Scales Vs Modes: What's the Difference? 

I always enjoy those awkward first seconds when Rick is still idle.

May give up my musical aspirations, and tackle straightforward rocket science instead.

Phrygian = boldness, exuberance, passion, courage, leadership, but in excess pride, rashness, irascibility, violent anger. Lydian = good cheer, optimism, subimity, friendliness, laughter, love and song. Dorian = sleepiness, lethargy, laziness, slowness, mental dullness, forgetfulness, calmness, internal equanimity, well being. Mixolydian = solidity, firmness, steadfastness, rhythm, but with a certain indolent tenaciity.

he hears heaven, i hear a murder in the shower.

For everyone asking about the discount code. 'RB16' should work now, as well as 'RBMODE'. If one code doesn't work, try the other. They're both for 35% OFF anything in my store @rickbeato.com/

I always teach modes as keys, rather than scales. A C major scale is still a C major scale if you start it on a different note. It's the tonal centre that matters. Think of a mode as a sonic environment and it makes a lot more sense.

A scale is defined by intervals. And modes are different views of a scale. I finally understood ! Thank you Rick ! I appreciate your videos !

Happy new year Rick ! keep up the good work...you're the best teacher on the net !

I'm really glad you're going to be revisiting the scales / modes / chord theories. Also your great videos on modes and composers, where you show progressions on the keyboard are amazing and I'm glad they're back too!

I just asked my pet croc and he said scales are definitely better

First rule of Beato Club...never talk about the Beato Club! Love the videos. I've learned more in the last year than the rest of my life.

Just watched the Peter Frampton interview. One of the best interviews of a musician I’ve seen. In depth, intelligent questions about details without getting too nerdy. And he let Peter actually talk unlike most interviewers. If Rick can somehow do this with more artists (particularly legends like Peter) asking about how they wrote something and discussing it in detail, that would be amazing!

Rick, thank you for the disount on the book. I've been wathcing your videos for a little over a year and I decided it was long overdue to learn the basic principles of real music. Thank you for the inspiration and resources you provide.

Hey Rick - I'm really excited to hear you say you're going to be doing new videos on all of the modes. I've enjoyed all of them so far - looking forward to it. Thank you.

I think the single constant throughout my guitar teaching years, was that there are always students who understand how everything works, and why everything works, but yet they can't paint a picture with the information they have on hand. You can explain every last color in the paintbox, but some folks just can't figure out that, in the end, it all comes down to your creativity. It is that "leap of faith" thing that you saw in the third Indiana Jones movie. lol. You have to smear the paint around on the canvas and see what works. Otherwise you are just running scales and modes against textbook safe spots. And I am not talking about just flailing away, hoping that everything works out. lol. No, there is a fine line that you cross from learning music theory to creating, and I always believed that it was the sheer audacity that humans (artists) convey when creating that allows this to happen. Tell a story about a shipwreck, and in the middle of the story, also tell of dogs playing poker. Is that what you want to tell about? Good! What would the soundtrack to THAT story sound like? Tell us about it........

It was theory videos that first brought me to your channel, Rick. I still have a long way to go, but I just want you to know how much I appreciate your passion as an educator and your joy as a musician. You're doing important work!

I'm looking forward to future modes and scales videos, and many thanks Rick and friends!

I'm still going through your book, but learning that you're going to go through every mode over again is the best news I've heard this year so far!

This channel is pure gold!!! Loving your videos Rick! They way you talk about music and theory make me instantly get my guitar and rock it!

Your channel makes me excited that I'm going to be learning all kinds of cool stuff about music. Thank you so much for your hard work Rick!

An observation using the circle of 5ths to aid visualization: your root tone remains the same. Lydian is immediately on the right of C Ionian (eg: the mode of C with the sharp 4th), and C mixolydian to the left. Left again gives you C Dorian. Another left, C aeolian. 1 more C phrygian. Last step you get C locrian. Note that skipping letters will give you the next mode. Also note Dorian is symmetrical- it's intervals are identical stepping up or down from the root. Either side of Dorian those modes' assymetries are shared but inversely. Just a little learning aid.

