The Guitar Lesson Review Blog

Using ‘Pedal Notes’ To Get The Sound of Modes

Much has been written on the topic of the modes of a scale, and how to play and improvise using them. In this post, I’m going to show how using ‘pedal notes’ can help you hear the overall sound of a particular mode.

If you take the C-major scale notes, starting on C as the root note, then progressing through the rest of the scale, you have the notes:  C   D   E   F   G   A  B  C.  This is shown on the following fretboard diagram:

Now take the bottom (6th) E string, and tune it down first to D (down 2 frets/semitones), then down another 2 frets/semitones to C. Make sure it’s in tune with the root note of the C-major scale, which is the 3rd fret on the 5th (A) string.

Now, play the bottom (6th) string, so that it sounds this low C note. As this note is sounding, play the C-major scale, as shown above, starting on the 5th string, 3rd fret. The low C note on the 6th string is the ‘pedal note’, and you can get a sense of the overall sound of the C-major scale notes against it, it gives the C-major scale notes a sort of ‘tonal context’.

Now if you take these notes of the C-major scale, and instead of starting on C, start the scale on D, you get the notes D E F G A B C D. This is known as D Dorian Mode. In simple terms, the D Dorian mode uses the same notes as C-Major, it just starts and ends on a different note (D), and so has a different interval structure than the major scale.

In particular, since the 3rd note of the D Dorian mode is F, this interval D -> F is a minor third, so the overall character of the Dorian mode is minor. This revised diagram shows the D Dorian mode notes, starting and ending on the note D.

Now you can use the same ‘pedal note’ technique with the D Dorian mode. Take the bottom (6th) string, which you had tuned down to a low C. Now, tune it up by 2 frets/semitones, to a low D. Check the tuning, it should sound the same note as the open 4th (D) string, although it will be an octave lower.

Sound the bottom (6th) string, and as this low D note sounds, play the D Dorian mode as shown in the 2nd diagram above, starting on the 5th string, 5th fret (D). This should help to give you a sense of the sound or ‘tonal context’ of the D Dorian mode.

Using this ‘pedal note’ technique with different scale modes can give you a much better sense of their overall sound than if you just played the mode notes by themselves. It can be used on an acoustic guitar, but I think works better on an electric, with a longer sustain when you sound the low pedal note.

A similar technique is to record a keyboard sounding a low D, and play the same D Dorian mode pattern over it.

Obviously this can be applied to other modes. For example, if you now tune your bottom (6th) string up to it’s regular E note, you could play the E Phrygian Mode, by starting off from E (4th string, 2nd fret), instead of D.

To get a much deeper understanding of scales and modes, the Guitar Scale Mastery course has a very thorough treatment of scales, intervals, their relationships, and more importantly, how you can actually use them in your guitar playing and solos. This course also has some audio tracks called ‘Guitar Scale Activators’, which are similar in principle to the pedal notes outlined above, to help you get the ‘tonal context’ of different scales. See our review here.

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