pedal out and do the hunt and peck routine for a few days just for four bars...
Because of bad teachers over complicating shit to make themselves seem superior. It's an intermediate skill for sure, but is just built around the major scale intervals
I believe that you are a great musician, but I am absolutely sure that you were born to be a great teacher. You really stand out when you're teaching music.
"reseting the ears" is really the key when i was learning about the modes, i couldnt tell the difference,of playing each mode starting from a X note from the scale, from playing the whole major scale on the 6 strings of the guitar modes started making sense when i saw joe satriani's explanation on pitch axis and also understanding that a scale does not necessarily means a single shape using all the 6 strings, as most beginners thinks, you can play a scale using only 2 strings just like mamlsteen and petrucci does using 4 notes per string (aka 4 octaves scale)
If you know the major scales, you have all the scales and all the modes. What you play over determines the scale or mode you are playing. If you're not playing over anything, you're just playing notes of the major scale.
Chords ultimately decide the key, but it's still possible to create the sound of a mode melodically without context behind it. Whichever note you treat as the resolving note to your melodies will imply a mode.
This should be required watching for *EVERYONE* starting to learn about modes. This would have solved me years of trouble just trying to understand what they were. It would not have helped me implementing them but at least I would have understood.
Yes , implementation is where I also have trouble .. but I guess first we have to understand the concept . When I read a piece I’m now starting to look at it’s structure as much as it’s notes .
In other words, provided that I got the ideas the right way, the thing is not from which note the scale starts, but the way the latter “behaves”, meaning: if you want, for example, a “D Dorian” scale, that will be D E F G A B C and the underlying “behavior” will be WHWWWHW (“whole step”, “half step”).
here's what i don't understand and can't seem to grasp. what's the point of improvising in a certain mode when as you say chords dictate the modal center of the piece of music? if you know where all the notes of the major and minor scale of every key exist on the fretboard and you can choose any starting point in the scale from which to improvise in a given key, aren't you kind of always in the same mode, but just in a different position? it's doesn't seem like knowing the modes gives you any greater options for what notes to play over a chord progression if you already know the notes in the scale. I don't get how a solo "sounds dorian" other than i threw in a second scale tone once or twice in a run.
Ive said it before and ill say it again. Thank you for everything you've done, do, and will do. Every video that you make elucidates a great deal of points in music that are often not talked about in much detail. Keep on rocking 😎
Thank you, thank you, thank you for finally - after some 30 years of asking and getting the same circular reasoning - confirming that there's more to it than just the notes. I have been trying to get someone to agree that there has to be some external context that determines the tonic. You can't say that the scale is defined by where the semitones are in relation to the tonic and then say that the tonic is defined by its relation to other notes. Finally, someone admits that it is possible to be unable to determine the tonic.
One confusing factor is that modes are always explained in relation to C major. It’s as though you only get D Dorian, E Phrygian, etc. A lightbulb moment came for me when I realised WHY the key of C is used. We guitarists need to visualise the piano keyboard to understand the TONE, TONE, SEMITONE... structure that underpins music theory.
Thank you! Interesting as always. I’m not sure, though, that it’s *wrong* to say that a mode “starts” on a certain note. For a scale to “start” on a note means that it’s the tonic, not that every melody has to “start” there in a strictly temporal way. Also, when you write out a scale or practice it, you’d usually start from the tonic, so it’s a natural word to use. However, I do agree that it can be confusing, especially for beginners. I also often find it interesting when a piece drifts over time so that it feels like the mode has changed, but without a specific moment of modulations, just through gradually increasing emphasis on another note.
My clarifying thought when he made this point was "the endpoints" for the Dorian scale are D, for Lydian are F, and so on, eliminating the temporal implications.
The bit @ 4:44 sounded like someone in the band Black Flag, soloing. 😄 Great video as always Tommaso! And I've been working on those awesome exercises in the first Complete Chord Mastery, lesson. You've been a tremendous boon to my understanding of the guitar, and I look forward to how I approach the instrument after completing the course. If you've been thinking about trying one or both courses, just do it. I have a close friend that is an Berklee graduate, and even he has never been able to convey these things in a digestible manner.
I watched all that thinking you were totally going to blow my mind about what modes are, but you just spent 8 minutes saying the "starting" note thing is WRONG!, and then backpedaling that yeah, starting on that note is a common way to establish the tonic and therefore the mode. There's no new information here. It's like "Let me tell you that everything you read is WRONG, and then spend ten minutes circling back to why it's actually NOT." You could have said there are other ways to establish the tonic in two minutes and talked about that instead of wasting so much time eating your own tail.
Yes, it had to be said. This is bait and switch. I like this channel and he does point out some subtle differences - but very little new information is here.
I never understood modes. Only after watching some of your videos I finally got it. Thank you. Here is how I now think of modes: The same set of notes sound different in different contexts. The same way a chord sounds different in different contexts. For example a C major chord can sound stable (as tonic in C major) or unstable/pushing (as dominat in F major). D dorian and A minor are the same notes, but in one the context is "Dm is the tonic" and in the other "Am is the tonic". Locrian is so rarely used, because it requires the listener to hear a diminished chord (unstable) as the tonic (supposed to be very stable). Note that also the function of other chords change like the dominant chord. For example in A minor Em is the dominant but in D dorian Am is dominant. F major and F ldyian have very similar contexts (Tonic: F and Dominant: C) but have a different set of notes and therefore sound different. F major and G dorian have the same notes but different contexts (Tonic: F vs. Gm and Dominant: C vs. Dm) and therefore sound differnet.
Yes, you got it. Only correction would be that, while it's true that the functions of chords changes with the mode, the usual functions (tonic-subdominant-dominant) are defined only for the major and minor scale, while the other modes operate more on a tonic vs nontonic function. There is lot of controversy on that point though, so this maybe will go in another video ;-)
The most fundamental difference between modes is that they emphasize different intervals. In C Major you have T 2 3 4 5 6 7, while in D Dorian you have T 2 b3 4 5 6 b7, and so on. Same notes, but when you emphasize a different tonal center, you emphasize different intervals related to that new tonic. Edit: the lack of functions in modes is also important. When applying modal harmony, you focus on the mood of those modes and use the chords that have the characteristic interval flavors. In Dorian, these notes/intervals would be the b3 and major 6. Major 2 and perfect 5 also work, since they are a half step away from the b3 and the major 6, respectively. Use a droning tonal note on the bass also helps. Traditional chord progressions on modes don't exist. Man, there are countless ways to use modes...
@@viniciusbertucci Functional harmony was preceded by modal harmony. Functional harmony is thoroughly modern in comparison. That's why we say "The major scales is the same as the ionian mode". The modes were converted to "scales" and functional harmony evolved from there. The rest of it is cultural.
