For me the problem isn't that "we always use C Major". The problem is that we go C Ionian, D Dorian, etc. In my opinion, the way to teach the modes is stay with your nominated tonic note: C Ionian, C Dorian, C Phrygian, etc. This way, you truly get to hear the different qualities of each mode, plus you also get to hone in on those notes which make each mode different. So I appluad this video.
The answer would be to recognize where the half and whole steps are placed, or rather which degrees are lowered or raised in comparison with the ionian, major, scale.
@@TherealShabbadang Exactly: the "shift one note a half step" only really works for major and major pentatonic (or for that matter minor and minor pentatonic)
Here's the thing that took me AGES to get my head around about the modes as a (pretty bad) guitar player. When I started out improvising, I realised that generally songs are "in keys". So I'd play licks from, say, an E blues scale or an E major pentatonic scale or whatever, but I would use that scale over the WHOLE CHORD SEQUENCE. Like - I would think of the song (or normally just the chords that you're improvising over) as being in "E pentatonic". And you can kinda get away with that thinking. But when I first started trying to understand modes, I didn't get that you generally play in a certain mode JUST FOR A LITTLE BIT - like, over a chord or two, and then you might switch to other modes over other chords in the progression. So you wouldn't really describe an entire song or solo as "being in E Lydian" or whatever, but instead you'd use that mode for maybe just a couple of bars. Then maybe you'd use F# Dorian for the next bar (depending on the chord), followed by a bar of B Mixolydian, or whatever. So a song isn't really "in a mode" in the same way that it's "in a key". Once I could separate those two concepts, everything made a lot more sense. And yeah - Phrygian is totally ballsy :) Great video, Aimee!
Some songs really are "in the modes", they just tend to be rarer than the ones in the popular tonalities of major and perhaps minor. Plenty of pop songs in aeolian (Adele - Hello), dorian (Gary Jules - Mad World), mixolydian (Coldplay - Clocks). Much fewer in lydian, phrygian, and almost none in locrian.
Congrats to the student who asked the question, and to you for being so approachable that they felt able to ask you. Sometimes many students hesitate to ask a particular question, but really help the whole class by asking it.
Respectfully, I believe there is a better way to learn the modes. Students should first familiarize themselves with the major and natural minor scales in 12 keys. Then, think of the modes as alterations of these scales, as follows (from brightest to darkest): Lydian is major with #4, Ionian is just major, Mixolydian is major with flat 7, Dorian is minor with a natural 6, Aeolian is just natural minor, Phrygian is natural minor with flat 2, Locrian can be ignored because it’s only important theoretically and is too tonally unstable for practical use.
@@jimhughes1070 Play Lydian mode any time you are on a major chord that's not the I chord (so if you're in key of G and the chord is Cmajor, for example)- Or you can just use Lydian on the I chord sometimes for an exotic feel. Mixolydian can be played on any dominant 7th chord, except for on the V chord in a minor key- for that, an altered Dominant with at least a flat 9 is better. Aeolian and Dorian are basically two flavors of minor. Dorian is brighter and Aeolian is darker- and to know which one is more appropriate you have to listen to the context of the whole tune or section you're playing. Dorian is more common in rock and pop music and would be played in any minor key jam that has a major IV chord in the progression- so for example an A minor jam that hits the D major chord sometimes- the F# of the D major chord indicates that you're in A Dorian. If the IV chord were D minor, with an F natural, that would let you know you're in A Aoelian. I always think of Carlos Santana solos when I play in Dorian, he uses it a lot. You can message me!
@@static-and-rust You guys are the best!! Went to sleep in a mysterious fog.... This morning ..."this is the best coffee I ever had!" Thanks at least a Million!! 🙏
I think people get confused because so many teach modes and not talk about what is the sound of that mode. Like Dorian is a minor with a natural 6th. What chords would you use over it. If you're comping in Dorian what triads are you using to imply the dorian sound. What is the formula for a Dorian mode so you can build one from scratch and not think in shifting a major scale around. Really get into the sound of the mode and both chordally and melodically. Then apply that to all the modes. Then move on to the modes of the Melodic Minor the other scale with very useful modes for modern music. Music is sound and should always be taught from a sound perspective and avoid formula and tricks like shifting a scale around. Shifting a scale is helpful when trying to create fingering for scale, but not helpful for learning the sound.
Another Toortog sighting? What would Peter and Adam think? Hehe, kidding! Toortog, I think the same way and it's taken me years to realize that you need to really HEAR your theory in order to make music with it. That means you have to re conceptualize everything into a medium that you can sing and hear, both on your instrument and away from it. The primacy of sound helps us internalize tunes as well--at least it is with my own studies. Memorizing and recalling chord names never quite worked for me when I played jam sessions, so I'd bury my head in the Real Books. In the last couple of months, I've totally changed how I learn tunes. I sing the melody. I sing the root movement. I sing the thirds. I learn the lyrics as much as I can. Sound sticks better than sight. Makes sense because it is music we are talking about, after all. Unfortunately, this type of dialogue always seems to get me into trouble. I guess it ain't worth it if you always play it safe, eh? Aimee knows where it's at. Maybe Adam will bring her on for a Guided Practice Session? Wait, did that already happen?
@@pickinstone Before I switch over to piano from guitar I spent a couple years getting hang on the Steve Coleman conference calls talking about all kinds of music and music history and on and on. He talked a lot about things he learned from the early Jazz masters from talk to as many as he could. One of the main things I got out of it that ears was everything to them and part of why they didn't tend to answer questions verbally they would play you answers. The one of the things Coleman talked about that really stuck with me was how the old master didn't talk about scales and such they would talk about pitch collections. The reason was as soon as you say major, minor, dorian, and so on, you are now limiting how you think by thing "what major lines or chords do I know". By not putting putting the label major on and just looking at something as a collection of pitches you use your ear and think what can I do with these notes. Every thing needs to be learn from the sound first then later learn there is a label for it.
This has been a frustration of mine for years as a music teacher. Everyone seems to be confused about modes and it mostly stems from them being taught to just play C major but start on the different degrees. That's a fine way to help memorize the patterns, but it is far from practical, especially because people always play them sequentially (Ionian, Dorian, Phrygian, etc) so your ear just keeps hearing C as the key center and it winds up just sounding like a scale exercise. You really need to do what you did here to understand the individual characteristics of each mode. Play them with the understanding that they are their own keys! F# dorian is NOT just E starting on the second note, it's a wholly unique key on it's own. You didn't go this far in the video, but the next step for me is to start thinking about the other chords in the modes starting with the 1 to 5 progression in each mode. You really start getting a sense for the flavor of the modes when you hear how the other chords relate to the key center in the different modes. Anyway, excellent explanation as always, Aimee! Thanks!
I too always thought the chord and the chord progressions has much to do w/ playing modal than playing modal. Too much to think about. I like Allen Holdsworth visualization of scales, basically as one organic structure that you can do whatever you want with, especially while employing chromaticism.
@@jimhughes1070 The question of "when" is mostly preference. If you think of the modes as a bucket of notes you can pull from, then it becomes clearer. If you want the notes to strictly match the progression you are playing in, find all the different notes in the progression and match that to a mode that contains all those notes. E.g If you are in G and the progression is G-F-C-G, then G Mixolydian has you covered. If you want to play some "outside" notes, go with a mode that includes notes that aren't in the underlying chords, or notes that imply different harmonies, or borrow from other scales, just like how playing minor pentatonic runs fits well over major chords in bluesy styles because it borrows from minor harmonies. Hope that helps a bit, and of course this is all just advice from one person. Everyone is going to have their own take on it.
