How to Turn a Mode Into Music 

Did the people not request more modes videos? This was awesome! I want more modes videos!!

This channel is a gold mine. Invaluable material explained easy and for free. I'm sure you need these little daily reminders, so keep at it man, you're helping thousands of people.

so unbelievably helpful. I've been so confused about how I would use modes at all for the longest time and this clears up so much. On the subject of what you should do next, I think you should stay with the more advanced stuff since so many others cover the basics and you make advanced stuff easy to learn. anyways amazing job on this video. I'm excited to see whatever you post next.

Never losing your perspective while tackling a hydra-headed subject is a gift. Patiently sharing this with countless people is priceless, for you and for us. Thanks a lot

I'm 64 years of age and it's taken a very ,intelligent,talented young American man to hammer through to my brain how Modes actually work.The steps of the tones AND how they are used with chords and all the rest of the things that have confused me over the years. I salute you Sir and thank you very,very much :0)

Perhaps the best and most informative explanation of modes I've come across. Thanks for sharing

This is really good stuff, thanks. I've always thought, having been taught music theory reasonably comprehensively but not comprehensively enough, because I never learnt about modes, that using notes outside the key was kind of "odd", so would never have thought of using such notes in my songwriting. But I noticed the use of what I guess are literally chromatic notes in some pop music that I was learning to play on the piano (maybe in some stuff by ABBA), and thought it quite remarkable at the time that it sounded so right, especially when compared with the same melody "corrected" with "conventional" notes, and yet the notes weren't in the key. I found this quite remarkable. Thinking about it now, they may have been borrowing notes from another mode, or they may just have been experimenting, but either way, what's clear is that the key (conventional major/minor mode) is not a straitjacket never to be broken out of.

This is a great crash course and refresher on building the chords and using the scale! One of the trickiest things I struggle with when using modes is sounding like I'm still in the same key. It's really easy for G Lydian to slip into D major, the more often you use the C# the more it's going to start sounding like the leading tone. G starts sounding like the subdominant if I'm not careful, but that's usually just when I'm blocking out chords without a melody

The Simpson's Theme is in C Lydian.

You are such a excellent teacher. I finally understand Modes, Circle of 5ths, 7th chords, chords in a key, diminished, aug and minor chords etc etc!! Thank you thank you thank you! I think I've now watched most of your videos.

I have only just discovered your videos and they are exactly what I was after - my theory is/was weak. You explain things very clearly and give me a solid basis for things that I've struggled for intuitively. Thank you so much; you put a lot of work into these videos and are very generous with your time and skills.

Hi Michael, you're videos have been amazing, I've learned so much in the past few weeks. Your explanations are on point, you don't go too fast and not to slow either, every time you explain something it sticks. Thank u so much for all the work you put into these videos, they've been of great help. And since you're looking for feedback on wheter or not you should go even deeper into this, I would love it, and I think most other people will too.

I've been looking for a lesson like this for 5 years or longer.Thank you.

God Bless you for this. I'v spent the last 6months learning this on my own without progress until i stumbled on your channel.

Thank you so much for explaining this so clearly, everyone else I've seen takes such a non-practical approach that I've been left like "okay I think I get it, but how do you actually use them?" you finally answered that for me.

One of the most underrated music lesson channels in RU-vid; sure! We need more modes videos Michael! Thanx and congrats!

Made it to the end and want more. What I have been looking for was covered here. How you can borrow notes from another scale into the one you are playing, as long as you are careful when you are using it. Thanks for that!

Awesome video Michael. I've been struggling with this for YEARS, and thanks to you, it's finally making sense.

Very well explained material here and very practical ways to make it understandable. I've been watching your music lessons over the years and I'm not getting tired and always learn something new even from an already-seen video. Thank you for sharing your knowledge.

I think you do a nice job of explaining things. I started on piano years ago, so I can relate! I am now studying guitar, and just getting into modes, so I think it would be great if you did more videos on all of the other modes. Your first one on that: Introduction to modes, really helped me to understand better, what is going on. Thank you.

Most of this was over my head, but I feel like I got a good portion of it. Looking forward to watching your other videos!

please do more on modes! you are the best music teacher ive found online! i would love to see one on phrygian! Metal guitarists like Michael Angelo Batio use it a lot to give that genre an "evil" sound, so as a guitar enthusiast myself i would be very grateful to understand it a bit better. thanks for your videos dude. thank you a thousand times :)

bro your videos are incredible. Thank you for making them. Your explanations are the best I've come across in years of music lessons.

This was super helpful! Please continue talking about modes. Yes these are a bit more advanced, but you clearly explain it. I find other videos on the subject clumsy with and with heavy jargon.

Your explanation of modes was so simple to understand.Keep up the good work 💯

You are an excellent teacher! Thank you sir, for the time and effort you put into these videos.

Even though I watched this video way past my bedtime, I couldn't stop watching it. While this might've been your longest video yet, I wished it had gone longer still. This video is brilliant and I thank you deeply for it.

