Establishing the sound of a mode

Writing something in a mode has less to do with chord progressions, than it does with just establishing a color, a mood....a mode.

In order to establish the sound of a mode you will need to.

 

a) Emphasis the root of the scale, make that note feel like home.

b) Emphasis the characteristic note, this is the note that gives a particular mode it's flavor.

c) Emphasis the 3rd degree of the scale, this will give the mode it's major or minor quality.

 

Modal harmony is not usually as active as harmony in a standard major or minor key.  In the simplest sense you just play a few chord that give the color of that mode.  This means the root chord, and the chords that contain the characteristic note.  Other chords can be used, but the main thing is not to make your chord progression sound like any other mode.  Since all of the relative modes contain the same notes and chords, you need to be very careful about this.  If you stray to far from the root chord and the characteristic chord, you may get sucked into the sound of another mode.