Modes From A Scale
Hey everybody,
Welcome to the world of modes! You may have heard about these mysterious things called modes before and may have been intimidated. But worry not, we’ll break it down and show you a super easy way to understand them! In a nutshell, a mode is simply when you play a major scale but you just start on a different note. That’s it!
So here’s an example. Let’s say we have a G major scale which consists of the folloing notes: G A B C D E F# G
To create a mode, let’s start on a different note in the scale. Let’s try A, the second note. Our scale becomes A B C D E F# G A.
Same notes, just different order. And that’s all there is to it! So depending on which note you start on will determine the name of the mode.
If you start on the second note it’s called the Dorian mode
…the third note would be Phyrgian
…The fourth is Lydian
…The fifth is Mixolydian
…The sixth is Aeolian
…and the seventh would be Locrian.
If you are confused about anything, please let us know and we’ll work with you until you understand it! Good luck guys!
If you have a general understanding of how modes work you’ll be good to go. Here are a few questions to quiz you:
1) If you start a scale on the fourth tone, what mode would that be?
2) What about the second tone?
3) and the seventh tone?
4) Let’s go the other way now. What major scale is C# Phrygian based off of?
5) What major scale is B Mixolydian based off of?
6) What about D Aeolian?
1) Lydian
2) Dorian
3) Locrian
4) A major
5) E major
6) F major
