The GuitArchitect’s Guide To Modes Part 6 – The Circle of 5ths and Modal Interchange

Posted on October 2, 2011 by GuitArchitecture

Welcome to the sixth installment of the GuitArcitecture Mode Visualization lesson series.

If you see anything unfamiliar here, you may want to check out:

part one,

part two,

part 3a

part 3b

part 4 or

part 5 of the series.

In the last lesson, I took a look at using one fingering pattern to play all of the modes. I wanted to get the sounds under your fingers a little bit and then start to explain a context for them a little more.

In this lesson, I’m going to go into modal interchange more in-depth. To get deeper into modes, we need to talk about Relative Modes versus Parallel Modes, examine tonal centers and keys and talk about Modal Interchange.

Organizing the sounds of the different modes:

While the different modes of a parent major scale all contain the same notes, each mode has a unique sound.

For the purposes of this lesson, modes of the major scale will fall into one of two (overly general) categories (Major or Minor) based on their third scale degree.

The sounds of the modes are based on their scale formula. Their scale formula is based on their relationship to their parallel major mode.

For Example:

To determine the scale formula of, say, C Mixolydian, the notes of C Mixolydian would be compared to the notes of a C major scale.

Since C Mixolydian is spelled C, D, E, F, G, A, Bb, and

C Major is spelled C, D, E, F, G, A, B,

the scale formula of C Mixolydian is b7.

Relative versus Parallel Major

C major is the relative major scale to A natural minor (A Aeolian) because both are part of the same parent major scale

C major is the parallel major scale of C natural minor (C Aeolian).

In this case they share a common root, but C natural minor has a different parent major scale than C major.

Here’s a table that shows the parallel modes of C Major and their scale formula.

The Tonal Cycle of 5ths

Listing the modes in order of scale degree (Ionian, Dorian, etc.) is one way to work through the modes but a more logical way to see the relationship of the modes is to place them in a tonal circle of 5ths. So first let’s talk about the circle of 5ths versus the tonal circle.

The circle of 5ths:

The circle of fifths is a way to see all of the major and minor keys and key signatures in a logical order. The Wikipedia page on it offers an excellent detailed explanation – but seeing the actual circle will help clear things up.

: Circle of 5ths taken from Wikipedia.com

From the pitch C :

moving in clockwise motion, the number of sharps in a key signature increase sequentially with each tonal center a 5th away. (C, G, D, A etc.)

moving in counterclockwise motion the number of flats in a key signature increase sequentially with each tonal center a 4th away. (C, F, Bb, Eb etc.)

This is a very handy and compact way to see tonal centers and relative major/minor scales – but adapting it to a tonal circle of 5ths will help clarify modes in a very unique way.

The Tonal Cycle of 5ths:

In a tonal circle of 5ths, the circle moves in diatonic 5ths (and thus stays in a particular key). In the key of C it looks like this:

The next note in a circle of 5ths after B would be F#, but keeping it in a tonal cycle of 5ths the key of C major, the next note would be F natural.

Now that we have a tonal cycle of 5ths in C Major, let’s fill in the modes associated with each note of C Major.

Now let’s insert the scale formula of each mode:

.
Note:

the scale formula is listed as a series of cumulative alterations rather than sequential.

In general, the more flats in the modal scale formula, the darker the sound.

Modal Interchange

The key to using these to create modal sounds is what is called Modal Interchange.

As a simplified definition – a mode associated with a specific chord will work over the same chord in any other key. In other words, D Dorian could be played over any D minor 7 chord in any other key that has a D minor 7 chord in it.

Rather than thinking of modal ideas when I play, an easier way (for me) to think about modal sounds is to think of parent scales since all the modes are derived from a parent scale (and it’s less to keep track of).

If I’m playing a song in the key of F major:

soloing over a Dm7 chord
and playing the notes from the C parent major scale over that chord
I’m playing in D Dorian.

If I use notes from the F major scale, I’m playing in D Aeolian.

If I use notes from the Bb major scale, I’m playing in D Phrygian.

Since I’ve been dealing with C major – I’ll give a C parallel mode example:

If you want a C Lydian sound – you’re really talking about playing a G parent major scale over a C Major / C Major 7th) chord or a C major chord progression. Here’s a shortcut:

Note (repeated from part 5):

This is a tricky area. While I use a parent scale approach to visualize how I solo over chords, I am aware of the chord tones (and tensions) and tend to focus on those melodically.

Just running up and down a scale isn’t going to help you really nail changes in the long run, it’s just going to fill space that often doesn’t need filling sonically.

That being said, the first step in any playing process is knowing where to put your fingers – so working through scales is as good a place to start as any….

For beginning or intermediate players new to this – like I said before, just worry about associating the modes, fingerings and sounds for now.

Next Steps

In the next part of this series I’m going to give some major and minor positional approaches and talk about a cool way to use modes to modify chords. In the meantime you may want to familiarize yourself with the shapes in part 3b of the lesson series.

As before, just go through the lesson at your own pace and return to it as you need to and please feel free to post any questions you might have (or pm me at guitar.blueprint@gmail.com).

I hope this helps and as always, thanks for reading!

-SC

P.S. If you like this post – you may also like:

.

