Pro tip: please watch the short video version of this post that I link to www.guitarsuccess4u.com/modes2. It will give you a much clearer grasp of what I’m sharing here.
Transcript and diagrams included below…
Welcome to the next level of our discussion of modes. If you have some familiarity with modes on the guitar with individual notes and you’re ready to learn how to leverage modes with chords, you’re in the right place.
Now, if you’re not quite ready for this step because you need a little bit of an introduction to modes themselves, I’ve got good news for you. I’ve created a mini-lesson that sets up today’s lesson perfectly. I encourage you to experience that one first from Guitar Serious Fun Episode 76, “The Road to Modes – Part 1: Notes.”
On the other hand, if you’re ready to tackle modes with chords, then let’s jump in with today’s mini-lesson!
Last time, we talked about the 7 diatonic modes. For your review, the names of the modes are: Ionian, Dorian, Phrygian, Lydian, Mixolydian, Aeolian, and Locrian.
The modes with the Major quality are the Ionian, Lydian and Mixolydian, and the modes with the minor quality are the Dorian, Phrygian, Aeolian and Locrian.
Last time, we played all the modes in the key center of C Major. Just to illustrate that modes can be found based on any key signature, today, let’s use the very guitar-friendly key of G Major.
The seven notes we’ll use to tackle everything we need today are: G, A, B, C, D, E, and F#.
One of the useful tools I’ve created for harmonizing a scale, especially in open position, is something I call the Skipping Scale. (And if you want to check out Guitar Serious Fun Episode 16, “The Art of the Skipping Scale,” please do.)
Basically, we walk up the scale from the lowest version of each note, and skip back down once we hit the open 4th string D.
So, if I play a G Major scale in this way, I’d play the notes G, A, B, C, D, then I’d SKIP down to open E, F#, and finish on G. What’s another name for the G Major scale? That’s right – the G Ionian mode.
All the other modes can be achieved in this manner. I’ll supply a table for the G Major Skipping Scale with my diagram.
These seven notes can then be used for what purpose? To harmonize the scale with chords. We can latch the chords onto these degrees – and with seven notes, how many chords will we use? Wait for it – just seven chords.
Keep them in the same order, and these modes will unfold right before your eyes and ears.
Now, to be fully transparent, I will say that there are two chords in the key of G that are less commonly used, at least by those who are newer to the guitar. The first one is the minor iii chord, B minor, which is commonly articulated as a bar chord.
The other chord which could make things a bit more difficult – but not impossible – is the diminished vii° chord, which is F# diminished. This is not a bar chord, but it may be less familiar to you. (I unpack both of these chords in the video.)
I’m providing a multi-colored table for you that shows all seven of these modes lined up in such a way that the identical chords and qualities are in columns, even though their contexts are different. I’ve captured in blue the chords that depart from the Major key, and I’ve captured in pink the chords that depart from a natural minor key.
Note that every mode has Roman numerals I through VII, but that they are each different, depending on the mode. The upper-case Roman numerals are Major, and the lower case are minor and on one occasion, diminished. But see how they all line up, as we survey the entire collection of modes in a key signature of one sharp.
I invite you to play through each of the modes, starting and ending on the first chord. For example, A Dorian mode starts and ends on A minor.
Ok, are you ready for some practical application? Let me ask you a question. When I play a song in a key, do I always play all the chords in that key? Usually, no. But there are distinct chords I can use that fall where the modal scale has been altered, which can add the flavors I need.
Let’s say I’m in the more major-quality D Mixolydian mode, here in the key signature of one sharp, and I want to play the chords on degrees I, V, VII and IV.
Normally, in a D Major scale with two sharps, those would be I, V, vii° and IV.
But in the D Mixolydian Mode, we only have one sharp, and the two middle chords in this progression that will be impacted by this difference will be the minor v chord and the Major VII chord, which will be totally transformed.
We instead have I, v, VII, and IV with D, A minor, C Major, and G. Very different. Much more epic. Much more refreshing. Much more…modal!
What about a minor-quality mode like A Dorian? Normally, A minor has zero sharps, so if I played i, III, iv, I’d end up with A minor, C Major, and the minor iv chord, D minor, which is fine.
But what about deriving a mode from this key signature of one sharp? What does that F# do to a D minor chord? It makes it a D Major chord. Now, we have A minor, C Major, and D Major. Much more mysterious. Much more hauntingly beautiful…and again, more modal!
So, as you can see, modes can really come alive with chords as well. And modal melodies can sound beautiful over modal chord progressions, again in multiple styles of music.
Thanks for journeying with me today on the road to modes.
If you want to go deeper, we dedicate a concise but thorough module to discovering all the modes in multiple guitar-friendly keys with scales and chords, inside GuitarSuccess4U. Talk about equipping you for artistry! Please check out what we’ve got going on at www.GuitarSuccess4U.com.
Keep showing up to raise the bar with your mental and motor skills on the guitar!
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