Great video Aimee. It was so cool to hear you explain about finding Ab Aeolian by asking what major scale has Ab as the sixth degree of its scale. I figured this same conclusion out 25 years ago after being confused by a lot of peoples explanations. I used to play a lot of guitar solos in the Dorian mode and knew that it was always the major scale a whole step below the root note key I was playing in. So if I was in A and playing a GMaj to get Dorian mode I could see A was the 2nd of G. Then the light bulb lit up and I tried it with other modes. Hey, I want A Mixolydian so I thought A is the 5 of what major scale? Hmmm….A is the 5 of DMaj………bingo! I can’t believe I was playing for probably 20 years before this simple thing made it so easy. For years I tried to remember what notes were altered of the major scale to get the mode I wanted and was visualizing how to play it. The simple way all I had to do is play the many positions I already knew how to play the major scale in. Now I know what is altered for the particular mode but that simple shortcut many years ago just made it fall into place. It also made it clear on certain songs like Sweet Home Alabama and Werewolves of London for an example never sounded right when playing a D Maj scale over them with natural 7 sounding out of place. These songs were written in D Mixolydian, 1, 7, 4. The amount of guitar lessons I’ve have given over the years where students were so confused about why doesn’t D Maj work over a song written in D Maj. When I explain it is Mixolydian they are more confused until I get them to use that simple trick that you stated and I figured out many years ago. Those lightbulb moments sometimes are like a flash of lightning or a candle, but once it’s lit you can see the light.😎😎🎸🎸🎼🎼🤘🤘. Great stuff Aimee! I’ve learned a lot from Beato over the years but I dig a different point of view. I have been gigging for 45 years and still love learning music.
WOW! After playing piano for 50 years or so (whoops, I'm revealing my age HaHa!) You have helped me finally understand how the heck to play around with the modes! You're the best Aimee, I wish you had been my piano teacher when I was growing up! XO
I went and had a listen to your ugly Lydian composition. It could be used for "enhanced interrogation". I'm still recovering. That was rough. Really good job.
Great video. My two cents: the reason why modes are confusing is because we're taught key signatures very early on. While this is somewhat helpful, it tends to ingrain in students that there's ONE set of notes you can play over an entire song. But a lot modern songs (post 1920) don't stick to diatonic chords. So without even mentioning 'modes' you're kind of left scratching your head. Add to this: modal composition really doesn't follow the rules of standard harmony (ie: the cadences are different). Thank you for the video!
'Locrian's your buddy'...love that! From the UK I've gotta say that you've produced a great video lesson...I've been following Rick Beato for a while now and you have the same,great teaching style! 😁👍
Phrygian mode is exotic, mysterious and sometimes eerie. Growing up with Greek music, I heard it a lot and it’s still my favorite mode. It’s in eastern music, flamenco, surf guitar and metal. What a range for one mode! Aimee, you make me want to take out my keyboard and try it again. Thank you.
You can also look at these modes like from “light to dark” in which the lydian mode is the brightest because of the raised forth and the locrian mode the darkerst because all these flattened notes which create more tension…
Exactly, that's a super important point. People who are interested in this aspect should check out the New Jazz lesson on this. It's pedagogical perfection. Aimee Nolte is no slacker of course.
This is one of those "technically true" details which people reference with modes, that I think ends up contributing to the confusion. The concern in this video is "How do I *use* modes" - so the "lighter to dark" concept ends up being interpreted as a choice you can make in practice, in the moment, while you're improvising. What ends up happening is people (usually guitarists), playing over a progression in C Major...and deciding to take it "darker" by playing up and down an E Phrygian scale. And then darker still by playing B Locrian. But...it doesn't *sound* darker! The modes-confused person first needs to understand tonality and that we're really comparing C Major to C Dorian to C Minor, etc...and not the C-to-C, D-to-D, E-to-E stuff. And critically: if you're playing over a C Major progression, cranking the "darker" lever usually isn't really a valid move, sound-wise. Wrong tool applied at entirely the wrong time.
@@gpwaltz Indeed! And in fact, if you change to, say, E major and then B major instead of the modes diatonic to C, you actually brighten the atmosphere by sharpening notes!
Modes are about feeling and emotion...why play Phrygian? to emote a sneaky dark feeling...what to party -- play Mixolydian ! etc. From there its about the "tone center" and "the note of interest" For example, when playing Lydian, feature the #4 as the note of interest.
i have been particularly hung up on Phrygian and using the flat 2nd a lot in my improvs but not really sounding great.. I am a beginner at piano so maybe not able to bring out the feeling as I would want it to.. I am trying to do a spread voicing on my left hand and trying to play some licks on my right using the notes of phrygian
Wonderful Presentation of Music MODES. I am learning both Piano & guitar. This IS my Lesson of the year(s). Thank You Aimee SO So much. I have worked HARD to be here to Understand to this Point 5 years in the making from nothing,
It's theory. Break out of the box. Modal playing I think is a specialized form, it's whatever tonal center you want to come back to, it's wherever tone you want to add more gravity to for a sense of resolve...I don't think atonal music has "modes" per se LOL.
This video is very helpful and has some great ways to think about modes and especially the great tip about referring back to the parent scale and using it to play in any given mode. Now the incomprehensible part to me is the question: Do jamming jazz musicians really think like this while the chords are rapidly flying past so there is a new chord every second or two? I don't see how that is possible to think "OK, Dorian for this chord," "Now Phrygian for this next chord," etc., Wouldn't that be far too cerebral to be creating anything emotionally appealing or meaningful? I would really like to know the answer to that question as it is directly on the subject of use of the modes in real time.
Modes seem to be helpful for understanding harmony but as far as improvising goes I don’t see the point since it’s all the same notes of a single scale, whichever one. If you can hear the harmony then they seem useless. If you play ascending or descending sequences of notes from the appropriate major scale over a m7 chord are you playing Dorian or Ionian or every mode? Someone mentioned Frank Gambale, his lessons on modes make sense in a truly modal way but it has nothing to do with matching single modes to single chords of a harmonized scale like you’re teaching here.
This is a great video! It really helped deepen my knowledge on modes and where they fit into improvisation. I think the initial thing that really made it click for me was when my music theory professor framed it in terms of the church modes either being minorish or majorish. Basically that each of the 7 modes could be broken down to a major or (natural) minor scale with modifications. Lydian would be Major w/ a raised 4th, Ionian is Major! Mixolydian is Major with a lowered 7th, Dorian is Minor with a raised 6th, Aeolian is Minor! Phrygian is minor with a lowered 2nd, Locrian is Minor with a lowered 2nd and lowered 5th. This instantly made it way easier to peck out the modes for me instead of trying to do the mental gymnastics of thinking that Ab Lydian is the fourth mode of Eb and tracing back to Eb to find the notes. Instead I would simply play the Ab Major scale and # the 4th!
I am trying to understand this mode things FOR YEARS NOW but I still don't really get it...no, let me rephrase that .. I can't memorize all of this ;___;
When you equate the (e.g) C scale with a number scale, wouldn't it be better to say tha C-D-EF-G-A-BC counts as 1-3-5.6-7-10-12-1, and then D Dorian is 1-3.4-6-8-10.11-1, because what the Modes do is to shift the intervals around, from w-w-h-w-w-w-h, to (D Dorian) w-h-w-w-w-h-w? Surely the changing intervallic structure giving a different flavour for the same notes, is the point of playing Modes?
Dear Aimee, thank you for putting a "face" to these modes; and going into how it affects the human soul. I knew all these things solely by ear (back in the day), and used them to color and shade the songs (sparingly, though). Now that I am retired, I hope to have the time to digest all these wonderful things you have shared. God bless you, for caring enough for us folks! ☺
What many people fail to understand about modes is where they originate from. And the answer is that they come from taking the pattern of whole and half notes, which in the Major scale is WWHWWWH (Whole and Half steps) starting from the root note, and changing where you start and stop on that pattern. That is Ionian mode. Next is Dorian mode. Which is WHWWWHW. Same pattern just shifted over by one. Shift it over again by one more, and you're in Phrygian mode. Every shift of the pattern takes you to another mode.
Hi Aimee, could you make write me a PDF of your left hand stride chord voicing's for 'Nobody Knows You When Your Down & Out' for a lesson fee/paypal by any chance ?
This was out of my pay grade when I started but I ended up in another tax bracket. Merci. I'm not yet at the level of playing where I can really take advantage of this, but this gives me such a head start. BTW you plays real good. Pardon my French.