Thank you for the discount, Rick. Just bought your book. Also for the lesson. Modes are still a learning curve for me and this is helpful.

You are awesome Rick! Love your help. You are very thorough and have helped me tremendously to understand many of what the greatest would call 'fundamentals'. I have played an LTD/ESP/Mesa Boogie for close to 25 years now. Even though I can pick up a song by ear... now I can say that I have a deeper understanding of the theory...especially with modes, scales, and finding proper key of songs (from another of your videos). This is priceless and helps to spread the love of music. Two thumbs up!

I love your videos. You are a fabulous instructor. I have learned much and particularly understanding what I am playing and why it works melodically.

Thank you RB. Even though this stuff is so technical and I have tried so many times to teach myself this stuff you take it next level because you truly love music the way you appreciate every facet of it. Especially in your what makes this song great series. I run music workshops to get the most damaged and marginalised kids in Melbourne Australia and I just wanted to thank you from the bottom of my heart for keeping me inspired to share music in a therapeutic way to explore their emotions and activate their brains in a unique way that rekindles a trust for adults that has sparked and transformed their interest in learning music. I aspire to one day understand a quarter of the stuff you know so I can share it with these young people. You are a masterful teacher and I thank you so much for impact that you have had on my life. I try to emulate you in my session with the young people but I mostly love how you always pay tribute to the process of music making and collaboration of each musician and producer and you do this with no ego but are driven by the talent and artist just being in the moment and making something special. Thank you so much. Love watching your vids. Don’t stop! Much love and appreciation. 🙏🏻

I've learned by ear all my life. Your work is making me want to change and learn what I've been doing all this time. My son knows music theory. Can't wait to spring some of this on him. Ha!

You have changed my life with your videos, and book! Now, time to purchase the ear training course!

I have just found your channel and are loving these educational videos. I took a few years of college music courses before changing my major, but I still love playing music and studying theory. This is really helping me pick up where I left off with some of my schooling. Thank you!

So happy that you are remaking all these great videos! Thanks! Michael Romeo from Symphony X likes to use the whole tone scale as well

Great commentary, Rick. Wholly and enthusiastically endorse your approach! 👍👍

Love your videos Rick! Great information! So first, this is not an argument or a debate, simply a thought based on my knowledge as an educator. There is no difference between a scale and a mode. By definition, modes are scales: "any series of pitches, ascending or descending", as you say, from the Latin word, scala... Since traditional Western music scales are based on a set series of whole steps and half steps within an octave, each mode simply represents a different placement of the half steps within that octave. E.X. Major (also known as the Ionian Mode): WWHWWWH. Natural Minor (also known as the Aeolian Mode): WHWWHWW. Lydian Mode: WWWHWWH. You are correct that contemporary musicians don't think this way, certainly when improvising on a chord symbol. When I think natural Minor, I think "flat 3 and flat 6 (degrees of the major scale)", or Dorian ( Flat 3 and 7 in the (D) major Scale). It all has to happen in a split second! Anyway, my point remains the same...they're all "Scales". Maybe the title should be "USING Scales vs Modes"... Keep up the great vids!!

If you're old enough, you can recognize lydian in the theme from the cartoon called The Jetsons: "meet George Jetson!" "His boy Elroy!" Etc.

this guy is a musical god. professors are great but were not all bachs. it's still complicated but made very obtainable. or at least gave you that feeling you can learn it... love it

Your video work has never distracted from the subject at hand. That in itself, is an accomplishment.

Love your passion. Your willingness to share your knowledge is wonderful. It's starting to sink in here.

