Well-known songs that use Modes

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vizviz Frets: 10643
edited June 2021 in Theory
There’s a lot of confusion about modes. The usual way of explaining them is that they are ‘relatives’ of one another - Dorian is the 2nd mode of major, Dorian is like playing D to D on white notes on the piano, etc. 

But this can be confusing. The other way is to ignore the relationship between them and think of them ‘absolutely’, as scales, or palettes of notes, in their own right, each with a tonal centre and a unique set of intervals. And a good way of getting to grips with each mode’s sound is simply listen to the music within each one. 

So I thought I'd compile a little list of pieces for people to get familiar with each mode's sound. Feel free to suggest!

Ionian (the major scale)
Triumphant, settled, happy, resolute, unambiguous. 

Over the Rainbow - Arlen & Harburg
Happy Birthday - Patty Hill
God save the Queen
Winnie the Pooh
I was Born to Love You - Freddie
Born to Run - Bruce Springsteen
Doe a Deer / Do Re Me - Rogers & Hammerstein
The Four Seasons (Spring) - Vivaldi
Since You Been Gone - Rainbow
Brown-Eyed Girl - Van Morrison
If I Could Fly - Joe Satriani
Viva La Vida - Coldplay
Girls Just Want to Have Fun - Cindi Lauper
Take On Me - a-ha
Jump - Van Halen
Red Red Wine - UB40
Roland said: Scales are primarily a tool for categorising knowledge, not a rule for what can or cannot be played.
Supportact said: [my style is] probably more an accumulation of limitations and bad habits than a 'style'.
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  • vizviz Frets: 10643
    edited August 2021

    Dorian (the minor scale but with a raised 6th)
    Sad yet optimistic, quirky, peppery, light, old-fashioned.


    Coconut Grove - David Lee Roth

    What shall we do with the Drunken Sailor

    Greensleeves

    Another Brick in the Wall - Pink Floyd

    Apache - The Shadows

    Thriller - Michael Jackson

    The Good, the Bad & the Ugly - Ennio Morricone

    A View to a Kill - Dorian Dorian

    I Wish - Stevie Wonder

    So What - Miles Davis

    Oye Como Va - Santana

    Stayin’ Alive - The Bee Gees

    Silent Witness theme tune

    Roland said: Scales are primarily a tool for categorising knowledge, not a rule for what can or cannot be played.
    Supportact said: [my style is] probably more an accumulation of limitations and bad habits than a 'style'.
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  • vizviz Frets: 10643
    edited June 2021

    Phrygian (the minor scale but with a lowered 2nd)

    Dark, eastern, mysterious, salty, moody.


    Modern Times - New Model Army

    War - Joe Satriani

    Remember Tomorrow - Iron Maiden

    For the Love of God - Steve Vai

    Harvester of Sorrow - Metallica

    Powerslave - Iron Maiden

    Wherever I May Roam - Metallica

    Time - Joe Satriani

    Bagatelle no 2 - William Walton

    MikroKosmos - Bella Bartok

    Roland said: Scales are primarily a tool for categorising knowledge, not a rule for what can or cannot be played.
    Supportact said: [my style is] probably more an accumulation of limitations and bad habits than a 'style'.
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  • vizviz Frets: 10643
    edited June 2021

    Lydian (the major scale with an augmented (raised) 4th)

    Questioning, airy, spicy, sharp, ambiguous. 

    Flying in a Blue Dream - Joe Satriani

    Giant Balls of Gold - Steve Vai

    The Riddle - Steve Vai

    Wake Up - Rage Against the Machine

    Roland said: Scales are primarily a tool for categorising knowledge, not a rule for what can or cannot be played.
    Supportact said: [my style is] probably more an accumulation of limitations and bad habits than a 'style'.
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  • vizviz Frets: 10643
    edited June 2021

    Mixolydian (the major scale with a lowered 7th)

    Steadfast, resolute, genuine, rocky. 

