21
Jul
2009
Using ‘Pedal Notes’ For Modes - Part II
In a previous post on this topic, I talked about using pedal notes (constant sounding low notes) while playing the major scale modes, to try and hear the characteristic sound of the mode.
In that post, I suggested playing the pedal note tone on one of the lower strings, while playing the mode pattern on the upper strings, tuning the lower string as appropriate. This is a good technique to learn, as you can use it when practicing anywhere.
Here, I’m going to continue on from the previous post, detail the other modes, and there’s an MP3 file with the pedal notes, which you can use to practice with.
The C Major Scale
As with last time, we’re going to look at modes derived from the major scale, and for our examples, we’ll use the C Major scale, as follows:
The modes of the major scale are produced by using exactly the same notes as the major scale, but starting on a different root note. This means that the relationship between the consecutive notes in the scale is different, since the intervals between them aren’t the same as the regular major scale.
And it is this different interval pattern that gives each of the modes their own distinctive sound.
The Pedal Notes
The important thing to focus on with these modes is their sound relative to their root note. If you just play the different mode patterns given below on their own, then because the scale notes are exactly those of the C Major scale, it’s going to sound exactly like C Major.
This is where the ‘pedal notes’ come into play. The following MP3 track is fairly basic, but has each of the different notes of the C Major scale (C, D, .., B) being played in turn, for about 30 sec on each note. Right click on the link & select ‘Save As’ to download it.
Have a look through the info below, then use this track to play along with each of the modes in turn. The track starts with pedal note #1 (C), for playing the first mode pattern (C Ionian). Each time the pedal note moves up, you should move on to playing the next pattern (e.g. D Dorian, E Phrygian, etc, as described below).
There are 7 different notes in the major scale, so there are 7 different major scale modes, below are charts for each one. All the patterns use the 8th fret C Major scale pattern.
Ionian Mode
The first mode feels like a bit of a cheat - it’s exactly C Major! That is, another way of saying the ‘C Major Scale’ is to say ‘C Ionian Mode’.
The root notes of the scale (C) are shown in blue, the other scale tones in yellow. The key on the diagram shows some flattened (green), and sharpened (orange) tones, however, in the Ionian mode, you’ll notice neither of these appear.
This is because I mean that the notes are flattened / sharpened relative to the regular major scale for that key, since we’re showing C Major, there are no flattened / sharpened notes.
The numbers on each note just indicate the number of that note in the scale (2nd, 3rd, 4th, etc).
Play this pattern along with the first pedal note on the track (C), it should have a fairly familiar sound.
Dorian Mode
Moving on to the first ‘real’ mode, the Dorian mode is built from the second note of the major scale. Since we’re using the C Major scale notes, the second note is D, so the blue root note in the following diagram shows where D occurs and the Dorian mode starts.
Looking at this diagram, notice the 3rd & 7th notes in the D Dorian mode. These are marked green (and prefixed with ‘b’), meaning they are flattened by a semitone (1 fret) from the regular 3rd & 7th notes that occur when you play a regular D major scale.
The 3rd note of the D major scale is F# (e.g. on the guitar, the 5th string, 9th fret). In D Dorian mode, this note is flattened to F (e.g. on the guitar, the 5th string, 8th fret), which is why this is coloured green on the chart.
Similarly with the 7th note, in the regular D major scale, this note is C# (4th string, 11th fret), in D Dorian mode, this is flattened to C (4th string, 10th fret).
Why is this relevant? Well, the sound characteristic of a scale or mode is determined by the intervals between the notes. If you were to play a regular D major scale starting from the D on the 6th string, 10th fret, the 3rd note would be F# (5th string, 9th fret), and it would have a major sound.
In D Dorian mode, the 3rd note is F (5th string, 8th fret), which gives it a minor sound.
The Dorian mode is very similar to the Aeolian mode (see below), the difference between them is that the Aeolian mode also has a flattened 6th note.
This gives the Dorian mode its character, which you can hear if you play this along with the 2nd pedal note on the track (D). When playing it, try to emphasize the fact that it’s centered on D as the root. You can do this by playing notes from this pattern that start from or resolve to D (the blue notes in the diagram).
As well as playing the straight scale pattern, try and make up D-centered licks and phrases to play over the D pedal tone note.
The Dorian mode has been said to have a ‘jazzy’ feel, partly because of the 6th note, but make your own mind up when playing it over the D pedal note.
