Transcripts
1. Intro: Hi, My name is Jacob Lam. I'm a musician, a music teacher, and the author of the basic
book series for music. Thank you so much for
looking at my course on soloing through the
modes on the piano. We have two goals as we
go through these lessons. The first is to get
comfortable with the individual shapes and
characteristics of the modes. And the second is to
combine those modes into a master shape so
that you can be more comfortable soloing
across the entire piano. We're breaking this course
into three sections. The first covers how modes work and what the difference
is between modes, a key, and how they can
all relate together. The second section covers individual modes with their unique
characteristics and sounds. And then finally, we'll talk
about turning those into a piano solo or just riffing over them and how to use them
in the context of a song. Be sure to download the book from the course
files or the link, as well as you can
follow along and get a lot more information and see the shapes right
in front of you. I'm looking forward
to starting with you.
2. What Are Modes and Scales?: Welcome to the first official
video of the course. Now, first and most importantly, we have to understand
what a mode is and how it relates to a key or how
modes relate to each other. The best way I can explain
it is actually kind of like a coat rack with hangers hanging
off in different places. See, the coat rack would
be the key or scale, and the hangers would
be individual modes, all touching the key, starting at different places. Now, there are seven notes
in the keys were going over. And so there are seven modes, each one building out
of one of these notes. So there's a unique mode. If we're looking
at the key of C, there's a unique modes
starting from a C, and another one starting from d, and another one starting from
E. Now, every single mode, each of these seven modes runs through all seven
letters of the key, but they start and end
from there specific spot. So the first mode is going
to start at C and run through the letters of
the key until the next. See. The mode that starts at D
will run through the letters, the key, until we
get to the next D. And they all follow in that way. For example, if I'm
in the key of C, I've got no sharps and flats. And so my first mode, C, D, E, F, G, a, B. And we land at C again. If I go up to the moon
that starts from E, it will go E, F, G, a, B, C, D, E. Same exact letters, but starting and ending
in a different place. Now, what if I changed it the key to something
like the key of G? In the key of G, I
do have a sharp, my F is going to be sharp. And so for each mode, every time I come across an F, no matter where in
the mode it lands, I'm going to make
sure to play an F sharp so that I'm
playing in key. So again, if I'm
playing the first modes starting from the first
letter of the key, I'll play G, a, B, C, D, E, F sharp, and G. If I jumped down and
maybe I started a mode.
3. Mode 1: Ionian: Our first mode is
an Ionian mode. Now, Ionian always starts
from the first note, the first tone of our key. That's how it relates to the parent key and
the modes around it. So if we're in the key
of C, will be playing a, C Ionian, if we're
in the key of G, will be playing Ionian
starting from a G note. Just like chords, scales
can be major or minor. In fact, major and
minor chords are taken out of notes of the scale. So when we play a major chord, when we play a G or an a, or a C and E major chord, we're actually playing notes
borrowed from the Ionian. There are other major modes, but Ionian is our
primary major mode. That just means that
the cords we play, the major chords we play
are taken from the Ionian. Let's give it a listen on
the piano and then we'll talk about the spaces
between the notes. The steps for our Ionian, our whole half, whole,
whole, whole half. That is Ionian in the key of C, So it's in its perfect position. Every single mode is in its
perfect position when it's relating to the key of
C, which means Ionian. In the key of C
starting from a C note the second mode
in the key of C, starting from the second note. The third mode in the
key of C starting from the third note, and so on. But what if I wanted to
play in the key of a? Well, I just have
to start from an, a note and then play the half
and whole-steps accurately. So I'll start from
an a and all count. Whole, whole half, whole,
whole, whole half. And I've just played
an Ionian mode from a, which means we'd be
in the key of a.