THE GUITARCHITECT’S GUIDE TO MODES PART 5 – MAKING THE MOST OF ONE PATTERN

The GuitArchitect’s Guide To Modes Part 4 – Modes and Chords

THE GUITARCHITECT’S POSITIONAL EXPLORATION PRE-RELEASE NOW AVAILABLE

THE GUITARCHITECT’S GUIDE TO MODES PART 3B – SEEING THE SIX-STRING MAJOR SCALE

THE GUITARCHITECT’S GUIDE TO MODES PART 3A – SEEING THE SIX-STRING MAJOR SCALE

THE GUITARCHITECT’S GUIDE TO MODES PART 2 – SEEING THE TWO STRING MAJOR SCALE

The GuitArchitecture Guide To Modes Part 1 – Seeing The Single String Major Scale

.

Making Music Out Of Scales

A BRIEF THOUGHT ABOUT MUSIC THEORY

.

PRACTICE MAKES BETTER AKA PRACTICING PART I

PROPER POSTURE IS REQUIRED FOR PROPER PERFORMANCE – PRACTICING PART II

TENSION AND THE SODA CAN OR PRACTICING PART III

DEFINITIONS AND DOCUMENTS OR PRACTICING PART IV

PRACTICE WHAT YOU PLAY OR PRACTICING PART V

TESTING YOUR VOCABULARY OR PRACTICING PART VI

POSSESSION IS 9/10S OF THE LAW BUT PERCEPTION IS EVERYTHING OR PRACTICING PART VII

SOME USEFUL ONLINE PRACTICE TOOLS

.

GETTING HIPNESS FROM A MAJOR TRIAD OR MORE CHORD RECYCLING PART 3

Getting Hipness From A Major Triad Or More Chord Recycling Part 2

GETTING HIPNESS FROM A MAJOR TRIAD OR MORE CHORD RECYCLING PART 1

.

Getting Through The Gig – Negotiating A Chord Chart Part 3

Getting Through The Gig – Negotiating A Chord Chart Part 2

GETTING THROUGH THE GIG – NEGOTIATING A CHORD CHART PART 1

.

WARMING UP: FINGER EXERCISES, THE 3 T’S AND THE NECESSITY OF MISTAKES

Don’t Be Afraid Of the Work

Posted on September 26, 2011 by GuitArchitecture

Hello!

Thanks for visiting this page!

This post has been moved to my other site Guit-A-Grip.com.

You can read it here.

Thanks again!

-Scott

The GuitArchitect’s Guide To Modes Part 5 – Making The Most Of One Pattern

Posted on September 19, 2011 by GuitArchitecture

Welcome to the fifth installment of the GuitArcitecture Mode Visualization lesson series.

If you see anything unfamiliar here, you may want to check out:

part one,

part two,

part 3a

part 3b or

part 4 of the series.

About The Modal Exchange Example

Since describing how interchanging modes work doesn’t really get you any closer to hearing how they work – I’m going to present a simple exercise first and then explain the process of what’s going on theoretically in the post following this one.

Using one pattern to get all the sounds of the major scale modes:

As I’ve discussed before the modes of the C major scale are all related. Each individual mode has a different root but all belong to the same parent scale.

That being said, if I use any C major pattern (like this one with C played with the first finger on the 8th fret of the low E string):

C Ionian

and move the note C to different scale degrees – I’ll have all of the parallel modes (or modes have the same root notes – but belong to different parent scales) based on the pitch C.

So if, for example, I take the same pattern and move C to the 2nd scale degree (with C played with the second finger on the 8th fret of the low E string) I’ll have C Dorian.

C Dorian

Moving it to the 3rd scale degree (with C played with the 4th finger on the 8th fret of the low E string) produces C Phrygian.

On the 4th scale degree (with C played with the first finger on the 3rd fret of the A string) – I’ll have C Lydian.

C Lydian

The 5th scale degree (with C played with the second finger on the 3rd fret of the A string) – produces C Mixolydian.

C Mixolydian

On the 6th scale degree (with C played with the fourth finger on the 15th fret of the A string) – I’ll have C Aeolian.

C Aeolian

And finally, if I move it to the 7th scale degree (with C played with the first finger on the 10th fret of the D string) – I’ll have C Locrian.

C Locrian

Taking stock of the exchange:

Now I’ll show a musical example that uses this one shape to play all of the parent major scale/natural minor scale modes.

Note:

This is not the most efficient way to get around the fingerboard but it can help with 3 things.

Hearing the difference in how modes sound
Seeing the modes as they relate to parent scale and
Gaining fluidity in getting around the fretboard.

What you’ll need

You’ll need a time keeping device (like a metronome, or a drum loop) and

A drone of the note C (You can create this by looping the pitch C in your DAW or just recording a note C)

The drone is very important because the drone and the combination of notes will be what helps you hear the change in modes (and tonality).

Playing the Example

I’ve created a simple one bar phrase for each mode.

All you have to do is play them over the C drone, in the order I’ve listed below and in time.

That being said, here are some additional things to keep in mind:

The primary goal of this is not physical technique – but developing your ear. Playing through it at slower tempos will probably be more beneficial to you in really being able to hear the transitions.

Note:

If you really want to get something more out of it – try singing along with the pitches as you’re playing them. This sounds goofy to most people but singing really is the way to get the sounds into your ear.

Take this as a piece of advice learned by many people who take four terms of ear training at the collegiate level. If you look at those 4 terms as 3 units each that’s 12 units or a full term load (at most for-profit colleges at $18-19,000 a term).

In other words, people spend a lot of money to sing things to train their ear, doing it for free on your own is a good idea.

Focus on the 3 T’s in performance (Tone, Timing and hand Tension). From a technical standpoint, the goal is to play though the whole cycle without stopping.

