Modes
and chord scales
Modes can be used in a couple of different
ways. Either as the tonal center for a song or section
of a song, or as a scale that can be used over a specific
chord.
You can build a chord from each degree of
the major scale, and you can build a mode from each degree
of the major scale. Therefore each chord will have a corresponding
mode associated with it.
Below is a chart the 7 modes and the basic
triads and 7th chords associated with them.
|
Ionian
|
Dorian
|
Phrygian
|
Lydian
|
Mixolydian
|
Aeolian
|
Locrian
|
C
I |
Dm
IIm |
Em
IIIm |
F
IV |
G
V |
Am
VIm |
Bdim
VIIdim |
Cmaj7
Imaj7 |
Dm7
IIm7 |
Em7
IIIm7 |
Fmaj7
IVmaj7 |
G7
V7 |
Am7
VIm7 |
Bm7b5
VIIm7b5 |
Now I know that you are thinking.......if all of these
modes contain the same notes, why would I want to think
of a different scale for every chord?
Say you have this chord progression that you are going
to improvise over.
C
Am Dm G
You could look at this chord progression,
see that all of the chords come from a C major scale,
and just improvise with that scale. That is key area thinking.
All of those chords are in one key, so you would just
blanket all of them with one scale. The advantage of this
type of thinking is that it doesn't require much thought.
You can instinctively search for melodies in that scale.
The disadvantage is that you are not considering how the
notes in the scale sound in relationship to each individual
chord.
Another way that you could think about improvising
over this chord progression is to think about how the
notes in the C major scale relate to the notes of each
chord. This is also going to be very important in creating
bass lines
Below are the 4 modes for the C Am Dm
G chord progression.
C
D E F G A B C - C
Ionian Mode (Major)
1
2 3 4 5 6 7 1
|_____|_____| = C
|
C
= C Ionian (Major)
Scale functions indicated
|--2--|-----|--3--|--4--|
-1st string
|--6--|-----|--7--|--1--|
|--3--|--4--|-----|--5--|
|-----|--1--|-----|--2--|
-4th string
|
8th
fret
*
The notes in red
are the notes of the chord within the scale form...the
arpeggio.
|
A
B C D E F G A -
A Aeolian Mode (Minor)
1
2 b3 4 5 b6 b7 1
|_____|_____| = Am
|
Am
= A Aeolian
Scale functions indicated
|--4--|-----|--5--|-b6--|
-1st string
|--1--|-----|--2--|-b3--|
|--5--|-b6--|-----|-b7--|
|-----|-b3--|-----|--4--|
-4th string
|
8th
fret
|
D E
F G A B C D -
D Dorian Mode
1
2 b3 4 5 6 b7 1
|_____|_____| = Dm
|
Dm
= D Dorian
Scale functions indicated
|--1--|-----|--2--|-b3--|
-1st string
|--5--|-----|--6--|-b7--|
|--2--|-b3--|-----|--4--|
|-----|-b7--|-----|--1--|
-4th string
|
8th
fret
|
G
A B C D E F G -
G Mixolydian Mode
1
2 3 4 5 6 b7 1
|_____|_____|
= G
|
G
= G Mixolydian
Scale functions indicated
|--5--|-----|--6--|-b7--|
-1st string
|--2--|-----|--3--|--4--|
|--6--|-b7--|-----|--1--|
|-----|--4--|-----|--5--|
-4th string
|
8th
fret
|
It definitely takes more work to learn
the neck of the bass on this level, but if you take
the time to work out these ideas, your improvisations
and bass lines will be much stronger. You just need
to work on one piece of the puzzle at a time.
Page 4, Parallel modes
Page 6, Major and
minor modes 