4. Mode 2: Dorian: Our second mode is
called the Dorian mode. So it starts from the
second note of our key. In the key of C. This means that it
starts from a D note. Another way to think about
it is that every mode starts from the second note
of the mode before it. Let's take a minute and
see what that looks like. If I were playing
in the key of G. Remember from one
of our first videos that there's an F
sharp in the key of G. So if I wanted to play the
sixth mode here, well, I would start from an
e, and I would play E, F sharp, G, a, B, C, D, and E. If I wanted to start
from the seventh, note, play the seventh mode. Well, we can think about
that as starting from the seventh note in the key, or the second note
of the mode before. Each mode starts from the second note of
the previous mode. That might sound a
little confusing, but we'll see how that plays out as we go further
along the modes here. So we're looking at Dorian
and in the key of C, we're starting from
the second note, which in this key is a
D. So here is D Dorian. Now, Dorian is a minor mode. It's not the primary minor mode that all of our minor
chords come from, but it is a minor mode. So let's look at the intervals, the steps between
notes for the Dorian. And then we'll play it
starting from a C note. So we're breaking out
of our key a little bit just to see how it relates
to an Ionian mode. So the steps of Dorian, we've got whole half, whole, whole, whole, half, whole. Let's take a look at the
Dorian starting from C. First. We have our Ionian
from C. We're going to use that to compare
the rest of the modes. So we've got Ionian from C, and we've got Dorian from C. When we follow the
intervals for a Dorian, we see that the big
changes are we've got a flat third and a flat seven. Now, one more example. Let's try Dorian from a
random note on the piano. Maybe I want to start
it from an a sharp. So starting from an a sharp, I can count whole half, whole, whole,
whole, half, whole.
5. Mode 3: Phrygian: We'll take a look at our third.
6. Mode 4: Lydian: Our next mode, our fourth
mode, is the Lydian. Now, the Lydian starts from the fourth note of
whatever key we're in. So in the key of C, That's
going to be an F note. Lydian is one of
our major modes. Of course, the Ionian
is our primary major, where chords are borrowed from, but the Lydian is still major. Here's what the
Lydians sounds like starting from F and
it's perfect position. And we'll go over
the steps of Lydian. Now. Whole, whole, whole,
half, whole, whole half. Lydian is very, very
close to the Ionian. But when we play it
from a C to compare, we'll see what's
different about it. Here is Lydian starting
from a C note. Lydian is exactly
the same as Ionian, save for a sharp forth. Now, at this point
you may be wondering what's the point of having modes that are so close to one another but just
a little bit different. And we'll talk about
that later on. For now we're memorizing
individual modes, but you'll see the use of each mode when we talk
about combining them. I'm going to play
Lydian starting from a random note
and here I'll do, Well, why don't we move it
up by just a half-step. I'll do it from a C sharp.
7. Mode 5: Mixolydian: Our fifth mode is
a Mixolydian mode. So it starts on the fifth
note of our parent key. And we know by now that that
is a G in the key of C. Or if we're in the key of G, we'd start that from
the fifth note, which is in this case a, D. We're in the key of C. So let's hear where the g
Mixolydian sounds like. Again, so close to
the Ionian with one little change that
we'll see in a moment. Mixolydian is another
one of our major modes. Interestingly enough, if you're familiar with seventh chords, this is actually where our
augmented seven comes from. Play major chords
from the Ionian. We play minor chords
from our six tone, which is the AOV, and
we'll talk about next. And we play seven chords or augmented seventh chords
from the Mixolydian. Let's talk about why. First we are going
to count the steps or the intervals in Mixolydian. Whole, whole, half, whole,
whole, half, whole. Now let's play it from
a C note and you'll see exactly why in comparison
with the others, we pull our seven
chords are augmented seventh from the
Mixolydian, from C. The way the integrals fall
in the Mixolydian mode, just so happens to be the
perfect thing we need. For an augmented seven, we have a major triad with
that flat seven right there. So it's exactly like an Ionian, but it's got a flat seven
and we're borrowing all of our augmented seven
chords from a Mixolydian. Now that's important
for another reason. This is not a theory class, but that means that the Augmented seven chord
is the fifth in our key. If we're in the key of C, we can know that a G7 will fit very well in the key of C.
If we're in the key of G, We know that a D7 will fit
very well in the key of G. C, seeing how the
modes relate to chords help us to not only better understand solos
and riffs in a key, but also what chords should go in what position in the key. Finally, for the
sake of practice, let's play our Mixolydian mode, starting from a random note outside the key of
C. For this one, why don't we play
mixolydian from a B.