Get the patterns and the timing under your fingers first – and then worry about making music out of it. The important thing here is connecting the sound with the pattern visualization. (I’ve tabbed all the examples as well – but try to be aware of the change in key signatures in each bar).

First, here are the individual measures.

C Lydian

C Ionian

C Mixolydian

C Dorian

C Aeolian

C Phrygian

C Locrian Option 1

If you want to keep a low register pattern – you can try starting the Db Major pattern from the 7th putting 4 notes on the low E string).

C Locrian Option 2

and here’s the whole thing:

(Just click to see full size)

Going Further

Once you can get through the example at various tempos cleanly and really hear the transitions, take a short phrase and try moving it through the different modes. It will be easier initially if you think about scale degrees. Here – I’m thinking 5-4-5-6-7-2-1.

Also: try playing it swung in double time (ala Jazz 001)

C Lydian Lick

Note: The scale degrees stay the same when I move to C Ionian but the F# becomes F natural.

C Ionian Lick

The same phrase changes the B to Bb when moved to C Mixolydian:

C Mixolydian

The lack of an Eb in the phrase means that the notes are the same between Mixolydian and Dorian in this case – just played in different position.

Moving it to Aeolian, the A natural becomes Ab.

C Aeolian Lick

The D becomes Db in C Phrygian.

C Phrygian Lick

And finally, changes the G to Gb for C Locrian:

C Locrian Lick

From the light to the Dark.:

I’ll be talking about how I derived the order I’m using for the mode progression in the next lesson post on the circle of 5ths, the tonal circle of 5ths and talk about how these relate to modal interchange. For now here’s a shortcut to consider until next time.

In general the more flats a mode has in its scale formula – the darker its sound.

Note:

This is a tricky area for intermediate students. While I use a parent scale approach to visualize how I solo over chords, I am aware of the chord tones (and tensions) and tend to focus on those melodically.

When soloing, Just running up and down a scale isn’t going to help you really nail changes – it’s just going to fill space that often doesn’t need filling sonically.

For beginning or intermediate players new to this – like I said before, for now just worry about associating the modes, fingerings and sounds.

I’ll be talking about each of the modes in-depth in future posts, but for now understand that each mode of Major, Melodic Minor or Harmonic Minor has its own unique characteristics that are worth exploring.

As before, just go through the lesson at your own pace and return to it as you need to and please feel free to post any questions you might have (or pm me at guitar.blueprint@gmail.com).

I hope this helps and as always, thanks for reading!

-SC

P.S. If you like this post – you may also like:

.

The GuitArchitect’s Guide To Modes Part 4 – Modes and Chords

THE GUITARCHITECT’S GUIDE TO MODES PART 3B – SEEING THE SIX-STRING MAJOR SCALE

THE GUITARCHITECT’S GUIDE TO MODES PART 3A – SEEING THE SIX-STRING MAJOR SCALE

THE GUITARCHITECT’S GUIDE TO MODES PART 2 – SEEING THE TWO STRING MAJOR SCALE

The GuitArchitecture Guide To Modes Part 1 – Seeing The Single String Major Scale

.

Making Music Out Of Scales

A BRIEF THOUGHT ABOUT MUSIC THEORY

.

PRACTICE MAKES BETTER AKA PRACTICING PART I

PROPER POSTURE IS REQUIRED FOR PROPER PERFORMANCE – PRACTICING PART II

TENSION AND THE SODA CAN OR PRACTICING PART III

DEFINITIONS AND DOCUMENTS OR PRACTICING PART IV

PRACTICE WHAT YOU PLAY OR PRACTICING PART V

TESTING YOUR VOCABULARY OR PRACTICING PART VI

POSSESSION IS 9/10S OF THE LAW BUT PERCEPTION IS EVERYTHING OR PRACTICING PART VII

SOME USEFUL ONLINE PRACTICE TOOLS

.

GETTING HIPNESS FROM A MAJOR TRIAD OR MORE CHORD RECYCLING PART 3

Getting Hipness From A Major Triad Or More Chord Recycling Part 2

GETTING HIPNESS FROM A MAJOR TRIAD OR MORE CHORD RECYCLING PART 1

.

Getting Through The Gig – Negotiating A Chord Chart Part 3

Getting Through The Gig – Negotiating A Chord Chart Part 2

GETTING THROUGH THE GIG – NEGOTIATING A CHORD CHART PART 1

.

WARMING UP: FINGER EXERCISES, THE 3 T’S AND THE NECESSITY OF MISTAKES.

The GuitArchitect’s Guide To Modes Part 4 – Modes and Chords

Posted on September 13, 2011 by GuitArchitecture

Welcome to the fourth installment of the GuitArcitecture Mode Visualization lesson series.

If you see anything unfamiliar here, you may want to check out part one, part two, part 3a or part 3b, of the series, but in the meantime, here’s a quick recap:

To Review:

Any major scale can be broken down into seven 2-string modal shapes that are derived from their scale degree (i.e. position in the scale). These Related Modes are:

Ionian
Dorian
Phrygian
Lydian
Mixolydian
Aeolian
Locrian

The sequential order of the modes is always the same.

In the 2-string modal shapes, the fact that the 7^th note of each mode is missing from the initial fingering pattern is irrelevant because it will be played in the pattern that follows it.

Modes do not exist in a vacuum. They have as much to do with chords as they do with scales and are always associated with either a chord or a chord progression.

