buddhu wrote:chrisoff wrote:I really don't understand modes.
My music theory, including modes, is sort of okay, but I just can't think fast or clearly enough for it to really help my playing. Basically I just learn tunes without analysing them too deeply.
When accompanying a vocal I might occasionally bung in a few deliberate intervals whose effect I know well, that are off the main melody to add a bit of tension or movement, but that's just really stuff I learned in guitar chord theory when I was a kid. I can't do anything really analysed or clever.
I'm not a good whistle player. I'm not a good mandolin player. I'm not a good musician. But I have great fun just playing along with people who are much better, and who (given a chance) would explain modes until the cows come home.
I don't give them the chance.
Quick Lesson: Modes for the ITM Player
Let's assume you play whistle. This is easiest because it's strictly diatonic, and also because I play whistle. You have the following notes (on a D instrument): D E F# G A B C C# in two(ish) octaves. This allows you to play both the D major and G major scales.
Now, these scales have a mode for each note in the scale, so there's seven modes you can play off of the D major scale, and there's seven modes you can plan off of the G major scale. The ITM player sees, most often, Ionian (aka major scale), Dorian, Mixolydian (which is, incidentally, a major scale with a flattened seventh), and Aeolian (aka natural minor scale). Let's take D major as an example.
The mode you play on D is your D major scale, and is also the Ionian mode.
If you play all of the notes in a D scale in order, but start on E, you play a Dorian mode. A lot of people (at my session, anyway) confuse the Dorian mode with a minor scale. That's because it sounds minor(ish). It is not quite the same as any of the several minor scales in Western music (natural, harmonic, melodic), but it's similar.
If you play all of the notes in a D scale in order but start on A, it's a Mixolydian mode. You'll notice very quickly that there's only one note different from A Mixolydian and A major: A major has a G# where A Mixolydian as a Gn. So Mixolydian modes sound a bit like an off-kilter major scale.
Unimportant Technical Stuff: Another interesting thing (harmonically) about Mixolydian is that because the seventh is flattened, the triad on the seventh scale degree is major (it's diminished in a major scale). So tunes in Mixolydian like to start a little figure on a I triad, then move it down, note for note, to a VII triad.
And, finally, if you play all of the notes of a D scale in order, but start on B, it's an Aeolian mode. This is the same as a natural minor scale, but be not fooled: Western art music makes very little practical use of the natural minor scale. That is, you won't find a classical piece in "natural minor" any more than you'll find one in "harmonic minor." A classical piece in minor will draw from all three of the minor scales without prejudice or reserve. Anyway, as far as ITM goes, this is a minor scale.
So how can you use all of this? Well, I'll tell you:
I'm going to assume you can figure out what key signature you're in. I might explain that later if it's an issue. And you can't always trust the dots, they don't always put the key signature for the relative major (like they should). I've seen Banish Misfortune, which is in D mixolydian, notated in one sharp. Meh.
Note: Tonic = the fundamental note of a key. You can think of it as the note that "resolves" the key, or the note that the tune (probably) feels like it should end on. In D major, the tonic is D. In G major it's G. In A Mixolydian, it's A. And so on.
If your key signature is two sharps (looks like D major), and...
...the tonic is D, you're in D Ionian / D Major.
...the tonic is E, you're in E Dorian.
...the tonic is A, you're in A Mixolydian.
...the tonic is B, you're in B Aeolian / B Natural Minor.
If you're key signature is one sharp (looks like G major), and...
...the tonic is G, you're in G Ionian / G Major.
...the tonic is A, you're in A Dorian.
...the tonic is D, you're in D Mixolydian.
...the tonic is E, you're in E Aeolian / E Natural Minor.
So you see it's really important to keep track of whether you're playing in one sharp or two, because modes on E, A, or D will have different names, depending.
I guess the lesson wasn't so quick as I'd thought...
Cool that I can take these educational
