1. WWHWWWH, 2. WHWWWHW, 3. HWWWHWW, 4. WWWHWWH, 5. WWHWWHW, 6. WHWWHWW, 7. HWWHWWW, The seven degrees of the diatonic scale. The C Major scale is, (1)WWHWWWH. If you want to play the 2nd degree just start on the second note for the C Major scale (D) and play the same intervallic separation pattern though the next (D). And so forth. The color perspective is good!
I opted for this video over the 20 minute explanation and I'm glad I did. Really simple, visual explanation that helped me finally demystify modes. Thanks!
Unfortunately this video completely misses the point about modes. Like so many such videos. This is becasue the critical thing about modes is subjective, you can't give a simple rule for it, or even a complex rule. This is why it is so confusing. Let's say you want to play in D Dorian. The Dorian mode of C Maj. All you got to do is play all the white notes (the C maj scale) starting on D, right? Wrong. In the first place you don't play scales in music (uless you are practicing), you *use* scales. In the second place just 'cos you start by playijng a D melody note and then use only the white keys doesn't necessarily make it D Dorian. I could still be C maj, Or G Myxolidian. Or A minor. Or any other mode of C maj. Confused?. Yes, it's confusing. And here's why: What you have to do to make it D Dorian is to establish D min as the I chord, or the Tonic chord, or the "Home" chord, however you want to call it, of your piece. IF you do that then the signiture "sound", "feel" or emotion of the Dorian mode casued by the flattened third and seventh notes, which is what most music videos and tutpors go on aboout, will come through. This is becasue the listener will hear the unexpected flattened third and seventh against the D root of the I chord. If the listener doesn't precieve D as the root of the I chord, then it doesn't work. Unfortunately there is no hard and fast rule, no cast iron way to make D min the I chord. There are many ways. And whichever way you do it, ultimately whether D minor is or is not the I chord is in the ear of the listener. It is subjective. This is why music tutors have such a hard time explaininig modes. It's subjective. No simple rule they can teach. Three rules of thumb can help. To write a D Dorian tune you can establish D min as the I chord by: 1. Starting your chord progression with D minor 2. Playing D minor for longer during your chord progression than any other chord 3. Repeating D minor more often than you repeat any other chord during your chord progression. Option 1 is the most usual way to do it, but options 2 and 3 will override it. For example if you play D min - C maj - G maj - C maj it will be C maj that is heard as the I chord, not D min.
I'm with you. When I first heard his way of explaining it, I thought I could walk over to my guitar and magically know how to play the modes. Years later someone told me to play a B major but flat the seventh to be in in the correct mode (B mixolidian)of a song he was teaching me and that was the ah ha moment for me. I'm still trying to learn them all though. He does shed some light on modal theory. He is giving a good snapshot of how what it looks like. He is just leaving out how it changes/alters the intervals of a scale. Something I still struggle with.
Come on Gregor, you can't deny that at least 'for a start' this video speaks volumes. But then of course..once you grasp, so to speak the algebra of modes, you just can't leave it there and have to move on the level you're raising the subject to. Believe me Gregor.......if you watch all the abracadabra-just jumping in the middle of the swimming pool- explanation...this video makes great sense. So stop being so negative just because you yourself already have made it to Grade A so to speak.
1234gregor He could have applied the same analogy to explain modal borrowing. Having the 7 modes any of them could be the tonic. If C major is the key and he wants a chord from C myxolydian, B becomes Bb, so you can play Gmi, Bbmaj in place of Gmaj, Bm7b5.
GUNO RIJSSEL and it is the thing that this video is totally inappropriate for the start. It is because beginners will watch it and and think about modes in a way explained in the main comment here. And they won't get the initial sense of modes, which are not 'just a scale played from a different degree '. So yeah, i deny it being good for a start and treat it as a totally wrong way of teaching modes. Instead I can say that this may be useful if you have discovered modes and look for something to help you keep it in mind visually or positionwise on your instrument. And that requires understanding of what a mode is, what does it mean and how it sounds
This is food for the brain, using colours helps to absorb information in a unik conception of pure logic. Keep up the good work, enabling us to see the light at the end of the tunnel.