    Sweet Child o' Mine - Guns n’ Roses

    She Sells Sanctuary - The Cult

    Spiritwalker - The Cult

    Sweet Home Alabama (D Mixolydian) - Lynyrd Skynyrd 

    Come Up and See Me (especially instrumental intro) - Steve Harley

    You Really Got Me - The Kinks

    Material World - Madonna

    Celebration - Kool and the Gang

    Led Boots - Jeff Beck

    Walkin’ by Myself - Gary Moore

    Roland said: Scales are primarily a tool for categorising knowledge, not a rule for what can or cannot be played.
    Supportact said: [my style is] probably more an accumulation of limitations and bad habits than a 'style'.
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  • vizviz Frets: 10643
    edited August 2021

    Aeolian (the natural minor scale)

    Tragic, pessimistic, warm, calm, pensive, romantic.


    Black Magic Woman - Santana

    Losing my Religion - REM

    Street Spirit - Radiohead

    Eye of the Tiger - Survivor

    God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen

    Roland said: Scales are primarily a tool for categorising knowledge, not a rule for what can or cannot be played.
    Supportact said: [my style is] probably more an accumulation of limitations and bad habits than a 'style'.
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  • vizviz Frets: 10643
    edited June 2021

    Locrian (the minor scale with a diminished (lowered) 5th)

    Unsettled, unresolved, uncomfortable, weird.

     

    Army of Me - Björk

    Harvester of Sorrow (guitar solo) - Metallica

    5th piano concerto, 5th movement, ‘Vivo’ - Prokofiev

    Roland said: Scales are primarily a tool for categorising knowledge, not a rule for what can or cannot be played.
    Supportact said: [my style is] probably more an accumulation of limitations and bad habits than a 'style'.
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  • hotpickupshotpickups Frets: 1813
    edited July 2020
    viz said:

    Locrian

     

    Army of Me - Björk

    Can't be many songs in Locrian I'd imagine? Funny mode that one 
    Link to my trading feedback:  http://www.thefretboard.co.uk/discussion/59452/
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  • vizviz Frets: 10643
    edited July 2020
    viz said:

    Locrian

     

    Army of Me - Björk

    Can't be many songs in Locrian I'd imagine? Funny mode that one 


    Nope. There’s a prokofiev piano concerto movement and a fragment of a Rachmaninov prelude (Bm) and a few other bits and bobs, but the trouble with Locrian is every time you play it, it sounds more like the 1st inversion of the chord 2 tones down, than the key of the Locrian root!
    Roland said: Scales are primarily a tool for categorising knowledge, not a rule for what can or cannot be played.
    Supportact said: [my style is] probably more an accumulation of limitations and bad habits than a 'style'.
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  • monquixotemonquixote Frets: 17485
    tFB Trader
    I think the best mixolydian song is "Come up and see me" by Steve Harley.

    It starts with a run up the mixolydian.
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  • fastonebazfastonebaz Frets: 4065
    Shred mode 

    Yngwie Malmsteen
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  • axisusaxisus Frets: 28280
    I don't get modes. I've had them explained plenty of times over the years. I don't get modes.
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  • octatonicoctatonic Frets: 33725
    axisus said:
    I don't get modes. I've had them explained plenty of times over the years. I don't get modes.
    It is simply the home of a chord progression.

    Although the notes of C Ionion and D Dorian are the same, Over the Rainbow sounds much more 'major key' than Greensleeves does because of where the tonality of the song is centred.
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  • octatonicoctatonic Frets: 33725

    Shred mode 

    Yngwie Malmsteen
    Phrygian Dominant & Harmonic Minor, usually.
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  • hotpickupshotpickups Frets: 1813
    edited July 2020
    axisus said:
    I don't get modes. I've had them explained plenty of times over the years. I don't get modes.
    I didn’t either before lockdown tbh. But with the little extra knowledge I’ve found I can honestly say it’s changed my way of playing since learning them. Still early stages but my playing has changed and become more tasteful, With some help from @viz people might think I actually know what I’m doing now lol 

    I don’t really though lol 
    Link to my trading feedback:  http://www.thefretboard.co.uk/discussion/59452/
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  • vizviz Frets: 10643
    octatonic said:

    Shred mode 

    Yngwie Malmsteen
    Phrygian Dominant & Harmonic Minor, always.

    Corrected
    Roland said: Scales are primarily a tool for categorising knowledge, not a rule for what can or cannot be played.
    Supportact said: [my style is] probably more an accumulation of limitations and bad habits than a 'style'.
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  • monquixotemonquixote Frets: 17485
    tFB Trader
    axisus said:
    I don't get modes. I've had them explained plenty of times over the years. I don't get modes.