This indeed is a great explanation but still... one sentence at the end of the video sums it up "it's just seven different ways to look at [...] major scales". And as a beginner who really wants to dive deep into harmony at some point in my musical development I'm not convinced that modes are all that beneficial. Maybe they can polish your understanding of major scale but from harmony point of view I don't know. Isn't it more valuable to think: now I've got minor chord so I will play chord tones and b2, b6 extensions instead of looking for matching phrygian? This way your're not only find proper notes to play but also see their underling function in current chord and progression right? At your level Aimee do you really think of modes when moving from chord to chord or you have this map of harmony in your head and see it more like extensions that has its purpose in progression. Using modes seems to me a little blind, maybe good to play some licks but without deeper understanding what is going on underneath. I'am sorry for being arrogant, I'm probably totally wrong. Thanks for great video!
I think that the real problem with understanding/utilizing the modes is NOT that people don't understand the CONTENT of the modes. That is explained sufficiently by the realization that the each scale step in the major scale leads to a different harmonic ordering of the same set of tones. The problem as I see it is that we are NOT taught that the mode is a different set of relationships to a particular TONIC. The modes should be understood in relationship to the TONIC! A Dorian mode in D is NOT just a shift within the C Major scale, which does in fact describe the tonal content and order, but is a different set of relationships to the tonic "D." The POINT of a mode is that it's a different color palette in relationship to a tonic! Practice the mode over a tonic drone and LISTEN to how the tones refer back to the tonic! That is the point of a mode, the relationship to the tonic, NOT knowing what tones make up the mode. You MUST teach yourself the relationship to the tonic in order to effectively utilize the modes compositionally or improvisationally! 😀
That's all good and well, but if your listeners are of the primed-to-Ionian/Aeolian hardcore type, you can compose your ass off in any other mode and they won't recognize it.
hi Aimee or musicians, what do you mean by it's a world of difference over dorian and phrygian mode at @11:37? I thought Aimme was playing in two different keys?
at 3:46, another way to explain what Aimee is saying is if you're going to use the alphabetical rule, You wouldn't call them Ab and B, you could either call them G# and B, or you could call them Ab and Cb. This is just because those letters I just gave are actually six apart. Ab and B would be thought of as a type of 7th apart.
Thanks for the video. This is what I don’t understand about modes: if I’m improvising, say, over an Am7 chord in G major, the rules I use are something like (1) play the notes of the G major scale (2) pay particular attention to the Am7 chord tones. How does the rule ‘play in A Dorian mode’ add anything to these rules? Modes only start to make sense to me when they mean you are playing notes out of the key, when the above rules don’t work. Like the clocks example.
When you demonstrate what a mode sounds and feels like, it's much better to keep with the same root/tonic. Sooo many times I've heard someone demonstrate modes by playing C major, then D Dorian, the E Phrygian, etc. all in a row. My ear just hears C major scale, C major scale starting on D, C major scale starting on E, etc.... My ear gets stuck in a C tonality and doesn't hear them as distinct tonalities. Much more helpful is playing them with the same root starting with the most familiar major and working your way brighter/darker. Also, taking a song and changing the mode just slightly like David's video did is a great way to illustrate the way they feel.
That's exactly correct - bright to dark - lydian to locrian. So, staying on the tonic, adding a flat in each successive mode - mixolydian one flat, dorian two flats, etc. means you can play in any mode just by knowing how many flats are the the scale (excepting lydian). Starting on C major like most of us did is useless. You're right. It just sounds like C starting on D or E.
As someone who's barely getting started with keyboards... This sounds like a fantastic way of warming up. A few tweaks to beginner excercises and you've got modal studies
What unlocked the modes for me was the realisation that I was perfectly willing to accept the minor key as it’s own sound. I wasn’t seeing A Minor as just C Major starting from A. I was seeing A minor as a mood, a sound. So why was i not applying that logic to the other modes? D Dorian isn’t just C major starting from D, it has it’s own mood and emotion. E.g. A Dm7 to GMaj progression isn’t a 2,6 progression in CMajor, but rather a 1,4 progression in D dorian. Treat every mode like you do for natural minor.
I don't know that much about 'theory', but , I heard Frank Gambale saying, 'instead of 'modes', I call them 'moods''.Somehow, it helps! It seems to me that each 'mode' introduces you to a different 'mood ' (intervals?).Then I got interested into more 'modal' music (Indian,Japanese, Zappa), and it made sens. Modes,in a way, are like a journey. Thank you for sharing your experience!
Well it seems now you do know "theory" because you ventured into Indian and Japanese and of coarse there is German. (told in theory class), but to make things simple always go back to basics.
I like thinking about modes as bright -> dark, or Lydian to locrian. In that reference frame, Ionian is Lydian with a flat 4. Then mixolydian, Dorian, aeolian, Phrygian, and locrian in that order. Adding a flat to the 4th scale degree first, then 7th, then 3, 6, 2, 5. Thinking about modes like that unlocked them for me.
Hi Aimee, thank you again for your very generous spirit. Much here to absorb! 21:46 I love this chart. I’ve seen the top half, but your sorting by type of seventh chord on the tonic of the mode is fresh and helpful. I see a lot of comments questioning why modes are named the way they are, and why they are useful vs just thinking in the relative major or minor scale. For those folks, here’s my understanding, maybe it will help. All of the modes are named after the note that is their tonic or “home” note (the 1 in this chart). Two of these modes are the classical major and minor scales (Ionian and Aeolian, respectively). Looking at the collection of modes all together, they fall into a pattern of light to dark as several commenters noted. My version of this is that if Ionian is the “standard” major scale, the Lydian is a little brighter or “more major” and the Mixolydian is a little darker or “less major” while Aeolian is the ‘standard’ minor, the Dorian is a little “less minor” and the Phrygian is a little “more minor” as evidenced by the sharp or flats relative to the parallel major scale. The Locrian is the “diminished” or “super minor” mode. As to how they are used, everything we play has a melodic and a harmonic aspect. When we compose we often think of melodies within a harmonic progression like ii-IV-V-I. If we play the same melody and harmonic progression in a different mode, it changes flavor because of the added or reduced major or minor qualities of the mode. Modal jazz, especially, but other genres as well, playfully move from one mode or scale to another using a chord that is present in both the current and the subsequent mode or scale as a pivot point in the piece. In all this, keep in mind that we are simply being playful in a classical music sandbox that is constrained by selecting 7 (diatonic) sounds out of 12 potential (chromatic) sounds or notes to use at a given moment. Playing in a nonstandard mode (i.e., not major or minor) or moving among modes allows us to expand our sandbox to add variety and flavor to our music. It’s all just play.
This was a very informative video! In music theory class, our instructor tried to explain the modes with some kind of weird chart that I can no longer remember. It was not at all intuitive, and as a result, most of the students were confused by his explanation. Fortunately, one of the jazz players in the class explained the various modes the way you did in this video, and it all made sense. It's so much easier to think about modes in the way you explained it. But no one explained to us when to use the various modes. That was indeed very helpful, especially when comes to using the locrian mode. Thanks again Professor Aimee!
If I were religious, now I'd swear to God that, not being a musician but just a curious music lover, 30 years passed me by and I could not understand what these modes are once the notes are the same as in major and even in major one does not play the notes in just their natural order. And, during only half a year, I saw half a dozen of outstanding, enlightening videos (the first by Frank Gambale, many thanks to him, too) that showed me how much I wasted during those years just by not understanding that everything is """only""" which note you emphasize as home by bass and/or frequent playing. If I only could express what relief I feel that I more or less understand what's happening...
I think it's a lot easier to think about modes in digitals rather than building them from relative major scale. If you know your major and nat minor (ionian/aolean) then you can just build modes by altering one or two notes raised 6th in minor for dorian, raised 4th in major for lydian, flat 7 in major for mixolydian etc. I think that's a lot quicker.