This video is incredible I just grasped the concept halfway through this video after not understanding it at all my entire last semester in class. Thank you this made sense to me
Fantastic video I will share with my guitar students. I was going crazy trying to figure out why all the names. I thought they were competing musicians who just had their own way of making scales. :) NOW I know what it's about. Thanks.
You only showed modes with all white keys. There are 7 modes for each key. The key of C has Ionian, Dorian, Phrygian, Lydian, etc. They key of D has 7 modes also. There are 49 modes if you start on all white keys as each has 7
Does this mean that you can take a CM scale, which goes wwhwwwh, making CDEFGAB and start from D using the scale formula for Major, going wwhwwwh to make D E F# G A B C# ? Lots of people haven't been able to answer this question for me for whatever reason, but when it does get answered, I will have so much more understanding
No it doesn't mean taking D note and making its major scale. It simply means start from D note (for Dorian mode) and keep the other notes going. C major = CDEFGAB C major (Dorian)= DEFGABC You just have to start from different note and keep writing next notes. It's very clear in the video. Just watch it again it's very easy
Ok, now I understand the relationship of the modes but there is still something I don't understand. Does this mean that all songs in the key of C are in Ionian mode? If I now want to write a song in the key of D, does that mean my song will be in the Dorian mode? I think the answer to my questions is "no" but I don't understand why it is "no".
samfortunado: I Don't Practice Learning Modes A Lot. This sentence is a good way of learning the order of all the modes. I-D-P-L-M-A-L =Ionian Dorian Phrygian Lydian Mixolidian Aolean Locrain. I think in order to know where to start you would still have to know what is flatted or sharpened in each mode right? like Mixo is flatted 7th I think can you clarify or explain these in a video?
Jeff S well, my video tries to explain the concept that the different modes are just starting on a major scale at different points in the scale. Another way to think about it is to think about which notes are flatted/sharpened based off of the major scale (ionian). For example, lydian is the same as ionian, but you sharpen the fourth note in the scale. Then you get the lydian pattern. One way to figure out a mode is to start from a basic major scale. Then, you pick which mode you want, and then start from the corresponding scale degree. So, if you want mixolydian, you take a major scale (let's take C major). Go up the scale until you hit the 5th note (G), because mixolydian starts at the 5th scale degree of the major scale. Finally, just continue playing the major scale (c major) as normal, without changing ANYTHING, but just starting from the 5th note (G, in this case). C major and G mixolydian have the same notes. You are now playing G mixolydian.
Thank you. So where are the intervals flattened or sharpened? And what interval for each mode? Example: Mixo is the 5th degree but the 7th is flattened, you mentioned lydian is the sharpened forth but it is the 2nd mode. What would the rest be? Thank you again. 123gregor's comment below explains why I'm asking this. In short I think you need to know it the hard way in the long run. Yours is a great explanation of the musical concept's big picture but knowing what is flatted or sharped helps a lot too.
Jeff S yeah, understanding modes in many different ways can help you... This video is just one way of looking at modes. I made it because it seemed like people thought of modes as just different scales, and didn't understand what modes actually WERE: different permutations based off of the major scale, using the same notes and the same note order. Another way to think about modes is flattening/sharpening the major scale. Ionian: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Dorian: 1 2 b3 4 5 6 b7 Phrygian: 1 b2 b3 4 5 b6 b7 Etc. You can look up on Google for the rest of the modes. As with many things, thinking about concepts in different ways can help you understand them. I would say understanding modes as permutations of a major scale & understanding how they're all related, and also understanding it from an individual, "which notes do I change" viewpoint can help as well.
Oh my God this is exactly what I thought I don't understand why everybody else explains it so complicated it's like asking an engineer how to change a tire. I do just have one question though say for example you're playing in the key of D Dorian what now chords becomes the 145 progression? But let's say for argument's sake the 145 in D Dorian starts with D Minor as the one chord that makes G major the four chord in a minor the five chord. But isn't this really the 2 5 6 progression in the key of C major? If so what the hell is the point of learning modes seems like it just overcomplicates something that you could just always look at from the reference of C major.