Dang - Tommaso is SUCH a good teacher - more than makes up for the handwriting that is actually (maybe just a little) worse than mine ;). Hey, but it works, right? He breaks down theory so well and so practically...One thing that was helping me a bit before this was thinking about 'relative' modes (D Dorian as a relative mode to C Major - maybe similar to Aeolian being the relative(/natural) minor scale to CMaj) vs 'parallel' modes (D Ionian, D Dorian, D Phrygian, etc. ). The relative helped me to find a mode in a pinch (a little useful) but the parallel is more helpful, at least to me, in choosing a mode to play over a chord. I do aspire to feel vs just choose, one day. That said, it still wasn't locked down for me. Tommaso's explanation here got me soooo much farther.
Brilliant I have "kinda" understood modes but every time ( for decades sorry to say) I try to think them through I end up in a loop of circular thinking. I devised "my own" scale exorcize decades about ( again decades ago I'm embarrassed to admit) that began on c then d etc. I got the finger dexterity down and knew it was somewhat important but could never figure out the relationship of what I was doing with chords. I also listened to Kind of Blue ( for decades and decades and...) and knew that Miles Davis had changed the Jazz Universe by using this thing called modes. So I really aspired to understand how modes worked. In the meantime I play blues, Nashville, Swing etc so I've never HAD to understand modes ( didn't HAVE to but nevertheless I was frustrated that I couldn't ). So yes, there is "some" confusion. I'm going to watch this one over and over -- I think there is hope for me yet. Thanks you
I've been writing and playing my own music for more than 20 years now. I always thought that if I knew music theory, I'd be locked into these boxes . "You can only use these notes in the scale." I thought that if I knew how the sausage gets made, I wouldn't want to play anymore. I'm so happy to have been wrong. I've been watching your videos and educating myself. My song writing has jumped by leaps and bounds. Thank you so much for taking the time to break these subjects down into easily digested chucks.
GREAT topic and treatment of it. Modes are the biggest hurdle for guitarists, in theory and practice. My fav way of showing modes is by keeping a constant Root on a low open string (E or A preferred). Playing / hearing the ‘modes’ in this way immediately shows the ear the different character of each. I group them as three major ‘modes’: Ion, Mixo, Lyd; and four minor: Aeo, Dor, Phryg, and *Loc. So, for example: A Ion. A Mixo, A Lyd, etc., while open A rings. *I believe Locrian IS able to stand on its own though it lacks a perfect 5th. What do you think, sir? Also that might make for an interesting study: the search for Locrian-based movements / compositions in various genres...The Bridge is Over by rapper KRS 1 is a good place to start.
Considering how may "average guitar players" write me asking: "how do I sound like that" (+ video of their guitar hero playing something slow and simple but very tasty using modes) then the answer is YES.
Please correct me if I'm wrong. So basically the background chords or chords progerssion defines the modes. The soloing does nothing to do with it right whether where you start as long as you are on that particular scale? Thank you
Even though I played clarinet all thru school and could read music, when I took up guitar at 14 ('69) and was learning Black Sabbath by ear (I was in E Dorian, but didn't know, lol). I noticed when I moved the pattern down 2 frets (still over an Em chord), it sounded Spanish/Gypsy. I was in E phrygian, but didn't know, BUT IT SOUNDED COOL! Then I hit the books and learned the Modes! The Race was On!!!
I agree with you for criticizing the "starts on" convention because this has confused and slowed my learning of modes. Another confusing and misleading convention that drives me crazy is the universal presenting of the modes based on those "starts on" notes. The strong logical relationship is obvious but it makes no sense to me musically because what I want to compare, for example, is C ionian and C dorian, not C ionian and D dorian. Otherwise, we are still perceptually locked into C ionian, which I find irrelevant and confusing rather than clarifying. You are uniquely the best and I'm looking forward to ordering your mastering chords and scales video courses. Thank you for your great work.
Can you turn off the setting of your channel that translates the titles? Smettila di suonare come una chitarra scale machine, come uscire dalle scale per chitarra sounds ridicolous
I agree with you. This is a good lesson but he also didn't mention the other chord tones of chords being played within that same scale...the 'best sounding" starting AND ending points are the tones of the chord being played.
"Starting with" means "Starting with" :-) If we have to salvage an explanation by changing the meaning of the words, maybe it's better to change the explanation.
A mode starts FROM a certain note, in theory (teaching us what you call the reference, or the drone of each mode). But a phrase starts WITH any of several notes, in practice - notes missed out in the first octave work in the next because they are supported by the basic chord used in the first octave... Hearing a minor chord (or m7) does NOT give us the sound of Dorian, since a minor chord is ambiguous to three keys. You need to hear the 9 and 13 (or b9 or b13) to be sure - so when you played the note E over Dm7 it said 'this is not D Phrygian but it could be D Aeolian or D Dorian'. Thanks, I do like your work
I agree, but I still think "starts" is confusing. I've seen so many guitarists believe that they actually have to start from a specific note when they improvise, that I am very careful about saying "starts" anymore.
The confusion is a result of music dictionaries defining the word "Scale" as a series of 8 fixed pitches. It's not a series but a family, it could be any number of notes but the 8 pitches they're talking about are really just 7 and those pitches aren't fixed unless you're playing an equal tempered instrument.
Because D Aeolian is a mode of F Major scale, and D Dorian is a mode of C Major scale. In D Aeolian the chord progression will be around Dminor but surrounded with chords of the F major scale. In D Dorian the chord progression will still be around Dminor, but surrounded with chords of the C major scale. Also If you are just playing Dminor, without any other chords (so it is not a chord progression, but just Dminor alone), the listener will perceive an Aeolian feeling is you solo over that Dminor using the Fmajor scale. Instead, as you may now understand, if you solo over Dminor using Cmajor scale, the feeling will be Dorian. Try it yourself, put a Dminor chord at loop at test soloing using Cmajor and Fmajor scales, completely different feeling , but both sounds good.
@@tomjorghen Thanks for the explanation, but I knew this. I just wanted to highlight the statement about establishing a scale by playing a tonic chord, that was made in the video. I think, your words or something like that would be fit well there.
Before I watch the video: In my experience people who have trouble with modes do because they don't even know their major key chords or how the major scales works. Then they are surprised that the modes are confusing te them.
So helpful. I learned about modes from my guitar teacher almost 20 years ago, but they didn’t make sense until you brought in the tonic concept. Now I’m going to go back to songs I’ve written and figure them out from a modal perspective.