Deriving the chords from the scale

Let’s take a look at the initial two-string C Major pattern that we used in the previous lesson.

If we remove every other note of the scale pattern, we can see arpeggiated versions of the triads associated with those modes.

Here are the triads in ascending order with a root on the A String:

(Note: these are only sample voicings – please feel free to use your own)

Since major scales all use the same intervallic formula, all major scales follow the same formula for standard harmonization.

From this we can develop a generic formula for major scale triads.

So, for example, the triad built on the first scale degree (i.e. the I chord) of any major scale will always be Major.

Note:

If we’re discussing the relative minor key (A minor) – the sequence is the same – it just starts from the vi chord:

7th Chords

If we take a look at the initial 2 string pattern again:

This time I’m going to eliminate the 3rd and 5th note of each pattern. So in the first pattern:

C, D, E, F, G, A becomes

C, D, F, A aka

D, F, A, C or (D minor 7 starting from the 7th)

Here’s the rest of the sequence:

And a generic breakdown in another chart.

Here are the 7th chords in ascending order with a root on the A String:

(Again, these are only sample voicings so please feel free to use your own)

Beyond 7th Chords:

You could extend this idea out beyond 7th chords into harmonizations using the diatonic 9th, 11th or 13ths. But all of these chords just come from stacking diatonic 3rds on top of each other. I’ve followed this process through all the diatonic chord tones below with each scale degree of C Major:

I’ll be explaining a lot more about this in a future post (including multiple approaches for voicing these) but for now here’s a chart that shows the harmonizations in the key of C Major.

But Here’s The Catch

(and there’s always a catch)

The C Major modes are all just subsets of the same parent scale. If you’re playing them over a C major chord (or a chord progression in C Major) scale-wise it really doesn’t make a difference which of the above modes you’re thinking of as it’s all going to sound like C Major.

To get deeper into modes, we need to get into some other tonal centers and talk about Relative Modes versus Parallel Modes and Modal Interchange and that is the topic of the next post in this series.

Here are some important things to focus on for now:

1. Theoretical:

The major scale can be broken down into a series of triads and 7th chords based on scale degrees that are associated with the modes on those scale degrees (Ex. Key of C Major – D Dorian and D minor 7 on the 2nd scale degree.)

The sound of the mode is based as much on the notes of the mode as it’s related chord. So for right now – this is just a whole lot of ways to see C Major on a fingerboard – you should adapt the process to other keys as well.

2. Technical:

While it’s natural to want to progress quickly, trying to play too quickly too soon results in excess hand tension which will increase the difficulty of what you’re trying to play. Fluidity comes from focused, relaxed repetition.

Fretting hand: Always use the minimum amount of tension needed for the notes to sound cleanly. The idea is to be able to hear every individual note in the chord as well. Additionally, try to keep the fingers motion on the strings to a minimum and removing them from the string only when necessary.

Picking Hand: Try using the above picking pattern on the top two strings or alternate picking.

Practice switching between chord voicings cleanly and playing the 3-note-per-string forms over each one individually. As a comping exploration, you could try moving from one chord to the next in the series but only moving one voice at a time. This type of internal motion is something I initially copped from guys like Torn and Miroslav Tadic.

Isolate problem areas and develop them. You’re not going to be able to pull any of these ideas off live if any of the individual components aren’t happening. This isn’t a bad thing. Things you develop over time are more likely to stay with you (and thus be accessible when you’re improvising).

3. Musical:

One thing to work on right now is to come up with multiple ways to play the chords above. If you’re not familiar with voicings in general – try to write out the individual notes of each chord and move them around on the fingerboard. It might not yield the most practical voicings (depending on key and position) – but it will definitely help expand your awareness of the fingerboard!

Finally, one other thing I need to mention is that this is just my approach but it certainly isn’t the only one. You should explore multiple approaches and take things that resonate with you from each of them as each of them will give you more depth of understanding.

As before, just go through the lesson at your own pace and return to it as you need to and please feel free to post any questions you might have (or pm me at guitar.blueprint@gmail.com).

I hope this helps and as always, thanks for reading!

-SC

P.S. If you like this post – you may also like:

.

THE GUITARCHITECT’S GUIDE TO MODES PART 3B – SEEING THE SIX-STRING MAJOR SCALE

THE GUITARCHITECT’S GUIDE TO MODES PART 3A – SEEING THE SIX-STRING MAJOR SCALE

THE GUITARCHITECT’S GUIDE TO MODES PART 2 – SEEING THE TWO STRING MAJOR SCALE

The GuitArchitecture Guide To Modes Part 1 – Seeing The Single String Major Scale

.

Making Music Out Of Scales

.

A BRIEF THOUGHT ABOUT MUSIC THEORY

.

PRACTICE MAKES BETTER AKA PRACTICING PART I

PROPER POSTURE IS REQUIRED FOR PROPER PERFORMANCE – PRACTICING PART II

TENSION AND THE SODA CAN OR PRACTICING PART III

DEFINITIONS AND DOCUMENTS OR PRACTICING PART IV

PRACTICE WHAT YOU PLAY OR PRACTICING PART V

TESTING YOUR VOCABULARY OR PRACTICING PART VI

POSSESSION IS 9/10S OF THE LAW BUT PERCEPTION IS EVERYTHING OR PRACTICING PART VII

SOME USEFUL ONLINE PRACTICE TOOLS

.

