Music Theory Monday | 07: Modes Overview
Added 2020-04-27 13:01:01 +0000 UTCWhere to Start • Lesson Archive • Recommended Lesson Plan • Book a Private Lesson
An overview and explanation of the 7 main categories of modes and their relationship to the major and minor scales. In this video we dig into the idea of modes - in the future we'll spend more time on each mode and get into the idea of "being modal.”
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Comments
Thanks for this awesome lesson, Scott. Anyway, here's wonderwall!
Rick
2022-12-13 20:40:49 +0000 UTCAnd one more question. Maybe I missed it, but why do we talk so much about the first quarter and the fifth chord in the key?
Frank Petlitskiy
2022-10-27 15:34:32 +0000 UTCI'm sorry for the stupid question. But shouldn't Dom 7 resolve to the first chord? If so, how does it take the first position in Mixo?
Frank Petlitskiy
2022-10-27 15:32:41 +0000 UTCI like that, Billy! Thanks for sharing
Scott Paul Johnson
2022-09-21 17:10:06 +0000 UTCGreat video! One way I learned to understand the sequence is if you move the last note of the scale to the front of the current scale, it creates a new mode following this pattern: I (Ionian) Dont (Dorian) Play (Phrygian) Loud (lydian) Music (mixolydian) At (Aeolian) Lunch (Locrian)
Billy Pecoroni
2022-09-19 17:21:03 +0000 UTCYes! The same way we can say that F# Minor is within the Key of A. There are other ways to look at modes, but this is - in my opinion - the best way to really start getting comfortable with modes.
Scott Paul Johnson
2022-07-11 20:47:54 +0000 UTCcan we say with this that a Dorian B is within the key of A major since it shares notes with A major scale and we can say that B dorian has similar chords with the key of A major?
Leon Neri
2022-07-11 19:15:45 +0000 UTCWow great questions! I bet the Beatles were at least somewhat deliberate about it. I'm not sure about the others. Modes are found in nearly every genre of music. Irish folk music, Indian music, russian music, south american music, etc etc. Modes are actually so common that traditional music theory lessons ought to stop treating the major and minor scale like they are the "normal" scales. "So what" by Miles Davis is in Dorian Mode. Greensleeves (or "What child is this") is usually in Dorian mode as well. For example. Two somehwhat opposite songs using the same mode.
Scott Paul Johnson
2021-08-06 15:07:04 +0000 UTCGreat lesson. I like the chord progression interpretation of modes. Is it your opinion that the artists who composed Louis, Louis, 8 Days a week, and Wonderwall (for which I thank you) were aware of the modes? Are modes used mainly in Rock or do you find them, say, in classical or jazz guitar?
Ken Keffer
2021-08-06 14:50:04 +0000 UTCHi Gergely! Sorry for the delay on your question. Watch Music Theory for Guitar Triads lessons. That will give you all the movable chords you could possibly want, including bar chords.
Scott Paul Johnson
2021-06-07 18:32:03 +0000 UTCKristopher. You're right, it would be in the key of G Minor if it's capo 3, but it's still the same relationship between all the chords.
Scott Paul Johnson
2021-06-07 18:30:28 +0000 UTCYo brother, late to this but that song you were playing (Wonderwall) was thought to me with the capo on the third fret which puts it in G if I am correct.
Kristofer Mc Cormack
2021-06-05 13:20:31 +0000 UTCHi Scott! You mention around 41:30 messing around with barre chords - I wonder if there is a video about learning how to mess around with those? :D Watching you do it after 6 music theory mondays means that I can somewhat figure out myself, but having the theory put behind it would be great!
Gergely Kocsis
2021-05-26 09:32:20 +0000 UTCHi Scott. Im actually laughing right now because these past few months I've studying theory so hard trying to wrap my head around the proper way to use modes. However, after watching this video I feel like I should just play whatever sounds good and makes me happy.
Czor Salad
2021-05-21 00:26:15 +0000 UTCAwesome. Modes are so cool. Glad you're enjoying.
Scott Paul Johnson
2021-01-08 22:47:41 +0000 UTCJosue - this is a tricky question! Because the chords in a mode are essentially the same chords as a major or minor scale, you CAN start on a chord that isn't the one chord, but its all a bout convicing your audience that the one chord you chose is the one chord they hear.
Scott Paul Johnson
2021-01-08 22:47:22 +0000 UTCI wondered, when playing a chord progression using a mode, is it necessary to start on the one of that mode or can it be treated like a key?
Josue Munoz
2021-01-06 19:30:35 +0000 UTCThanks Scott. I've been under the misconception that modes were only for scales. new strumming patterns can happen on my guitar now
Josue Munoz
2021-01-06 19:14:16 +0000 UTCagain
Joop Wassenaar
2020-08-22 09:04:00 +0000 UTCHi Scott, tks qgqin for this great lesson.
Joop Wassenaar
2020-08-22 09:03:50 +0000 UTCAnother noob question, C ionian is the same scale as B locrian started from the 2nd note. Did I get that right?
Alex
2020-05-23 17:59:47 +0000 UTCThank you for pointing that out. Will check it.
Alex
2020-05-23 03:49:42 +0000 UTCThat is a Dorian i IV chord progression. Am Dorian (aka A Minor Scale with a sharp 6th note) will produce that progression. Its delightful
Scott Paul Johnson
2020-05-22 19:55:12 +0000 UTCHmm. That’s a Dorian i IV progression. We’ll discuss it in future videos!
Scott Paul Johnson
2020-05-22 05:39:31 +0000 UTCHi Scott, thank you for your hard work, you are making great content and in nice format and structure. Was playing around with some chords and ended up having: Am D Am D Am D E. When I play it it sounds doesn't sound bad, which makes me think it is a valid progression. I however can't figure out the key. Looking at D and E hints that these are 4th and 5th, but that kind of goes against having Am. I thought this might have something to do with modes, so tried writing out different A modes but none of them have these chord progression. What am I missing? Thanks again. BR. Alex.
Alex
2020-05-22 04:51:40 +0000 UTCthis is a great video! I def will be coming back to this one. You explained it better than I remember from taking theory in college. cool to see it applied to the guitar and the chord progressions!
Ann-Marie Daniels
2020-05-12 19:53:19 +0000 UTCHi Davin! Thanks for being here. It can't hurt to learn the mode scales if you have the time! It can help with soloing and songwriting and everything, just dont' forget to think of them as keys as well with their own chords and things. I've been filming new content now and I'm excited to get this Patreon going nuts with valuable content.
Scott Paul Johnson
2020-05-01 00:08:21 +0000 UTCAwesome explanation of modes Scott, thank you! I like your idea of analyzing chord progressions of songs from a modal perspective as well - would love to see a video on that. Q: Do you think it's worthwhile practicing the modal scales in the various positions, or is it more practical to try to simply understand & identify the various modes to incorporate them into songwriting? I suppose it depends on the goal of the player, so I apologize if that's hard to answer...just trying to get a sense of which concepts to really focus in on when practicing. Thanks again! ps. Great to see your Patreon supporter #'s going up every day as more and more join the community! I'm finding the content you're creating here has been super valuable.
Davin
2020-04-28 19:03:18 +0000 UTCWell awesome! I’ll get into it more
Scott Paul Johnson
2020-04-28 17:34:22 +0000 UTCHi Scott! Thanks for another great lesson. It's funny you said that, but so far I thought of modes as a way to get more different chord progressions! Cool stuff as always!
Alexander
2020-04-28 16:59:23 +0000 UTC
