If you're like most guitarists, you cringe when you hear the word "mode."
But there’s really nothing to fear. A mode is just a series of musical tones arranged in a stepwise fashion.
Today the
If you're like most guitarists, you cringe when you hear the word "mode."
But there’s really nothing to fear. A mode is just a series of musical tones arranged in a stepwise fashion.
Today the term refers to the scales used in Western music from 400–1500 A.D. Commonly associated with Gregorian chants, these “church modes”—the names and origins of which were derived from Greek cities—also appeared in folk music throughout Europe and the Middle East. Each mode was said to convey a particular emotion or effect, but their exact meanings were lost due to philosopher Manlius Boenthius’ mistranslation of an important text circa 510. Consequently, the names of the modes were reassigned to the seven degrees of the major scale, and most of their history and original function disregarded.
But rather than focus on such arcane elements, we’ll concentrate here on the construction, function and application of the modal system we use today.
IT’S ALL THE SAME SCALE!
To begin, let’s examine the modal system through the lens of a single scale—the F major scale. By writing it out and stacking 3rds atop each of its notes, we arrive at the F major diatonic system. An analysis of the chords in this system yields the basic harmonic framework (FIGURE 1) for the Western musical language.
FIGURE 1
The chords occur as follows:
I major 7th (1 3 5 7)
ii minor 7th (1 b3 5 b7)
iii minor 7th (1 b3 5 b7)
IV major 7th (1 3 5 7)
V dominant 7th (1 3 5 b7)
vi minor 7th (1 b3 5 b7)
vii half-diminished 7th, or m7b5 (1 b3 b5 b7)
Similarly, playing this seven-note sequence (F G A Bb