A Beginner's Guide to Modes on the Guitar

1. A Beginner's Guide To Modes: Introduction & Welcome: Hi guys Karatsuba here from Skillshare and I'm very excited to share with you my latest course entitled beginner's guide to modes. In this course, we're gonna be looking at the seven modes to one octave. We're going to be then learning them as three different patterns that you can work with with your finger shapes. And then we're going to use those patterns to create a formula that helps us learn all seven modes all across the fretboard. In any case. We'll also be talking about a few of the characteristics of each of this mode. It's small detail. And then when you're ready, we can move on to the more advanced lessons. So if you're excited, pick up that gets out and let's learn some modes. 2. ABGTM pt 1: Note names, Intervals & Modal characteristics : Hi guys. Today we're gonna be talking about the age old topic, the seven diatonic modes. Now probably many of you have heard them or use them or been taught something or rather about them. But today, I just wanted to talk about the seven modes. We're going to learn them. We're going to learn their characteristics. And we're also going to learn a formula and a hack to get across the whole fretboard using three notes per string patents for all seven of the modes. You can actually start using them for composition and it provides station and that kind of thing. Okay, So I want to start this lesson by talking about the two most common modes. Ionian, which is mode one, and eolian, which is mod six. Now whenever people are talking about Ionian, it's essentially just a fancy name for the major scale. So if we've heard the term C major and G major before, if we want to get modally specific with those, we could say C Ionian, g Ionian, it doesn't matter, it's the same scale, so we're just getting used to the modal terminology, if you will. The other one that's most common is the sixth mode, which is eolian, which actually stems from the natural minor scale. So it's just a fancy name for the natural minor scale. So let's have a look at both of those scales in more depth. Alright, so now we're going to look at the C major scale, or the C Ionian scale to one octave. So I want to start from third fret of the fifth string, then jump to five. Then I'm going to play 235 on the fourth string. And that was an a and f and a g naught. And then to finish that off, I'm going to jump to the second fret of the third string. Then I'm going to play 245 on that string. And that's gonna be an a, a, B, a, C, which is the octave. Let's go C, D, E, F, G, a, B, C. So that's the C Ionian scale to one octave, which as we said before, is basically just and maiden voyage major scale. So let's talk about the AL in scale to one octave, which is essentially the natural minor. So we're going to start from fifth fret of the sixth string. And I'm going to play 578, which is ABC. And I'm going to play the same thing on the fifth string 578, which is a, D, E, and F. And then I'm going to jump to 57 on the fourth. Altogether, 57857857. And that's going a, B, C, D, E, F, G, a. And that's your basic eolian natural minor scale to one octave. 3. ABGTM pt2: The Dorian Mode: Now I want us to talk about the second mode, which is Dorian. I've often thought of Dorian as a minor scale with a sense of hope. It's used quite a lot in fusion and jazz and even film scores as well. Always has that kind of sadness, but it has kind of a happy resolve to it as well. So what I want us to do is learn the positions of the scale, talk about the nodes and the intervals, and try and listen out for those specific characteristics that make dorian Dorian. Okay, so before we jump into learning D Dorian, I want to do the D eolian first, and then we can compare the two to each other. I want to start from fifth fret of the fifth string on the day note. And I'm going to play 578. I'm going to be the same thing on the fourth string, 578. And then 57 on the third day, eolian scale. D, E, F, G, a, B-Flat, C, D. Now if I want to do a d Dorian scale, it's a very similar scale, but I'm just going to find the sixth note of the eolian and sharpen that or race that a semitone. And that is the main characteristic note of Doreen to get that raised sixth involved and get those characteristics through and you play. So I'm going to play 578 on the fifth string is normal. 579 on the fourth string in C, d. So that's the only difference in the two scales, is just the B-flat on the eolian and the B-natural in the Dorian. And be sure to highlight that characteristic when you're playing enduring. Okay, so we've established that Dorian is a minor scale with a sense of hope. And we've heard the DAO lean and the D Dorian back-to-back and heard that little difference between the regular minus six and that raise Dorian six. So what I wanted to do was show you a chord progression from a song called wicked game by crusades. That what we're dealing with here is a B minor and a major and inhale. Now you notice when I get to that, a starting sad, happy, hopeful resolve. Now if I was to play wicked game again, you will notice that a had a G sharp in it. And that Jay Sharp is the sixth note of the beam b Dorian scale. If I do it again in eolian and include that J, I'm going to end up with an a minor at the end. Now ending on a sad chord. So you can see the main characteristic on trying to get across here is eolian, Israeli, really sad and Dorian. We have that mindset with that sense of hope and that's the sound we really want to highlight with soloing are composing in this mode. 4. ABGTM pt3: The Phrygian Mode: Okay, so let's talk about mode three, which is Phrygian. Phrygian as a minor scale, but it has a