Skiroy you could think of it that way. You can use modes as a creative tool to just do different things musically. For example, you could have a song in D Dorian. While the notes are technically the same as C Major, you could think of it as D Dorian, and have the song "rest" on a D minor chord, instead of a C Major chord. You could also play melodies and notes within the D Dorian/C Major scale only. This would give it a "Dorian" sound, instead of a C Major sound.
samfortunato thanks. So if im playing i iv v in D Dorian which is d min- G Maj - a min. I could play D Dorian scale over d min chord, G Mixolydian over G Major chord and A Aeolian over a min chord, correct? But I could also technically play any of these modes over any of these chord because all the modes notes are diatonic to the key these chords are in, correct?
Skiroy yeah, but it's helpful to just think of yourself as being in D Dorian, even though you're also in all of those other "keys" as well. It's helpful to think of the separate modes as separate keys, like g major, f lydian, etc. Even though all the modes of one key have the same notes, they SOUND different if you emphasize different notes. Such as the #4 note in the lydian mode. So in your case, it would be simpler to say that you would just be in D Dorian, and that you'd be playing a D Dorian scale over all of those chords.
samfortunato okay thanks one last question then I'll leave you alone. Somebody said and you can play the different minor modes and that relative root over the minor chord with the same root. For example when you play the D minor chord they said you could play the D Dorian scale over the D minor chord you could play the D phrygian scale over the D minor chord or you could play the D aeolian scale over the minor chord. I'm not sure if this is correct but these are obviously all and completely different keys that have non diatonic notes in them. I imagined this would sound obscure. My last question is is this correct and if so is this something that would be very uncommon in pop music? I know a lot of these different techniques that may sound of steer could possibly work in the context of a guitar solo where they're all over the place but is it really practical in common pop music?
That was really great way to explain it Question from a music Composer side of things what kind of feeling or emotional does each of these different music modes sound Create or evoke?
thank you. it depends. personally, i think ionian sounds fairly happy (a typical viewpoint; lydian sounds kind of outer space-like and weird; dorian sounds fairly jazzy... slightly dark, but mellow. you should play all of the modes on whatever instrument you play and think about YOU think they sound. then, you should try to use them... either by improvising, making your own song, etc. :)
I have mixed feelings about this video. I see this as a slight improvement on the standard approach of using the C major scale on a piano and starting from each note, but basically the same. Unfortunately I think that approach is what causes most confusion. What people actually need is a way to visualise all the modes from the same tonic. My breakthrough with modes came one I stopped thinking of them in the IDPLyMALo order and started thinking in terms of brightest to darkest: LyIMDAPLo.
So thinking of the diatonic mountain dulcimer, standard tuning of strings to D-A-D. What mode would I be playing in? Ionian or Mixolydian because of the A?
that's not how modes work completely. it depends on what the key of the song is, and what notes/scale you are playing. the tuning doesn't really matter.
My question is, when you play a mode (or scale starting on the next given note), do you play shapes the same way as you would using the original root note? For instance, lets say we are in key of C major (ionian). The fretboard is then covered with the shapes relative to C major. Now lets say we want to play C dorian.. Are all the shapes and notes in the EXACT same place as C ionian, the only difference being you emphasize the D rather than C? Even if you know the major scale all over the fretboard, the difficulty in applying modes is that you need to know where the root note of the mode you wish to play lies across the entire fretboard without the comfort of using the familiar shapes.
Andrew Kozikowski no. The scale shape, in this case, would be the same scale shape as Bb ionian (because C Dorian has the same exact notes as Bb ionian). The idea is that, you can decide which mode you want to play, and calculate back to ionian, then just play that ionian scale shape. For example, let's say you wanted to play A mixolydian. You start at the note A. Because mixolydian is a major scale that starts on the 5th note, you go backwards in a major scale, starting at the 5th note of the scale. Go backwards 4 notes, and you end up at D. Therefore, you can play a D major/ionian scale shape, or any note in D major/ionian, and you'd also be playing in A mixolydian.