I agree that knowing how they differ from the parallel major scale is much more useful in understanding their moods and quickly how to use them. For the minor modes, I remember how they differ from the natural minor/aeolian scale instead of major since there are fewer modifications. To me "C dorian is C minor with a sharp 6" makes a lot more sense than "C dorian is a Bb scale that starts on C." So my mental model is: Lydian - major with #4 Ionian - major Mixolydian - major with b7 Dorian - minor with #6 Aeolian - minor Phrygian - minor with b2 Locrian - minor with b2 and b5 (rarely used anyway)
This is also how I think of them. But I was trying to appeal to a different set of people with this video who might need an alternate way of thinking about them.
@@AimeeNolte Absolutely! Definitely lots of great ways to consider concepts. One thing I really like to do with students is work from the minor/major pentatonic scales then add 6ths and 2nds based on what kind of sound we're trying to imply. E.G. raised 6th with minor pentatonic to get that dorian sound.
Thanks Aimee for a terrific and inspiring lesson. My big takeaway is that I need to try harder to make music with the modes. I’m a guitar player and I know how to play the scales for each of the modes. But they are just scales. Your explorations of those scales showed me how I need to do the same thing in order to truly understand the sounds of the different modes and to learn how to incorporate them into solos. It will be a great way for me to bridge the mechanics of playing mode scales to the goal using modes to make music.
You've got it. I recommend checking out Signal Studio here on RUclips. Jake Lizzio has some great example videos where he uses a particular mode to compose, and the examples really showcase the flavour of the mode in a big way.
Modal 🎼🎶🎵 Theory's Spiritual & Extremely Fun To Understand Yet Within Proper Context Of Study Application Of Performance Practice--Great Good Job Aimee!!
I still don't know why knowing this is useful. Is she saying, for example, that when in the key of C, you could play an A aolean scale when an Am chord is played? Well, that's stupid. All you're doing is playing the notes of the key your're in. I still don't understand why this is at all useful.
Yeah, but what if the chord after C isn’t Am? What if it’s Cdim? Then the appropriate mode wouldn’t be the same notes of the key you’re in. (That’s the start of the progression I am looking at now, Bird Brain Rag).
This is great, covers a topic I've been thinking about ever since I learned about modes, ie 'ok fine but how do I actually use them?' Thanks for taking us through these. And thanks for the Locrian explanation. I've always wondered what the hell to do with the locrian, and there you have it, to a diminished.
I do love when you play and sing, but these lessons are what makes your channel so good. Another "A HA!" moment watching this. I know what modes are, but this simple demonstration of how to apply them is a bit of a game changer for me. Don't get those too often, so thanks, Aimee, for doing these videos.
Hello Aimee, this was an extraordinary explanation and practical view of the modes. Thank you so much for your knowledge, your methodology and your clarity. Keep the good work!
Thinking Spanish guitar, Phrygian has the the feel of C major/B. The only black key is F#. In a different key, a standard guitar cliche is to vamp up from open E major to F major, letting the high and low E string sustain as pedal tones
Brava! I've probably watched 100 of your videos and this is the winner. You did a masterful job of both explaining and illustrating just what the modes are and how to use them, in a way that I haven't seen before. Everything clicked for me. Thank you, thank you, thank you.
I need a mode that's when you go to your favorite rib shack at 2 AM, and you find out they're out of ribs, but the guy tells you, man, I have BBQ chicken that is the bomb, and you take that, and you bite into it, and it is *so good* and you are *so happy*, but then you think, wait, I have to go work tomorrow, what am I doing standing at this rib shack in the middle of the night, but you're like, om nom nom nom.. I'll sit down now and wait for my answer.
That's an easy one. Lydian #2. Get a nice, wholesome major chord tonic, but you can also build a minor chord off the tonic *note the 2nd chord is a fully diminished 7th chord and a #2 is a minor 3rd when heard* and it has that ethereal #4, that otherworldly "wow" emotional hit. So check this: I major plays as you walk up to the shack, elated you'll get your ribs. Then, once you find out they dont have the ribs you want, 1 #2 5, a minor chord built off tonic, darkening the mood with that somber feeling a 4 major to 4 minor to 1 major gives, but without the resolution. Then, as you bite into that delicious bomb ass chicken, that 2nd inversion major chord with the #4 suspension moving down to the major 3rd of that 2nd inversion major chord *see Toy Story 3 when the claw saves them from the flame pit, that Lydian moment* then, when you realize oh shit I have work tomorrow, the fully diminished ii⁰7 chord is ran up a few octaves, like the movement before the major chord in the beginning of Toccata and Fugue, then releases to the major I because you're content again. How's that?
I only noticed now that you mentioned it, but the Wall-E soundtrack exploited the Lydian "spacey" feel throughout. Wall-E always had such a specific sound pallet, and I'm only realizing now it was dripping in that _lydian_ sound.
Just scratching the surface here. Frank Gambale had a DVD about 30 years ago entitled "Modes: No more mystery". I started learning this stuff before I knew they were called modes over 50 years ago. After hearing musicians saying Dorian this and that, I eventually checked out a book (on scales) from the library. Hopefully, this will soon become old hat for everyone watching this video.
Perfect timing on this video. I've been focusing on the modes as a means to really understand the banjo fingerboard for a while now, but it's always seemed like a sterile exercise. Playing through them on the piano as you did really makes *hearing* them and *feeling* them much easier. Plus, using the key of G for your explanation makes every banjo player happy.
For me the problem isn't that "we always use C Major". The problem is that we go C Ionian, D Dorian, etc. In my opinion, the way to teach the modes is stay with your nominated tonic note: C Ionian, C Dorian, C Phrygian, etc. This way, you truly get to hear the different qualities of each mode, plus you also get to hone in on those notes which make each mode different. So I appluad this video.
Exactly this.
Agreed!
The answer would be to recognize where the half and whole steps are placed, or rather which degrees are lowered or raised in comparison with the ionian, major, scale.
@@TherealShabbadang Exactly: the "shift one note a half step" only really works for major and major pentatonic (or for that matter minor and minor pentatonic)
Exactly. For the first few days i kept wondering, if we are deriving it from the C major scale, why do we call it D dorian and not C dorian
Here's the thing that took me AGES to get my head around about the modes as a (pretty bad) guitar player. When I started out improvising, I realised that generally songs are "in keys". So I'd play licks from, say, an E blues scale or an E major pentatonic scale or whatever, but I would use that scale over the WHOLE CHORD SEQUENCE. Like - I would think of the song (or normally just the chords that you're improvising over) as being in "E pentatonic". And you can kinda get away with that thinking. But when I first started trying to understand modes, I didn't get that you generally play in a certain mode JUST FOR A LITTLE BIT - like, over a chord or two, and then you might switch to other modes over other chords in the progression. So you wouldn't really describe an entire song or solo as "being in E Lydian" or whatever, but instead you'd use that mode for maybe just a couple of bars. Then maybe you'd use F# Dorian for the next bar (depending on the chord), followed by a bar of B Mixolydian, or whatever. So a song isn't really "in a mode" in the same way that it's "in a key". Once I could separate those two concepts, everything made a lot more sense. And yeah - Phrygian is totally ballsy :) Great video, Aimee!
^ this comment is more helpful than most popular music theory videos on yt
Some songs really are "in the modes", they just tend to be rarer than the ones in the popular tonalities of major and perhaps minor. Plenty of pop songs in aeolian (Adele - Hello), dorian (Gary Jules - Mad World), mixolydian (Coldplay - Clocks). Much fewer in lydian, phrygian, and almost none in locrian.
@@camtaylormusic there’s some truth in this
Great comment
Ssss
Dms
Really well done Aimee. Modes are such a difficult concept to articulate and you did the best job I’ve seen.
Congrats to the student who asked the question, and to you for being so approachable that they felt able to ask you. Sometimes many students hesitate to ask a particular question, but really help the whole class by asking it.
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This was super helpful! Thank you!
Respectfully, I believe there is a better way to learn the modes. Students should first familiarize themselves with the major and natural minor scales in 12 keys. Then, think of the modes as alterations of these scales, as follows (from brightest to darkest): Lydian is major with #4, Ionian is just major, Mixolydian is major with flat 7, Dorian is minor with a natural 6, Aeolian is just natural minor, Phrygian is natural minor with flat 2, Locrian can be ignored because it’s only important theoretically and is too tonally unstable for practical use.
