Modes (part-1): Don't be scared about them anymore!!!

I have often come across questions like how can a G major scale sound in so many different ways although we are using the same seven notes all the time. I told them that we are using different modes of the G major scale. What? What the heck is this now? 

Suppose you have seven colors just like the rainbow. If you interchange the colors of the rainbow to get them in a different order, you will get a completely new rainbow, which will not be identical with the first one. What brought this drastic change. Just the order of the colors. Let us take another example. You have three colors. Red, Blue and White. You have to paint a wall with a single color and you have to use the other two colors to decorate the wall over the background color. Now every time you choose a different color for background, the wall will look a bit different. What was the reason? The background, the reference color through which we are comparing the other two colors on the foreground of the wall. For the simplest example, Consider a black shirt with white dots on it. And now consider a white shirt with black dots on it. Are they different? Why? 

So now think of the major scale notes as the seven colors of the rainbow. And with the root note as the background. Now if we change the root note or we change the background, each of the remaining colors will be seen with reference to the background. So if you are playing the G major scale scale but you are referring to the A note as the root instead of G note, then you have changed the mood of the scale. 

Having said that, let us get into the modal theory.

To start, the names of the modes must be learned and memorized. I know, memorizing things is not everyone's favorite thing to do and I do try to keep those things to a minimum, but this is essential and must be memorized.

We will start with the major scale, which is also called "IONIAN". This will be the first mode we learn. The ionian mode (or major scale) is a seven note scale, and therefore has seven modes. The names of these seven modes MUST be memorized and they must be memorized IN ORDER.

They are (in order):

·         Ionian mode

·         Dorian mode

·         Phrygian mode

·         Lydian mode

·         Mixolydian mode

·         Aeolian mode

·         Locrian mode

In this music theory guitar lesson we will start to learn about the standard modes, including the ionian modal scale which is commonly called the major scale. These are the seven note scales that we learned in a previous lesson. 

First, we will learn the mode called "ionian" in music theory. This scale is very widely known as the "major scale". Most people already know a mode and they don't even know it, but if you have ever been taught or have heard the "do, re, mi, fa, so, la, ti, do" or the "sa, re, ga, ma, pa, dha, nee, sa" scale that they teach in most grade schools, then you have a head start.

The "Do, Re, Mi, Fa, So, La, Ti, Do" thing that you have probably heard in the past is actually the ionian mode. Notice it is a seven note scale, and if you are familiar with it, that it has a certain sound. This is a "major" scale and has the "major" sound. Very bright, happy, upbeat, sweet sounding, just the kind of scale you would want to use to write a pretty love song or a children's song. If that's not what you want to write, keep reading because this must be learned just the same.

Now, lets find out where this ionain mode comes from. I have already discussed that for whatever key we are in, if we use the root, major 2nd, major 3rd, perfect 4th, perfect 5th, major 6th, major 7th and then root again, we will get the ionian mode (the major scale).

I have already mentioned that the other six modes are right there inside Ionian, so you may be wondering where. We have already learned that the "do, re, mi, fa, so, la, ti, do" thing is the ionian mode. In this scale using our fictional key of "DO", the root note or key would be "DO". So we could call this "DO Ionian", as it would be the Ionian scale in the key of "DOE".

"Doe Ionian"

Do, Re, Mi, Fa, So, La, Ti, Do

As long as this scale is in the key of "do" it will be ionian (or the major scale). This is because we know the intervals between these notes are W,W,H,W,W,W,H. And anytime we use those intervals in that order we will get the ionian mode, regardless of what key we are in (even if its a made up key like this one).

But what happens if we use all the same notes but start with the "Re" note and end with the next "Re" note?

Now our scale would be:

re, mi, fa, so, la, ti, do, re

This would be a completely different scale and we would call it "Re Dorian". Now how the sound of this mode changes as compared to the ionian mode (or the major scale)?

The thing is that if we are starting on the second note, the intervals are now W,H,W,W,W,H,W.

By starting at the second note we are changing the key of our scale to "Re", and the intervals between the notes will be different. If the intervals are different it will no longer sound like the major scale because it isn't. It is now "Re Dorian". Remember, music notes just go around and around repeating themselves every octave. What makes different scales sound different is their intervals, the space between the notes.

Like this we can get the other modes too. This was mere an introduction and this topic will be carried forward in detail in the upcoming lessons.