Modes - Part 1 (Major/Ionian) - Intermediate

The Major (Ionian) Scale - An Introduction to Modes

After the last epic post, here's a slightly shorter tutorial, and the first in a series to help you start to understand the Major scale and it's related modes.

Before we ask ourselves "what is a mode?", we must first discuss the major scale. Without knowledge of the major scale, learning about playing and using modes will be pretty pointless and difficult to understand. If you already have knowledge of the major scale, please still read on, as the discussion about modes which follows will make much more sense if you do.

The major scale can be regarded as the mother or parent scale from which the modes are created, and is a mode itself (Ionian is it's modal name). The major scale we are dealing with here is in the key of C. C major is a great scale to use when explaining modes as it contains no #s (sharps) or bs (flats), and is therefore easier to work with. The notes of C major are;

C D E F G A B C

If you have a little knowledge of the piano keyboard, these notes are all of the white keys (the black keys being #s and bs).

Below, I have posted four sheets containing all seven positions of the C major scale. There are seven scale positions because there are seven notes in the major scale. Each scale position starts on a different alphabetical note of the key (i.e.; C, D, E, etc.). A seven note scale is called a heptatonic scale (hept = 7, tonic = tone/note). We have already encountered pentatonic scales which contain five notes (pent = 5).

I have included optional fingering for several of the scale shapes. Other options are available, just use your imagination! I would suggest that you start with the seven main shapes though, for reasons which will become apparent in future lessons. I have also demonstrated how the scales look when connected together, spanning the entire guitar neck. The boxed notes are all of the C notes (the root note of the scale, i.e.; the note that the scale is named after). Memorize where these notes are in each position.

Practice all of the scales with strict alternate (down/up) picking. Then practice with hammers (ascending) and pull-offs (descending) to improve your technique and dexterity. Use a metronome to keep a log of your daily practice tempo and always put clarity ahead of speed. Patchy notes sound bad. It's always better to be slow and acurate than fast and inacurate.

Ok, so here are the scale positions...

That should keep you pretty busy for a while I hope! So now the modes...

What is a mode?

The simplest explaination of a mode is to think of it as a mood, i.e.; an emotion that you will create inside/evoke from someone when they hear you play. Music is all about emotion. Music can make you laugh, cry, feel melancholy or make you jump up and down like a lunatic! That's the power and beauty of music. It helps a musician relate her or his ideas to an audience.

For example, if you are perfoming a song that is a heart-wrenching tale of love and loss, you're going to want the music to sum up that feeling. You're not going to choose a really happy, cheery scale to do that for you. Likewise, if you're performing an upbeat, joyful pop-rock song, you're unlikely to want to use the meanest, most menacing scale to improvise with. Modes allow you to select the appropriate mood required for the song you are performing.

The major scale (or Ionian mode) is quite a cheerful scale. Play backwards from C to C and you will hear the sound of church wedding bells (hardly a dark and brooding sound!). But hidden away inside these seven notes, we can conjure up all sorts of moods and sounds, from the darkest to the brightest, depending upon how we select and play the notes of the major scale.

Because we will be selecting the appropriate notes in order to create these modes or moods, we need to get to know the names of the notes inside each scale position. These can be found in the middle column of the first three scale sheets (above). Learn the fingering first (left column) and then the note names. This will take some time but be persistent. It will happen. Refer to the sheets daily until the notes slowly sink in. Pause on the C notes (root notes) when you practice the scale shapes. The formula column (right column) will prove to be incredibly important as these lessons go on, but for now, don't worry about what this all means.

Well, that's all I'm going to say for now, but I will leave you with the mode names before I go. I'll start with the darkest and end with the brightest (think of a spectrum of colours). We will look at how to play these modes shortly, so try to get familiar with the names before the next lesson.

DARKEST

Locrian

Phrygian

Aeolian

Dorian

Mixolydian

Ionian

Lydian

BRIGHTEST

See you next lesson and happy practicing!