So if we are playing A Mixolydian, all you have to do is count back 4 notes from A and all the notes in the D Ionian will give the Mixolydian sound? I always thought modes were entirely based on intervals. If your starting on D and playing Ionian, won't the intervals just make it sound like a major scale? I really appreciate you taking the time to help me out. I feel like I'm right on the edge of understanding this stuff but am missing the thread that connects it all. One other question I have is, when you search guitar modes on Google images and it shows a picture of the 7 positions of the major scale, with each position having a different mode name. How does this fit into what you were saying about playing Ionian shapes after counting back the desired amount from the original root?
Andrew Kozikowski if you play D ionian, you'd want to have some sort of backing track that's playing an A major chord (or an A7 chord). That way, you can play D ionian (which is also A mixolydian) over the sound of an A major chord, and it will sound like A mixolydian.
yup, it is! a minor scale has the same arrangement of tones as the Aeolian mode. you can go further through the different modes, and end up back at Ionian again. therefore, the minor scale could be described as a mode of the major scale. all natural minor scales have a corresponding major scale that has the same notes as the minor scale. for example, A minor has the same notes as C minor. you just start on a different note for each scale. this concept is called relative minors and relative majors.
Oh! Am I playing in the Key of D and depending upon the first note or chord, defines what mode I'm playing in?.....Meaning if I start on a Bm chord, I'm playing in Aeolian mode....is this right?
if you are using the D major scale, and you make the tonal center B minor (as in, you play the B minor chord a lot and get that stuck in people's heads), and then you play the D major scale/start the D major scale on the 6th note/degree (which is a B), then yes, you are playing in the Aeolian mode. conversely, the Aeolian mode is the same as the natural minor scale. so you could technically say that you were playing in B minor as well.
What modes works with what key... like the different modes out of C, like in this example? I've been playing music for decades, always learned and played by ear.... and do rather well... still, curious minds want to know... Theory forces me to multi-task... doing so is distracting... like trying to read lyrics when performing... I'd like to get this down internally...
LIFEWHYZ well, the ancient greek ones were; mixolydian, lydian, phrygian, dorian, hypolydian, hypophrygian, hypodorian. Now the same order is called, locrian, ionian, dorian, phrygian, lydian, mixolydian, aeolian. In the ancient system names like ionian/iastian were used to refer to tonoi, or tuning systems. Similar to modern keys. For example a lydian key has 1 flat.
Do you mean showing the differences between modes starting on the same note? If so, my video was meant to highlight how modes are just the same scale starting on different notes each time.
My video is only one aspect of understanding what modes are. To figure out how to change modes off of the same root (e.g. going from C Ionian to C Dorian), you could memorize the sharps and flats that each mode has (when compared to Ionian), and use that to figure out the scale. You could also work your way backwards/forwards through different keys. For example: let's say you wanted to play C Dorian. You know that the Dorian mode is just a major scale that starts on the second note. So figure out which major scale has C as the second note. That major scale = C Dorian. In this case, Bb major has C as it's second note. So you can play a Bb major scale, and you'd also be playing in C Dorian.
Are you sure this is the correct formula? I say this because I have come across modes that start with D as root or something that go by the name D dorian? Also the WWHWWWH system changes.. Ah, nvm. I had better just stick to listening to music instead of trying to play an instrument!
