Im trying to figure out the different uses for these and I have some questions. Please bear with me here as theory is new to me Tonight I was playing with a jam track in Aminor (vi- vii -I -ii -iii -IV- V and back to vi). I spent alot of time in the A aeolian mode starting and landing on each chord tone as they progressed. An example would be playing A Aeolian and finishing on A note. Emphasis of the root note of each chord really helped the improv and I was pleased. After I while I started landing a step above the root tone and I liked the results. So here are the questions
1. When i emphasised the notes a step above the tonic of each chord would this be considered playing in the dorian mode?
2. If im playing in A minor with emphasis on the note above the tonic over each chord that passes is it still dorian mode?
3. Superimposing modes didnt sound as cool (A dorian, A phrigian) what things can make those sound good?
4. What types of things can be done over the Major chords of the progression?
5. Parallel and relative mode explaination?
Its coming together and the answers to these should really clear some things up.
Regards,
Andy
I'm having some trouble understanding your explaination and questions. The tonic would be Amin here, so you like landing on B all the time? Or do you put emphasis on D?
Is the progression F, G7, Am(7), Bm7 b5, Cmaj(7), Dmin7 (alt Dmin6), Emin(7), F?
Or do you play it in C major with the progression something like:
Am(7), Bm7 b5, Cmaj(7), Dmin7 (alt Dmin6), Emin(7), F, G7, Am(7)?
1. When i emphasised the notes a step above the tonic of each chord would this be considered playing in the dorian mode?
Depends what chord is in the background. If you are in C major and playing D Dorian you can say you're playing dorian but you're actually playing C major. If your chord moves to Dm7 then you can really say that you're playing dorian.
2. If im playing in A minor with emphasis on the note above the tonic over each chord that passes is it still dorian mode?
No. A minor is A minor. That's aeolian mode. If you're talking about Am or Am7 (where G major is the real root) then you are playing A dorian mode but only if you are actually playing G major scale over Am7 chord .
3. Superimposing modes didnt sound as cool (A dorian, A phrigian) what things can make those sound good?
That can be tricky. You can superimpose but there are some ruleshow to make it sound acceptable. Check out my lesson "http://www.guitarmasterclass.net/ls/superimposing_pentatonics/", I explained it there
4. What types of things can be done over the Major chords of the progression?
Million things can be done. You just have to be creative and come up with something interesting.
5. Parallel and relative mode explaination?
I don't really know about this. Relative modes can be any mode relative to the root. If you're playing A mixolydian then your root mode would be D ionian. I would then say that I am playing mixolydian relative to my D root but that's basically D major scale. Parallel mode can mean the same thing. For example parallel chords/scales are G major and E minor. Both those scales have 1 sharp. There you can say that G ionian and E aeolian are paralel modes but again it's the same scale.
Well, first of all you wrote degrees somehow weird,
vi- vii -I -ii -iii -IV- V and back to vi.
I'm not sure 100% what your progression was,
is vi Am chord or F chord?
I'm asking this cause you said that you were playing over
backing tracking in Am and in that case Am chord is I, not vi.
Perhaps you were looking at it from C major key perspective
but that ain't the way to do it, Am is your root ( if Am was vi in your progression ).
However I wouldn't say that you're playing D Dorian
over Dm chord in a key of Am even if you play notes of Am scale.
Ok, notes ARE just like in D Dorian but over result is not the same.
I'm saying this because modes have same importance as keys, major or minors.
And if you have progression in Am like: Am, F, Dm and G
then IMO you are not playing real F Lydian over F chord, nor D Dorian over Dm chord etc.
Thing is, root is Am and it's VERY strong.
No matter where you are within this progression
it always leads towards Am chord cause that's real root,
F, Dm and G are just chords within progression.
Each mode has its sound just like major or minor keys,
you HEAR root and other degrees related to it.
But when you play that F chord per example
you cannot hear F Lydian that clearly cause root is Am, not F.
Many will probably disagree with me on this
but I'm saying this mainly so you could REALLY understand the modes,
in other words, you have to HEAR them first.
Muris is right, you used C major as key center here, but if you say Am is the key center than Am becomes i chord, and progression is:
i - ii - III - iv - v - VI - VII
I think you used C major key as a center for roman numerals, so in this context:
1. No. dorian mode is dorian mode, if the progression is C major would be |I///|I///|I///|I///| and you continually accent the D, you will be emphasizing 9th of the C more than a whole dorian mode. so even then you will need more notes to play in dorian mode.
2. same as for 1. you are not in the dorian mode.
3. because you are using fixed progression in one key and changing modes means that you must follow the progression in certain way in order to make it sound good. If you want to get deeper into shifting modes, I suggest you start with more simple two chord progressions and work your way to more complex ones. just take basic triads and shift A Aeolian, A dorian and A phrygian over something like |Am|C|Am|C|
4. most basic thing that can be done is accenting all the strong notes of major chords. start with arpeggios and make some combinations, knock yourself out, there are lot of things that can be done.
5. In essense, realtive modes are modes within a key and share the same notes (C ionian, D dorian, E phrygian...) Parallel modes share the same root note, but other notes can be different since the interval layout is changed between the notes (C ionian, C dorian, C prhygian..)
Hi man,
I read your post about modes earlier...
Great questions.
Basically, you can see modes in two ways.
The first one is to simply see them as all relative to each other. For example, take a C Major scale, start that scale from the D (using all the same notes), you'll get a D Dorian scale.
Here's how it looks like:
C Ionian
D Dorian
E Phrygian
F Lydian
G Mixolydian
A Aeolian
B Locrian
That principle is useful as it allows you to play all over the fretboard using these modes as positions. However that won't sound modal as really you are only playing the same notes over and over in different positions. All the notes you are playing are "attracted" to the chords and key of your progression.
In order to sound modal, you need to have a chord progression that will attract all the notes you play making the intervals between that root and notes you play create a mode.
Here's part of a series I posted on Youtube a while back taling about that:
There are a bunch of different tracks specifically designed to help you hear those modes...
Let me know if that helps...
So the sound comes from the progression?
its more of knowing what you can play over a progression?
just because its a major progression doesnt mean youll be able to juggle all three modes , certain chords have to come into play right?
great explanations guys, and Shredly:
In order to improvise good it is important to learn the chord progressions first and get used to them. Record lots of progressions, jam them all, practice, practice and get used to them. This will enable you to learn what modes go over what. You can learn the rules, but through this practice you will learn to apply them. Takes time, but you will get there, you learn fast!
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