Rick. There is a pervasive source of confusion in talk of modes (not in this video but in general) that would be great for you to address. When we speak of tonalities and composition, modes are very distinct providing tonalities and chord movement beyond everyday major and minor keys. As such the distinction for example between say dorian and Lydian is unambiguous and decisive in this context. But in the beginning study of Jazz Improvisation they concept of mode is used in a very different sense. An example makes this clear. Suppose we have a ii V I cadence in C maj. No we are told that the ii chord - D m7 - takes D dorian. Now I remember as an early student of Jazz thinking: “You mean I have to play ideas built on the root using the white keys from D to D?!” But of course this is not case, as saying D dorian over Dm7 simply means utilizing the “pallet” of note choices that is the white keys on a piano. (Pat Methany first made this clear to me in one of his videos). As such against Dm7, playing an idea built on those white keys but starting on F could also be conceptualized as D Dorian. But, and this where students get confused, it also could be seen as F Lydian over Dm7. So in so-called jazz chord scale theory (ala David Baker/Jamey Aebersold) It is simply a matter of convention and simplicity that we say, for example, that m7 chords take the dorian mode built on the root of the chord. But we could also say m7 chords take Lydian built on the minor third of the chord, or Ionian built a b7 above the root., etc. as these are all the same note sets! (For simplicity I’m setting aside the issue of where chord tones fall relative to the beat) But of course the easiest thing is simply to think of dorian built on the root, and so we proceed this way by convention. And of course the same goes for Mixolydian over V and all the rest. But what we DON’T mean in this cord-scale context is that the the ii lives in dorian “tonal space” (I.e. where V chords are m7ths!) or that the IV chord lives in Lydian tonality. And similarly for modes of mel min where can talk of playing super locrian over an altered chord built on the root or equivalently of playing mel min built from a half-tone above the root. So it seems that the application of the concept of “mode” in jazz chord scale theory is more arbitrary and based on convention, where as in the realm of tonality, composition etc the distinction between modes - e.g dorian bs Lydian - is more absolute. I would love to hear you elaborate on this at some point: “modes vs modes! Joseph P Cannavo (Physician by day, modern jazz clarinet by night!) PS. Wished you lived in Denver!

Perfecto. Again, great content. After my whole life of struggling to play any instrument, I'm finally feeling motivated to learn music theory and I can already see how useful it is!

Thanks. This is taking me a while to learn and your videos are great. Thank you for your enthusiasm as well.

I love your videos! Going through it on my mandolin while you go over it. Love it!

I've been watching this channel for a long time , and this is my first comment (I think), so first I would like to thank Rick for his amazing job. This channel made me discover so many great artists I didn't know and rediscover artists I already knew. Thank you! Regarding the modes. I've been struggling with these concepts from the day I started to learn harmony for guitar / piano and this video unfortunately doesn't really adress my questions as it doesn't really talk about harmonic context. Some of the other RIck's video provide hints and some of the below comments too, but it's hard to bridge the dots. I studied basic classical harmony/composition, that I will call below "tonal harmony", whereby I'd have a scale from which to build a melody and a set vocabulary of classical/clichés cadences to harmonize over that melody. Tonal center is on the root (let's say C), the musical theme builds tensions (e.g. supported by a G7) and everything unfolds by going back to the "home/center of gravity" sound (C) providing a sense of resolution. Pretty basic but robust. With this knowledge, by reading a sheet music (let's say, a Bach choral) one can analyse the cadences, give the tonality, modulations, etc. The issue I have with modes is that I find them so different from this theory and I cannot really formulate my questions into a single one. A list of questions I have (not MECE) and would love someone to answer would be : - By reading a melody line, can I tell whether it is in C ionian vs D Dorian without actually listening it? - When I'm listening to the beginning of Let it be (C G Am F), am I hearing C Ionan then G mixolydian then A aeolian then F lydian melodies or just a regular C major melody with tonal harmonization principles? - If I change the bass note from the Indiana Jones theme (Ionian) from a C to a D drone, does it become a D Dorian melody? - How can my ear tell when I' modulating from a D dorian to a G mixolidian sound ? - For each mode, is a there a "usual" set of cadence that are a "signature" of this mode (a bit like the perfect V7 > I is a strong clue of the underlying major tonality)? If so how can one learn this? (i.e. how can you build your repertoire of cadences in DOrian for example if that makes sense...) - In the end is there a real difference between modal composition and tonal composition ? If so what is the best way to summarize it? If anyone can bring light on this, this would be much appreciated. Apologies if this is already adressed in one of Rick's videos I may not have watched yet!