GETTING HIPNESS FROM A MAJOR TRIAD OR MORE CHORD RECYCLING PART 3

Getting Hipness From A Major Triad Or More Chord Recycling Part 2

GETTING HIPNESS FROM A MAJOR TRIAD OR MORE CHORD RECYCLING PART 1

.

Getting Through The Gig – Negotiating A Chord Chart Part 3

Getting Through The Gig – Negotiating A Chord Chart Part 2

GETTING THROUGH THE GIG – NEGOTIATING A CHORD CHART PART 1

.

WARMING UP: FINGER EXERCISES, THE 3 T’S AND THE NECESSITY OF MISTAKES

.

The GuitArchitect’s Positional Exploration Pre-Release Now Available

Posted on September 10, 2011 by GuitArchitecture

The official version of this book has been released as both a print and PDF version, so I’m leaving this page up as a pointer for historical purposes (and so that people who are interested in the book can get some more detailed information).

All ordering information (including an overview of the book and jpegs of sample pages) can be found here.

Thanks!

-SC

The GuitArchitect’s Guide To Modes Part 3b – Seeing The Six-String Major Scale

Posted on September 5, 2011 by GuitArchitecture

Hello Everyone! Here’s the second 1/2 of the GuitArcitecture Mode visualization lesson 3 extravaganza!

This lesson, is only the six-string examples from the first 1/2 of the lesson. If the charts or the rules don’t make any sense – you may want to read the first 1/2 of this lesson (found here) for clarity.

(If you need to go back further, you may also want to check out part one or part two of the series.)

A set of examples showing all the positional three-note-per-string modal fingerings in the key of C Major follow.

Note:

The sextuplet rhythms are merely presented as a logical rhythmic division of a six note pattern, and are by no means the only rhythms that should be practiced for these modes.

Ascending Parent Major Modal Patterns

(As the scale ascends the patterns descend)

Descending Modal Patterns:

(As the pattern descends across the strings, the modes ascend in order)

Here are the important things to focus on for now:

(It may seem like a long list – but really most of it is holdover from part 2 of the lesson series)

1. Theoretical:

The guitar fingerboard can be divided into 3 sets of two strings. Any 2-string fingering pattern that starts on the B string can be moved to the same starting pitch on the D or the low E string and keep the same fingering.

The major scale can be broken down into seven two-string modes that follow a specific order based on its scale degree from the parent scale (Ionian, Dorian, Phrygian, Lydian, Mixolydian, Aeolian, Locrian). The two-string patterns are modular and can be adapted to positional playing (see rules above).

The sound of the mode is based as much on the notes of the mode as it’s related chord. So for right now – this is just a whole lot of ways to see C Major on a fingerboard – you should adapt the process to other keys as well.

In addition to using a time keeping device of some kind (like a metronome, drum loop, etc) playing along to a chord or a bass note will help establish tonality and help associate each pattern with a sound). For now try playing the patterns over the related major chord (C Major / C Major 7) or the relative minor chord (A minor/A minor 7 chord).

For those of you looking to skip ahead, try playing the root of each 6 note pattern as a bass note and then playing the pattern over it. (i.e. D Dorian over D, E Phrygian over E etc.) one you get the initial patterns in your ears as C Major.

2. Technical:

While it’s natural to want to progress quickly, trying to play too quickly too soon results in excess hand tension which will increase the difficulty of what you’re trying to play. Fluidity comes from focused, relaxed repetition.

Fretting hand: When playing these patterns, practice using just the fingertip to fret the notes and use the minimum amount of tension needed for the note to sound cleanly. Additionally, try to keep the fingers down on the strings when playing and remove them from the string only when necessary.

Picking Hand: Try using the above picking pattern on the top two strings or alternate picking.

Practice the scale ascending and descending and really focus on clarity of notes, hand tension and timing. Even many intermediate to advanced players can gain something by really focusing on making clean transitions between the fingering shapes.

Isolate problem areas and work out. You’re not going to be able to play the sequence cleanly if any of the individual components aren’t 100%. This isn’t a bad thing. Things you develop over time are more likely to stay with you (and thus be accessible when you’re improvising).

3. Musical:

Making music from the patterns is a whole other skill set, but you need to know where to put your fingers on the strings while you bend, slide and phrase your way into making music. Having said that, since the visualization process doesn’t take that long, as soon as you get the patterns down I’d recommend to start manipulating the patterns to try to make them more musical to your ear. See Part 2 of this series for more specifics or the making music out of scales post.

The Obligatory book plug:

The GuitArchitect’s Guide to Modes: Melodic Patterns takes all possible permutations and variations of 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6 note groups of these 2 string shapes and then shows how to build them up into extended melodic sequences. As a 300+ page book, it is a substantial reference/informational text, and goes into further depth than any other known book on the subject. You can find out more about it here.

In the next lesson, I’m going to cover chords associated with the forms and start to move towards the individual modes and making music out of them. As before, I recommend that you just go through the lesson at your own pace and return as you need to. Please feel free to post any questions you might have (or pm me at guitar.blueprint@gmail.com).

I hope this helps and as always, thanks for reading!

