Modes: most of the important ones

Basher

Van_Hayden said:

But then I think of notes as colours....

Chromesthesia?

Van_Hayden

Well kind of, but not involuntary!

Basher

Van_Hayden said:

Well kind of, but not involuntary!

I remember reading about this somewhere. Someone had chromesthesia and, I think, perfect pitch. They could say which colour corresponded with each note but when asked about chords they could only see them as brown, which kind of makes sense. Possibly another theory for the origin of EVH's "brown sound"!

It sounds like you use it as a self-taught tool for improvising, which sounds more useful that the full blown thing to me. 

viz

I really enjoy thinking in modal colours like I said before - Dorian songs now have a greenish hue to me; Ionian songs have a strident red coulour; Phrygian songs are infused with a hint of eastern yellow, etc. It's a helpful little extra dimension that adds something to my enjoyment of music. But then I think vowels have colours too: a red; e yellow; i white; o black; u grey; y silver.

Jalapeno

viz said:

I really enjoy thinking in modal colours like I said before - Dorian songs now have a greenish hue to me; Ionian songs have a strident red coulour; Phrygian songs are infused with a hint of eastern yellow, etc. It's a helpful little extra dimension that adds something to my enjoyment of music. But then I think vowels have colours too: a red; e yellow; i white; o black; u grey; y silver.

Oh man, Dorian is a kind of blue - Miles told us .......

viz

I thought Aeolian was blue??

viz

I just thought I'd write down an explanation of the 7 modes of the diatonic scale, bcoz modes are always an exciting topic!

http://i865.photobucket.com/albums/ab217/Vizzage/Music%20theory/Diatonic_zpsf31b77e3.jpg

There is a scale called the Diatonic Scale, used throughout western music. It's an "octatonic" scale, so has 8 notes including the 1st and last, which are 1 octave apart. When played starting at the root and ending at the octave, it has the following characteristics:

A root note at the 1st (and 8th), called the tonic.
A perfect 5th (like a power chord), called the dominant.
A perfect 4th (like 2 adjacent strings on a guitar), called the sub-dominant.
A major 3rd, called the mediant.
A major 6th, called the sub-mediant.
A major 7th, called the leading note.
A major 2nd, called the supertonic.

So it has 7 intervals within its 8 notes, either Tones or semitones, as follows: TTsTTTs


The diatonic scale has 7 "modes". The 1st mode of this scale starts on the 1st note and ends on the 8th, as described above, and is called the "Ionian Scale". It's the famous "major scale", heard in thousands of pieces such as Doe a deer, Happy birthday and Twinkle twinkle little star. As described above it has a major 2, major 3, perfect4, perfect 5, major 6 and major 7. No wonder it's such a happy, major scale!

The 2nd mode of the diatonic scale starts on the 2nd note and ends on the 9th note, and has the intervals TsTTTsT. (See, it misses the first T of the Ionian Scale, but has an extra T at the end). It's a minor scale and is called the "Dorian Scale". It has a perfect 4th and 5th, a minor 3rd to make it a minor scale; a major 6th (to brighten it a bit), a minor 7th and a major 2nd. Any scale with the arrangement TsTTTsT is a Dorian scale. It doesn't have to start on the 2nd note of a particular Ionian scale. It can start on any key you like. If it has TsTTTsT, it's Dorian, and if you start on an F#, it's F# Dorian. It's used in Greensleeves, What shall we do with a drunken sailor, and the 5th Dimension's "Age of Aquarius".

The 3rd mode of the diatonic scale is called the Phrygian Scale. It's a minor scale and starts with the s, like this: sTTTSTT. It starts with a minor 2nd and 3rd; it has a perfect 4th and perfect 5th, a minor 6th and a minor 7th. Because of that flattened 2nd, it sounds sort of Spanish or Eastern.

The 4th mode of the diatonic scale is the Lydian Scale. It is TTTsTTs. Compare it to the Ionian scale. It is a major scale, but has an extra tone as the 3rd interval. In other words, the 4th is sharper. This is what defines the Lydian scale. It is like Ionian scale, but with an "augmented" 4th. It's used in the Simpsons theme tune. The 3rd note of that tune is an augmented 4th.

The 5th mode of the diatonic scale is the Mixolydian Scale. It's also major and has TTsTTsT. It is also similar to the Ionian, except that the 7th is flattened. Lots of bluesy rock uses this scale.

The 6th mode is the Aeolian Scale. It's also called the Natural Minor Scale. It's the default minor scale. It is TsTTsTT. Santana uses it in many songs. It has a normal 2nd, minor 3rd, perfect 4th and 5th, natural (minor) 6th, natural (minor) 7th. As you will remember, Dorian is Aeolian but with a raised 6th, and Phrygian is Aeolian but with a flattened 2nd.

Much in the same way, Lydian was Ionian but with a raised 4th, and Mixolydian was Ionian but with a flattened 7th.

I think of Ionian and Aeolian as being the natural major and minor, Lydian and Dorian as being the acidic major and minor (because they each have a sharpened note), and Mixolydian and Phrygian as being the alkaline major and minor (because they each have a flattened note).

Lastly, the 7th mode of the Diatonic scale is the Locrian Scale. Like the Phrygian, it has a minor 2nd and a minor 3rd, but crucially it also has a flattened (dininished) 5th. This makes it sound weak and unsettling and it is hardly ever used because it lacks that structurally necessary perfect 5th. It is sTTsTTT.

viz

I have found some more lovely scales, so now there seem to be 224 unique scales, each comprising an octave of 8 notes (including top and bottom), with no intervals greater than a minor 3rd, which is nice.

http://i865.photobucket.com/albums/ab217/Vizzage/modes2013_10_24_zps3ec18e52.jpg

randomhandclaps

Viz, have you thought about approaching Laura Ashley to have this turned this into a production wallpaper?  This is a seriously great resource for anyone learning modes.  When I was a music geek teenager my walls were covered in self-made mode charts - all boring black and white and incredibly time consuming to do.

viz

Laura Ashley said no but Carpetright are showing some interest. Thanks - I must say I've quite enjoyed collecting them and assembling them - sad eh.

randomhandclaps

 

viz said:

I must say I've quite enjoyed collecting them and assembling them - sad eh.

Not around these parts my friend.

paulk

This is great stuff @Viz . Thank you.

viz

OK, my magnum opus is complete. Here is the comprehensive set of 38 unique heptatonic scale families that accommodate a maximum interval of a minor 3rd, each with their 6 modal variants, so 266 scales in all.

The colour cycle is in the sequence – red, green, yellow, pink, brown, blue, lilac. Major families start with red; minor families start with blue.

And in grey, the complete set of 28 unique heptatonic sequences that allow intervals greater than a minor 3rd, each with their 6 modal variants, so 196 sequences in total.

The grand total is 462 heptatonic sequences. Go!

 

http://www.guitaristtv.com/Downloads/Modes 2014_02_18 - for GTV.xlsx

frankus

have you read Wayne Krantz's improviser's OS?

viz

No, I'm googling it now.

viz

Ah, so is he saying scales and modes are a bad thing? Because for me they've totally opened my mind to the possibilities and I feel I'm playing so much more melodically now. Perhaps it's me - maybe I was to rigidly stuck in the diatonic before and I'm a patterns kinda guy.