This is cool, brings back memories of when i took music theory in college. Thank you for sharing your knowledge.

Thankyou Professor Beato for your analysis and reasoning of music theory and the relationships to all the spectrums of composed music written or out of your head impros.

Awesome video. I have learned more about music theory than I ever thought possible. Rick, you are a genius.

Visuals are great Rick! You have probably even set the bar for others a few times. Love the studio lighting as well.

Great live stream Rick! Great to hear that you will redo the the scales and modes videos. If possible think it would be very helpful if you could view them in parallel. When all modes derive from C major scale they can end up sounding very similar and just like C major starting on a different note. But if you show each mode using the same root note the difference will be huge. Thanks and keep up the great work!

thank you so much for sharing this with us, this type of content is pure gold for all of us that couldn't afford music school for one reason or the other. Keep it up maestro!

I’m new to your channel and think you guys do a great job. You have a cool way of explaining things.

Hello Rick your expanding my mind loving these videos thankyou

Thank you for all this divine info and down. I am failry new learning music theory and you make it super easy to understand

I appreciate you enriching the world by freely sharing your knowledge. Most people would pay to learn this stuff.

It would really help me to see an overhead camera angle of the keyboard.

A mode of a scale is relative to the tonal center that is played, or suggested by our brain ! That’s why people sometimes hear different version of the same lick , when tonal center is not clearly played !

Rick you really need to cover chord progressions to go along with the mode that keeps the feeling of the mode. Without that people will be stuck with only having a drone note. Gambale did a great job in his modes video. I'd like to hear your take on it too

Wow you know so much it blows my mind - in a good way! Hopefully one day I can understand what you are talking about.

I just bought the Beato Book 3.0. (what a great text for getting your basics and theory down). It's the least I can do since I've watched and learned a lot from Rick (all for free!). Everyone should support him so he can make a good living as a musician, teacher, producer, etc. He has such passion for music. He'll continue to give us great content.

this is really great someone on Ricks level is benevolent enough to teach the masses on Yotube I always picture Rick Putting his Cello in a case at a Boston conservatory, then walking down to a local club to play Jazz on guitar

Thank you for the big discount, Rick, very nice of you, now it's in my hand ( at last ). I hope you would appreciate feedback on the pedagogy for the next version, just in case I feel like some remarks could be useful.

I'd LOVE to see a "putting it all together" video!

Great stuff as always, Rick.

I would describe a mode as a pattern of intervals, while a scale is a set of pitches which forms an instance of a mode.

Great visual and great teaching !

Thanks Rick Beato for Modes and Scales discussion and other references like Allen Holdsworth, Russell and so on which was quite informative indeed..👌 Good job dude..👍 Warm cheers..😊 🎊Greetings for the NEW YEAR 2020🎊 God bless..👏🙏🎸🎶😊

thx Rick, your expertise is invaluable.

Once again,, all the best for you in 2020! greetings from Germany!

Great content as always ^^ deserves a million views

A Mode is really a key centre within a scale. Forinstance G7 Am7 Dm7 is a chord progression in D Dorian. The way you are describing them is what I was always taught were chord scales.

I love you, Rick. You're a living wiki of all things music, each video saturated with links that I can't help but click on. But also humble and kind. Now what was it that I going to do today?

thank you sir.... you are amongst the easiest of teachers on RU-vid.

I like this it makes perfect sense to how I visualise scales and modes, what I find helpful is relating them to sounds and genre.

