In the previous post from our “10 Things Every Musician Should Know” series, we began to look at how modes are constructed.  We showed you how to alter a major scale to arrive at modes.  Today, we’re going to look at what modes to play based on the given chord progression.

We’ve already established that the pattern of chord qualities for a major scale is as follows:

1M, 2m, 3m, 4M, 5M, 6m, 7d, 1M

If we shift to modes, not only do we shift the order of the intervals between the notes (whole step or half step), but we also shift the order of the chord qualities (major, minor, augmented, diminished).  In the last post, we showed how those intervals changed.  Now we’re going to build chords from each scale degree (flats denoted with lowercase “b”).

  1. Ionian (Major) - 1M,  2m,  3m,  4M,  5M,  6m,  7d,  1M
  2. Dorian - 1m,  2m,  b3M,  4M,  5m,  6d,  b7M,  1m
  3. Phrygian - 1m,  b2M,  b3M,  4m,  5d,  b6M,  b7m,  1m
  4. Lydian - 1M,  2M,  3m,  #4d,  5M,  6m,  7m,  1M
  5. Mixolydian -  1M,  2m,  3d,  4M,  5m,  6m,  b7M,  1M
  6. Aeolian (Natural Minor) - 1m,  2d,  b3M,  4m,  5m,  b6M,  b7M,  1m
  7. Locrian - 1d , b2M,  b3m,  4m,  b5M,  b6M,  b7m,  1d

PRACTICAL USES OF MODES

So, as an example, let’s look at a common chord progression one of the major modes:

E     A     D     E

Now, let’s convert that to scale degrees:

1M     4M     b7M   1M

Judging from this information, we can base our playing around a Mixolydian mode.

Let’s look now at a common progression in a minor mode:

Em     A     D     Em

If we convert this to scale degrees, we have:

1m     4M     b7M     1m

In this case, we can base our playing around the Dorian mode.

If you begin to think in terms of modes based on the chords within a song, it can really open up the possibilities of your playing.  It can help you break out of the typical pentatonic box (not that there’s anything wrong with that–I am a guitarist, too) and help you to stay true to the chords underneath your melodies and solos.  It does take a lot of memorization and practice to get used to modes, but understanding them will help make you a better musician.

Stay tuned for our next post, when we get rhythmic.

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