-SC

P.S. If you like this post – you may also like:

THE GUITARCHITECT’S GUIDE TO MODES PART 2 – SEEING THE TWO STRING MAJOR SCALE

The GuitArchitecture Guide To Modes Part 1 – Seeing The Single String Major Scale

MAKING MUSIC OUT OF SCALES

A BRIEF THOUGHT ABOUT MUSIC THEORY

PRACTICE MAKES BETTER AKA PRACTICING PART I

PROPER POSTURE IS REQUIRED FOR PROPER PERFORMANCE – PRACTICING PART II

TENSION AND THE SODA CAN OR PRACTICING PART III

DEFINITIONS AND DOCUMENTS OR PRACTICING PART IV

PRACTICE WHAT YOU PLAY OR PRACTICING PART V

TESTING YOUR VOCABULARY OR PRACTICING PART VI

POSSESSION IS 9/10S OF THE LAW BUT PERCEPTION IS EVERYTHING OR PRACTICING PART VII

SOME USEFUL ONLINE PRACTICE TOOLS

WARMING UP: FINGER EXERCISES, THE 3 T’S AND THE NECESSITY OF MISTAKES

The GuitArchitect’s Guide To Modes Part 3a – Seeing The Six-String Major Scale

Posted on September 5, 2011 by GuitArchitecture

Welcome to Part 3 of the GuitArcitecture Mode visualization lesson series!

In this lesson, I’m going to show how to utilize the 2-string patterns from part two of this series in a positional way. Since this post was pretty lengthy, I’ve split it in half:

If you want to get right into the patterns – just click here!

If you want to see how these patterns work – just keep reading!!

(Either way, if you go back and forth between the two posts the concept will become clearer for you)

If you see anything unfamiliar here, you may want to check out part one or part two of the series, but in the meantime, here’s a quick recap:

To Review:

Any major scale can be broken down into seven 2-string modal shapes that are derived from their scale degree (i.e. position in the scale)

Ionian
Dorian
Phrygian
Lydian
Mixolydian
Aeolian
Locrian

The order of the modes is always the same.
The fact that the 7^th note of each mode is missing from the initial fingering pattern is irrelevant because it will be played in the pattern that follows it.
A logical fingering pattern can be established by playing the modal fingerings up and down the fingerboard, because they move in an ascending modal order.

A Pedagogical note:

I’ve had extensive debate with myself on the best sequence to present this information. Conveying it effectively is something that’s much easier to suss out with an individual student, and much harder to get across in the digital version of a one room schoolhouse.

Since the initial emphasis of this lesson series is on sonic visualization and making sense out of 2-string and positional fingerings, I am only dealing with visualizing the parent major scale as a whole here.

While modes are always associated with a chord or a chord progression, I’m limiting harmonic options only to C Major/A minor for now.

Extremely important elements in this process, such as harmony, modal interchange, arpeggios, individual modes and actual music making will all be dealt with in future posts. Having said that, it is important to state again, that modes (or any scale), in and of themselves, are not music but are only a tool in making music. Anything I post here should always be filtered through your own aesthetic and utilized, adapted or even ignored accordingly (i.e. take what works for you).

Establishing A Logical Positional Modal Fingering

Let’s look at a sample scale shape. In this case I’ll use an 8^th position C Ionian 3-note-per-string scale:

A Picking note:

On 3-note-per-string scale shapes, I often use the semi-sweep picking approach detailed below as it allows me to use a single picking pattern for each string. If I’m using this as part of a pattern, I’ll often alternate pick it. The picking patterns below then, should be viewed as a suggestion.

Broken down into the six-note shapes discussed earlier, this C Ionian fingering can be seen as containing three distinct patterns:

Two-string sets of C Ionian

As the fingering pattern ascends across the strings, the six note modal fingerings descend to the next modal pattern. This is true of any modal pattern.

HOW THIS WORKS:

By using an initial six-note pattern on two strings, the continuation of the mode will always require starting the next pattern on the 7^th note of the mode.

Six-note C Ionian Pattern On The E and A Strings

The next note in the scale is B. In the key of C, this implies a Locrian pattern.

Six-note B Locrian Pattern On The D and G Strings

Now that we have a way to connect these two string patterns across the finger board, the next questions you might have are probably:

What fret on the fingerboard do the patterns on the D and G strings start? and
What fret on the fingerboard do the patterns on the B and high E strings start?

Let’s start with the D and G Strings.

Determining The Fret Position On The D And G Strings

The good news is there are only three rules:

Rule 1:

When starting from the Ionian mode on the E and A strings, the Locrian mode on the D and G string set will start one fret higher.

C Ionian To B Locrian

Rule 2:

If Lydian is the pattern played on the E and A strings, the Phrygian pattern on the D and G Strings will start on the same fret as the first note on the A string not the E string.

F Lydian To E Phrygian

Rule 3:

Aside from the two exceptions above, the first note of the mode on the D string set always starts on the same fret as first note of the mode on the E string.

Determining The Fret Position On The B And E Strings

Rule 1:

The strings of the guitar are tuned in 4^ths except between the G and B strings. Since the distance between the G and B String is a 3^rd apart instead of a 4^th, patterns on the B and E strings will start 1 fret higher.

Rule 2:

The only exception to the above rule occurs when Ionian is the pattern on the D and G strings. In that case, since Locrian would move up 1 fret anyway, and the G/B 3^rd tuning would require moving any pattern up 1 fret, the first note of the Locrian pattern would start 2 frets higher.

C Ionian To B Locrian

If you made it this far, you might be ready for the second 1/2 of this post!

You can find all the examples, technical notes and overview here:.

If you’re ending it here for now, I recommend you just go through the lesson at your own pace and return as you need to. Please feel free to post any questions you might have (or pm me at guitar.blueprint@gmail.com).

I hope this helps. As always, thanks for reading!