WOW! You have a ridiculous amount of knowledge! Impressed.

Vous avez une façon d’enseigner, simple et efficace, grand merci. Vous répondez à des questions que l’on se pose. 👍🏻 et j’ai ai eu des enseignants .. Et j’ai aussi compris qu’a force d’avancer, je comprends mieux, ma compréhension est différente aussi. Merci à vous.

rick beato you are an inspiration man...

LIM DAP Major modes (major 3rd) = L ydian I onian M ixolydian Minor modes (minor 3rd) = D orian A eolian P hrygian

Rick, I started (back in 1985) using the term System to refer to a superset of Modes, reserving the term Scale for step-wise construction of a collection (or set) of notes (in contrast to Intervals), so a System = a Scale + its Modes, i.e. the Diatonic System (Major + minor Scales and their Modes), Melodic System, Harmonic System, Dynamic System, Contratonic System, Kinetic System. Diminished System, Chromatic System, in that order of Dissonance. This way of thinking always makes it clear that a scale "never lives in isolation" but is part of a "community" of sound.

Great video, thanks! I hadn't considered that it's the half-steps that define the mode's character: That's a big level-up moment for me :)

Hi Rick, i like your channel a lot. It breaths music and that runs trough your veins. I am Ray(Floatwithme) a Dutch composer. Keep up that great work in all you do. Cheers Ray

Mindblowing and Excellent.

i just bought your book! finally time for me to learn some basic theory.

Thank you for the masterclass Rick!

Just bought your Beato book pdf. Can't wait to dig into it mate. I really want to get my head around theory.

Rick is the most likable genius I've ever had the privilege to admire... even when he goes over my head, I still enjoy watching him... eventually I begin to understand what he's explaining 😉

I thought it was understood that the videos were of very high quality. Yes, definitely big kudos to the cinematography and those who deserve tons of credit for that.

there is so much good stuff in here, thank you for sharing!! minor video comment: if the white board was square and level in the frame it would be a subtle detail that would polish it to the next level! Thank you for your channel!

Brilliant!!. Took a lot from that. Thanks

Modes are basically just scales within scales.

I REALLY appreciate your erudition, Rick. Thank you

Always interesting Rick and thank you. Regards, David

Thank you for mentioning the Korngold Violin concert, such a great composition, which is sadly overlooked often. I highly recommend the recording of Jascha Heifetz. I studied it myself, but some parts were too difficult for me.

Great video! When I was teaching guitar, the concept of the modes was the most difficult to grasp by students, for whatever reason. Once you know what it is and master it, it's an amazing tool to write and/or understand music.

Thanks! You make a great job

I would say that for practical use a scale is any devision of the octave with notes in between. From a mathematical stand point it's practical to use the term mode as a RELATION between scales. To be exact, if the sequence of intervals in scale A is a shift of the sequence of intervals in scale B (continuing over the octave) we say that A is a mode of B (and also B is a mode of A). The practical use if it is the ability to construct one scale easily by using a scale you already know.

Holy Hell! I searched "Rick Beato Scales vs Modes" literally yesterday! Phenomenal timing! BTW, I love your "What makes this song great?" videos. I haven't seen anything else like it!

Rick I love your camera work

Alan Holdsworth "Spokes"...That one hard riff?! The whole song sounds like he cloned Himself into miniature octopuses, taught those octopuses to shred over a decade, then replaced each of his fingers with one of the Holdsworth-octopus clones, drank a pot of espresso and hit the studio.

Great video Rick!

That sharp 4 creates a strong contrasting sound - there is an edge, a bit of suspense, a feeling of movement...

The Guitar Grimoire is a great book for guitarists. Helped me alot.

Your theory videos are a godsend. Thank you.

Great lesson. Thaaaaaaaaaaannnks

Six feet under! I love that reference and I love Korngold’s violin concerto, I fucking this work now I know why! Brilliant video! I’m totally pumped!