This is how I learned
But, just like the video... I'm left not knowing when they're supposed to be played😢
@@jimhughes1070 Play Lydian mode any time you are on a major chord that's not the I chord (so if you're in key of G and the chord is Cmajor, for example)- Or you can just use Lydian on the I chord sometimes for an exotic feel.
Mixolydian can be played on any dominant 7th chord, except for on the V chord in a minor key- for that, an altered Dominant with at least a flat 9 is better.
Aeolian and Dorian are basically two flavors of minor. Dorian is brighter and Aeolian is darker- and to know which one is more appropriate you have to listen to the context of the whole tune or section you're playing. Dorian is more common in rock and pop music and would be played in any minor key jam that has a major IV chord in the progression- so for example an A minor jam that hits the D major chord sometimes- the F# of the D major chord indicates that you're in A Dorian. If the IV chord were D minor, with an F natural, that would let you know you're in A Aoelian. I always think of Carlos Santana solos when I play in Dorian, he uses it a lot. You can message me!
@@static-and-rust
You guys are the best!!
Went to sleep in a mysterious fog.... This morning ..."this is the best coffee I ever had!"
Thanks at least a
Million!! 🙏
That’s a rip because Locrian is one of my favorite modes
I think people get confused because so many teach modes and not talk about what is the sound of that mode. Like Dorian is a minor with a natural 6th. What chords would you use over it. If you're comping in Dorian what triads are you using to imply the dorian sound. What is the formula for a Dorian mode so you can build one from scratch and not think in shifting a major scale around. Really get into the sound of the mode and both chordally and melodically. Then apply that to all the modes. Then move on to the modes of the Melodic Minor the other scale with very useful modes for modern music.
Music is sound and should always be taught from a sound perspective and avoid formula and tricks like shifting a scale around. Shifting a scale is helpful when trying to create fingering for scale, but not helpful for learning the sound.
Another Toortog sighting? What would Peter and Adam think? Hehe, kidding! Toortog, I think the same way and it's taken me years to realize that you need to really HEAR your theory in order to make music with it. That means you have to re conceptualize everything into a medium that you can sing and hear, both on your instrument and away from it. The primacy of sound helps us internalize tunes as well--at least it is with my own studies. Memorizing and recalling chord names never quite worked for me when I played jam sessions, so I'd bury my head in the Real Books. In the last couple of months, I've totally changed how I learn tunes. I sing the melody. I sing the root movement. I sing the thirds. I learn the lyrics as much as I can. Sound sticks better than sight. Makes sense because it is music we are talking about, after all.
Unfortunately, this type of dialogue always seems to get me into trouble. I guess it ain't worth it if you always play it safe, eh? Aimee knows where it's at. Maybe Adam will bring her on for a Guided Practice Session? Wait, did that already happen?
@@pickinstone Before I switch over to piano from guitar I spent a couple years getting hang on the Steve Coleman conference calls talking about all kinds of music and music history and on and on. He talked a lot about things he learned from the early Jazz masters from talk to as many as he could. One of the main things I got out of it that ears was everything to them and part of why they didn't tend to answer questions verbally they would play you answers. The one of the things Coleman talked about that really stuck with me was how the old master didn't talk about scales and such they would talk about pitch collections. The reason was as soon as you say major, minor, dorian, and so on, you are now limiting how you think by thing "what major lines or chords do I know". By not putting putting the label major on and just looking at something as a collection of pitches you use your ear and think what can I do with these notes.
Every thing needs to be learn from the sound first then later learn there is a label for it.
True
This has been a frustration of mine for years as a music teacher. Everyone seems to be confused about modes and it mostly stems from them being taught to just play C major but start on the different degrees. That's a fine way to help memorize the patterns, but it is far from practical, especially because people always play them sequentially (Ionian, Dorian, Phrygian, etc) so your ear just keeps hearing C as the key center and it winds up just sounding like a scale exercise. You really need to do what you did here to understand the individual characteristics of each mode. Play them with the understanding that they are their own keys! F# dorian is NOT just E starting on the second note, it's a wholly unique key on it's own. You didn't go this far in the video, but the next step for me is to start thinking about the other chords in the modes starting with the 1 to 5 progression in each mode. You really start getting a sense for the flavor of the modes when you hear how the other chords relate to the key center in the different modes.
Anyway, excellent explanation as always, Aimee! Thanks!
I too always thought the chord and the chord progressions has much to do w/ playing modal than playing modal. Too much to think about. I like Allen Holdsworth visualization of scales, basically as one organic structure that you can do whatever you want with, especially while employing chromaticism.
Bullshit! If you play Dm7-G7-Cmaj7, *nobody* hears "dorian", "mixolydian" and last "Ionian". *Everybody* hears C-major.
Dang... Started reading your post and thought you were going to explain when to use a mode😭... 😢😢... I guess the search continues😂
@@jimhughes1070 The question of "when" is mostly preference. If you think of the modes as a bucket of notes you can pull from, then it becomes clearer. If you want the notes to strictly match the progression you are playing in, find all the different notes in the progression and match that to a mode that contains all those notes. E.g If you are in G and the progression is G-F-C-G, then G Mixolydian has you covered. If you want to play some "outside" notes, go with a mode that includes notes that aren't in the underlying chords, or notes that imply different harmonies, or borrow from other scales, just like how playing minor pentatonic runs fits well over major chords in bluesy styles because it borrows from minor harmonies. Hope that helps a bit, and of course this is all just advice from one person. Everyone is going to have their own take on it.
@@ErikNonIdle hey! thank you very very much!!! Like shining a light in a dark room! 🤣🙏... Love and happiness to you and yours!! 🙏
Great video Aimee. It was so cool to hear you explain about finding Ab Aeolian by asking what major scale has Ab as the sixth degree of its scale. I figured this same conclusion out 25 years ago after being confused by a lot of peoples explanations. I used to play a lot of guitar solos in the Dorian mode and knew that it was always the major scale a whole step below the root note key I was playing in. So if I was in A and playing a GMaj to get Dorian mode I could see A was the 2nd of G. Then the light bulb lit up and I tried it with other modes. Hey, I want A Mixolydian so I thought A is the 5 of what major scale? Hmmm….A is the 5 of DMaj………bingo! I can’t believe I was playing for probably 20 years before this simple thing made it so easy. For years I tried to remember what notes were altered of the major scale to get the mode I wanted and was visualizing how to play it. The simple way all I had to do is play the many positions I already knew how to play the major scale in. Now I know what is altered for the particular mode but that simple shortcut many years ago just made it fall into place. It also made it clear on certain songs like Sweet Home Alabama and Werewolves of London for an example never sounded right when playing a D Maj scale over them with natural 7 sounding out of place. These songs were written in D Mixolydian, 1, 7, 4. The amount of guitar lessons I’ve have given over the years where students were so confused about why doesn’t D Maj work over a song written in D Maj. When I explain it is Mixolydian they are more confused until I get them to use that simple trick that you stated and I figured out many years ago. Those lightbulb moments sometimes are like a flash of lightning or a candle, but once it’s lit you can see the light.😎😎🎸🎸🎼🎼🤘🤘. Great stuff Aimee! I’ve learned a lot from Beato over the years but I dig a different point of view. I have been gigging for 45 years and still love learning music.
WOW! After playing piano for 50 years or so (whoops, I'm revealing my age HaHa!) You have helped me finally understand how the heck to play around with the modes! You're the best Aimee, I wish you had been my piano teacher when I was growing up! XO
I went and had a listen to your ugly Lydian composition. It could be used for "enhanced interrogation". I'm still recovering. That was rough. Really good job.
Great video. My two cents: the reason why modes are confusing is because we're taught key signatures very early on. While this is somewhat helpful, it tends to ingrain in students that there's ONE set of notes you can play over an entire song. But a lot modern songs (post 1920) don't stick to diatonic chords. So without even mentioning 'modes' you're kind of left scratching your head. Add to this: modal composition really doesn't follow the rules of standard harmony (ie: the cadences are different). Thank you for the video!
