You're great at explaining something that has always been pretty complicated to a lot of people. Hats off to you thanks a ton for the video It's helped alot
Always thought modes looked too hard to even contemplate. Thank you. In just a couple of lessons I not only get it but can have fun improvising all over the fretboard with the added bonus of learning where all the notes are in an organic way. You've made learning fun again which is surely the hallmark of a great teacher.
Thanks Tariq. The guitar is a Godin LGXT, played through the software simulations and effects that come with Apple's Logic Pro X (EQ, Amp Simulator, pedalboard for tape delay pedal, nose gate, compressor) which sound surprisingly good. I believe the amp is supposed to be a simulation of a Fender Deluxe. I don't know about that because I never had one, but it sounds great 😀.
Awesome lesson! As another person already pointed out in another comment here, I was also curious about how to build intervalic knowledge of scales (and its modes) on top of the FS framework, I believe that'd be awesome for using your system for arpeggios/chords. I'm definitely gonna check out your premium courses. Are you still planning to cover these more advanced topics in future EMP courses?
Thanks for the kind words JD! I am indeed planning on releasing courses on the intervallic implications of SFS. I actually have a few directions that I will go into at some point (ex. Scale Degree knowledge inside SFS, Intervallic Ear Training for playing by ear - again based on SFS, etc). I'm not sure when these are coming, but the good news is that I have hired some help now on the technical side, so hopefully I will be able to produce courses faster 😀. Right now I'm already working on a course for SFS arpeggios, and another on SFS Triads with chromatic approach notes. I will begin releasing the first lessons in a few weeks, and the courses will be accessible in the Practice Partner Subscription while in development. I'll definitely put some samples here on RUclips as well.
@@Effectivemusicpractice that sounds awesome! Glad to hear you're actively working on new courses. Can't wait to check out your taking on Triads and arpeggios. See you on EMP's forums!
Hi thank you for the great lesson,this sounds so simple the way you explain things but the only thing I don't understand is you said A locrian,doesn't locrian start on a B note
Hello, thanks for watching! You can play Locrian in any key. B Locrian is the simplest option because it has no sharps or flats. The notes are just BCDEFGA. But by moving the shape to different positions, you transpose it to any key you want. In the video, If I just stayed where I was (A Aeolian), I would indeed be playing B Locrian, because A Aeolian and B Locrian are "relative modes". They have the same notes. A Aeolian is ABCDEFG. The only thing that would change would be the background harmony. Instead of emphasizing Am we would need to emphasize Bm7b5 to make the B sound like home base.
Sometimes that's a little tough to determine, and takes some theoretical knowledge, but here are a few easy hints: - When the main chord of a backing (tonic) is MAJOR, then 95% of the time the mode is Ionian. This is the most common of the major sounding modes. If it's Mixolydian or Lydian, then usually it will say so in the title, because it's not the norm. - When the main chord of a backing (tonic) is MINOR, then 95% of the time the mode is Aeolian. This is the most common of the minor sounding modes. If it's Phrygian or Dorian, then usually it will say so in the title, because it's not the norm. - Locrian is very rare (but cool), and the main chord is either a diminished triad, or m7b5 (half-diminished 7th chord). If you want examples of tracks in all modes and all keys, I have them all neatly organized on the channel homepage. Just click on my name and then look at the playlists 👍.
It seems to me that if you know the major scales the modes will take care of themselves depending on what you're playing over. I don't think you have to start each Aeolian solo, for example, on the sixth note for it to sound Aeolian, depending of course on what you're playing over. No?
Hello Jeffrey. In songs which use diatonic chords, what you are describing can work fine. You just use your ears to manipulate the scale to sound good against what you are hearing. After all, all the modes that correspond to the chords have the same notes. It's the same scale. This is called harmonic simplification. In these cases, you can use SFS and root note location to figure out where the right notes are, but you don't have to actually start on the root. You start on whatever note you want. However, if you want more control in outlining each passing chord, or if you have a song (very often in jazz) where the chords are not diatonic, you may choose to clearly outline every chord by starting on (or emphasizing) the root, or one of the chord tones (1-3-5).
