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.