-SC

P.S. If you like this post – you may also like:

THE GUITARCHITECT’S GUIDE TO MODES PART 2 – SEEING THE TWO STRING MAJOR SCALE

The GuitArchitecture Guide To Modes Part 1 – Seeing The Single String Major Scale

MAKING MUSIC OUT OF SCALES

A BRIEF THOUGHT ABOUT MUSIC THEORY

PRACTICE MAKES BETTER AKA PRACTICING PART I

PROPER POSTURE IS REQUIRED FOR PROPER PERFORMANCE – PRACTICING PART II

TENSION AND THE SODA CAN OR PRACTICING PART III

DEFINITIONS AND DOCUMENTS OR PRACTICING PART IV

PRACTICE WHAT YOU PLAY OR PRACTICING PART V

TESTING YOUR VOCABULARY OR PRACTICING PART VI

POSSESSION IS 9/10S OF THE LAW BUT PERCEPTION IS EVERYTHING OR PRACTICING PART VII

SOME USEFUL ONLINE PRACTICE TOOLS

WARMING UP: FINGER EXERCISES, THE 3 T’S AND THE NECESSITY OF MISTAKES

The GuitArchitect’s Guide To Modes Part 2 – Seeing The Two String Major Scale

Posted on August 29, 2011 by GuitArchitecture

Welcome to part two of modal/parent major scale lesson series that’s been adapted from the forthcoming, GuitArchitect’s Guide To Modes book. In the last post, I showed how to visualize a major scale on a single string using seven connecting patterns. (Note: you can see that lesson here). In this lesson, I’m going to expand on those fingerings to include 2-string patterns and start to get into the actual modes themselves.

The power of 2 (strings)

In the first lesson, I discussed how to visualize a pattern on a single string. The advantage to this type of visualization is that it’s applicable to any fretted string instrument. Whether its a bass or a banjo or a mandolin – the fingering pattern applies to a single string scale. If you ever see guys at a music store pick up 3-4 different stringed instruments and be able to get around on them, this is the type of visualization that they’re typically using.

Now it’s time to expand on that visualization process. Let’s look at the standard guitar tuning. Here’s a blank fingerboard with the string numbers on the top and the tuning below.

You may have missed an important observation; namely that the open strings are tuned in 4ths except for the second string, B, which is tuned a 3rd above the G string.

This means that the six-string guitar can be viewed as three sets of two strings that are tuned in 4ths

(i.e. the E and A strings, D and G strings and B and high E strings).

This also means that any fingering pattern contained on those two strings will be the same fingering pattern on the other two-string sets.

First Steps

In a future lesson post, I’m going to show how these modular patterns connect, but the first step is visualizing the initial 2 string patterns and then associating them with a related mode.

So if, for example, we combine the C major scale on the B string:

with the C major scale on the E string:

We get a series of interconnecting patterns that can played as a melodic sequence like this:

Note:

Don’t worry about the odd time signature. It’s included here to show all seven 2-string patterns, but this can easily be adapted to any time signature.

I’m going to talk about each pattern – but first I need to talk about modes.

Modes

A mode is a type a scale that starts from a note in a parent scale and is tied to a specific chord type.

For example: C major has seven unique notes. The scale degree of each note in the parent scale determines the name of the associated mode. Here are the modes in sequential order.

Note:

While this has been applied to the key of C major, the modal order is the same for any parent major scale.

Each mode then, can be viewed as just playing the parent major scale starting from a different note and played over a related chord.

Modes = notes + chords

While these modes all share the same notes of the parent major scale, they all have different sounds based on the harmony that they are played against – provided that harmony is not the first chord of the parent major scale.

For example: if I play any of the modes above over a C major or a C major 7 chord, it’s all going to sound like C major. I’ll get into the associated chords for each mode in next week’s lesson, for now understand that a mode is:

derived from a parent scale
always follows a specific order and
is associated with a specific chord.

The two-string/6 note modal fingerings

As a first step, let’s go back and visit that initial 2-string pattern:

Here the same pattern broken down into seven individual shapes.

Note:

while the fingering pattern only includes 6 of the seven notes of the scale, since the patterns are interconnecting, you’ll pick the missing up note in the next pattern in the sequence.

I – Ionian

II – Dorian

III – Phrygian

IV – Lydian

V – Mixolydian

VI – Aeolian

VII – Locrian

Don’t worry about how these fingerings relate yet or how to use them outside the initial 2 string patterns – that will all be covered in the next lessons.

Here are the important things to focus on for now:

(It may seem like a long list – but really it’s only a few key points presented in multiple ways)

1. Theoretical:

The guitar fingerboard can be divided into 3 sets of two strings.

Any 2 string – fingering pattern that starts on the B string can be moved to the same starting pitch on the D or the low E string and keep the same fingering.

The major scale can be broken down into 7 two-string modes that follow a specific order based on its scale degree from the parent scale (Ionian, Dorian, Phrygian, Lydian, Mixolydian, Aeolian, Locrian). While the fingering pattern only includes 6 of the seven notes of the scale, since the patterns are interconnecting, you’ll pick the missing up note in the next pattern in the sequence.

Combining these 2 ideas:

The 2 string modal fingerings on the B and High E strings

(C Ionian, D Dorian, E Phrygian, F Lydian, G Mixolydian, A Aeolian, B Locrian then back to the C Ionian and D Dorian).

.
A technical note and a tech note:

I played the examples as 16ths then sextuplets. I changed the ending a bit for the sextuplets on this example to fit the 4/4 phrase better (it’s just the last sextuplet descending and ascending on the B and high E strings).