Phrygian Mode
Moving along, the 3rd mode, based on the 3rd note of the major scale is the Phrygian mode. Here’s E Phrygian mode:
There are lots of flattened tones here, in particular the 3rd note is flattened, so it’s a minor sounding mode. Also the 2nd & 6th notes are flattened, which give it a quite distinctive sound (some say ‘Spanish’ sounding..).
Play this over the 3rd note on the track (E).
Lydian Mode
The next mode is a major mode, built on the 4th note of the scale, here’s F Lydian mode:
It’s a major mode, because the 3rd note in the mode is not flattened (i.e. so from the root R to the 3rd is a major 3rd).
The only note in it that’s different from the major scale is the 4th, which is sharpened. In the regular F major scale, the 4th note is B-flat (4th string, 8th fret). In F Lydian mode, the 4th note is B (4th string, 9th fret).
This difference gives the Lydian mode its own quality, kind of ‘loose’ or ’spacey’. Try experimenting with this pattern over the 4th pedal note on the MP3 track, F.
Mixolydian Mode
From the 5th note of the major scale, we get another major sounding mode, which is Mixolydian. Here’s G Mixolydian:
Looking at the chart, only the 7th note is different from the regular major scale. In G Mixolydian, the 7th note is F (3rd string, 10th fret), whereas in regular G major, it would be F# (3rd string, 11th fret).
This characteristic makes the Mixolydian mode perfect for jazz/blues solos over dominant 7th major chords.
For example, in G major, the dominant 7th I chord is G7. The 7th note which forms part of G7 is the note F, which is exactly the flattened 7th tone of this G Mixolydian pattern.
So, you could use a G Mixolydian pattern to solo over a G7 chord. If you used a regular G major scale, you’d have to be sure to miss out the regular 7th note, F#, as it would clash with the flattened 7th note of the G7 chord.
Play this mode over the 5th note on the MP3 track (G).
Aeolian Mode
The 6th mode is a minor mode, the Aeolian mode, here is A Aeolian:
Another name for this is the natural minor scale. It has a slight mournful / wistful sound, and works well over minor chord progressions in that key.
Try licks & phrases from this mode over the 6th pedal note on the track (A).
Locrian Mode
Finally, we get to the last mode, which is a rather strange one, the Locrian mode, built from the 7th note of the scale. Here’s B Locrian:
Looking at the diagram, the only notes that are unmodified from the regular B major scale are the root (B) and 4th (E).
The Locrian is a diminished mode, since the 3rd & 5th notes are flattened (amongst others). This gives it a very strange sound, which can be difficult to fit in over regular chords, although it can be said to have an ‘Eastern’ type sound.
Try playing this one over the last pedal note on the track, B.
So those are the seven modes derived from the major scale.
Grouping the Modes
In the sequence above, we’ve gone through the modes as they occur when going through the notes in the major scale.
However, it’s also useful to group them according to their overall character:
Major: Ionian, Lydian, Mixolydian
Minor: Dorian, Phrygian, Aeolian
Diminished: Locrian
Looking at the modes this way will help you pick one for the type of music you’re playing, or the sound you want to create.
Experiment!
It can be very easy to get really absorbed in all the theory behind modes. While it’s good to understand where they come from, and how they’re formed, the most important thing is to actually hear for yourself how they sound.
Practice playing them over the appropriate pedal notes on the above track, and as I mentioned above, don’t just play the mode pattern up & down in sequence, but try and form licks & phrases which are centered around the particular root note of that mode. That way you’ll internalise the sound of the mode better.
Practising them over the pedal notes like this will also make it more likely that you’ll be able to automatically incorporate licks using them in your regular playing.
Also, don’t feel that you have to use every mode - only use the ones that sound good or useful to you in some musical context.
Further uses for the MP3 pedal mode track - if you load it up in Transcribe or Audacity, you can focus in on one of the pedal notes in particular, and have it loop round continuously on this pedal note. Alternatively, use the ‘transpose’ features of these programs to shift the track into another key entirely, so you can practice the modes from another key.
Further Info
For a much more in-depth treatment of modes and scales in general, check out the Guitar Scale Mastery course. In this course, the instructor, Craig Bassett will guide you through a series of lessons designed to help you understand and internalise scales, but most importantly, be able to incorporate them easily into your own playing and solos.
Read my review of this course here.