I feel this was taught the very correct way. Too often do you see Cmajor compared to F lydian, which while valid still does not hammer home the differences as well Vs comparing Cmajor to C lydian......Then when you compare the harmonisations of these scales you can really hear the comparison better. Great stuff Michael.

I wish this video were 20 hours long and covered every mode, scale, etc etc. Those tricks and avoiding the crappy 4th note are A+ information. I thought about adding Lydian chords to my sliding chord wheel...

Michael, you're terrific. Plays don't stop making these.

Really like what you are doing here. Excellent teaching which often is covered as well in many jazz books I have read.

This lesson was awesome.. Im new to the channel and Ive been watching a few of your videos and it has changed and developed the music theory aspect of my playing significantly... You keep up the good work...

Didn't make the challenge of first time through. Too much for me. But I did finish it in 2, and understood it in 5 sittings. Complex stuff for me, but explained in a way that I could wrap my head around it if I tried. All your videos are well done. Thanks for the insight.

I have been watching hours and hours of tutorials on modes presented by guitar players - and good ones at that. Only now do I understand it. Your are excellent!!!!!!!! Thanks

Dude I'm falling in love with your channel! P. S. - why haven't you posted for 2 years! Where you at now

I haven't looked to see if this is a common request, but a lesson about recognizing intervals on a staff or something to help with reading music would be great! You've got a great way of teaching. Thanks for all the great videos, I've learned a lot after some years of playing and touring as as a drummer, heh!

Michael, you have a very easy approach to such a huge topic. I really appreciate your work, keep going! Einstein once said „If you can't explain it simply, you don't understand it well enough.“

I scrolled through so much videos and in this video I really understood modes :) You're a genius and excellent teacher. Thanks...A...lot! Greetings from Germany :)

Great video! Don't apologize for the length, it's totally fine (for me) to watch a video for 30 min.

great video man. very informative and the length was no bother. its a tricky matter so we all appreciate the effort and hardwork from your part... :D

Love your videos, watched all of them from the basic chords one to here. You took a lot of ideas that I had floating around in my head and solidified them and gave me the language to talk about them, so thank you!

One of the best explanations on modes! Thanks man

i just started reading about modes and this video really helped with some basic questions that i had. hope you do some more in depth on these!

Thanks! I know these vids are hard to make, so I'm doubly grateful. For me, there's no limit as far as complexity is concerned; this is fascinating stuff.

consider the famous song My Girl The backbone of that song is a series of notes played often in the song it is a basic 5 note scale (123561) the only change to it is that the first note is held longer and then its just tempo and emphasis and the famous old time bluegrass lick (1235651) is almost the same as the melodic run in My Girl except it backs up one note before completing the run. These are so simple and yet so powerful. The first time I heard the run in My Girl it was stuck in my memory from then on and that blue grass lick is so overused it identified old time bluegrass to me from then on. Point well taken about how powerful a one note change can be. The difference between a major chord and the 3rd lowered a half step to the minor is huge.

loved the "this might not seem like a huge deal, but IT IS a huge deal" part can you make mor videos on this modes?

More videos on modes please! This was extremely helpful

I'm really enjoying these. I'm coming from trad music and I'd like to hear your insights on other modes. I suggest a focus on Dorian and Mixolydian, separated at the 3rd, which are very common in Irish trad music, sometimes shifting between the two (and in the space between the two, in the old days) in the same tune.

Hey, firstly thanks for your educational videos - I'm enjoying them a lot. But have some questions: 1) More of a personal question: Why don't you upload more frequently? Does it take a lot of time to prepare them? 2) Can you recommend a way or ways to practice what you teach here? I get what you teach us but don't really know how to internalize it. I don't know how to simply "practice it". This holds for other resources as well - practicing on piano often feel inefficient to me. How can I overcome this? I have lots of time to practice/learn this summer - I really want to get better, but I often get demotivated because of feeling lost, not knowing what to do, and not seeing some sort of progress.

NIce lesson. Almost Modal interchange lesson :) You should do that next. The pentatonic scale removes all half steps, so no leading tones:) You got a subscriber! Thx for learning the good stuff.

Awesome info!! I understand about 85% of what you said, and I believe you answered the other 15%!!! Thank you so much for the inspiration! More vids on advanced theory please!

Terrific. Thank you very much an excellent adjunct to Mark Levine Jazz Theory. I thought I understood but your demonstration got ideas clarified. Please keep it up. As others have said there is a lot of simple stuff out there but the good stuff is in short supply.

Hey! Hey! Just the best explanation! Thanks a million!

I'd like to see more videos like this one. I like everything you've done so far and these kind of videos would be a big plus to your channel.

Once again a great tutorial. You explain things in a very logical, understandable way. Is it possible to make a video of your thought-process in composing a song? Say composing a 30 second riff or something. How do you approach this and what do you base you decisions regarding chord progression, melody, rhythm etc. upon. Cheers!

modes are AWESOME! Thanks for showing us the way

The time flew by! I was surprised when ya said it was over. I did have to take a quick restroom break because of the coffee though, lol. Thanks for the upload, extremely informative!!

Would love to see a video on the rest of the modes.