8. Mode 6: Aeolian: Alongside Ionian, our six mode is the
most important mode. This is the Aeolian mode, starting from the sixth note
of our parent key or scale. Why is the eolian the most
important with Ionian? It's because it's our
primary minor mode. So all of our minor chords are borrowing notes from
the Aeolian mode. Here's eolian from
its perfect position, which is a in the key of C. It's got a very
minor sound to it. I can pick and choose
notes out of that, a eolian to play an a
minor or a minor seven. The intervals of the
eolian are as follows. Whole half, whole, whole,
half, whole, whole. Now it will play
eolian starting from a C note to compare it just
like the rest of the modes. But this one, you
may want to take careful attention
to memorize how it differs from the
Ionian because that's the change from major to minor, major chords to minor chords, major keys to minor keys. These are the differences. So here's eolian from a C. Our primary minor
modes keys chords have these three
differences from major. A flat three, flat
six, and flat seven. If I keep that in mind, I can transition
maybe all my chords. I could play a C Major seven. And I could look at
those four notes. And I could say, okay, if I want to change
something to minor, I know I need to change my 367. Now there's no six being
played in this chord, but there is a 37. If we made those two flat, if we switch the mode
we're borrowing from, from Ionian to eolian, we get a minor seven chord. So cords are really just notes that we pick and choose
out of the modes. And when we shift the modes, we change the notes in
the chord we're playing, then we change the
chord entirely. Now, let's play eolian from that random
point on the piano. And I'm thinking, let's
go for an F sharp. Here is our eolian mode.
9. Mode 7: Locrian: We've come to our last mode, which is a Locrian. Locrian starts from
the seventh note of the key that you're in. Since we're practicing
in the key of C, That's going to be
starting from a B note. So here is b Locrian. Locrian is another minor mode and it's got quite
the sound to it. Let's take a look at the steps
and then play it from a C. We have half, whole, whole, half, whole,
whole, whole.
10. Mode Review: Let's do a quick mode review and listen to them side by side. In the key of C, we
have ionian, Dorian, Phrygian, Lydian,
Mixolydian, eolian, Locrian. And then we'll come
back to our first note where we would play Ionian. Again. I'm going to play
each one starting from its proper key in C. Then I'm going to play each one starting
from a C note. And that's where you're really going to hear the difference of the modes come
through. To start. Here's each mode
in the key of C. Now, my favorite part, we'll look at each mode
starting from a C, and here all the
differences and see the changes between each one. With our seven modes in mind, let's go see how we
can turn them into the solo or riff and
play over chord changes. If you're interested
in learning more, take a look in the book. There are other modes in
there called pentatonic modes that aren't a part of
the C7 primary modes. But they can still fit
into a key and you can use them to make some
really interesting results.
11. Soloing 101: Finding Shapes: Knowing the seven mode
shapes is crucial, but we don't want to stop there. Now we need to take those
shapes and turn them into rifts and solos on the piano that
we can play around. There are a couple
of ways to do that, that we're going to talk about. Right now. We want to talk about finding
shapes to play around. When we're playing guitar. I know this is piano, but when we're playing guitar, we lay modes across the strings. And we find these
shapes and play a little bit of
connect the dots. Now we want to try to do the
same thing over the piano. I think the easiest way
to do this is to write out the numbers of the mode that you're playing and play
around jumping from number to number as
you've written them out. Not only this, but then
we're going to take the shapes and
we're going to move them into different modes. So you can try, for example, if we've
got four or 57, we could try playing
for 57 in Ionian, then four or 57 in Dorian, and then for 57 in Phrygian. What we get are these
little riffs, in this case, slowly rising, finding and playing with shapes for mode two mode is fantastic. But then we can bring in the left hand or
play over a song and say that we have chords to go through
a chord progression. Well, for an example, let's say that we're
playing C to G, to D minor to F.