'Locrian's your buddy'...love that! From the UK I've gotta say that you've produced a great video lesson...I've been following Rick Beato for a while now and you have the same,great teaching style! 😁👍
This is a cracking video. Much appreciated.
Phrygian mode is exotic, mysterious and sometimes eerie. Growing up with Greek music, I heard it a lot and it’s still my favorite mode. It’s in eastern music, flamenco, surf guitar and metal. What a range for one mode! Aimee, you make me want to take out my keyboard and try it again. Thank you.
What about the double harmonic scales? Sometimes songs using those are mislabeled as Phrygian or Phrygian dominant.
You have a really soothing sounding voice , it makes listening and concentration a lot easier
all clarities removed by now... now i am free
You can also look at these modes like from “light to dark” in which the lydian mode is the brightest because of the raised forth and the locrian mode the darkerst because all these flattened notes which create more tension…
This is how I always think of them.
Exactly, that's a super important point. People who are interested in this aspect should check out the New Jazz lesson on this. It's pedagogical perfection. Aimee Nolte is no slacker of course.
This is one of those "technically true" details which people reference with modes, that I think ends up contributing to the confusion. The concern in this video is "How do I *use* modes" - so the "lighter to dark" concept ends up being interpreted as a choice you can make in practice, in the moment, while you're improvising.
What ends up happening is people (usually guitarists), playing over a progression in C Major...and deciding to take it "darker" by playing up and down an E Phrygian scale. And then darker still by playing B Locrian. But...it doesn't *sound* darker!
The modes-confused person first needs to understand tonality and that we're really comparing C Major to C Dorian to C Minor, etc...and not the C-to-C, D-to-D, E-to-E stuff. And critically: if you're playing over a C Major progression, cranking the "darker" lever usually isn't really a valid move, sound-wise. Wrong tool applied at entirely the wrong time.
@@gpwaltz Indeed! And in fact, if you change to, say, E major and then B major instead of the modes diatonic to C, you actually brighten the atmosphere by sharpening notes!
@@gpwaltz It’s also worth noting that light-to-dark is a very linear concept that doesn’t always apply linearly due to modulatory spaces.
Modes are about feeling and emotion...why play Phrygian? to emote a sneaky dark feeling...what to party -- play Mixolydian ! etc. From there its about the "tone center" and "the note of interest" For example, when playing Lydian, feature the #4 as the note of interest.
Hi sir - anywhere can I get to learn about the "feel" of the modes and hereby derive the "tone center(s)" from it?
i have been particularly hung up on Phrygian and using the flat 2nd a lot in my improvs but not really sounding great.. I am a beginner at piano so maybe not able to bring out the feeling as I would want it to.. I am trying to do a spread voicing on my left hand and trying to play some licks on my right using the notes of phrygian
Wonderful Presentation of Music MODES. I am learning both Piano & guitar. This IS my Lesson of the year(s). Thank You Aimee SO So much. I have worked HARD to be here to Understand to this Point 5 years in the making from nothing,
I don’t even play piano, I play guitar. But music theory is music theory.
I don’t play piano but I could listen to Aimee for hours.
It's theory. Break out of the box. Modal playing I think is a specialized form, it's whatever tonal center you want to come back to, it's wherever tone you want to add more gravity to for a sense of resolve...I don't think atonal music has "modes" per se LOL.
Wow Aimee, you are a great teacher and pianist! I found your channel today and subscribed. I play guitar. Thank you for this video.
I love this video, Thank you!
Love the Dorian sound on Riders on The Storm by The Doors (or as one of my good gitarist friends calls them The Dorians) 🤣😁
Morrison's Bartenders ...? "MIX"olydians ✔️✔️🤣🤣
Morrison's groupies...
enigmatic minor mode V
This video is very helpful and has some great ways to think about modes and especially the great tip about referring back to the parent scale and using it to play in any given mode. Now the incomprehensible part to me is the question: Do jamming jazz musicians really think like this while the chords are rapidly flying past so there is a new chord every second or two? I don't see how that is possible to think "OK, Dorian for this chord," "Now Phrygian for this next chord," etc., Wouldn't that be far too cerebral to be creating anything emotionally appealing or meaningful? I would really like to know the answer to that question as it is directly on the subject of use of the modes in real time.
Modes seem to be helpful for understanding harmony but as far as improvising goes I don’t see the point since it’s all the same notes of a single scale, whichever one. If you can hear the harmony then they seem useless. If you play ascending or descending sequences of notes from the appropriate major scale over a m7 chord are you playing Dorian or Ionian or every mode? Someone mentioned Frank Gambale, his lessons on modes make sense in a truly modal way but it has nothing to do with matching single modes to single chords of a harmonized scale like you’re teaching here.
This is a great video! It really helped deepen my knowledge on modes and where they fit into improvisation. I think the initial thing that really made it click for me was when my music theory professor framed it in terms of the church modes either being minorish or majorish. Basically that each of the 7 modes could be broken down to a major or (natural) minor scale with modifications.
Lydian would be Major w/ a raised 4th,
Ionian is Major!
Mixolydian is Major with a lowered 7th,
Dorian is Minor with a raised 6th,
Aeolian is Minor!
Phrygian is minor with a lowered 2nd,
Locrian is Minor with a lowered 2nd and lowered 5th.
This instantly made it way easier to peck out the modes for me instead of trying to do the mental gymnastics of thinking that Ab Lydian is the fourth mode of Eb and tracing back to Eb to find the notes. Instead I would simply play the Ab Major scale and # the 4th!
I am trying to understand this mode things FOR YEARS NOW but I still don't really get it...no, let me rephrase that .. I can't memorize all of this ;___;
Well, Ishould have watched the entire video until the end,before commenting.Btw, I love Debussy!
When you equate the (e.g) C scale with a number scale, wouldn't it be better to say tha C-D-EF-G-A-BC counts as 1-3-5.6-7-10-12-1, and then D Dorian is 1-3.4-6-8-10.11-1, because what the Modes do is to shift the intervals around, from w-w-h-w-w-w-h, to (D Dorian) w-h-w-w-w-h-w? Surely the changing intervallic structure giving a different flavour for the same notes, is the point of playing Modes?
Dear Aimee, thank you for putting a "face" to these modes; and going into how it affects the human soul. I knew all these things solely by ear (back in the day), and used them to color and shade the songs (sparingly, though). Now that I am retired, I hope to have the time to digest all these wonderful things you have shared. God bless you, for caring enough for us folks! ☺
What many people fail to understand about modes is where they originate from. And the answer is that they come from taking the pattern of whole and half notes, which in the Major scale is WWHWWWH (Whole and Half steps) starting from the root note, and changing where you start and stop on that pattern. That is Ionian mode. Next is Dorian mode. Which is WHWWWHW. Same pattern just shifted over by one. Shift it over again by one more, and you're in Phrygian mode. Every shift of the pattern takes you to another mode.
"Counts in 5's."
Me: Woah, how am I gonna keep track of all those numbers.
Realizing Me: Oh, she just counted in 5's
*Must watch once off the grass*
Hi Aimee, could you make write me a PDF of your left hand stride chord voicing's for 'Nobody Knows You When Your Down & Out' for a lesson fee/paypal by any chance ?
This was out of my pay grade when I started but I ended up in another tax bracket. Merci.
I'm not yet at the level of playing where I can really take advantage of this, but this gives me such a head start.
BTW you plays real good.
Pardon my French.
This indeed is a great explanation but still... one sentence at the end of the video sums it up "it's just seven different ways to look at [...] major scales". And as a beginner who really wants to dive deep into harmony at some point in my musical development I'm not convinced that modes are all that beneficial. Maybe they can polish your understanding of major scale but from harmony point of view I don't know. Isn't it more valuable to think: now I've got minor chord so I will play chord tones and b2, b6 extensions instead of looking for matching phrygian? This way your're not only find proper notes to play but also see their underling function in current chord and progression right? At your level Aimee do you really think of modes when moving from chord to chord or you have this map of harmony in your head and see it more like extensions that has its purpose in progression. Using modes seems to me a little blind, maybe good to play some licks but without deeper understanding what is going on underneath. I'am sorry for being arrogant, I'm probably totally wrong. Thanks for great video!
