Well-known songs that use Modes

sev112

Gassage said:

@viz ;

What mode is this? It's very unusual.

Ionian if he is playing in Pompeii 

(ok, Tyrrenhian then)

viz

sev112 said:

Gassage said:

@viz ;;

What mode is this? It's very unusual.

Ionian if he is playing in Pompeii 

(ok, Tyrrenhian then)

Lol

harmonic minor mainly. Which is to say, it's in minor, and the V chord is major.

west

Dear @viz  ; i saw this from noel johnston and thought of your thread   a new book on modal etudes and thought it might be good to put a few clips here that he has auditioned on youtube ....

Cheers West .....

BintyTwanger77

I don't understand modes either, though from this thread, it sounds lot of System Of A Down (mainly thinking of Sugar and Toxicity) are in Locrian mode... and Massive Attack Inertia Creeps?

Greatape

Dominic said:

colski said:

Picture a ladder that has three repeating colours painted on it's steps, red, white, blue, red, white, blue etc.

There are three potential starting points on the ladder, so three ways to climb it:

1) red, white, blue

2) white, blue, red

3) blue, red, white

THOSE ARE THE THREE MODES OF THE LADDER.

Now replace the 3-step ladder with a 7 note scale.

That's how I often explain modes, and it usually elicits a lightbulb moment.

I tell people to imagine the circle line on the tube .....the destinations are the same but it depends where you hop on .

I think that's actually quite a useful perspective. I don't think it's useful to think of modes as individual scales, as many do. 

Tannin

There are two ways to get your mind around modes. In this thread, the focus is very much on thinking of different modes as a familiar scale with a different tonal centre. For example, "Dorian = play all the white keys but start on D". That's fine. About 50% of people get it when it is explained like that. And the other 50% don't. 

Another way to think of Dorian is as a modified scale. You take the familiar major scale and play a flat 3 and a flat 7. (Compare with natural minor which has a flat 6 as well as the 3 and 7.)

Some people "get it" the first way, others the second way. It is worth teaching both because you never know which way will set off the lightbulb.

The real magic comes when you realise that the two things are really the same thing - a flat 3, flat 7 scale starting on D = all the white notes. Wow! How neat is that? (Or vice-versa.)

close2u

Might I be so bold as to direct people to read this thing I wrote:

https://justinguitarcommunity.com/index.php?topic=48972.0

viz

close2u said:

Might I be so bold as to direct people to read this thing I wrote:

https://justinguitarcommunity.com/index.php?topic=48972.0

Very thorough description! PM’d u. 

tanihhiavlt

Tannin said:

There are two ways to get your mind around modes. In this thread, the focus is very much on thinking of different modes as a familiar scale with a different tonal centre. For example, "Dorian = play all the white keys but start on D". That's fine. About 50% of people get it when it is explained like that. And the other 50% don't. 

called derivative modes (derived from the same key/scale) - good for fast changing diatonic chords

Tannin said:

Another way to think of Dorian is as a modified scale. You take the familiar major scale and play a flat 3 and a flat 7. (Compare with natural minor which has a flat 6 as well as the 3 and 7.)

Called relative method - "it's a C major scale with a flat 3rd and 7th" 

Tannin said:

The real magic comes when you realise that the two things are really the same thing - a flat 3, flat 7 scale starting on D = all the white notes. Wow! How neat is that? (Or vice-versa.)

There are only 12 notes - so there are any number of ways of describing the mode: two minor 7th chords a tone apart... 

guitarjack66

Could modes also be described as 'moods?' Eg,each modal scale evokes a different emotion 'suspense' 'happiness' and so forth? Sorry if I've asked this before but its something that keeps nagging me when I hear the word 'modes.'

viz

guitarjack66 said:

Could modes also be described as 'moods?' Eg,each modal scale evokes a different emotion 'suspense' 'happiness' and so forth? Sorry if I've asked this before but its something that keeps nagging me when I hear the word 'modes.'

Yes, certainly. 

Axe_meister

The more you go down the theory rabbit hole you realise that just thinking modes is only part of the equation. Yes it helps you branch out from typical Major/Minor song writing/soloing giving you 4 extra flavours (ignoring Locrian), i.e. Phrygian/Mixolydian/Dorian/Lydian and therefore playing the same shapes on the fretboard
But when you start to analyse songs from say the Beatles, you get constantly confused as they may borrow chord from a parallel mode.
You think you may be safe say in C major with a chord progression of C Em F G and back to C then all of a sudden in the next verse Em is substituted with Eb Major from a parallel mode (either C Dorian/Phrygian/Aeolian) or the Eb leads into the Em chord