Also, when for example you want to play a song in C Aeolian. It is awkward to think "C Aeolian is the 6th mode of Eb so I will play Eb major). Thinking modally gives you direct access to what you need to play without relating it to major. Many times what we play is only theoretically related to major, but not musically and practically. So when you always think in terms of major, you limit yourself from understanding in depth the musical meaning of what you are playing. Traditionally the Ionian mode became the dominating mode and western classical harmony is based on that, but the musical reality is that what we call the "major scale" is really 7 modes coexisting, and with equal musical potential. With SFS, the system represents the scale, but any note can become the root of a mode and used for orientation (even if you don't play it first). I hope this helps you understand my thinking on this 😀. Thanks for the thought provoking comments 👍.
Your points are valid and the system is actually way better than the mindless 3 note per string one but wouldn't it be better to go straight to the source and just stuck intervals?That goes for not only scales and modes but for arpeggios and chords too....if someone learns the intervals and how they appear on the fretboard then after a while he can stuck them on the fly and be able to construct anything on the spot. My point is that i like your approach but the ultimate fragments already exist(intervals)..why create more ?
Great point! Before I developed this system, I only thought in terms of intervals, and actual notes (based on the key signature, or interval from the root). And I still "see" these as layers that exist within SFS. But even though it has great benefits, that approach has certain problems if you try to use it on its own: 1. You need to know theory. You need to know the intervals in order to stack them up and play. And in my 17 years of teaching, I have found that 99 percent of the time, guitar players don't want to, or find it hard to learn them (even though they are otherwise talented). At least not at first. So I save that for the more advanced players. 2. Intervals (or notes based on a key signature) are the smallest possible fragments you can use. I find that they are too small to process at high speeds. When playing fast, you need to process info in bigger chunks (there's actually a term for this in psychology called "chunking"). Box shapes on the other hand, are too big. I have found that fragments of 2-4 notes are the most workable. They allow me to navigate at the highest speeds without problem. 3. For my most advanced students, we apply interval knowledge (both in terms of degrees in relation to the root, and linear from one note to the next), key signature knowledge, structure substitutions (for example play a Cmaj7 arpeggio over Am), etc. But we do that on top of the SFS framework. This way, you can feel secure that you won't miscalculate any of that and hit a wrong note. I don't have online lessons for these things yet, but I'll get to that at some point. And to be honest, I've only had the opportunity to teach them to a handful of advanced players, mostly music college graduates. The reason is that most conventional styles don't require such a degree of sophistication. People can make great music just with SFS, which is very quick and easy to learn, and even with the classic "box shapes". But your question shows that you are not satisfied with that, and that you are more in the "geek" group like me, looking for ultimate understanding, and control :-)
Point taken....i totally agree with what you are saying ..ultimately even intervals by shape arent enough...you have to learn them by sound too....only then an improviser ll be totally free(if there is such a thing anyway) cause he ll most of the time know how a fret ll sound before he plays it..but i get what you are saying...not everybody want to be an improviser or even learn some basic music theory....
Hello Chuck. Dorian is the second mode when we start counting from Ionian. But here we started with Aeolian, so the next mode up is Locrian. Here's the complete order of Modes: Ionian, Dorian, Phrygian, Lydian, Mixolydian, Aeolian, Locrian. But any of these can be considered "first". Ionian is usually referred to as no.1 (therefore Dorian is no.2), because in classical and traditional music, Ionian has been very popular, so people are used to using it as a point of reference. But that's not always necessary. here we started with Aeolian, just because it happens to be the lowest root note in the specific system we used for this lesson. Hope this answers your question :-)
Yes, it makes perfect sense. I started paying more attention to your presentation and must admit that I like it very much. Your approach to learning the entire fretboard and the scales/modes is very well thought out. I'll keep coming back and learning more.
You're great at explaining something that has always been pretty complicated to a lot of people. Hats off to you thanks a ton for the video It's helped alot
You're welcome, that's good to hear! Thanks for taking the time to comment :-)
Always thought modes looked too hard to even contemplate. Thank you. In just a couple of lessons I not only get it but can have fun improvising all over the fretboard with the added bonus of learning where all the notes are in an organic way. You've made learning fun again which is surely the hallmark of a great teacher.
Thank you very much for the encouraging comment Chris! I'm glad to hear my lessons helped you 👍.
👍👍👍👍👍👍👍
One thumb for every mode I now know how to play ! You are a legend thanks
Haha, thanks man 😃.