I think that the real problem with understanding/utilizing the modes is NOT that people don't understand the CONTENT of the modes. That is explained sufficiently by the realization that the each scale step in the major scale leads to a different harmonic ordering of the same set of tones. The problem as I see it is that we are NOT taught that the mode is a different set of relationships to a particular TONIC. The modes should be understood in relationship to the TONIC! A Dorian mode in D is NOT just a shift within the C Major scale, which does in fact describe the tonal content and order, but is a different set of relationships to the tonic "D." The POINT of a mode is that it's a different color palette in relationship to a tonic! Practice the mode over a tonic drone and LISTEN to how the tones refer back to the tonic! That is the point of a mode, the relationship to the tonic, NOT knowing what tones make up the mode. You MUST teach yourself the relationship to the tonic in order to effectively utilize the modes compositionally or improvisationally! 😀
Outstanding class... thanks.. really..
Wow Aimee - I could seriously watch every one of your videos and learn something new. You are an amazing teacher! Thank you for all you do!
That's all good and well, but if your listeners are of the primed-to-Ionian/Aeolian hardcore type, you can compose your ass off in any other mode and they won't recognize it.
hi Aimee or musicians, what do you mean by it's a world of difference over dorian and phrygian mode at @11:37? I thought Aimme was playing in two different keys?
Thanks for a very straightforward explanation of something many of us struggle to understand 👍🏻
It took me many years to learn what you just described in 5 minutes and you are the first I ever seen on here teach this thank you 😊
DANG BOLD tee shirts when
at 3:46, another way to explain what Aimee is saying is if you're going to use the alphabetical rule, You wouldn't call them Ab and B, you could either call them G# and B, or you could call them Ab and Cb. This is just because those letters I just gave are actually six apart. Ab and B would be thought of as a type of 7th apart.
Good call George! I have a video about how to notate chords and scale if anyone is interested in going more into depth on this!
Great video, but whenever you start stairway to heaven, it’s sacrilegious not to finish it! I think that’s in the Bible somewhere!
Isn't it easier to count up a minor 3rd when figure out what major/minor key your in? Instead of counting down 6.
...you are a beautiful mind... thanks immensely!
Thanks for the video. This is what I don’t understand about modes: if I’m improvising, say, over an Am7 chord in G major, the rules I use are something like (1) play the notes of the G major scale (2) pay particular attention to the Am7 chord tones. How does the rule ‘play in A Dorian mode’ add anything to these rules? Modes only start to make sense to me when they mean you are playing notes out of the key, when the above rules don’t work. Like the clocks example.
When you demonstrate what a mode sounds and feels like, it's much better to keep with the same root/tonic. Sooo many times I've heard someone demonstrate modes by playing C major, then D Dorian, the E Phrygian, etc. all in a row. My ear just hears C major scale, C major scale starting on D, C major scale starting on E, etc.... My ear gets stuck in a C tonality and doesn't hear them as distinct tonalities.
Much more helpful is playing them with the same root starting with the most familiar major and working your way brighter/darker. Also, taking a song and changing the mode just slightly like David's video did is a great way to illustrate the way they feel.
That's exactly correct - bright to dark - lydian to locrian. So, staying on the tonic, adding a flat in each successive mode - mixolydian one flat, dorian two flats, etc. means you can play in any mode just by knowing how many flats are the the scale (excepting lydian). Starting on C major like most of us did is useless. You're right. It just sounds like C starting on D or E.
That was the most concisely informative and inspirational explanation of the modes I've ever heard. Thanks!
I've watched a number of videos on the modes. Your is the best.
Noone ever mentions Freddie Hubbard! He has always been one my favorite trumpet players. You have some great videos.
you are an excellent teacher. thank you.
As someone who's barely getting started with keyboards... This sounds like a fantastic way of warming up. A few tweaks to beginner excercises and you've got modal studies
Lovely talking about music.
What unlocked the modes for me was the realisation that I was perfectly willing to accept the minor key as it’s own sound. I wasn’t seeing A Minor as just C Major starting from A. I was seeing A minor as a mood, a sound. So why was i not applying that logic to the other modes? D Dorian isn’t just C major starting from D, it has it’s own mood and emotion. E.g. A Dm7 to GMaj progression isn’t a 2,6 progression in CMajor, but rather a 1,4 progression in D dorian. Treat every mode like you do for natural minor.
*points at sign* "NO STAIRWAY!"
It should be called 3 quarters diminished
Awesome video. boy have I got work to do. Thank you.
'That's what they're for... each of them [modes] have their own mood'. Wonderful explanation, Aimee.
I don't know that much about 'theory', but , I heard Frank Gambale saying, 'instead of 'modes', I call them 'moods''.Somehow, it helps! It seems to me that each 'mode' introduces you to a different 'mood ' (intervals?).Then I got interested into more 'modal' music (Indian,Japanese, Zappa), and it made sens. Modes,in a way, are like a journey. Thank you for sharing your experience!
Well it seems now you do know "theory" because you ventured into Indian and Japanese and of coarse there is German. (told in theory class), but to make things simple always go back to basics.
Aimee; MODES BE DANGED
U R SO GOSH DARNED CUUUTE !
( 🏹 💜 😎😎 💜 🏹 )
🎵🎶🎵🎶🎵
Does anyone believe in aeolians from other planets?
Playing in Dorian always makes me feel like I'm in The Doors.
I feel unbearably cool when playing Dorian.
I like thinking about modes as bright -> dark, or Lydian to locrian. In that reference frame, Ionian is Lydian with a flat 4. Then mixolydian, Dorian, aeolian, Phrygian, and locrian in that order. Adding a flat to the 4th scale degree first, then 7th, then 3, 6, 2, 5. Thinking about modes like that unlocked them for me.
Hi Aimee, thank you again for your very generous spirit. Much here to absorb!
21:46 I love this chart. I’ve seen the top half, but your sorting by type of seventh chord on the tonic of the mode is fresh and helpful.
I see a lot of comments questioning why modes are named the way they are, and why they are useful vs just thinking in the relative major or minor scale. For those folks, here’s my understanding, maybe it will help.
All of the modes are named after the note that is their tonic or “home” note (the 1 in this chart). Two of these modes are the classical major and minor scales (Ionian and Aeolian, respectively). Looking at the collection of modes all together, they fall into a pattern of light to dark as several commenters noted. My version of this is that if Ionian is the “standard” major scale, the Lydian is a little brighter or “more major” and the Mixolydian is a little darker or “less major” while Aeolian is the ‘standard’ minor, the Dorian is a little “less minor” and the Phrygian is a little “more minor” as evidenced by the sharp or flats relative to the parallel major scale. The Locrian is the “diminished” or “super minor” mode.
As to how they are used, everything we play has a melodic and a harmonic aspect. When we compose we often think of melodies within a harmonic progression like ii-IV-V-I. If we play the same melody and harmonic progression in a different mode, it changes flavor because of the added or reduced major or minor qualities of the mode.
Modal jazz, especially, but other genres as well, playfully move from one mode or scale to another using a chord that is present in both the current and the subsequent mode or scale as a pivot point in the piece.
In all this, keep in mind that we are simply being playful in a classical music sandbox that is constrained by selecting 7 (diatonic) sounds out of 12 potential (chromatic) sounds or notes to use at a given moment. Playing in a nonstandard mode (i.e., not major or minor) or moving among modes allows us to expand our sandbox to add variety and flavor to our music. It’s all just play.
Smarter every day with this fantastic musician. Thanks for letting us pick your brain.