tense evilness to it. And that's probably one of the main reasons wants used so frequently in flamenco and thrash, that kind of minus sad sound, but the evil tension as well. So what we're gonna do is we're going to have a look at a basic eolian scale, the natural minor and then the a Phrygian. And we're just going to pair them up against each other and hear those different characteristics. Alright, so let's talk about a Phrygian. I want us to think of this as a natural minor or an Aeolian scale with a flattened second. So let's do a straight Aeolian scale from seven of the fifth string. I'm going to play 78910. The same On the fourth 78910. Then I jumped to the third string 79. And those notes, E, F sharp, G, a, B, C, D. As I said before, I want to find the second note of that scale and then flatten it. So now we're going to end up with this 7810789107. And a Phrygian scale goes E, F, G, a, B, C, D. So it's all natural notes. So the most important thing for us to remember, interval wise, between the first and the second on the Phrygian, I have a semitone, which is usually on an eolian or natural minor scale. I'd have a full-time. So we really want to ride that 10-second to get that evil Phrygian flavor across. Okay, so now that we've heard the difference between eolian, natural minor and Phrygian, we can talk about how that kind of sounds in the context of a song. Now I wanted to take probably one of my favorite for June riffs from symphony of destruction by mega death. Now this has got that obvious. That semitone interval between the root and the second note. Now if I put that in natural minor, and it'll have a full tone between the root and the second. We're going to hear this. A lot less tension between the full-time in the open note and the first fret, the semitone and the open notes. So that's the main thing to keep in mind with phrygian, is really highlighting that flat second. 5. ABGTM pt4: The Lydian Mode: So now I want to talk about the fourth mode, which is Lydian. We're gonna be learning in the key of F. And one of the things I want us to think about when we're playing in lydian is that is a major scale, so it does have the happy sound to it. But the main characteristic of it is that it's sort of tents and SPAC. There's a sense of one to two. It it's kinda dreamy as well. So we're gonna do, is we're going to have a look at a basic f Ionian scale to hear straight major. And then we're going to tweak it a little bit and then hear that dreamy, spacey Lydian vibe too. So I want us to think of the F Lydian scale as a major scale or an Ionian scale with erased forth. So let's start off by looking at an F Ionian. I'm going to play a ten on the fifth, 7810 on the fourth, 7910 on the third. And those notes are G, a, B-flat, C, D, E, and then the F again at the bottom. So when we're doing that raised forth, I'm going to find the fourth note of the Ionian 1234. And then I'm going to raise that are sharp and a semitone. So now we're going to end up with ten on the fifth, 7910 on the fourth, 7910 on the third. So it was just that one note that we tweet that raised forth. And because this is relative to say, we're going to end up with all natural notes. So we're gonna go F, G, a, B natural C. So the most important thing to remember where we are getting M Modal flavor from for F Lydian is that fourth difference is between the interval between the third and the fourth note on the Ionian is only a semitone. And on Lydian it's a full tone. So we really want to use that raised forth to get the characteristic of validity in mode out. Now we've established the key difference between Ionian Lydian is that one note that raised forth, which creates all the tension, all of that dreamy sound, that kind of spacey sound. So what I wanted to do was I wanted to take one of my favorite licks and themes of all time, the opening from the Simpsons. We're going to play that and listen to the Lydian aspect of it. Those two tenths notes. So I'll play the whole thing here, those F sharps causing all that tension. Now if I put some F naturals in there, we're going to hear a pretty doll fourth interval now. So we've lost all of that tension in that quirkiness and that's spacey sounds. So keep in mind that when we're playing in a Lydian Qi or riding with something with the Lydian vibe. We need to highlight the crap out of that raised forth to get the full emotion, feeling and vibe of the Lydian motocross. 6. ABGTM pt5: The Mixolydian Mode: Okay, so now I want to talk about the fifth mode, which is Mixolydian. I think of Mixolydian as a major scale or major mode, but it has a bluesy vibe to it. It's also very frustrating and triumphant. It's used a lot in glam and 80s **** rock in that stadium rock, good time sound. I'll a poison motley crew, that sort of thing. But it's also used in kind of Celtic Elvish music and also even in Indian music as well. So it's an incredibly diverse scale. What I want us to do when we're learning it today is I want to play a G Ionian scale or just the straight major. Then we're going to play the Mixolydian next to it as well, so we can hear a regular major and the Mixolydian major. So we can really hone in on those Mixolydian characteristics. Let's have a look at a g Ionian first, and then we'll have a look at the g Mixolydian so that we can see how both of these major scales pair up to one another. So I want to start off by playing 35 on the sixth string, 235 on the fifth. And true for five on the fourth. And those notes are of course, G, a, B, C, D, F sharp, and G are the important characteristic to remember about Mixolydian is that we have a flattened seven. So I'm going to go through the Ionian 1234567. I'm going to flatten out a semitone. So