Dude this video is so fantastic, thanks for sharing, would love to see you revisit the modes, I would even be happy to pay for a little 7 part mode video course in the future, your so good at covering this stuff

Very cool video, great and much needed follow-up to the Modes video. ! I finally understand these modes now! PS: Hey Cat!

This is one of the best music theory explainations I've ever hear great work!

This is really interesting I would love more videos on modes!

More modes! Even though I hate the slight double-resolve effect (I just like my music to have one resolving chord, not that "oh this sorta resolves but this is really where it ends" stuff) I really like the concept of modes

Awesome video! Please continue with other modes!

excellent lesson Michael as always

I always knew that G Lydian had the same notes as D major, but it's only just now that I realized it has the same chords as D major, too, and in the same sequence. That seems like an important fact to bring out if I want to easily do progressions, viz, there is only one sequence of four note chords: Ma7, mi7, mi7, Ma7, Dom7, mi7, m7b5 (when it comes to the major scale).

I would have to say that I am in the area of determining Major/Minor keys depending on which mode(s) I am using at that time for any particular piece. That said, while both of the examples have the same tonic note, they are in definitely in different keys. I will not argue that they do lend to very interesting melodies and could also be very useful in modulating between keys.

Awesome Video again!!! Gold mine channel indeed! Thank you for your time!!! super useful information.

Very helpful, much easier to understand the modes as just have their own whole step half step pattern. Then G lydian has all the same notes as D major. Ty

I love the way you approach stuff bro .. helped a lot.. it was very informative .. thank you so much

Michael you are Awesome i Understand it much better now, i look forward to watching future Videos you make..

Awesome video! I think that you should stick with the advanced stuff. You have a gift for making difficult things clear. I kind of think why waste that talent on basic music videos. On the other hand I don't want to seem selfish and keep beginners from basking in your light.... Videos on the other modes would be great too. THANK YOU for doing these videos!!

Great lesson, thanks. I'd love to see/hear more on your thoughts on modes, your videos are extremely informative. It's particularly interesting watching them as a guitar player from the perspective of piano. But the more about modes the better please, in relation to when to use them in paralell and in series and about using supporting bass notes etc..

Try mode combinations are awsome. Hope I can learn this in my younger age.

Thank you! Best lesson about modes I've ever seen!

Would like to see a similar analysis for Dorian and Myxolydian modes as well

This guy right here is the BEST.

Would Love to see some videos about the modes of Harmonic Minor (Phrygian Dominant etc)

I really enjoy your lessons Michael thank you.

Hey Michael, u are really good at what u do here, your explanations are spot on and to the point. From a music teacher...

Oh... triad pairs would be an interesting topic, as well as using the jazz minor (ascending melodic minor) and harmonic minor for improvising over dominant and altered dominant chords.

I'm a little bit familiar with the modes, but I think taking the G Lydian and comparing it with the G major scale was very informative and I think it would be great if you covered some other modes like the Dorian mode.

Thanks. I just finished this playlist. This was superb. I'd love to see a vid on tension.

Michael, can you talk about how to emphasize the mode and how do we mix modes together to sound good? Thx

awesome delivery of a lesson!!! thank you very much.🇵🇭

Excellent! You're a great teacher. Appreciate your vids very much

Cool and helpful video..I understand the Lydian mode/scale was a favourite of 19th century impressionist composers, particularly Debussy. Joe Satriani, too..As to pentatonics with guitar, that's very interesting what you said about the 4th of the major; and as the major pentatonic is the major scale minus the 4th and 7th, and the minor pentatonic the minor scale minus the 2nd and 6th, I think two other aspects of the strengths of the pentatonic are, in the minor that bigger initial step from 1 to flat 3rd, and in major from the 6th to root, as well as 5 is a pretty "complete" feeling number of steps, second down from 7, but of course with the effect of some bigger intervals accordingly. (3 also a complete sounding count, and 12).

This was tremendously insightful and inspiring, thank you Michael! Do you think you could do a video on modal interchange at some point (aka "borrowed chords")?

Woohoo just seen this video on the recommended Thanks so much for the time you took to make this Michael Fav teacher on here!

yes please so this for other modes!!!! i don't know about you but i (and other musos i know) learn best by examples it doesn't have to be as in depth of explanation as this vid but just a video on say the dorian scale and some cool things you can with melodies or chords progressions love your stuff :)

Can you please be so kind and show us an example of a short major progression with some borrowed lydian notes?

love your videos mate, they are very helpful!

Thank you so much, this finally helped me to understand what it means to be in a mode. ITS TONALITY! It's not relative.

super lesson!! thank you Michael!!

This was awesome, please do Phrygian next!

Did your cat say "hi"? lol Another great video man so much great info, keep up the great work.

wow ,,, that's what i call " excellent educator " thank you for being understandable ...

Awesome stuff! Super help full *urge to test all the modes increasing*

This is really well explained, sometimes i have seen guitar teachers on youtube talking about modes as if its a secret they dont want you to figure out. It would be cool to see you explore the harmonic minor if possible :) Thanks again.

please, keep on this modes teaching