A Handy Run Down of Modes
A Handy Rundown of Modes
This week i’ve been thinking a little bit about modes. I thought i would write up a handy chart and do a little explaining of what exactly modes are. Now to begin to understand modes we first have to understand what a scale is. According to the AB Guide to Music Theory by Eric Taylor the word scale originally means ‘ladder’ and
‘The most common scale of all can be found by playing just the white notes on the keyboard from any C to the next C above or below - These notes, which can be compared to the rungs on a ladder, are describes as degrees of the scale: the first (i.e. the lowest) is the ‘first degree’, and so on’
So if we start on C as Taylor says and progress through all the white notes on the keyboard we would be missing the black keys in between out. For example C would be followed by D but of course has the C# in between them being missed out. Thus we are travelling by a tone ( two semitones).
Thinking of the major scale as a group of semitones and tones is a somewhat useful way to understand it. So in C major going from C to the C an octave above we get:
C D E F G A B C
Tone, Tone, SemiTone, Tone, Tone, Tone, SemiTone.
Now what’s interesting about this tone and semitone pattern, is that no matter what major scale we choose - whether that be C major or G major, the pattern of notes skipped always remains the same.
Scales are important to understand when getting to grips with modality. Scales are a way of showing notes in a particular key and are useful for improvisation and composition. What modality teaches is that scales and keys are wholly dependant on the note you set as your ‘first’ degree. The note that you are centered around.
An example of this would be, if we were to take the notes in the C major scale and instead of starting from C as our first degree and going up to C as our final note we started and ended on A instead,still playing ONLY the notes in C major. We would end up with something that looks like this.
A B C D E F G A
Tone SemiTone Tone Tone SemiTone Tone Tone
Now this scale notes wise looks exactly the same as the C major scale but if we look at the pattern of the tones and semitones we can clearly see that this is a completely different scale.
What we have here is what is known as an A natural minor scale. And this is the same for every single major key - If you take the 6th note of any major scale and play with it as the first and last degree you will end up with a natural minor scale.
This isn’t just restricted to the 6th note of a major scale, every single note can be played as the first and last degree and it will create it’s own new scale:
1st to 1st ( C to C) - Major Scale (Or Ionian)
2nd to 2nd (D to D) - Dorian (a natural minor scale with a #6)
3rd to 3rd (E to E) - Phrygian (a natural minor scale with a b2)
4th to 4th (F to F) - Lydian (a major scale with a #4)
5th to 5th (G to G) - Mixolydian (a major scale with a b7)
6th to 6th (A to A) - Natural Minor (or Aeolian)
7th to 7th (B to B) - Locrian (a natural minor scale with a b2 and a b5)
Now of course this small writeup isn’t supposed to be exhaustive and is more of an introduction than anything else. I have included a little cheat sheet i have made and would encourage people looking into modes to experiment and play all the scales i have listed. If you have any questions feel free to ask and i’ll help if i can.
A link to the Major Mode cheat sheet