we're gonna do basically the Ionian scale again, but we're going to flatten that seventh and we're going to end up with an F natural. Instead of an F sharps, it's gonna go G, a, B, C, D, E, F, and then G again, 35235235. The important characteristic to remember with that is the distance between the seventh and the octave. On the Ionian scale. I'd have a semitone there. But on the Mixolydian, I've got a full time gap between both of those nodes and that full-time or that flattened seventh note before the octave is the most important characteristic of the Mixolydian mode that you want to highlight to get the full colors of the motor cross. Okay, so now we've established the key difference between Mixolydian and Ionian is the flat seven, which gives it a sort of fist raising good time qualities. So what I want us to do is I wanted to take one of my favorite songs of all time, sweet child of mine, which is in Mixolydian, have a look at diverse chord progression, which goes from a D to a C, which is a full-time from the octave or tonic, and then it goes to a j and then results back to the Dagan. So the main thing is the data to say strikes environment, they're kind of frustrating on the J as well. Okay, so now what I want to do is I'm going to do that same idea again, but in d Ionian, so we're not gonna be able to go full-time back from the octave. We can only go back a semitone and then work through the other chords in the d Ionian scale. So here we go. Seems to me not nearly as rewarding. J, still good times, but going back a semitone from the tonic to get to the major seven instead of that good time flat dominant seventh, it just doesn't compare. So whenever we're working in the Mixolydian mode, if we're composing or for improvising with it, just got to make sure we highlight that fist rising flat seventh note. 7. ABGTM pt6: The Locrian Mode: Okay, so now we're going to talk about the final mode, mode seven, which is the Locrian mode. Now, this is a very, very evil mode. It's as though Phrygian and Gordon Ramsay had a child together. It's just evil, it's dark, it's angry. I've only really heard it used by thrashing evil rock bands like death, Judas Priest, Slayer, may be Testament. A couple of children and vote him songs as well. It's the very, very evil mode. So what we're gonna do is we're going to learn in the key of B. We're going to do it in natural minor first, so B natural minor. Then we're gonna do a locker in scale and we're going to hear those evil tense characteristics that we want to hone in on to get the full locker and sound. Okay, so before we learn the b Locrian mode, I wanna do it as an eolian first and then we'll make some tweaks to the scale to get the full locker and sound. So I want to start off by playing 7910 on the sixth string, 7910 on the 5th, and then 79 on the fourth. And it's gonna go B, C-sharp, D, E, F-sharp, G, a, B. Thing about the Locrian scale that we're gonna do to the minor scale. To make that happen, we're going to flatten the second note. That's gonna be flattened. So we're gonna have a flat second lack the Phrygian. But we're also going to flatten the fifth note, which is gonna give us a pretty evil intervals. So we're going to go altogether. That was 7810 on the sixth, 7810 on the fifth, 79 on the fourth. So do not get mistaken with Phrygian. The most important thing to remember is also that it has the flat five. So we've got a flat and a flat five. And we're gonna get the evil dark colors of the mode if we highlight those two nodes. So now we've established that locker and is essentially got that minus sound. But it's got that half-diminished vibe as well, which gives it the flat second, which almost has a Phrygian sound. And then it has the flat five as well. But just kinda that devil summoning sounds, it's a very, very dark scale. Keep in mind that it isn't used in very many contexts, it's only in the darker, more unpleasant contexts. This is probably the mode that you will see the least unless sharing the thrash metal band. 8. ABGTM pt7: 3 note per string patterns & formula to learn entire fretboard : So now we have all seven of the modes to one octave and we have a rough idea of the characteristics. So now I wanted to talk about ways to get across the fretboard using six strings scales, using three notes per string patterns. So over the last couple of years, I've been teaching a method to help people remember the whole of the modes across the fretboard using a very, very simple formula. One thing I realized when I was playing all of the modes is there's only three potential shapes that can come up. It's gonna be a ring shape and middle shape and the spread shape. Okay, so let's talk about these three shapes in a little bit more detail. I'm going to do all of the shapes from fret five, and they all involve the pointer and the pinkie. So we're going to talk about which of the middle fingers were using, whether it be the middle of the ring or whether we're doing a stretch. So the first check we're gonna be dealing with, I'm going to play 568 on the top string. The fingers I'm using there a pointer, middle and pinky. And the intervals from the root node, semitone. And then full-time, we call that the middle finger shape, also M for short, middle pinky, semitone whole time, and we'll call that M for short. Let's have a look at the next shape. Now. I'm going to go 578. Now. The thing is I was using was the pointer finger, the ring, and the pinky intervals for that chain. From the root where a whole tone and a semitone. So now we have middle shape or M and M ring shape or are at the last one. Let's have a look at the frets first, I'm going to play 579. And I'm using my pointer and my middle again, but