Modes - A breakthrough for me :)

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FreebirdFreebird Frets: 5821
edited March 2015 in Theory
After much confusion, I came across this fella who breaks everything down into tetrachords. So it's all about the movement then?





And here is the chart, now it's easy to run through the different modes and hear the difference .. (Tip: try it on a single string for simplicity.)


image
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  • frankusfrankus Frets: 4719
    I won't get to see the video before tomorrow night - if not Wednesday - but I'd be interested to know how it's helped you :)
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  • FreebirdFreebird Frets: 5821
    edited March 2015
    frankus said:
    I won't get to see the video before tomorrow night - if not Wednesday - but I'd be interested to know how it's helped you :)
    Just visualising the pushing and the pulling of the various modes, and being able to easily play them on a single string for a quick sound comparison.

    I also like the breakdown into tetrachords, and the introduction of the dreaded tritone :)

    I can now see each mode as [1st Tetrachord] [Tritone] [2nd Tetrachord]

    So for E we can divide the potential notes into [E F F# G G# A]  [A#]  [B C C# D D# E]
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  • frankusfrankus Frets: 4719
    Got ya, thanks for the info, I'll take a look.

    I get modes as sounds and variations from a major scale.. and a composite of two chord types (describing all the notes in the scale) .. I'll check this out when I have time - have a wisdom for showing this to us :D
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  • Whilst I grasp the tonal concept of modes..  I haven't made the link to create chord progressions to exploit these "flavours"; I'll guess that triads made from the scale notes would suffice but I'm probably wrong...

    My previous experience has been noodling over static vamps provided in short backing track form.
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  • FreebirdFreebird Frets: 5821
    edited March 2015

    Whilst I grasp the tonal concept of modes..  I haven't made the link to create chord progressions to exploit these "flavours"; I'll guess that triads made from the scale notes would suffice but I'm probably wrong...

    My previous experience has been noodling over static vamps provided in short backing track form.
    Harmonizing the modes is Lesson 2 if anybody wants to chip in :)

    A lot of people struggle with the concept of modes, and that is the reason why I posted this 'introductory'  piece.
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  • @Freebird ; make sure to tag me when its up.. deffo interested..
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  • FreebirdFreebird Frets: 5821
    edited March 2015
    @Freebird ; make sure to tag me when its up.. deffo interested..
    Have a read here, it's fairly concise.

    Basically you have to built chords that include the altered notes. The last link also includes suggested chord progressions for each mode.
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  • FreebirdFreebird Frets: 5821
    edited March 2015
    While I'm at it, I would also like to recommend this smartphone/tablet app: http://getchord.com/

    It's well worth the couple of quid for the pro version, although there is also a restricted free version.

    It was a trivial task to harmonise each mode once I knew what I was doing. You can fine-tune the results to a granular level, e.g. choose the number of notes from 1 to 7. So if you set it to 4 notes, it will automatically build chords around the altered notes.

    The app also does tons of other useful stuff, too numerous to mention here.

    Note: I have no affiliation with this product besides being a satisfied paying customer.
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  • frankusfrankus Frets: 4719
    Using modes in chords I use this idea:

    if you line up the modes in a fashion that they get darker each time: lydian, ionian, mixolydian, dorian, aeolian, phrygian, locrian then you get the idea of something akin to declension in languages.. likewise the chords change always in this pattern:

    Major -> Major -> Dominant -> Minor -> Minor -> Minor -> Minor7 flat5 -> (repeat from the top a semitone down).
    A sig-nat-eur? What am I meant to use this for ffs?! Is this thing recording?
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  • So I wasn't far wrong then??
    My trading feedback

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  • FreebirdFreebird Frets: 5821
    frankus said:
    Using modes in chords I use this idea:

    if you line up the modes in a fashion that they get darker each time: lydian, ionian, mixolydian, dorian, aeolian, phrygian, locrian then you get the idea of something akin to declension in languages.. likewise the chords change always in this pattern:

    Major -> Major -> Dominant -> Minor -> Minor -> Minor -> Minor7 flat5 -> (repeat from the top a semitone down).
    I'll have a look at this, but I am only on Day 2 of modes  >:D<

    The 2nd link I posted above has a similar idea, only in a slightly different order.
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  • axisusaxisus Frets: 28280
    I don't get modes at all, but I have found a secret cheat that kind of works.
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  • FreebirdFreebird Frets: 5821
    edited March 2015
    axisus said:
    I don't get modes at all, but I have found a secret cheat that kind of works.
    Me too, it's called Chord! app LOL. Using the dark arts contained within this thread, I've just knocked out a little synth ditty in around 5 minutes that already sounds chart worthy   :-S
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  • vizviz Frets: 10647
    frankus said:
    Using modes in chords I use this idea:

    if you line up the modes in a fashion that they get darker each time: lydian, ionian, mixolydian, dorian, aeolian, phrygian, locrian then you get the idea of something akin to declension in languages.. likewise the chords change always in this pattern:

    Major -> Major -> Dominant -> Minor -> Minor -> Minor -> Minor7 flat5 -> (repeat from the top a semitone down).

