I have been playing guitar for a number of years and the modes have always been a bit of a mystery to me. I understand basic chord theory (see How songs work - the obvious stuff) and the major and minor scales, but, beyond adding extra notes to my trusty pentatonics, the modes have always seemed like some code known only to a secret guitar illuminati.
Now when i don't understand something, I try to capture what it is I want to learn in some basic questions and then try to find out some answers. This helps me to make progress in manageable steps. Here are my mode questions:
1. What is a mode?
2. Why should I care about them?
3. What is the theory?
4. How are modes different to the major and minor scales? How is D Dorian different to D major or D minor?
5. How/when do I use them?
This will make more sense if you understand the major scale.
1. What is a mode?
The word 'mode' means 'way of'. So a mode of the major scale means a way of playing the major scale. Specifically it means playing the notes in a major scale but starting from a note that is NOT the root note. That's all it is.
Here's a Cmajor scale.
C D E F G A B C (no sharps or flats)
If you play the same notes but starting on D,
D E F G A B C D (no sharps or flats)
you'll be playing a mode of the major scale. The notes are the same but the starting place or root has changed.
Each mode has a name. The mode that starts on the 2nd note in the major scale is called the Dorian mode. This is the only mode I'm going to cover now.
If you read How Songs Work, you'll see how scales are used to make chords. Modes work the same way. The chords of a mode are the same as the chords of the major scale that the mode came from.
For example the chords of the D Dorian mode are the same as the chords of C major. This is because the scale and the mode have the same notes. That makes sense doesn't it?
So if I play a song with the chords of C major but I start and finish with Dm, then I am playing in the Dorian mode of C major or D Dorian.
But surely I'd be playing in D minor? Well, no. Let's look at why.
The notes of the Dm scale are
D E F G A Bb C D. See the flat.
The notes of D Dorian are the same as C major which means no sharps or flats.
D E F G A B C D.
The difference is that 6th note which is sharpened. That creates tension.
Dorian is a kind of minor scale. The nearly minor scale.....
Tune your 6 string to D. Play the notes of the D minor scale against it as a drone. Now play D Dorian against it and hear how the 6th note sounds tense.
More soon.