you'll notice I'll have it biggest stretch this out, so stretched middle. And then the pinky is gonna be on fret nine. And I call that the spread shape or the stretch shape, both with an S, it doesn't really matter. And then the intervals for that i going from the root node, whole tone or full-time, and another full-time. So now we have more three shapes. Middle shape, the ring shape, and the spreadsheet. And those three shapes will make up all seven of that diatonic modes using the three notes per string patterns. Okay, so now we have all three of those shapes. I want to show you how that relates to all the modes across the fretboard. Now if we think for a second that we're gonna be doing six strings scales with three notes per string in seven different modal positions. That 718 note scales. It's heaps of information to remember, which is why advisors little system to make you guys realize, well, maybe isn't that terrifying? The formula that we're going to use for all seven of the modes is gonna be made up of those three shapes in this one specific order. Spread, spread, spread, middle, middle ring, ring. And then that repeats, or simple way to think of it as SSS, M, MRR, SSS, MM, RR. And all seven of them modes are going to relate to that. I want to have a close up of the G Ionian mode with all of the modes that are connected to it. It's also relative to eolian as well. So we're going to be having a look at g Ionian to six strings. A Dorian to six strings. B, Phrygian to six strings. C, Lydian to six strings. D, Mixolydian to six strings, eolian to six strings, and F-sharp locker into six strings. Let's have a closer look. Okay, so now we're going to have a look at the whole fretboard using three notes per string patterns in the key of G Ionian, and all of the modes that are relative to that. I'm going to start from a JNI. On the third fret of the sixth string. I'm going to play 357 and the same on the next string. And the short way we can think of that is spread, spread. And then I'm going to play 457 on the fourth and the third string, which we can think of as middle, middle. And then the last two strings I'm going to play 578578. We can think of that as Ring, ring. So when I think of Ionian, I can think of that a spread, spread, middle, middle ring, ring. And that will of course modulator different keys. But we just want to stay in G Ionian for this context where we end. When we talked about that big pattern before, we end on that second ring. That will be the beginning of our next mode, which will be Dorian. So we're going to start on the first string and we're going to go like this. We'll talk about that pattern we had before for a Dorian, when I stopped from Fred F5, I'm going to play 578. And then the next string, 579, next string 579, and the next drink, 579. On the last two strings, I'm going to play 78107810. And altogether That's going to make a ring spread, spread, spread, middle, middle, which is relative to our other pattern. Of course, where that ends, we can start the Phrygian. So let's go to fret of the sixth string for b Phrygian. I'm going to play middle ring, ring, spreads, spreads, spread. And that's gonna give us a Phrygian. And because we end on a spread and next mode Lydian is also going to start from a spread. So now I can play from Friday 8th, the C Lydian, I'm going to do spread, middle, middle ring, ring spread. So it's just that little bit easier than trying to remember every single note and working from ten. Now we can use the tabs today just to get us started. But once we get used to that, say for instance, I decided to go all doing a Lydian. I can just find a different route note and say spread, middle, middle ring, ring spread. And that's my a Lydian. Let's have a look what we've got so far. We've got a J ionian, Dorian, Phrygian. Lydian. Just ended on a spreads. So we're going to start D Mixolydian tin. I'm going to do three spreads to middles in a ring. Then I've ended on a ring. I'm going to stop my eolian from a, from a ring finger shape. I'm gonna do two rings, three spreads in the middle, ring, ring, spread, spread, spread. And the middle. And I lost my which is Locker in, we've ended on the middle shape. We're going to start from the middle shape, but I'm going to have two in a row here. So for F-sharp Locrian, I'm going to do two middles, two rings and two spreads. Middle, middle green, green spread, spread. That's all seven of the diatonic modes. Let's go through it from the star g, Ionian, Hi Dorian, Phrygian. C Lydian, Mixolydian, eolian, and finally F-sharp Locrian. So one thing you'll notice as we cycled through all seven of those modes. And the formula is that we're never going from a spread to a ring, a middle to spread, or even a rink tool middle. So if you keep in mind that those three situations never occur, it kinda makes it a little bit easier to remember the rest, the scales and stop you from getting confused. What I wanna do now is show you all seven of those modes in the key of G Ionian, I'm going to do an ascend and descend of H scale over a backing track. That's a 120 beats per minute with a quaver or eighth note pulse. Now we know all seven of the diatonic modes, their basic characteristics, and how to get across the fretboard using three notes per string patents. So this is getting you guys on the right path. But if you want a more in-depth approach, how to use Doreen properly Mixolydian, yada, yada, yada. I'm going to be bringing out individual lessons for each mode so we can hone in on their characteristics and work on the composition and improvisational element of h. One of those. Stay tuned for that. I hope you guys have enjoyed this lesson and I'll catch you all very soon.