    Yes that's awesome. And another way to look at them is as parallel couplets:

    Ionian and Aeolian are the natural major and minor. Aeolian is the relative minor of Ionian, three semitones below.

    Lydian and Dorian are the sweeter modes of each respectively; (Lydian is a sweet major with a sharpened 4th; Dorian is a sweet minor with a sharpened 6th)

    Mixolydian and Phrygian are darker modes of each; (Mixolydian is a dark major with a flattened 7th; Phrygian is a dark minor with a flattened 2nd).

    In both the Minor and the Major case, the relationship between the natural, the sweet and the flat is I, IV, V (or I, +IV, -IV). In other words when you go up a 4th, you sweeten the natural with a sharpened note; and when you go down a 4th, you darken the natural with a flatter note.

    As the major and minor modes are both characterised by I, IV, V, this also means that, in the same way as the Aeolian is the relative minor of Ionian, so is Dorian of Lydian, and Phrygian of Mixolydian.

    So it's good to think of these modes as major/minor pairs, where the major is 3 semitones above its relative minor, for each pair.

    That can help when moving between major and minor, within the relative, regardless of what mode you're playing in.
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  • FreebirdFreebird Frets: 5821
    edited March 2015
    So I wasn't far wrong then??
    I wouldn't like to give advice at the moment, but it seems that you can build extended chords using the altered notes.

    In saying that, I just used the 1st and maj/min 3rd notes for the harmonization and it sounds superb. I've probably done something wrong though B-)
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  • frankusfrankus Frets: 4719
    So I wasn't far wrong then??
    You were right, yep.

    Personally I only remember modes by the notes/sounds that make them different from the major scale, or as two adjacent chords.

    Chords I think of in a few dimensions - major, minor, dominant, more or less information.

    I think of voicings and scale patterns as streetmaps - I don't want to go down every street :)

    I am a bear of little brain and that helps to enjoy myself :)
    A sig-nat-eur? What am I meant to use this for ffs?! Is this thing recording?
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  • GuyBodenGuyBoden Frets: 733
    edited March 2015

    Freebird said:
    After much confusion, I came across this fella who breaks everything down into tetrachords. So it's all about the movement then?





    And here is the chart, now it's easy to run through the different modes and hear the difference .. (Tip: try it on a single string for simplicity.)


    image
    Tetra chords and Modal harmony, I think he must have read the classic Jazz book "Ron Miller : Modal Jazz Composition and Harmony"
    "Music makes the rules, music is not made from the rules."
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  • SambostarSambostar Frets: 8745
    I understand modes, starting on degrees of scale etc and hear the obvious overall tonality, but can't grasp the subtlety of the actual tones relative to the root tone in real life, although I struggle with links in to chords progression too.  Will study the video, but it looks confusing to me.  Think I'd rather just hear progressions.
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  • ChrisMusicChrisMusic Frets: 1133
    These two introductory videos helped me understand the modes.
    I think they each explain it well, and even better to watch both.
    I hope this will make it easier for some of you in getting a handle on this topic.

    Great video you found there @Freebird, that's given me another very useful perspective on them, thanks  :)


    Here's Rex Pearson's lesson, I recall it being quite good, this is his one on the Modes...


    Duration 11:50


    Apologies if you are easily 'Chapper-fended', but his one is split between two lessons, and I think is worth watching too...


    Duration 7:47


    Duration 7:46




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  • FreebirdFreebird Frets: 5821
    edited March 2015
    These two introductory videos helped me understand the modes.
    I think they each explain it well, and even better to watch both.
    I hope this will make it easier for some of you in getting a handle on this topic.

    Great video you found there @Freebird, that's given me another very useful perspective on them, thanks  :)

    It seems to me that when investigating the modes it pays to look at them from as many different angles as possible.

    Thanks for your videos and something else to ponder :)
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