#106 - THIS Is How You Understand The MODES!

hi bernth im new here, not long joined..... would you recommend learning the 7 scale shapes of just the major(ionian) and the 7 minor (aeolian) shapes and thats it for now ......To just change the major scale intervals for lydian and mixolydian , same with minor just change the intervals for dorian ,phygian, locrean in all 7 shapes..........or am i wasting time learning scales at all ?........ im loving the octave pattern idea. it unlocked alot of freedom but i still feel very limited.......knowing the notes is really helping not sure how to practice my improvising to be more faster paced tho, think one of the problems is i dont know any arpeggios. also what would you suggest (what do you do) with pentatonic scales as they seem to be 2 note per string shapes. sorry im just trying to figure out the best use of my time practacing :) loving your content btw i bought the scarlet 2i2 also waiting for it to arrive thx buddy . wanna have the freedom to hit notes like marty friedman with time , hopefully

ian mitchell

Thanks so much! This addresses exactly what I was hung up on. Much appreciated :)

Richard Birrittella

Hey Richard, if you play F lydian over E phrygian, you actually just play E phrygian without realizing it (the exact same notes). So nothing changes! Yes, you can experiment with mixing modes but pay attention to the characteristic notes of each mode (#4 of lydian for example) and how they might clash with melodies or chord notes in the composition - your ears will mostly tell you if it works :)

Bernd Brodträger

Hey Bernth, I'm the dude you directed to this video from the community posts. Great stuff but I have a very important follow up question! You use, in this demonstration, E Phygrian EFGABCE. How that relates to the Aeolian mode is crystal clear. My question is can you riff over E Phyrgian with (for example) F Lydian FGABCDEF since it's the exact same notes with a different root. How does that change the sound/tone? Would it clash tonally like the Em over E phygrian? Is a good general rule to follow is that you stick to one mode at a time as in if your rhythm is E Phrygian you should riff on E Phrygian (while being mindful of the dissonant notes)? Maybe I'm over thinking this lol. Last thing: if your rhythm Chord progression doesn't use chords that strictly belong to one mode or another, do you have a freedom THEN to mix and match modes? Say your chord progression is E-G-A; I can theoretically riff on either Em OR E phygrian since that F/F# isn't even present to clash, correct?

Richard Birrittella

Yes Antonio, that's what defines the sound of major and minor :) But Phrygian and Locrian don't start with a whole tone, they start with a half tone (minor second interval) - but they do share that characteristic minor third!

Bernd Brodträger

Hi Bernth, so I noticed that for all the major modes; Ionian, Lydian, Mixolydian all start with two whole notes starting from the root and the minors Aeolian, Dorian, Phrygian and Locrian start with a whole half starting at the root. Is this just coincidence or is it right?/

Antonio Lopez

This is great! I am currious about the chord progression used for the natural minor jamtrack. I am particularly confused about the F#5 chord because, from what I understand, the 5 (C#) is not in the Aeolean mode. Am I missing something, and is there a reason that this works?

Megan Paffrath

I start to get it ... Let's say a song is in Em, I can play E Aeolean while focusing on the root 3the note (b3) , 5th note and the flat7 ... If the next chord in the progression would be F# i can still rely on the triad from that root F# also 1-3-5 th note, or can I stay in the E Aeolean as well ? Anyway Bernth thanks to you I really start to believe that theory is not rocketscience and there's a logic behind although it seems overwelming. I've played in metal coverbands for ages (Priest,Maiden,Accept,...) and always just played the songs without knowing what I did (except offcourse playing the songs). Now i start to look at key signatures in the notesheet and try to visualize where a certain solo is located within a pattern :-O , I'm doomed :-) ... Thanks a lot for this Bernth.

Raf Aarts

Great lesson. Thank you, Bernth

Hey Raf, thanks for the comment! Keeping a close eye on the chord and chord changes is a good and necessary idea when it comes to the modes - that's correct! That way you avoid unwanted dissonances and make sure to apply the correct mode in the right situation :) We can go more into the practical use of the modes in another lesson if the community votes for this topic again!

Bernd Brodträger

I only learned patterns, I knew that shifting up to the second note would change the scale but had no clue which lol. Now staying with same basenote and changing the notes within that base note i'll finally see and hear how they all sound thanks! One question, if you play a G chord standalone all the modes from G would sound ok but within the chord progression you have to see which can be played and which not. especially if they are a semi tone apart correct ? thx Raf

Raf Aarts

If you play the Ionian pattern for C starting on the 8th fret, 6th string then the notes for this E Phrygian position are within that pattern, yes. But it doesn't change the scale. The examples are E Phrygian and E Aeolian. The mode you are playing is based on what you're playing it over as that gives it the "mood". C Ionian (major) and E Phrygian (minor) are different modes/scales. If you have an E Phrygian backing track, you could play the C Major scale over it and you would hear Phrygian, because while you think you're playing C Major, you're actually playing E Phrygian. This breakdown and study of modes is far beyond this introduction that Bernth is teaching here and will just make it over complicated. The concept of these notes being within C Ionian doesn't come into play, that will just cause confusion.

David W Harper

So changing the F# to a F makes this the C major scale with the notes starting on E not C?

FoZ

Hey Neil, ich kann aus persönlicher Erfahrung nicht zu 100% empfehlen immer in diesen Parallelen zu denken - wenn du immer in E phrygisch 'denkst' aber eigentlich über einen Track in C Dur, D Dorisch, F Lydisch, G Mixolydisch, A Moll, B/H Lokrisch spielst, sind das zwar die richtigen Noten - es wird aber immer ein bisschen komisch klingen (du hast kein Gefühl für die Relation der Noten zur Musik, die Akzente fallen komisch und du siehst die Chords/Arpeggios nicht korrekt am Griffbrett). Deswegen gib es den starken Fokus hier auf das Sehen der Noten und das Merken der ganz kleinen Änderungen zwischen allen Modes :) Nur so kannst du die richtigen Noten leicht akzentuieren und zwischen den Modes effizient und leicht wechseln! Ich hoffe das hilft ein bisschen weiter

Bernd Brodträger

Very interesting

guido bossyns

Are you kidding me? I've been trying to figure out a simple way to remember modes for MONTHS now! And you give it to me in 10minutes...if I learn nothing else this month, this lesson paid for my next couple months...thank you

Kearns Guitars

Hi Bernth - Sehr schönes und lehrreiches Video. Ich hätte mir nur eine kurze Erklärung gewünscht, wie die einzelnen Shapes zusammenhängen. Wieso z.B. C Ionian die gleichen Töne wie E Phrygian enthält und wie ich davon ausgehend mit den Stufenakkorden einen bestimmten Mode "erzwingen" kann. Aber wenn ich die Modes halbwegs richtig verstanden habe, würde ich ja mit z.B. dem E-Phyrigian shape und dem Oktav-Trick mehr oder weniger alle Shapes, bzw. Ausschnitte, durchlaufen, oder ?

Neil Werner