You're still overcomplicating it. It's much easier to explain modes using the same tonic. If you play C Major scale over D, you hear Dorian. If you play Bb Major scale over C, you hear C Dorian Play a bass note C, or play a Cmajor ambient pad on youtube, and play the following scales and you'll instantly hear it C Major - first mode of C Maj C Dorian - second mode of Bb Maj C Phrygian - third mode of Ab Maj C Lydian - fourth mode of G maj C Mixolydian - fifth mode of F maj C Aeolian - 6th mode of Eb Maj C Locrrian - 7th mode of Db Maj
I take issue with you labeling the explanation as "wrong". When I explain to my students that "dorian is like playing the C-major scale, only starting from D and ending on D", the underlying premise is: "...when playing through the scale from the first through 8th step". Because that's how you would play/demonstrate a scale, right? So, basically, what you're explaining around 6:30 in the movie. It's an instrumental explanation; it gives the students the tools to explore modes on the piano. It avoids technical words (such as "tonic") that the students may not be familiar with yet, but I wouldn't call the explanation "wrong". Maybe some underlying premises are sometimes not clarified well enough. I don't know. But I'd like to hear examples of misunderstandings that arose because of a confusion caused by such an explanation.
@@onepunchpug9356 Really? Have you guys ever tried studying modes before? I have and found this to finally make it all make sense. The critical part is that each major scale has a corresponding "mode" made up of the same notes. So his example of Dorian was based on C Major (same notes), but his point was that Dorian isn't just playing the C major scale but starting with D note instead of C for the melody, but having the D CHORD be the root that all the melodies resolve back to. Single note melodies can start on any note, but the chords resolve to the D chord. The effect is purely how your brain hears the resolve and what it expects to come in the progression. For further clarity, if I play the chord progression C, D, G in that order, your brain perceives that as different than if I played the same chords but in a different order. Like, if I play D, C, G then it sounds different and your brain expects a different resolve.
Look for my comment, which takes another approach you might like, and which allows me to understand Tomaso's point here, which is not exactly explaining how modes are built, but how they are/should be understood/used.
Omg sir, I finally get it! What really hit home was that the chord progression establishes the mode, NOT the melody. I have watched so many videos on this topic and I’ve never understood it. I have so many songs where I record the idea and then punch in my notes to a scale finder, just to realize that my tonic is not the “I” chord of that scale. So I’ve wasted so much time trying to resolve to the I chord, not realizing that I’m in a mode and that I’ve already established my tonal center. Jeez… So just for confirmation, if I begin a song with Am, and there are F# notes (because of a D chord) throughout the song, I look up the notes and find that I’m in the scale of G, but the song is in A Dorian. Do I have this correct?
How about this.. Explain backwards. In modern culture our ear used to with Major and Minor colour.. Major modes Do re mi fa sol la si. Do re mj fi sol la si. (lydian) Do re mi fa sol la sa. (mixolydian) Minor modes La si do re mi fa sol la La si do re mj fi sol la (dorian) La sa do re mi fa sol la (phyrhian) La sa do re ri fa so la (locrian) *or. From major scale* 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 1 2 3b 4 5 6 7b 1 2b 3 4 5 6 7b 1 2 3 4# 5 6 7
I remember the modes this way, which works for me. The commonly used modes are Aeolian, Ionian, Mixolydian, Lydian, and Dorian. You probably already know Aeolian, the major scale of the key you're playing in, and Ionian, the "blues scale". Now just picture the bar chords on your guitar, and picture the I - IV - V chord progression. I is the major scale, IV is the Mixolydian, and V is Lydian. If you can memorize that you're most of the way there. Now drop one step from the I chord to the flatted VII, and use that chord's scale to get Dorian. In the key of G, if you want Mixolydian, you play the scale of the IV chord, which is C. Lydian is the V chord, D Dorian is the flatted VII chord = F ("flatted" because the 7th of a G scale is an F#, so you have to flatten it to get an F natural)
At least learn C Major across the fretboard (it's just 7 positions or _shapes)._ It may seem like a lot at first, but once you do that one thing, you will have opened up everything else. Before you do that, nothing really makes much sense, understandably. But once you do, all the doors open. And if you haven't done it, you haven't given yourself a chance yet and won't know how much easier things suddenly are until you do.
@@aylbdrmadison1051 Ill look into it, I know all the mode shapes, pentatonic shapes. But I cant seem to flow like it want, I come up with a riff I think is cool, but can't build onto it. I think I'm in my own way. But I appreciate the advice. I'll get all 7 C major a go
Tl;dw: the sound/quality of a mode is derived from the chords used not the scale. If you play the “d dorian mode/scale” over a C major chord, you’re playing in the key of C major (Ionian) and will get the sound.
True, neither the starting nor ending note of any piece of music needs be the 1st scale degree; a piece can start on 5 then, 4 minutes later, end on 7. So the "start" and "end" notes do _not_ tell you where the 1 scale degree is. The thing that determines the 1 scale degree (aka the "tonic" note) is, what note do the melodies and harmonies _resolve_ to or _strive_ to? _That_ is your "tonic" or "1" scale degree. And to determine _that_ , you have to understand concordance and discordance, and tension and release, and how they effect the emotions produced by the music. This is one area where emotion is absolutely essential and logic alone will _not_ help you. Then, once the "1" note has been determined, the "mode" is just the pattern of intervals going up from 1. Eg, if it's "hWWhWWW", it's Locrian Mode. Or if it's "WWhWWhW", it's Mixolydian Mode. Etc. (Or, if it's not enharmonic to Major at all, then it's not one of the 7 modes of modern western diatonic music, but rather, something different, such as "WWWWWW" = The Whole Tone Mode, or "WhWWh3h" = The Harmonic Minor Mode.)
This is great, but it would be really REALLY useful to hear a few other techniques for establishing the dominant as referenced at the end of the video. This would transition from "understanding" modes to actually USING modes.
Good introduction for those who have absolutely no idea about modes. This was barely touching the surface but I would have at least added : What if I want to play G Dorian and not D Dorian ? That's what I was stuck on at first when I was starting with modes. Or what if I want to play E Lydian and not F Lydian ? Well for those who are wondering : Dorian is the -second- mode of the major scale so if you want to play -G- Dorian you ask yourself : In what key is G the -second - note ? The answer is F, so you would build chord progressions and melodies based around the notes of F major, but trying to highlight G instead of F. For E Lydian : Lydian is the -fourth- mode of the major scale, so, in which key is E the fourth note ? The answer is B major. So you build chords and melodies using the notes of the B major scale, highlighting E instead of B. As a bonus, if you are lazy like me but you know your major scale patterns with your eyes closed, you can just noodle around using the major scale patterns of the 'parent' major scale instead of learning a bunch of new scale patterns. That's when it clicked for me : "oh E Lydian is just B major ? Right on ! Start that E Lydian backing track and I'll noodle with B major" I think that's a quick and easy way to get into modes.
