How to Learn MODES on Guitar (and USE them INSTANTLY)

I would like to approach modes in a few different ways but let's start with the easiest to grasp first this being the relative approach first of all let's have a quick look at the connection between the major scale and each of the seven modes as you might already be aware in any major key we have seven chords each connected to a note in the major scale itself for example here is an a major scale and the Seven chords we can derive from this scale would be a major B minor C minor d D major E major F minor and gsh diminished and for each of the notes in the major scale we can also derive a mode which is also connected to each of these chords and their respective tonalities the first mode is referred to as the ionian mode which is really no different to the major scale and as the first chord is Major we would describe the tonality of this mode as major also that's really as simple as it is the ionian mode is the major scale now let's move on to the second mode which is referred to as the Dorian mode as this is the second mode and the two chord is minor then this tells us that the tonality of this mode is also minor to play this mode you simply need to play the exact same notes as before but simply start from the second note of the scale in this case b you should hopefully be able to hear the sound of this mode quite clearly despite the fact that we're still using the exact same notes as the aain major scale the only difference being that we're now treating the second note in the major scale in this case b as our root note you're still free to play all the notes contained within the scale but the difference lies in the context in which you play the mode or in other words the chord you're playing over for example this will only truly function as a Dorian mode when played over the two chord in a progression in this case a B minor [Music] chord if we change the B minor chord back to the one chord being a major then suddenly everything sounds like the Mage scale once more or the ionian mode this will be a reoccurring theme for every mode you find in this lesson so context is everything the next mode is referred to as the frian mode which is played over the three chord and in the key of A that would give us a C minor chord this tells us the tonality of this mode is minor once again to play the frian mode you simply need to treat the third note in the scale as your new root note and in the context of the chord it's meant to be played over in this case C minor it would sound like [Music] this hopefully you're beginning to see how this relative approach works but let's continue through the remaining modes before moving on to the second method of looking at how to visualize modes and use them the next mode is referred to as the lydian mode and is built from the the fourth note in our major scale as the fourth chord is a major chord then we can now tell that the tonality of this mode is also major here is what this would sound like over the four chord in this case a D major chord next up we have the fifth mode of the major scale referred to as the mixian mode which is built from the fifth note in the major scale as the five chord in the key of A is an E major chord we could also describe this as a major mode here is what the Mixel liian mode would sound like over the five chord in this case an E major [Music] chord the sixth mode of the major scale is referred to as the aolon mode and it's built from the sixth note in our major scale as the sixth chord is an F minor chord we can tell that the tonality of this mode is minor also and in fact much the same as the ionian mode is identical to the major scale the aolon mode is also identical to the natural minor scale but we can discuss this a bit more in depth later in the lesson let's take a listen to the six mode the aolon mode over its respective six chord in this case an F minor [Music] chord and finally we have the seventh mode of the major scale which is referred to as the locan mode this is built from the seventh note in the major scale and this time around the seventh chord is a G sharp diminished chord which leaves us with a very unstable sounding mode as no matter how hard you try you won't be able to resolve so it's probably best to just avoid the tonality of this one and just put it in the stranger things Locker now let's take a listen to the sound of the very dissonant locan mode over its corresponding chord in this case a gsh diminished [Music] chord it's important to know that without context I.E the correct chord played behind the mode it would be difficult to distinguish one mode from another and your ear would probably just hear the major scale for example if you were to play B Doran the second mode of the major scale in a key of A over its corresponding chord B minor you would hear B Dorian however if you were to then play this same Dorian mode over the one chord A major it would simply just become the a major scale or ionian mode this makes it very important that you understand the function of each chord you're playing over to pick the appropriate mode and by this I simply mean whether a chord is the three chord the four chord and so on a good way of practicing this would be to record a chord progression in any given key making sure that you hang on each chord for a good amount of time before moving on to the next chord and then simply learn to glue each mode to its corresponding chord when the chords change before moving on let's sum up this first section in Three Steps step one learn your major scale step two learn the names and the Order of the seven modes step three attach each mode to its corresponding chord within the major scale now the reason the previous method is referred to as a relative approach is that you are always thinking of each mode relative to the major scale it deres from there are pros and cons to this way of thinking for example example on one hand you can now see each mode relationship to each chord within the major scale which helps you understand over which chords in a progression you could use a particular mode however on the other hand if you simply wanted to play for example C lydian you would first have to work out which major scale this is derived from in this example you would have to think C is the fourth of what major scale and then count backwards until you find G giving us the G Major scale now as the guitar is a very visual instrument this isn't very difficult to do especially if you're very familiar with your interval locations on the fretboard for example the root and fourth are always this distance apart so knowing this you could instantly figure out that D lydian is derived from the a major scale e lydian is derived from the B major scale and so on but this can still be an unnecessary step the biggest downside in the relative approach to modes is that while you still might be able to figure out each mode quite easily you will still be visualizing the major scale instead of treating each mode as a sort of scale in its own right this can often sound like noodling in the major scale instead of truly understanding the Keynotes in each mode that make them unique and sound the way they do I would advise you to try the relative method and start improvising straight away over modal backing tracks for example a c lydian backing track or a d Dorian backing track until you can recognize the unique characteristics of each mode by ear which is a very important and often neglected step in understanding modes for example I was already very aware of how lydian was meant to sound long before I knew anything about modes mainly because of the music I was used to hearing such as flying in a blue dream by Joe Satriani so when I finally understood the theory and application of modes it enabled me not only to improvise more effectively with lydian but also hear when a particular chord or modal progression required a