It looks like you're new here. If you want to get involved, click one of these buttons!
Subscribe to our Patreon, and get image uploads with no ads on the site!
Base theme by DesignModo & ported to Powered by Vanilla by Chris Ireland, modified by the "theFB" team.
Comments
For example, David Gilmour uses Dorian quite a lot and that gives his playing a particular accent.
I'm also assuming that the chord progression dictates the mode that fits best.
@viz might be best to explain, but I think I'm in the right ball park
Edited 5 times for accuracy...sodding Modes
That's really as complicated as it gets. A (natural) minor is a mode of C major, and vice versa. The first melody uses notes from the A Aeolian scale; the second draws it's melody notes from the C Ionian scale.
Although these two modes use the same notes, the intervals which make up the scale are in a different order. A is the "home" note in the first melody, while C is home for the second melody. This difference is what gives each scale it's characteristic sound. Another melody in E Phrygian might also use the same notes; but E is now the home note, and the scale could perhaps be described as having a Spanish, or Flamenco sound.
There are a set of rules that you can learn that determine which mode of which scale is recommended for soloing in for each half-bar, bar, pair of bars in a piece, based on the main melody and the chords.
Learning it is a bit like seeing how magic tricks are performed, you originally think "wow they must be an inspired genius", then you discover it's a clever trick. A very complicated and splendid trick though, but with less inspiration than you thought.
I assume that this is why you often see jazz musicians playing with the sheet music in front of them, even if they know the piece, since they need to know what scale and mode is needed for each bar
I think the first two modes to look at are Ionian (or ‘major’) and Aeolian (or ‘natural minor’).
“Ionian” = major
“Aeolian” = minor.
We rightly think of them as keys or scales. But they are also modes of each other.
We know A minor is the relative minor of C major. In fact it is a minor 3rd below C. Therefore it’s a major 6th above C, and it uses the same notes. ABCEDFGA.
So, minor is the 6th MODE OF MAJOR. And major is the 3rd mode of minor!
But major and minor are totally different. For example, C major sounds totally different from C minor.
You see, when we think of modes as SCALES instead of modes of each other, each scale has its own unique flavour.
We can also think of modes in a relative way (like A minor is the 6th mode of C major, and D Dorian is the 2nd mode of C major), etc; but it’s really important also to consider ‘modal music’ in an absolute way, where we use a certain mode as a foundation to base our music from, like C minor, or C Lydian, or C Dorian, irrespective of how they relate to Ionian.
Flying in a blue dream is written in Lydian, not Ionian. It is not the 4th mode of anything, it just IS Lydian.
Greensleaves is written in Dorian, not Aeolian. It’s not the 2nd mode of Ionian, it’s just Dorian.
Supportact said: [my style is] probably more an accumulation of limitations and bad habits than a 'style'.
Each mode is just a scale / key. Using that scale/key gives a particular tonality (feeling) to what you play. The fact that you can construct them from the same set of notes but starting in a different place is a convenient coincidence, that's all.
Twisted Imaginings - A Horror And Gore Themed Blog http://bit.ly/2DF1NYi
These days the same thing is called CAGED system.
Personally, I don't find it useful for songs (pink floyd or otherwise) that have a single tonal centre. As you have pointed out, C ionian and D dorian have the same notes. To me, I am just playing a C major scale.
However, I can accept that some people have learnt to play using modes and their phrasing depends on what mode they think they're in. You could play the exact same thing using a major scale, without thinking in modes. If there isn't a difference in the music in the end, is there really a difference?
This is my simple understanding of it. It goes alot deeper than this (see viz's post) but this is what has worked so far for me.
Band Stuff: https://navigationofficial.bandcamp.com/album/silhouette-ep
@viz I had a listen of the Satriani track flying in a blue dream. This is a track with shifting tonal centres. It is definitely easiest to play the corresponding lydian scale over the chords, since the harmonies imply lydian.
Would you say that it is wrong to play G-major over the first chord, instead of C lydian? I see the benefit of thinking in modes, but since there is no difference in notes, one could think in ionian only and adjust phrasing to emphasise on the 4th note more giving it a lydian quality?
Band Stuff: https://navigationofficial.bandcamp.com/album/silhouette-ep
Band Stuff: https://navigationofficial.bandcamp.com/album/silhouette-ep
If you DO mean the D major, then no you can’t play a G major instead, because the whole point of this C Lydian song is to play that II-I progression. Whenever you get a major II chord in a major piece it’s Lydian (apart from when it’s used as a secondary dominant of course), and that’s the whole point of the harmony.
If you mean can you play a G triad instead of the C triad, then well, no you can’t really, because as the piece is in C (the tonal centre), you do really have to play a C chord when the C chord is wanted. Of course, the C triad itself doesn’t actually tell you it’s Lydian, because a triad lacks the 4th anyway (you only know it’s Lydian from the II major chord and the melody, which has a very noticeable F#), but nevertheless you can’t really just play the V instead of the I.
The progression does go to the bVI and even the ‘bIV’ (F natural chord) but returns to the C Lydian home soon enough. I wouldn’t quite say that’s shifting tonal centres, just as a progression.
When you play in Lydian, you basically ARE thinking in Ionion with sharp 4. So you can think in C Ionian with a sharp 4, but you ‘shouldn’t’ think in G, if that makes sense. Even though it may have one sharp written in the key signature.
Supportact said: [my style is] probably more an accumulation of limitations and bad habits than a 'style'.
CMaj#11 to CMaj (0:14 - 0:59), AbMaj#11 to AbMaj (1:00 - 1:06), CMaj#11 to CMaj (1:07 - 1:15), GMaj#11 to GMaj (1:16 - 1:18), FMaj#11 to FMaj (1:19 - 1:22), CMaj#11 to CMaj (1:23 - 1:30)
So to me, because of the #11 in all of the chords, C lydian, A lydian, G lydian and F lydian are the tonal centres (or keys) at different points of the song over the respective #11 chords. (I hope I'm making sense here).
edit: I've just reread my post and see where I've confused you (i.e. my incorrect usage of "G major"), what i meant was G major scale/ G ionian.
I think this is exactly the OP's question. C lydian and G Ionian have the exact notes (C, D, E, F#, G, A, B.), why shouldn't we think in G?
Band Stuff: https://navigationofficial.bandcamp.com/album/silhouette-ep