What are Modes
Every guitarist hangs out for that moment in a song where they let
rip with the most hair raising lead guitar solo of all times. A vital
tool in creating improvised solos is the use of scale MODES.
"Modes were a big mystery when I first started playing guitar,
and different people would tell me different interpretations of what
modes were and how to use them. When I'm using modes to improvise I
picture them as a scale pattern, over the top of a chord shape, made
up of certain intervals that can be changed to create different tonal
moods. Someone once told me that learning modes is like learning to
surf; at first you keep falling off, but if you keep getting back up
it's all worth the effort" - AP
Modes from the major system are created by playing a major scale
and beginning and ending on different degrees of the scale, eg.
playing the C major scale starting and ending on a D note gives the
Dorian mode. This thinking is useful for explaining the origin of
modes, however, for improvising one needs to think of modes as a scale
patterns with intervals that can be changed by raising or lowering
certain degrees of the scale to give the scale different tonal
characteristics, eg. flattening the 7th degree of the major scale
gives a mixolydian mode, that can be used for improvising over a
dominant 7 chord.
Examples
Follow the links for written examples of modes, along with an explanation
of the situations in which they can be used.
FLIT