Excellent tutorial. Always worth repeating that music is psychological and therefore has an actual physical effect on the cognitive function of the brain; in theory it’s possible to see the brain responding to the sounds of different modes. Eric
I guess I would trust you on this a little bit. I found an article saying different. Basically saying if you use chords like F and G but starting and ending on a not A then it's actually an aeolian sound. I think it's important for the bass to start on a C if you want C lydian for example over a C chord. But I also don't think you need a drone. I also think you can play a fifth on Lydian and are allowed to use inversions and not have a drone. In folk music it might be different because that's how bagpipes are setup. They don't really do chords. but I think music needs to be a little bit more open then that. Like music needs to move a little more then that after using chords C D Bm and C. Instead I did C, D/F#, Bm, D5. And then C, Bm, G, C. Using some inversions. Both to me are C lydian. Although maybe it's personal preference idk. I just think it makes things more interesting. So far I've seen people play all chords over C Lydian. Sounds like that dreamy beautiful futuristic shiny chrome world to me still. And more interesting.
Hi tommaso, love your videos and I have a quetion. Lets say I want to play a song in a certain key, but I want to switch modes. For example- I want my song in C major scale but the chorus in G mixolydian. same notes different tonic.. I would like to experiment on it. Thank you
It's a great video on how to look at modes. I still wonder, how Paul McCartney or John Lennon where thinking when creating their great songs in different modes, used modulations. For example Norwegian Wood..
3:33 I usually explain the difference between modes of the same scale by using the word "gravity" (ie tonal center) ; then I make a comparison with a sculpture, if you put the sculpture upside down or on the side, it"s the same sculpture yet it looks different. Same with modes.
I find it incredible people don't get how simple modes are. A standard western major scale is 7 notes separated by semitones following a set structure: 2212221 Mode 1 starts on the first step of the structure. Mode 2 starts on the second step, so you just put the first step at the end (which means the structure is now 2122212). Mode 3 starts on the third step, so 1222122. And so forth. So it's logical that modes will use the same notes as other major scales. Which ones? Easy! The note starting the structure in its original form. Want to find it? Just subtract the semitones you "stole" from the beginning of the structure. Ex. B phrygian. You "stole" the first 2 steps of the structure, which means 4 semitones. So the note that will start the structure is B minus 4 semitones = G major. As easy as that.
![How To Find The KEY Of A Song Completely By EAR [No Perfect Pitch]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/0h4KQPPJF_0/mqdefault.jpg)
![How To Find The KEY Of A Song Completely By EAR [No Perfect Pitch]](/img/tr.png)
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Oh man this is great great stuff. Everything you said is exactly correct.
I was confused about modes for a long time due to having “learned” from the flawed explanations of other RUclips “experts”. It took quite some time and effort to extricate myself from the cognitive quicksand that resulted, but I did manage to figure things out.
If I'd started HERE with your cogent and 100% correct instruction, then my understanding would have been so much quicker and easier!
Actually it is incorrect to say, at 10:00, that "what makes the modes is the chord progression and not the melody". Actually, the modes have been used for centuries in a melodic way only, in the Gregorian chant, without chords. And in the video it is said that there are other ways than chords to establish the mode. The correct way to say it would be: "what makes the modes is the identification of a tonic note and how the other notes of the scale (in the melody or in chords) relate to that note". Also, guitar players often get confused because they want to "improvise" on chords, and when they see a chord, say "Gmin", they sweat and say "should I improvise on G eolian, or G dorian, or ...?". This is where context matters but a lot of guitar players don't know how to analyse chord progressions and only see them as a series of letters 😢. That's the main cause of misunderstanding and confusion.
Key point for me at 5:42 - listeners need a reference point to make sense of what they are hearing. And the brain will normally provide this by settling on one pitch as more important than the others.
Our ears naturally listen out for this "Tonic" pitch, and will get it fixed in memory as long as the music gives them a few clues. It's then this tonic note that determines the mode, and thus what the sequence of notes sounds like subjectively to us as a pattern - a pattern that can carry feelings and mood.
"Excuse me for a moment, while I RESET your ears... " LOL... Brilliant Tomasso.
(1) It's "reZet", not "reSet"
(2) A good way to reset your ears is to listen to Lou Reed's Metal Machine Music.
Totally accurate of any study I have done. At first I questioned the initial statement about starting with..then you made it clear about the C major. note pitches. Jerry Reed would play a G7 and do a thumb scrape of the white piano keys..voila..the mixolydian mode. G base notes of C major.
"It's psychological". GOD THANK YOU. I have heard many times the "it just starts on a different note" and I just couldn't understand why modes sounded so different when they contain the same notes. It's all about context.
I have heard it that, chords and scales are the same thing, with that in mind, I find it helps to think of what chord is the centre of each mode ie Maj 7 flat 5 is Lydian, dominant 7' 9, 11 or even 13 is Mixolydian etc, etc..
In diatonic music at least.
Playing them linear is something that took me about 30 years to get round too but it's a huge help, to see the distances, which then teaches you the intervals you are using when you cross strings, I guess this should be the first thing to do before learning box positions, if I teach again I will do this..
I know the intervals any way but it's good for slides and phrasing and stuff too..
So... If the "mode" is determined by the chord progression, What's a I vi IV V out of D "mode". I have a harmony foot pedal that's pretty complex in that it has key selection and scale selection with a choice of harmony voicing: 6th, 4th, 3rd below and 3, 5, 6 plus 3 and 5 also 3 and 6th above. I want to do a simple melody over the chords in harmony, preferably with a 3rd and 5th above. What mode do I set it? For that matter just a third above or below would work. I may as well throw this pedal out and do the hunt and peck routine for a few days just for four bars...
Very helpful
Best music theory teacher on RUclips imo
totalmente de acuerdo
Because of bad teachers over complicating shit to make themselves seem superior.
It's an intermediate skill for sure, but is just built around the major scale intervals
4:44 How Jazz sounds like to non jazz listeners
HAHAHA :)
it's actually how jazz sounds to jazz listeners as well : )
You're listening to the wrong kind of Jazz then.
Loooool🤣
I believe that you are a great musician, but I am absolutely sure that you were born to be a great teacher. You really stand out when you're teaching music.
Yeah, really. After listening to this explanation, I'm having a difficult time remembering why the modes are such a confusing concept to learn.