duhawma no way! Things might be difficult at first, but don't give up! The struggle can be part of growth. The formula changes (sort of). The key point to understand is that the formula is always the same, but it STARTS on a different note for each mode. So you have the WWHWWWH formula for the major (ionian) scale. Then, when you go to the next mode (Dorian), you have WHWWWHW. And then HWWWHWW for phrygian, etc. What's happening is that the pattern of notes stay the same, but you start on the next note and go forward. The pattern starts all over again once you reach the end, and you have 7 steps in total. That's what I was trying to illustrate with the infinitely-repeating rainbow example. :)
I learn that many years ago trying to understand the satch... Maybe you can make another video pertaining to KEYS because they're just the same scale with the same intervals in different PITCH..memorizing the circle of 5th didn't helped me...I had music since I was a kid. None of my music teachers told me this simple FACT or even attempt to explan modes to me. On a Key board it's easy to play different mode in the key of C.lmao But the interval changed... On a guitar its even easier to play in different KEYS. You just have to learn everything in Cmaj/Amin (All the white keys of the piano.) Learn all the modes like that too.. Then just slide the patterns up or down the fretbaord to get a different Pitch or Keys.lmao Anyways...here's the other patterns. CHORDS are just EVERY OTHER NOTES. CEGBDFACEGBDF....ect.lmao You get different intervals or Triads CEG DFA EGB FAC GBD ACE BDF You bascailly get different intervals..Thats how it turn out.lmao I, IV, V have maj3...in other words from Root to 3rd is two Whole step or WW 1,3,5 THE b3 designate it as a MINOR...that is all. ii. iii,vi are min because it's WH....in relation the to the maj3 it's now the b3 1,b3,5 The arpeggios also flip and and forth between mar and min intervals example.....From Root to 3 is a maj......From 3 to 5 is min. visa versa from Root to b3 is min. From b3 to 5 is WW or maj The Vii is a diminish...Diminshed designate b5...That is all 1,b3,b5 That's just the way it turn out.lmao DFA is Dminor chord? Yes???? BDFA or Bdim7 if you extend the notes... it's just be 1,3,5,7,9,11,13 which is CEGBDFA if u invert it ...it'll just be CDEFGAB...lmao In other words...chords and modes are the same. The triads arnt definded or complete Hence the many shades of RED.hahaha Aka Axis PITCH system In there words you can play whatever the hell you want over a chord that has the same note...the rest of the note are optional. example...C maj is Red.. You can paint it blood red or lipstick red. People use the tern DRONE notes or tone Center. The ROOT or arpeggios. The less drone notes or arpeggio the more freedom You don't always have to use 1,3,5 as arpeggios. example 1,4,5 or 1,2,5....people all those sus chords.lmao You can suspense whatever note you want not just the 3 or b3 example.....1,3,b7 Example...rather then play the shuffle from with root/5th. suffling back and forth between the 5th and 6th... Play the root,3....then shuffle to the 4 and 5 Or Root/2nd....shuffle to 3,4, 5....ect. or whatever b or # notes you want. or 1, 4,b7....pull or hammer whatever other notes you want riff...ect When you build chord it's basically the same process...you don't always strike all the notes at the same time. You play whatever the heck you want...what ever sounds good to you or how you want to express yourself... Color it anyway you want..... All minor intervals...triads...AKA Full diminished 1,b3,b5,bb7 or 1,b3,b5,6 in other words from b5 to 6 is WH or minor interval This intervals dosnt exist in regular scales..because the church made up other retarded scales to try to avoid people playing this. it's AKA DEMONIC intervals. It's sounds totally wickage if you play this scale in stagger order lmao Also hook it up to harmonizer...set each note to sounds with -3 and +3 .lmao It's also fully symmetrical...because from the 6 or bb7 to the ocitve is also a minor interval....it belongs in the symtrical scales family.... Hence BLUES with those option notes.lmao Play the b5 Anyways...those other scales are Melodic minor...b3. That's it...lmao b3, b6 harmonic minor. b3,b6,b7 natural minor b3, #4, b6 = double harmonic b6 major harmonic As I said chord building are just every other note. You'll simply get different mode or chords from these different scales... example.... Amin harmonic ACEG#BDF or ABCDEFG# ACEG# = Am7Maj7 or 1,b3,5,7.....extended 1,b3,5,7,9, ...ect The harmonic minor scale is just the Aeolian mode/natural minor scale with a maj7 or raised b7...NOTICE there;s only b3 and b6 for the harmonic minor. Its also term as the leading tone. What this dose it turn the V chord of minor or iii of the major scale into a MAJ... The third note is now a maj3rd arpeggios. Aka...Phrygian dominant. The play double harmonic simply play #4. In other words...The #4 It's same concept...Now to can also substitute the ii chord wirh a dominant. Its kind of like playing the axis pitch system You''ll hear these sounds more in Spanish guitars Two popular songs use this concept. The V gets vamp It's in the key of B minor Hotel California....The F#maj is the V chord. Sultan of swing is in Dmin. The Amaj chord is the V As for mastering the guitar fret board... Learn the MINOR pentatonic scale...and maj... 1,b3,4,5,b6 add 2, 6 to get the dorian add b2, 2b to get the phryian add 2, b6 to get the Aeolian the major is the same 1,2,3,5,6 add 4 and 7 = ionan add #4 and 7 = Lydian add 4 and b7 = mixolydian Makes sense how people can play different modes just by shifting a note or 2? If you actually master the pentatonic scale and play the various blues option notes Playing different mode would be too easy because you're already used to playing those two notes to added in different degree... It's a lot easier than most people makes it..