Continuous quality lessons from Prokopis ...... thank-you!!
Brilliant system. Could you please post the name of the guitar and amp you use? It's a great sound.
Thanks Tariq. The guitar is a Godin LGXT, played through the software simulations and effects that come with Apple's Logic Pro X (EQ, Amp Simulator, pedalboard for tape delay pedal, nose gate, compressor) which sound surprisingly good. I believe the amp is supposed to be a simulation of a Fender Deluxe. I don't know about that because I never had one, but it sounds great 😀.
Thanks for the help!
to me you are the best teacher sincerely
That's a big compliment, thank you! :-)
Great lesson, thanks!
Awesome lesson! As another person already pointed out in another comment here, I was also curious about how to build intervalic knowledge of scales (and its modes) on top of the FS framework, I believe that'd be awesome for using your system for arpeggios/chords. I'm definitely gonna check out your premium courses. Are you still planning to cover these more advanced topics in future EMP courses?
Thanks for the kind words JD! I am indeed planning on releasing courses on the intervallic implications of SFS. I actually have a few directions that I will go into at some point (ex. Scale Degree knowledge inside SFS, Intervallic Ear Training for playing by ear - again based on SFS, etc). I'm not sure when these are coming, but the good news is that I have hired some help now on the technical side, so hopefully I will be able to produce courses faster 😀.
Right now I'm already working on a course for SFS arpeggios, and another on SFS Triads with chromatic approach notes. I will begin releasing the first lessons in a few weeks, and the courses will be accessible in the Practice Partner Subscription while in development. I'll definitely put some samples here on RUclips as well.
@@Effectivemusicpractice that sounds awesome! Glad to hear you're actively working on new courses. Can't wait to check out your taking on Triads and arpeggios. See you on EMP's forums!
Hi thank you for the great lesson,this sounds so simple the way you explain things but the only thing I don't understand is you said A locrian,doesn't locrian start on a B note
Hello, thanks for watching! You can play Locrian in any key. B Locrian is the simplest option because it has no sharps or flats. The notes are just BCDEFGA. But by moving the shape to different positions, you transpose it to any key you want. In the video, If I just stayed where I was (A Aeolian), I would indeed be playing B Locrian, because A Aeolian and B Locrian are "relative modes". They have the same notes. A Aeolian is ABCDEFG. The only thing that would change would be the background harmony. Instead of emphasizing Am we would need to emphasize Bm7b5 to make the B sound like home base.
Hi thank you so much for clearing that up for me. Keep up the good work and thank you for helping all of us that need help with our learning.
Great lesson, problem I have now is when using a standard backing track how do you know what mode to play over it?
Sometimes that's a little tough to determine, and takes some theoretical knowledge, but here are a few easy hints:
- When the main chord of a backing (tonic) is MAJOR, then 95% of the time the mode is Ionian. This is the most common of the major sounding modes. If it's Mixolydian or Lydian, then usually it will say so in the title, because it's not the norm.
- When the main chord of a backing (tonic) is MINOR, then 95% of the time the mode is Aeolian. This is the most common of the minor sounding modes. If it's Phrygian or Dorian, then usually it will say so in the title, because it's not the norm.
- Locrian is very rare (but cool), and the main chord is either a diminished triad, or m7b5 (half-diminished 7th chord).
If you want examples of tracks in all modes and all keys, I have them all neatly organized on the channel homepage. Just click on my name and then look at the playlists 👍.
Great question!
Thanks. !!! 🙂
It seems to me that if you know the major scales the modes will take care of themselves depending on what you're playing over. I don't think you have to start each Aeolian solo, for example, on the sixth note for it to sound Aeolian, depending of course on what you're playing over. No?
Hello Jeffrey. In songs which use diatonic chords, what you are describing can work fine. You just use your ears to manipulate the scale to sound good against what you are hearing. After all, all the modes that correspond to the chords have the same notes. It's the same scale. This is called harmonic simplification. In these cases, you can use SFS and root note location to figure out where the right notes are, but you don't have to actually start on the root. You start on whatever note you want.
However, if you want more control in outlining each passing chord, or if you have a song (very often in jazz) where the chords are not diatonic, you may choose to clearly outline every chord by starting on (or emphasizing) the root, or one of the chord tones (1-3-5).