"reseting the ears" is really the key
when i was learning about the modes, i couldnt tell the difference,of playing each mode starting from a X note from the scale, from playing the whole major scale on the 6 strings of the guitar
modes started making sense when i saw joe satriani's explanation on pitch axis
and also understanding that a scale does not necessarily means a single shape using all the 6 strings, as most beginners thinks, you can play a scale using only 2 strings just like mamlsteen and petrucci does using 4 notes per string (aka 4 octaves scale)
If you know the major scales, you have all the scales and all the modes. What you play over determines the scale or mode you are playing. If you're not playing over anything, you're just playing notes of the major scale.
Chords ultimately decide the key, but it's still possible to create the sound of a mode melodically without context behind it. Whichever note you treat as the resolving note to your melodies will imply a mode.
@@RyanJamesOfficial Yup, no argument from me. Regards.
*all the modes of the major scale
This should be required watching for *EVERYONE* starting to learn about modes. This would have solved me years of trouble just trying to understand what they were. It would not have helped me implementing them but at least I would have understood.
Yes , implementation is where I also have trouble .. but I guess first we have to understand the concept . When I read a piece I’m now starting to look at it’s structure as much as it’s notes .
In other words, provided that I got the ideas the right way, the thing is not from which note the scale starts, but the way the latter “behaves”, meaning: if you want, for example, a “D Dorian” scale, that will be D E F G A B C and the underlying “behavior” will be WHWWWHW (“whole step”, “half step”).
Thank you…. This is the key (excuse the pun) piece of information that all the other teachers describing modes fail to explain… ❤
Ho capito... che non ho capito 😅
Scherzo, ottimo video sempre illuminante. Grazie Tommaso
very helpful video, Tommaso, thanks!
The first crystal clear explanation… took a while for me to find this
Good point, I guess what they should say tonal centre or key centre instead of saying starting from.
here's what i don't understand and can't seem to grasp. what's the point of improvising in a certain mode when as you say chords dictate the modal center of the piece of music? if you know where all the notes of the major and minor scale of every key exist on the fretboard and you can choose any starting point in the scale from which to improvise in a given key, aren't you kind of always in the same mode, but just in a different position? it's doesn't seem like knowing the modes gives you any greater options for what notes to play over a chord progression if you already know the notes in the scale. I don't get how a solo "sounds dorian" other than i threw in a second scale tone once or twice in a run.
My guitar teacher kept pounding the wrong way into my head and I ended up resenting this subject.
I love your videos. I literally had this problem last night with a student.
This is the best treatment I've found. Excellent.
Another excellent video. Thanks, Tommaso!
That is really interesting! Music is such a wonderful thing to understand!
Ive said it before and ill say it again. Thank you for everything you've done, do, and will do. Every video that you make elucidates a great deal of points in music that are often not talked about in much detail. Keep on rocking 😎
For me, this was the best explanation of modes I've heard. Now I just have to make it stick inside my pea brain. Thank you Tomasso!
Very good video explaining modes thank you
Thanks, really useful. Get it now!
I'm going to buy your book you makes sense more the my lessons. Thanks.
Thank you, thank you, thank you for finally - after some 30 years of asking and getting the same circular reasoning - confirming that there's more to it than just the notes. I have been trying to get someone to agree that there has to be some external context that determines the tonic. You can't say that the scale is defined by where the semitones are in relation to the tonic and then say that the tonic is defined by its relation to other notes. Finally, someone admits that it is possible to be unable to determine the tonic.
Why do you call it C Major and not C Ionian?
Some people call it Ionian. You tend to see more of this in analysis of classical music (along with Aeolian for Minor).
It's both and can be called either.
Ahh make sense thank you 🙏🏾
One confusing factor is that modes are always explained in relation to C major. It’s as though you only get D Dorian, E Phrygian, etc. A lightbulb moment came for me when I realised WHY the key of C is used. We guitarists need to visualise the piano keyboard to understand the TONE, TONE, SEMITONE... structure that underpins music theory.
Yes, definitely. This is a key insight! (pun intended, but the sentiment is sincere!)
This is was much needed 🤘 Thanks a lot 🤘
Thank you! Interesting as always. I’m not sure, though, that it’s *wrong* to say that a mode “starts” on a certain note. For a scale to “start” on a note means that it’s the tonic, not that every melody has to “start” there in a strictly temporal way. Also, when you write out a scale or practice it, you’d usually start from the tonic, so it’s a natural word to use. However, I do agree that it can be confusing, especially for beginners. I also often find it interesting when a piece drifts over time so that it feels like the mode has changed, but without a specific moment of modulations, just through gradually increasing emphasis on another note.
My clarifying thought when he made this point was "the endpoints" for the Dorian scale are D, for Lydian are F, and so on, eliminating the temporal implications.
Thank you..quite helpful
The bit @ 4:44 sounded like someone in the band Black Flag, soloing. 😄
Great video as always Tommaso! And I've been working on those awesome exercises in the first Complete Chord Mastery, lesson. You've been a tremendous boon to my understanding of the guitar, and I look forward to how I approach the instrument after completing the course.
If you've been thinking about trying one or both courses, just do it. I have a close friend that is an Berklee graduate, and even he has never been able to convey these things in a digestible manner.
I watched all that thinking you were totally going to blow my mind about what modes are, but you just spent 8 minutes saying the "starting" note thing is WRONG!, and then backpedaling that yeah, starting on that note is a common way to establish the tonic and therefore the mode. There's no new information here. It's like "Let me tell you that everything you read is WRONG, and then spend ten minutes circling back to why it's actually NOT." You could have said there are other ways to establish the tonic in two minutes and talked about that instead of wasting so much time eating your own tail.
Yes, it had to be said. This is bait and switch. I like this channel and he does point out some subtle differences - but very little new information is here.
modes simplified the guitar neck for me and made me understand chord voicings
Yes! Everybody should learn them.
I never understood modes. Only after watching some of your videos I finally got it. Thank you. Here is how I now think of modes:
The same set of notes sound different in different contexts. The same way a chord sounds different in different contexts. For example a C major chord can sound stable (as tonic in C major) or unstable/pushing (as dominat in F major).
D dorian and A minor are the same notes, but in one the context is "Dm is the tonic" and in the other "Am is the tonic". Locrian is so rarely used, because it requires the listener to hear a diminished chord (unstable) as the tonic (supposed to be very stable). Note that also the function of other chords change like the dominant chord. For example in A minor Em is the dominant but in D dorian Am is dominant.
F major and F ldyian have very similar contexts (Tonic: F and Dominant: C) but have a different set of notes and therefore sound different.
F major and G dorian have the same notes but different contexts (Tonic: F vs. Gm and Dominant: C vs. Dm) and therefore sound differnet.