wow, big post, haha. yeah i tried to just simplify the concept in a way i thought was simpler than most people teach it. and yes, i find many music teachers just dont even teach modes or explain basic little things about music theory... they seem to either not completely understand it themselves, or try to distill it into an "easy to remember" little phrase or something, just so their students can remember it, pass tests, and move on. you're not really learning HOW it works and how everything inter-relates to each other, so it doesn't really help anybody. maybe i will make more videos simplifying and more thoroughly explaining other concepts like major chords, scales, intervals, etc. like the topics you were talking about in your comment. thanks for the reply! i will think about some of this stuff. and yes, a "key" is when you take a scale pattern (like a major scale pattern), pick any note out of the 12 possible notes we can use (from C to B), and start the pattern on that root. if you wrote out each of the 12 notes on a long piece of bread, you could imagine applying a scale pattern as taking a specifically shaped cutting device (like a long cookie cutter) that would cut each note that you wanted for the scale out... you would apply this big shape (the scale pattern) starting on any note you want, C, D, E, F, etc. and then just count up the notes from there in whatever the pattern is. its simple if you imagine it visually. how music theory is set up now makes everything so much more confusing than it actually is (and more confusing than it has to be), but a lot of music theory is just simple numbers, counting from 1 to 12. ill see if i can make more videos soon.
samfortunato well...when people read music or piano music.. The chords...they're either on the line or in between the line. That should have been a clue for my music teachers to tell me...chord are simply every other notes.lmao Like WTF?? they made me remember FACE or every good boy dose fine....rather than just telling straight up...it's every note. Plus they go on and on saying that's 30 scales in the circle of 5th... Relative minor and overlaps...It's just Key/pitch signature. NOPE...it's just the DIATONIC/Maj Scale in 12 different PITCH . That's only ONE scale. That's not even mentioning the modes.lmao if you include the modes...it would be 240 scales to them.lmao If you go to the basic interval names/terms.. The chords name will makes sense to you,, because it;s just using the major scale as reference to alter or warp from... Dmin7add9. it's just saying D, b3,5,b7,9 It's still EVERY OTHER NOTE or DFACE if you extend it more....it'll simply be the dorian mode. Im pretty sure I can count every other note.lol If they told me that..I would easily figure it out and comprehend music for what it is... But Nope....I had to do my own research... which took years or decade. its something I could had grasp within weeks.lmao For the double harmonic it'll just be ABCD#EFG# The ii chord or B chord BD#FA... I simply play 1,3,b7...I omit the 5 for fingering purpose or hammer to it... I'll simply play that mode or part of it over that chord...simple Trying looking up Satta33 channel. You might like it. He's showing more than just the diatonic scale.... yeah...make it simple, Those are the best music teachers.....
Thats wrong. Way wrong. You should be able to STAY on E. And without moving your hand shape, cycle thru the modes. Keeping the E as a drone below it. This method will keep you in Julie Andrews land forever. Learn the intervals.
The video is not incorrect. Understanding the modes by memorizing the sharps and flats is one way to approach modes, but may lead you confused/in the dark as to how they're all connected to, and built off of, each other. This video tries to bridge the gap that I had in my understanding of modes. It's not just about memorizing the sharps and flats. Modes come from the same grouping and ordering of notes that the major scale is built off of.