Also, when for example you want to play a song in C Aeolian. It is awkward to think "C Aeolian is the 6th mode of Eb so I will play Eb major). Thinking modally gives you direct access to what you need to play without relating it to major. Many times what we play is only theoretically related to major, but not musically and practically. So when you always think in terms of major, you limit yourself from understanding in depth the musical meaning of what you are playing.
Traditionally the Ionian mode became the dominating mode and western classical harmony is based on that, but the musical reality is that what we call the "major scale" is really 7 modes coexisting, and with equal musical potential. With SFS, the system represents the scale, but any note can become the root of a mode and used for orientation (even if you don't play it first). I hope this helps you understand my thinking on this 😀. Thanks for the thought provoking comments 👍.
@@Effectivemusicpractice Thanks so much for replying! I think I'm going to need a little time to absorb your generous wisdom 😁. Again, thanks so much!
great lessons, thanks
You're welcome! Thanks for watching, and for taking the time to comment :-)
Your points are valid and the system is actually way better than the mindless 3 note per string one but wouldn't it be better to go straight to the source and just stuck intervals?That goes for not only scales and modes but for arpeggios and chords too....if someone learns the intervals and how they appear on the fretboard then after a while he can stuck them on the fly and be able to construct anything on the spot.
My point is that i like your approach but the ultimate fragments already exist(intervals)..why create more ?
Great point! Before I developed this system, I only thought in terms of intervals, and actual notes (based on the key signature, or interval from the root). And I still "see" these as layers that exist within SFS. But even though it has great benefits, that approach has certain problems if you try to use it on its own:
1. You need to know theory. You need to know the intervals in order to stack them up and play. And in my 17 years of teaching, I have found that 99 percent of the time, guitar players don't want to, or find it hard to learn them (even though they are otherwise talented). At least not at first. So I save that for the more advanced players.
2. Intervals (or notes based on a key signature) are the smallest possible fragments you can use. I find that they are too small to process at high speeds. When playing fast, you need to process info in bigger chunks (there's actually a term for this in psychology called "chunking"). Box shapes on the other hand, are too big. I have found that fragments of 2-4 notes are the most workable. They allow me to navigate at the highest speeds without problem.
3. For my most advanced students, we apply interval knowledge (both in terms of degrees in relation to the root, and linear from one note to the next), key signature knowledge, structure substitutions (for example play a Cmaj7 arpeggio over Am), etc. But we do that on top of the SFS framework. This way, you can feel secure that you won't miscalculate any of that and hit a wrong note. I don't have online lessons for these things yet, but I'll get to that at some point. And to be honest, I've only had the opportunity to teach them to a handful of advanced players, mostly music college graduates. The reason is that most conventional styles don't require such a degree of sophistication. People can make great music just with SFS, which is very quick and easy to learn, and even with the classic "box shapes".
But your question shows that you are not satisfied with that, and that you are more in the "geek" group like me, looking for ultimate understanding, and control :-)
Point taken....i totally agree with what you are saying ..ultimately even intervals by shape arent enough...you have to learn them by sound too....only then an improviser ll be totally free(if there is such a thing anyway) cause he ll most of the time know how a fret ll sound before he plays it..but i get what you are saying...not everybody want to be an improviser or even learn some basic music theory....
Shouldn't it be B Dorian. The second mode is Dorian.
Hello Chuck. Dorian is the second mode when we start counting from Ionian. But here we started with Aeolian, so the next mode up is Locrian. Here's the complete order of Modes: Ionian, Dorian, Phrygian, Lydian, Mixolydian, Aeolian, Locrian. But any of these can be considered "first". Ionian is usually referred to as no.1 (therefore Dorian is no.2), because in classical and traditional music, Ionian has been very popular, so people are used to using it as a point of reference. But that's not always necessary. here we started with Aeolian, just because it happens to be the lowest root note in the specific system we used for this lesson. Hope this answers your question :-)
Yes, it makes perfect sense. I started paying more attention to your presentation and must admit that I like it very much. Your approach to learning the entire fretboard and the scales/modes is very well thought out. I'll keep coming back and learning more.
That's good to hear :-) Enjoy the lessons!
like and subscrbe brother
Thanks man!👍