Yes, you got it. Only correction would be that, while it's true that the functions of chords changes with the mode, the usual functions (tonic-subdominant-dominant) are defined only for the major and minor scale, while the other modes operate more on a tonic vs nontonic function. There is lot of controversy on that point though, so this maybe will go in another video ;-)
The most fundamental difference between modes is that they emphasize different intervals. In C Major you have T 2 3 4 5 6 7, while in D Dorian you have T 2 b3 4 5 6 b7, and so on. Same notes, but when you emphasize a different tonal center, you emphasize different intervals related to that new tonic.
Edit: the lack of functions in modes is also important. When applying modal harmony, you focus on the mood of those modes and use the chords that have the characteristic interval flavors. In Dorian, these notes/intervals would be the b3 and major 6. Major 2 and perfect 5 also work, since they are a half step away from the b3 and the major 6, respectively. Use a droning tonal note on the bass also helps. Traditional chord progressions on modes don't exist.
Man, there are countless ways to use modes...
@@viniciusbertucci Functional harmony was preceded by modal harmony. Functional harmony is thoroughly modern in comparison. That's why we say "The major scales is the same as the ionian mode". The modes were converted to "scales" and functional harmony evolved from there. The rest of it is cultural.
@@35milesoflead Yes, correct.
Dang - Tommaso is SUCH a good teacher - more than makes up for the handwriting that is actually (maybe just a little) worse than mine ;). Hey, but it works, right? He breaks down theory so well and so practically...One thing that was helping me a bit before this was thinking about 'relative' modes (D Dorian as a relative mode to C Major - maybe similar to Aeolian being the relative(/natural) minor scale to CMaj) vs 'parallel' modes (D Ionian, D Dorian, D Phrygian, etc. ). The relative helped me to find a mode in a pinch (a little useful) but the parallel is more helpful, at least to me, in choosing a mode to play over a chord. I do aspire to feel vs just choose, one day. That said, it still wasn't locked down for me. Tommaso's explanation here got me soooo much farther.
Thank you. Good lesson.
So, it looks like they all have sequences of half steps and whole steps! Thanks - now I feel OK about having some ice cream on my baked dessert!
It helps dude. Great job.
thanks!! finally I get it!!!
So instead of saying “starting from” - a better way to say it would be changing the root note, correct?
Yes, but it's not just a way of saying it :)
Brilliant I have "kinda" understood modes but every time ( for decades sorry to say) I try to think them through I end up in a loop of circular thinking. I devised "my own" scale exorcize decades about ( again decades ago I'm embarrassed to admit) that began on c then d etc. I got the finger dexterity down and knew it was somewhat important but could never figure out the relationship of what I was doing with chords. I also listened to Kind of Blue ( for decades and decades and...) and knew that Miles Davis had changed the Jazz Universe by using this thing called modes. So I really aspired to understand how modes worked. In the meantime I play blues, Nashville, Swing etc so I've never HAD to understand modes ( didn't HAVE to but nevertheless I was frustrated that I couldn't ). So yes, there is "some" confusion. I'm going to watch this one over and over -- I think there is hope for me yet. Thanks you
Music or rocket science? I’m 💯 sure rocket science is way easier.
Thank you.
I've been writing and playing my own music for more than 20 years now. I always thought that if I knew music theory, I'd be locked into these boxes . "You can only use these notes in the scale."
I thought that if I knew how the sausage gets made, I wouldn't want to play anymore. I'm so happy to have been wrong.
I've been watching your videos and educating myself. My song writing has jumped by leaps and bounds.
Thank you so much for taking the time to break these subjects down into easily digested chucks.
GREAT topic and treatment of it. Modes are the biggest hurdle for guitarists, in theory and practice. My fav way of showing modes is by keeping a constant Root on a low open string (E or A preferred). Playing / hearing the ‘modes’ in this way immediately shows the ear the different character of each. I group them as three major ‘modes’: Ion, Mixo, Lyd; and four minor: Aeo, Dor, Phryg, and *Loc. So, for example: A Ion. A Mixo, A Lyd, etc., while open A rings. *I believe Locrian IS able to stand on its own though it lacks a perfect 5th. What do you think, sir? Also that might make for an interesting study: the search for Locrian-based movements / compositions in various genres...The Bridge is Over by rapper KRS 1 is a good place to start.
Lyd maj7#11
Ion maj7/11
Mix dom7/11
Dor min7/13
Aeol min7/b13
Phry min7b9
Loc min7b5
do we need to know this though , i mean the average guitar player really
Considering how may "average guitar players" write me asking: "how do I sound like that" (+ video of their guitar hero playing something slow and simple but very tasty using modes) then the answer is YES.
Very nice video
Hmmm....
Seven Keys,
Tonic, Subdominant and Dominant. (1st, 4th and 5th),
Diatonic major/minor,
Harmonic major/minor
Melodic major/minor
Dominant major/minor.
Six Modes, plus Locrian.
You are amazing...!
Great explanation!
Please correct me if I'm wrong. So basically the background chords or chords progerssion defines the modes. The soloing does nothing to do with it right whether where you start as long as you are on that particular scale? Thank you
Yes, that's correct.
@@MusicTheoryForGuitar thank you much, from now on I will get a good night sleep
Even though I played clarinet all thru school and could read music, when I took up guitar at 14 ('69) and was learning Black Sabbath by ear (I was in E Dorian, but didn't know, lol). I noticed when I moved the pattern down 2 frets (still over an Em chord), it sounded Spanish/Gypsy. I was in E phrygian, but didn't know, BUT IT SOUNDED COOL! Then I hit the books and learned the Modes! The Race was On!!!
Delicious food for thought, best explanation I've heard yet. Thanks again ☮️
I agree with you for criticizing the "starts on" convention because this has confused and slowed my learning of modes. Another confusing and misleading convention that drives me crazy is the universal presenting of the modes based on those "starts on" notes. The strong logical relationship is obvious but it makes no sense to me musically because what I want to compare, for example, is C ionian and C dorian, not C ionian and D dorian. Otherwise, we are still perceptually locked into C ionian, which I find irrelevant and confusing rather than clarifying. You are uniquely the best and I'm looking forward to ordering your mastering chords and scales video courses. Thank you for your great work.
This is a great video!
Can you turn off the setting of your channel that translates the titles? Smettila di suonare come una chitarra scale machine, come uscire dalle scale per chitarra sounds ridicolous
It translated in the last title "guitar scales" with "Gitarrenwaage" (german) which means something that weighs guitars. :) Very confusing
@@TheDuhallo At least it doesn't interpret "bass scales" as scales of a fish ...
@@christopherheckman7957 That is hilarious. I definitely want to hear cool bass scales.
I think the term "Starting" has a meaning of "emphasis" in the tonic, despite the starting note the tendency is to emphasize the tonic in the melody.