I mega loved this video OMG genius
This was a very informative video! In music theory class, our instructor tried to explain the modes with some kind of weird chart that I can no longer remember. It was not at all intuitive, and as a result, most of the students were confused by his explanation. Fortunately, one of the jazz players in the class explained the various modes the way you did in this video, and it all made sense. It's so much easier to think about modes in the way you explained it. But no one explained to us when to use the various modes. That was indeed very helpful, especially when comes to using the locrian mode. Thanks again Professor Aimee!
If I were religious, now I'd swear to God that, not being a musician but just a curious music lover, 30 years passed me by and I could not understand what these modes are once the notes are the same as in major and even in major one does not play the notes in just their natural order.
And, during only half a year, I saw half a dozen of outstanding, enlightening videos (the first by Frank Gambale, many thanks to him, too) that showed me how much I wasted during those years just by not understanding that everything is """only""" which note you emphasize as home by bass and/or frequent playing.
If I only could express what relief I feel that I more or less understand what's happening...
I saw that frank Video when he used Santana using Dorian as an example ❤️ also know what chords come from modes really helps
I think it's a lot easier to think about modes in digitals rather than building them from relative major scale. If you know your major and nat minor (ionian/aolean) then you can just build modes by altering one or two notes raised 6th in minor for dorian, raised 4th in major for lydian, flat 7 in major for mixolydian etc. I think that's a lot quicker.
I agree that knowing how they differ from the parallel major scale is much more useful in understanding their moods and quickly how to use them. For the minor modes, I remember how they differ from the natural minor/aeolian scale instead of major since there are fewer modifications. To me "C dorian is C minor with a sharp 6" makes a lot more sense than "C dorian is a Bb scale that starts on C." So my mental model is:
Lydian - major with #4
Ionian - major
Mixolydian - major with b7
Dorian - minor with #6
Aeolian - minor
Phrygian - minor with b2
Locrian - minor with b2 and b5 (rarely used anyway)
you obviously missed the whole lesson
This is also how I think of them. But I was trying to appeal to a different set of people with this video who might need an alternate way of thinking about them.
@@AimeeNolte Absolutely! Definitely lots of great ways to consider concepts. One thing I really like to do with students is work from the minor/major pentatonic scales then add 6ths and 2nds based on what kind of sound we're trying to imply. E.G. raised 6th with minor pentatonic to get that dorian sound.
Thanks Aimee for a terrific and inspiring lesson. My big takeaway is that I need to try harder to make music with the modes. I’m a guitar player and I know how to play the scales for each of the modes. But they are just scales. Your explorations of those scales showed me how I need to do the same thing in order to truly understand the sounds of the different modes and to learn how to incorporate them into solos. It will be a great way for me to bridge the mechanics of playing mode scales to the goal using modes to make music.
You've got it. I recommend checking out Signal Studio here on RUclips. Jake Lizzio has some great example videos where he uses a particular mode to compose, and the examples really showcase the flavour of the mode in a big way.
OMG! I think I finally understand! Thank-you!
Glad it helped!
That is precisely the video I was looking for. Glad you made it! One of my friends will be thrilled as well. Wonderful job, as usual 😊
Modal 🎼🎶🎵 Theory's Spiritual & Extremely Fun To Understand Yet Within Proper Context Of Study Application Of Performance Practice--Great Good Job Aimee!!
I still don't know why knowing this is useful. Is she saying, for example, that when in the key of C, you could play an A aolean scale when an Am chord is played? Well, that's stupid. All you're doing is playing the notes of the key your're in. I still don't understand why this is at all useful.
Yeah, but what if the chord after C isn’t Am? What if it’s Cdim? Then the appropriate mode wouldn’t be the same notes of the key you’re in. (That’s the start of the progression I am looking at now, Bird Brain Rag).
This is great, covers a topic I've been thinking about ever since I learned about modes, ie 'ok fine but how do I actually use them?' Thanks for taking us through these. And thanks for the Locrian explanation. I've always wondered what the hell to do with the locrian, and there you have it, to a diminished.
Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!
Hi Aimee, i just subscribe to you channel, i love the way you make it sound! Rich sound !🤗
This is brilliant! It's taken me years to begin to understand the modes but this clarified it all for me in 4 minutes! Genius!
I've been trying to understand this over forty years. Thank you for your understandable explanation I feel so much better enlightened!
This was excellent. Thanks.
Your channel has inspired me to learn how to play keyboard. Thank you Aimee
A great way 'jazz's up your solos!
I do love when you play and sing, but these lessons are what makes your channel so good. Another "A HA!" moment watching this. I know what modes are, but this simple demonstration of how to apply them is a bit of a game changer for me. Don't get those too often, so thanks, Aimee, for doing these videos.
Hi Amy - Is it better to think D dorian as starting on the second degree of C Ionian, or is it better to think of D dorian as 1 2 b3 4 5 6 b7, in D?
I do the latter…but everyone is different
clear as mud, thanks
Hello Aimee, this was an extraordinary explanation and practical view of the modes. Thank you so much for your knowledge, your methodology and your clarity. Keep the good work!
This Is the BEST explanation which I have heard! I FINALLY feel like I get it.
Thinking Spanish guitar, Phrygian has the the feel of C major/B. The only black key is F#. In a different key, a standard guitar cliche is to vamp up from open E major to F major, letting the high and low E string sustain as pedal tones
Brava! I've probably watched 100 of your videos and this is the winner. You did a masterful job of both explaining and illustrating just what the modes are and how to use them, in a way that I haven't seen before. Everything clicked for me. Thank you, thank you, thank you.
I need a mode that's when you go to your favorite rib shack at 2 AM, and you find out they're out of ribs, but the guy tells you, man, I have BBQ chicken that is the bomb, and you take that, and you bite into it, and it is *so good* and you are *so happy*, but then you think, wait, I have to go work tomorrow, what am I doing standing at this rib shack in the middle of the night, but you're like, om nom nom nom..
I'll sit down now and wait for my answer.
That's an easy one. Lydian #2. Get a nice, wholesome major chord tonic, but you can also build a minor chord off the tonic *note the 2nd chord is a fully diminished 7th chord and a #2 is a minor 3rd when heard*
and it has that ethereal #4, that otherworldly "wow" emotional hit.
So check this:
I major plays as you walk up to the shack, elated you'll get your ribs.
Then, once you find out they dont have the ribs you want, 1 #2 5,
a minor chord built off tonic, darkening the mood with that somber feeling a 4 major to 4 minor to 1 major gives, but without the resolution.
Then, as you bite into that delicious bomb ass chicken, that 2nd inversion major chord with the #4 suspension moving down to the major 3rd of that 2nd inversion major chord *see Toy Story 3 when the claw saves them from the flame pit, that Lydian moment*
then, when you realize oh shit I have work tomorrow, the fully diminished ii⁰7 chord is ran up a few octaves, like the movement before the major chord in the beginning of Toccata and Fugue,
then releases to the major I because you're content again.
How's that?
I only noticed now that you mentioned it, but the Wall-E soundtrack exploited the Lydian "spacey" feel throughout. Wall-E always had such a specific sound pallet, and I'm only realizing now it was dripping in that _lydian_ sound.
Lydian is also used in Yoda's theme in Star Wars, and in hundreds of 1980s sitcom soundtracks.
Im going to call it moods from now on
Q: what if you use typical progressions, but shift them, using the modes. For instance II V I, starting on Dorian as the root?
What an "eye opening" revelation! This is wonderfully explained. It really isn't that complicated. Thank you Aimee!
This video is super helpful
You are great! Thank you.
Just scratching the surface here. Frank Gambale had a DVD about 30 years ago entitled "Modes: No more mystery". I started learning this stuff before I knew they were called modes over 50 years ago. After hearing musicians saying Dorian this and that, I eventually checked out a book (on scales) from the library. Hopefully, this will soon become old hat for everyone watching this video.
Perfect timing on this video. I've been focusing on the modes as a means to really understand the banjo fingerboard for a while now, but it's always seemed like a sterile exercise. Playing through them on the piano as you did really makes *hearing* them and *feeling* them much easier. Plus, using the key of G for your explanation makes every banjo player happy.