    I think people confuse themselves thinking its a lot more complex than it is.

    If a song uses the C major scale, but it starts on a D chord and the D note feels like "home" when you solo over it then it's in D Dorian 

    That's about all there is to it.

    If you are in a minor sounding song and you are soloing away in your pentatonic box then try dropping in the extra notes from the minor. If the minor sixth sounds OK it's probably Natural Minor (Aeolian), but if it sounds a bit clashy and horrid and it sounds better up a semi tone to make a major 6th then it's probably Dorian.

    Same with Major. If you feel a bit happier with the 7th being flattened it's probably mixolydian.

    They are the only 4 modes I use.
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  • stratman3142stratman3142 Frets: 2176
    edited July 2020
    axisus said:
    I don't get modes. I've had them explained plenty of times over the years. I don't get modes.


    ...If you are in a minor sounding song and you are soloing away in your pentatonic box then try dropping in the extra notes from the minor. If the minor sixth sounds OK it's probably Natural Minor (Aeolian), but if it sounds a bit clashy and horrid and it sounds better up a semi tone to make a major 6th then it's probably Dorian.

    Same with Major. If you feel a bit happier with the 7th being flattened it's probably mixolydian...


    That's how I learned things by ear before I knew what labels to put on things. I worked out the major and minor 5 note shapes by copying solos by Clapton, Hendrix and Kossoff etc, although I didn't know they were called 'pentatonics' at the time.

    Then I heard players putting in extra notes. For example: Wishbone Ash sometimes used 'classical' minor type sounds which were the minor pentatonic with an added 2 and b6. I called it the 'classical minor' scale until I later learned it was the Aeolian mode.  Peter Frampton used a jazz minor type sound which was the minor pentatonic with an added 2 and 6. I called it the jazz minor scale until I later learned it was the Dorian mode.

    That's how I learned by ear. Hear a type of sound, put my own label on it and try to relate it to something I already knew. Then re-label the type of sound when I discovered a more universally accepted term.

    I think of modes in terms of their intervals relative to their root note. The major and minor pentatonic patterns are useful templates, for me upon, which to build other scales. I view modes as useful labels to put on types of sound. So it's good that @viz is coming up with real world musical examples.

    It's not a competition.
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  • fastonebazfastonebaz Frets: 4065
    axisus said:
    I don't get modes. I've had them explained plenty of times over the years. I don't get modes.


    I think people confuse themselves thinking its a lot more complex than it is.

    If a song uses the C major scale, but it starts on a D chord and the D note feels like "home" when you solo over it then it's in D Dorian 

    That's about all there is to it.

    If you are in a minor sounding song and you are soloing away in your pentatonic box then try dropping in the extra notes from the minor. If the minor sixth sounds OK it's probably Natural Minor (Aeolian), but if it sounds a bit clashy and horrid and it sounds better up a semi tone to make a major 6th then it's probably Dorian.

    Same with Major. If you feel a bit happier with the 7th being flattened it's probably mixolydian.

    They are the only 4 modes I use.
    Ah so simple :-)
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  • fastonebazfastonebaz Frets: 4065
    Funnily enough after the excellent info above came out,  this popped up on Instagram 


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  • Danny1969Danny1969 Frets: 10356
    I personally don't see any harm to see'ing any mode as a customization of a major or minor scale ... it might not be right to think of it like that but it's perfectly valid.  

    To learn the intervals that produce these sounds it's far easier to view it from a keyboard rather than a fretboard. All the intervals are right there in front of you .... just start from C to C for the first mode (ionian - major scale) and note the intervals ... then start from D through to D (Dorian mode) and note the intervals ...then start from E through to E and note the intervals that produce the third mode etc

    I think I'm probably not thinking it right myself and there's probably something wrong with the above but it's enabled me to produce modal sounds in all keys. 

    Has to be said though .... half the modes seem to me to be  of limited use playing typical western music .....at the moment I use knowledge of what notes are in the underlying chords to spice up my solo's but I'm sure there's a secret to using the modes here ? 
    www.2020studios.co.uk 
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