I agree with you. This is a good lesson but he also didn't mention the other chord tones of chords being played within that same scale...the 'best sounding" starting AND ending points are the tones of the chord being played.
"Starting with" means "Starting with" :-) If we have to salvage an explanation by changing the meaning of the words, maybe it's better to change the explanation.
Greg: There are many things I don't mention here. It's a 10m video on YT :-)
@@MusicTheoryForGuitar I guess you gots to make some moolah too! ;)
Not really. A D dorian mode can still sound like D dorian even without playing the D note in a melody.
A mode starts FROM a certain note, in theory (teaching us what you call the reference, or the drone of each mode). But a phrase starts WITH any of several notes, in practice - notes missed out in the first octave work in the next because they are supported by the basic chord used in the first octave...
Hearing a minor chord (or m7) does NOT give us the sound of Dorian, since a minor chord is ambiguous to three keys. You need to hear the 9 and 13 (or b9 or b13) to be sure - so when you played the note E over Dm7 it said 'this is not D Phrygian but it could be D Aeolian or D Dorian'.
Thanks, I do like your work
I agree, but I still think "starts" is confusing. I've seen so many guitarists believe that they actually have to start from a specific note when they improvise, that I am very careful about saying "starts" anymore.
@@MusicTheoryForGuitar Fair enough, it's all confusing for a long time!
The confusion is a result of music dictionaries defining the word "Scale" as a series of 8 fixed pitches. It's not a series but a family, it could be any number of notes but the 8 pitches they're talking about are really just 7 and those pitches aren't fixed unless you're playing an equal tempered instrument.
Excellent lesson.
I'm sorry, but... When you play Dm (D F A), do you establish exactly D dorian? Why not D aeolian?
Because D Aeolian is a mode of F Major scale, and D Dorian is a mode of C Major scale.
In D Aeolian the chord progression will be around Dminor but surrounded with chords of the F major scale.
In D Dorian the chord progression will still be around Dminor, but surrounded with chords of the C major scale.
Also
If you are just playing Dminor, without any other chords (so it is not a chord progression, but just Dminor alone), the listener will perceive an Aeolian feeling is you solo over that Dminor using the Fmajor scale.
Instead, as you may now understand, if you solo over Dminor using Cmajor scale, the feeling will be Dorian.
Try it yourself, put a Dminor chord at loop at test soloing using Cmajor and Fmajor scales, completely different feeling , but both sounds good.
@@tomjorghen Thanks for the explanation, but I knew this. I just wanted to highlight the statement about establishing a scale by playing a tonic chord, that was made in the video.
I think, your words or something like that would be fit well there.
Great lesson!
This is very good clarification.
I am Tommaso too... my grandfather was born in Colledimezzo, Abruzzo...! Ciao...!
At the end of the day. a mode is the way a scale sounds when on a particular chord within that scale.
true
nope. There are modal chord progressions too
Before I watch the video: In my experience people who have trouble with modes do because they don't even know their major key chords or how the major scales works. Then they are surprised that the modes are confusing te them.
So helpful. I learned about modes from my guitar teacher almost 20 years ago, but they didn’t make sense until you brought in the tonic concept. Now I’m going to go back to songs I’ve written and figure them out from a modal perspective.
You're still overcomplicating it.
It's much easier to explain modes using the same tonic. If you play C Major scale over D, you hear Dorian. If you play Bb Major scale over C, you hear C Dorian
Play a bass note C, or play a Cmajor ambient pad on youtube, and play the following scales and you'll instantly hear it
C Major - first mode of C Maj
C Dorian - second mode of Bb Maj
C Phrygian - third mode of Ab Maj
C Lydian - fourth mode of G maj
C Mixolydian - fifth mode of F maj
C Aeolian - 6th mode of Eb Maj
C Locrrian - 7th mode of Db Maj
I take issue with you labeling the explanation as "wrong". When I explain to my students that "dorian is like playing the C-major scale, only starting from D and ending on D", the underlying premise is: "...when playing through the scale from the first through 8th step". Because that's how you would play/demonstrate a scale, right? So, basically, what you're explaining around 6:30 in the movie.
It's an instrumental explanation; it gives the students the tools to explore modes on the piano. It avoids technical words (such as "tonic") that the students may not be familiar with yet, but I wouldn't call the explanation "wrong".
Maybe some underlying premises are sometimes not clarified well enough. I don't know. But I'd like to hear examples of misunderstandings that arose because of a confusion caused by such an explanation.
Ciao Tommaso, do bring your ideas on establishing a tonic and modulation if you so fancy! Interested in hearing more about that.
"i hope this video help clear some confusion"
Nope, at all 😐
This might be the most confusing explanation I have ever heard.
@@onepunchpug9356 Really? Have you guys ever tried studying modes before? I have and found this to finally make it all make sense. The critical part is that each major scale has a corresponding "mode" made up of the same notes. So his example of Dorian was based on C Major (same notes), but his point was that Dorian isn't just playing the C major scale but starting with D note instead of C for the melody, but having the D CHORD be the root that all the melodies resolve back to. Single note melodies can start on any note, but the chords resolve to the D chord. The effect is purely how your brain hears the resolve and what it expects to come in the progression. For further clarity, if I play the chord progression C, D, G in that order, your brain perceives that as different than if I played the same chords but in a different order. Like, if I play D, C, G then it sounds different and your brain expects a different resolve.
Look for my comment, which takes another approach you might like, and which allows me to understand Tomaso's point here, which is not exactly explaining how modes are built, but how they are/should be understood/used.
Excellent
Like it...
Omg sir, I finally get it! What really hit home was that the chord progression establishes the mode, NOT the melody. I have watched so many videos on this topic and I’ve never understood it. I have so many songs where I record the idea and then punch in my notes to a scale finder, just to realize that my tonic is not the “I” chord of that scale. So I’ve wasted so much time trying to resolve to the I chord, not realizing that I’m in a mode and that I’ve already established my tonal center. Jeez…
So just for confirmation, if I begin a song with Am, and there are F# notes (because of a D chord) throughout the song, I look up the notes and find that I’m in the scale of G, but the song is in A Dorian. Do I have this correct?
Yes
@@MusicTheoryForGuitar wow awesome video Don Tomassino! Thank you
How about this..
Explain backwards.
In modern culture our ear used to with Major and Minor colour..
Major modes
Do re mi fa sol la si.
Do re mj fi sol la si. (lydian)
Do re mi fa sol la sa. (mixolydian)
Minor modes
La si do re mi fa sol la
La si do re mj fi sol la (dorian)
La sa do re mi fa sol la (phyrhian)
La sa do re ri fa so la (locrian)
*or. From major scale*
1 2 3 4 5 6 7
1 2 3b 4 5 6 7b
1 2b 3 4 5 6 7b
1 2 3 4# 5 6 7
I remember the modes this way, which works for me. The commonly used modes are Aeolian, Ionian, Mixolydian, Lydian, and Dorian.