Not too difficult. Now, how do we take something in play it over those chords? Well, we can start really
simply and say I want to do 132 over each chord. Now, I have two ways to do this. I could do 132 in the Ionian for every
one of these courts. Since each mode share the same nodes of the parent
key than any mode that we play and can fit over any chord so long as the
cord is also in that key. So I could play my
132 over the sea, over the G, over the
liner, over the F. But there are some
notes that still don't sound perfect even though
everything is in key. And that can quickly get boring. So something we can
do with these modes is shift what mode we're playing in to fit the
chord we're playing over. Even though modes share again all those same notes of the key, each one's still has its
unique characteristic. So in the key of C, when I'm playing C, G, E minor, and F, That's my first chord. Fifth chord, third chord, and finally my fourth chord. So maybe I could play 132
out of each of those modes. One Ionian, Mixolydian, three, Phrygian, and for Lydian. So now for each of those modes, I'm playing 132 in Ionian, 132 in Mixolydian,
132 in Phrygian, and 132 in Lydian. Now, let's see if that fits a little bit better and
what we think of it, it fits a little bit better
and so we're getting closer. But one thing we can do
to really have some fun is find a shape that
we think fits well. Move it from mode to mode. Try it with different modes
over different chords. And then if we really
want to get crazy, we could find maybe
two or three shapes and alternate between them. Maybe instead of 132, we want to do 354. So we can go back and
forth over c, play 132. When we move to G, Now we're in Mixolydian, but maybe we want to play 35. And for finding two
or three shapes and revolving
between them really keeps your rifts interesting. But moving forward, we
can also talk about other ways to make our RIP
sound more interesting, faster and maybe more jazzy or, or blues ear as well.
12. Soloing 102: Chromatic notes: We've got shapes and we're moving them over
different chords. That's fantastic. But now we can spice them up
a little bit with something called a chromatic riff or
adding in chromatic notes. What this means is if we have two nodes like D
and E, For example, instead of moving from D to E, Well, we're going to add
a D-sharp in that riff. We're moving half-steps
from one note to the next. And these may not be in our
key or even in our modes. But if we pass them quickly than they add a little
bit of flair and spice. So never land on a chromatic
note unless you really want some purposeful
tension in there. But your hearers will notice
that something is off. But we can use it
as a passing tone. For example, when
I'm playing a C, instead of playing D and E, I could play, will slow it down. C, D, D-sharp. And kind of more of a blues
or jazz feel in there, but we're going to make
that D-sharp very quick. We'll use it to just
pass to the next tone of passing chromatic tone, right? You almost get this kind
of Billy Joel Vienna intro kind of feel so good. Do the same thing as we
take a shape and move it. So I'll play G, right? That was the 354 shape. And now I'm using that
passing tone, moving down. Some of this is a science, but a lot of this is an art
for you to take and play around with who find different
shapes that you like. Maybe two or three of them, mix them up over
different chords, try different scales and
then try adding in some of these chromatic tones to make them a little
more interesting. All of a sudden
you've got riffs. When you take rifts
and you add them all together and you understand how to play them over a
chord progression. Well, we could even
call that the start to a pretty good piano solo.
13. Final Project: There's a lot of
information there between learning each
of those modes and finding shapes and using
chromatic passing tones and playing these spiced up shapes over different
chord progressions. That's a lot to play with. In the future, we can go over more advanced
solar techniques now with all of this
information under our belt. For now, we're going
to talk about what a final project in this
course looks like. I want you to pick a
chord, progression. We'll start right there. And then pick one or
two shapes out of the modes that you think
sound good with the chords, then I would love to hear them. You can do it either as a
video or an audio file, or if neither of those
are available to you, you can always write
out what chords, modes, and notes you're using. I'm really excited to hear it.
14. Outro - Congratulations!: You've done it, you made it to the end, and that's amazing. This was a overview of the seven modes and
how they fit into a key. And then just some
starting techniques of how we can begin roofing and soloing
with those modes. For more information or to make any questions or comments. You can always email me at Jacob at lamb Lessons.com
or you can go to lamb Lessons.com to
reach out to me there I would love to meet you and hear about any questions you've got. Thank you again for watching and I hope to see
you in another course.
Jacob Lamb, Musician, photographer and videographer