lydian sound without having to analyze the theory beforehand you could liken this to listening to a backing track and instantly recognizing that a minor a pentatonic scale is the right choice of scale to improvise with so don't get too bogged down by Theory and actually play the modes over music in the long run this is what will give you the Eureka moment you've been looking for and hopefully you will begin to discover that however misunderstood and over complicated the modes are often made out to be they're actually quite simple having said all of that let's move on to a slightly different way of looking at modes this being the parallel approach to view modes in parallel you will want to play each mode from the same starting note or iic so c ionian c Dorian C Fran C lydian C mixian C aolian and C locan and to do this you will have to be aware of the intervals contained within each mode in using this method you will have a far greater understanding of the characteristics of each mode and what notes you might want to highlight to truly capture the sound of each mode not to mention that you'll instantly be able to play any mode you wish without having to work out which major scale the mode belongs to first if you draw your mind back to the previous section when we walk through each mode relative to the major scale each mode was designated a major or minor tonality so what we'll now do is Place each mode into a major camp or a minor Camp you will see that ionian lydian and mixian belong in the major camp and Dorian frian and aolan can be placed in the minor camp and just for now we will also place locan in this minor camp for reasons that will soon become clear the next step is to make sure you know two scales the first first being the major scale and the second being the natural minor scale and now let's also place these into each appropriate camp and now for the most important part understanding the intervals in each mode which is much easier than you may think the ionian mode as discussed earlier is really just the major scale and hopefully you'll already be fully aware that this contains the intervals 1 2 3 4 5 6 and seven in knowing this all you have to do to arrive at each major mode is slightly adjust the intervals contained within the major scale for example to arrive at the next mode in our major Camp lydian all we have to do is raise the fourth in our major scale giving us 1 2 3 sharp 4 5 6 and 7even and to arrive at the final mode in our major Camp mixian all we need to do is play a major scale once more but this time flatten the seven giving us 1 2 3 4 5 6 and flat 7even not only does this give you a very easy way to instantly play each major mode by simply adjusting a single note in the very familiar major scale but it also shows the single note or interval in each mode that gives it its unique sound and characteristic for example in lydian the sharp four is the note that makes this lydian so when improvising you will really want to emphasize this interval if you were never to hit this note then the listener would only ever hear a major scale and in the Mixel liian mode the note to highlight would be the flatten seventh as you now know the Mixel liian mode is the fifth mode of the major scale and the fifth chord is often played as a dominant seventh chord which intervals would be 1 3 5 and flat 7 so basically a major Triad with a flat and seven so it's a perfect fit for the Mixel idian mode which is basically a major scale with a flatten 7th also a quick side note another way of telling that these three modes are major modes is that they all contain a major third what should you do with this information again find a modal backing track and get improvising perhaps a backing track in B mixer lydian so you would simply play a B major scale and flatten the seventh or maybe a backing track in G lydian you would simply play a G Major scale but sharpen the fourth easy over time you will stop thinking about each major mode as a major scale with an adjusted interval and instead think of each mode as its own entity now let's focus on the minor modes this will work in a very similar way with the exception of the scale we will be using as our starting point in this case as the modes are in our minor camp we will be using a natural minor scale which already contains the intervals 1 2 flat 3 4 5 Flat 6 and a flattened seven ideally you should already be as familiar with this scale as you are with the major scale even if you've never really given the intervals any thought and simply know it as a pattern on the fretboard the mode we will take from our minor Camp first is the aolon mode and this is because as discussed earlier it's exactly the same as our natural minor scale in the same way that the ionian mode is the same as the major scale this makes it a great starting point to play the remaining minor modes as it already contains most of the intervals necessary to play each minor mode so now let's take a look at the Dorian mode all we need to do is play the natural minor scale but raise the flat six to a natural six once again this tells you that the key characteristic of Dorian is the sixth interval so you will really want to hammer this note home to get a Dorian Flavor in Your playing next let's grab the frian mode the frian mode can be thought of as a natural minor scale but with a flattened second simply just flatten the second in your minor scale and be sure to highlight this interval to achieve the frian sound and finally lcen which can be thought of as a natural minor scale but this time with both a flatten second and flat five interval both the flat 2 and flat five intervals contain a lot of tension and as this is the seventh mode of the major scale designed to play over diminished chords which also contain the flat five interval you can expect a very unstable sound with no real home to speak of making res resolution very difficult so you may find this being a far less useful mode in your own playing this time round you will have to hit both the flat two and flat five intervals to really get a sense of what the locan mode sounds like another side note you can also tell that these are all minor modes by the inclusion of the flat third interval otherwise known as the minor third and while the locan mode does contain this minor third interval it's still too dissonant and has no resolution so let's put it back in the stranger things Locker once again try improvising over different modal backing tracks to get a sense of what each minor mode sounds like in context for example in a b Dorian backing track you would want to play the B natural minor scale but raise the flat six to a natural six in a g frian backing track you would play the G natural minor scale with a flatten second and in a c lowan backing track you would play the C natural minor scale with both a flat 2 and flat five interval and for example in the case of a backing track in a aolon you would simply play an a natural minor scale with no adjustments necessary as the aolon mode is the same as the natural minor scale let's sum up parallel modes in Three Steps step one learn your major scale and natural minor scale step two learn the intervals in each mode step three get used to adjusting the intervals in either the major or natural minor scale to form each mode and most importantly start improvising over modal backing tracks both relative and parallel approaches are equally important to fully understand modes so be sure to rewatch and put into practice everything I've covered so far there are many more uses for each of the modes which I will cover in dedicated future lessons but hopefully this video explained modes enough for you to start using them in your own playing as usual thanks for watching and I'll see you in the next one

Channel: Samjamguitar

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Id: esELMSxd_Hk

Length: 15min 49sec (949 seconds)

Published: Thu Nov 09 2023