You probably already know Aeolian, the major scale of the key you're playing in, and Ionian, the "blues scale".
Now just picture the bar chords on your guitar, and picture the I - IV - V chord progression. I is the major scale, IV is the Mixolydian, and V is Lydian. If you can memorize that you're most of the way there. Now drop one step from the I chord to the flatted VII, and use that chord's scale to get Dorian.
In the key of G, if you want Mixolydian, you play the scale of the IV chord, which is C.
Lydian is the V chord, D
Dorian is the flatted VII chord = F ("flatted" because the 7th of a G scale is an F#, so you have to flatten it to get an F natural)
I dont think there is hope for me, but I like the video
There IS hope! Did you try watching this playlist yet? ruclips.net/video/V7wGIxpW5rM/видео.html
At least learn C Major across the fretboard (it's just 7 positions or _shapes)._ It may seem like a lot at first, but once you do that one thing, you will have opened up everything else. Before you do that, nothing really makes much sense, understandably. But once you do, all the doors open. And if you haven't done it, you haven't given yourself a chance yet and won't know how much easier things suddenly are until you do.
@@MusicTheoryForGuitar I will check it out, I think I watched a few of those previously, Ive watched alot of your videos. Thank You
@@aylbdrmadison1051 Ill look into it, I know all the mode shapes, pentatonic shapes. But I cant seem to flow like it want, I come up with a riff I think is cool, but can't build onto it. I think I'm in my own way. But I appreciate the advice. I'll get all 7 C major a go
Tl;dw: the sound/quality of a mode is derived from the chords used not the scale. If you play the “d dorian mode/scale” over a C major chord, you’re playing in the key of C major (Ionian) and will get the sound.
True, neither the starting nor ending note of any piece of music needs be the 1st scale degree; a piece can start on 5 then, 4 minutes later, end on 7. So the "start" and "end" notes do _not_ tell you where the 1 scale degree is. The thing that determines the 1 scale degree (aka the "tonic" note) is, what note do the melodies and harmonies _resolve_ to or _strive_ to? _That_ is your "tonic" or "1" scale degree. And to determine _that_ , you have to understand concordance and discordance, and tension and release, and how they effect the emotions produced by the music. This is one area where emotion is absolutely essential and logic alone will _not_ help you.
Then, once the "1" note has been determined, the "mode" is just the pattern of intervals going up from 1. Eg, if it's "hWWhWWW", it's Locrian Mode. Or if it's "WWhWWhW", it's Mixolydian Mode. Etc. (Or, if it's not enharmonic to Major at all, then it's not one of the 7 modes of modern western diatonic music, but rather, something different, such as "WWWWWW" = The Whole Tone Mode, or "WhWWh3h" = The Harmonic Minor Mode.)
This is great, but it would be really REALLY useful to hear a few other techniques for establishing the dominant as referenced at the end of the video. This would transition from "understanding" modes to actually USING modes.
Modes are ALL about the context they are placed in and learning the specific harmonic applications for each.
Good introduction for those who have absolutely no idea about modes. This was barely touching the surface but I would have at least added :
What if I want to play G Dorian and not D Dorian ? That's what I was stuck on at first when I was starting with modes.
Or what if I want to play E Lydian and not F Lydian ?
Well for those who are wondering :
Dorian is the -second- mode of the major scale so if you want to play -G- Dorian you ask yourself :
In what key is G the -second - note ? The answer is F, so you would build chord progressions and melodies
based around the notes of F major, but trying to highlight G instead of F.
For E Lydian : Lydian is the -fourth- mode of the major scale, so, in which key is E the fourth note ? The answer is B major.
So you build chords and melodies using the notes of the B major scale, highlighting E instead of B.
As a bonus, if you are lazy like me but you know your major scale patterns with your eyes closed, you can just noodle around using
the major scale patterns of the 'parent' major scale instead of learning a bunch of new scale patterns.
That's when it clicked for me : "oh E Lydian is just B major ? Right on ! Start that E Lydian backing track and I'll noodle with B major"
I think that's a quick and easy way to get into modes.
Maybe you’re confused?!
Who knows what you’re saying anyway?!
Excellent tutorial. Always worth repeating that music is psychological and therefore has an actual physical effect on the cognitive function of the brain; in theory it’s possible to see the brain responding to the sounds of different modes. Eric
I guess I would trust you on this a little bit. I found an article saying different. Basically saying if you use chords like F and G but starting and ending on a not A then it's actually an aeolian sound. I think it's important for the bass to start on a C if you want C lydian for example over a C chord. But I also don't think you need a drone. I also think you can play a fifth on Lydian and are allowed to use inversions and not have a drone. In folk music it might be different because that's how bagpipes are setup. They don't really do chords. but I think music needs to be a little bit more open then that. Like music needs to move a little more then that after using chords C D Bm and C. Instead I did C, D/F#, Bm, D5. And then C, Bm, G, C. Using some inversions. Both to me are C lydian. Although maybe it's personal preference idk. I just think it makes things more interesting. So far I've seen people play all chords over C Lydian. Sounds like that dreamy beautiful futuristic shiny chrome world to me still. And more interesting.
Hi tommaso, love your videos and I have a quetion. Lets say I want to play a song in a certain key, but I want to switch modes. For example- I want my song in C major scale but the chorus in G mixolydian. same notes different tonic..
I would like to experiment on it.
Thank you
It's a great video on how to look at modes. I still wonder, how Paul McCartney or John Lennon where thinking when creating their great songs in different modes, used modulations. For example Norwegian Wood..
3:33 I usually explain the difference between modes of the same scale by using the word "gravity" (ie tonal center) ; then I make a comparison with a sculpture, if you put the sculpture upside down or on the side, it"s the same sculpture yet it looks different. Same with modes.
Wow
I find it incredible people don't get how simple modes are. A standard western major scale is 7 notes separated by semitones following a set structure: 2212221
Mode 1 starts on the first step of the structure.
Mode 2 starts on the second step, so you just put the first step at the end (which means the structure is now 2122212).
Mode 3 starts on the third step, so 1222122.
And so forth.
So it's logical that modes will use the same notes as other major scales. Which ones? Easy! The note starting the structure in its original form. Want to find it? Just subtract the semitones you "stole" from the beginning of the structure.
Ex. B phrygian. You "stole" the first 2 steps of the structure, which means 4 semitones. So the note that will start the structure is B minus 4 semitones = G major.
As easy as that.
History..
Modus (greek) - church modus - major minor (base on ionian and aolian).