The drums are the same raga drum file I’ve used before – but I sped the drums up with an AU plug in – AU Varispeed:

It’s a cool plug in to use for sonic mangling – or in this case when I needed to track something quickly.

Follow the same fingering pattern and order on the other string sets, but start from a different mode.

D and G Strings

(E Phrygian, F Lydian, G Mixolydian, A Aeolian, B Locrian, C Ionian and D Dorian)

and the Low E and A strings:

(F Lydian, G Mixolydian, A Aeolian, B Locrian, C Ionian, and D Dorian)

Sorry!!

I thought I recorded at least versions of this but the one I tracked was recorded too hot and in distorted (in a very unpleasant way).

The sound of the mode is based as much on the notes of the mode as it’s related chord.

2. Technical:

While it’s natural to want to progress quickly, trying to play too quickly too soon results in excess hand tension which will increase the difficulty of what you’re trying to play. Fluidity comes from focused, relaxed repetition.

Fretting hand: When playing these patterns on 2 strings, practice using just the fingertip to fret the notes and use the minimum amount of tension needed for the note to sound cleanly. Additionally, try to keep the fingers down on the strings when playing and remove them from the string only when necessary.

Picking Hand: Try using the following picking pattern on the top two strings. By starting on an upstroke and using alternate picking, the pattern ends on a downstroke on the E string and sets you up to start on an upstroke again.

Practice the scale ascending and descending and really focus on clarity of notes, hand tension and timing. Even many intermediate to advanced players can gain something by really focusing on making clean transitions between the fingering shapes.

Isolate problem areas and work out. You’re not going to be able to play the sequence cleanly if any of the individual components aren’t 100%. This isn’t a bad thing. Things you develop over time are more likely to stay with you (and thus be accessible when you’re improvising).

In addition to using a time keeping device of some kind (like a metronome, drum loop, etc) playing along to a chord or a bass note will help establish tonality and help associate each pattern with a sound). For now try playing the patterns over the related major chord (C Major / C Major 7) or the relative minor chord (A minor/A minor 7 chord).

For those of you looking to skip ahead, try playing the root of each 6 note pattern as a bass note and then playing the pattern over it. (i.e. D Dorian over D, E Phrygian over E etc.) one you get the initial patterns in your ears as C Major.

3. Musical:

Making music from the patterns is a whole other skill set, but you need to know where to put your fingers on the strings while you bend, slide and phrase your way into making music. Having said that, since the visualization process doesn’t take that long, as soon as you get the patterns down I’d recommend to start manipulating the patterns to try to make them more musical to your ear. There are a number of different ways to do this:

Try changing up the ascending note order. While the example here is presented as 1-2-3-4-5-6 (C, D, E, F, G and A) , you can try other note orders such as: 1-3-2-4-5-6 (C, E, D, F, G and A), 2-1-3-4-5-6 (D, E, C, F, G and A) or 2-3-1-4-5-6 (D, E, C, F, G and A) as starting variations.
Try using different rhythms (16th notes, etc).
Try integrating rests in the patterns.
Try sliding between pitches instead of using different fingers. Like-wise try bending to notes (Example play C, D and then bend it up to E )

Obligatory book plug:

In the next lesson, I’m going to cover how to make positional sense of these forms and start to move towards making modes (and music) out of them.

The next posts in the series will be substantially shorter (and have more examples) but in the meantime, I recommend that you just go through the lesson at your own pace and return as you need to. Please feel free to post any questions you might have (or pm me at guitar.blueprint@gmail.com).

I hope this helps and as always, thanks for reading!

-SC

P.S. If you like this post – you may also like:

THE GUITARCHITECT’S GUIDE TO MODES PART 3B – SEEING THE SIX-STRING MAJOR SCALE

THE GUITARCHITECT’S GUIDE TO MODES PART 3A – SEEING THE SIX-STRING MAJOR SCALE

THE GUITARCHITECTURE GUIDE TO MODES PART 1 – SEEING THE SINGLE STRING MAJOR SCALE

MAKING MUSIC OUT OF SCALES

MAKING SENSE OF THE PENTATONIC SCALE – DIAGONAL FORMS – PART TWO

MAKING SENSE OF THE PENTATONIC SCALE – DIAGONAL FORMS – PART ONE

A BRIEF THOUGHT ABOUT MUSIC THEORY

PRACTICE MAKES BETTER AKA PRACTICING PART I

PROPER POSTURE IS REQUIRED FOR PROPER PERFORMANCE – PRACTICING PART II

TENSION AND THE SODA CAN OR PRACTICING PART III

DEFINITIONS AND DOCUMENTS OR PRACTICING PART IV

PRACTICE WHAT YOU PLAY OR PRACTICING PART V

TESTING YOUR VOCABULARY OR PRACTICING PART VI

POSSESSION IS 9/10S OF THE LAW BUT PERCEPTION IS EVERYTHING OR PRACTICING PART VII

SOME USEFUL ONLINE PRACTICE TOOLS

WARMING UP: FINGER EXERCISES, THE 3 T’S AND THE NECESSITY OF MISTAKES

The GuitArchitect’s Guide To Modes Part 1 – Seeing The Single String Major Scale

Posted on August 25, 2011 by GuitArchitecture

Welcome to part one of a lesson series that’s been adapted from the forthcoming, GuitArchitect’s Guide To Modes book! Over the next several months, I’m going to post related lessons on modes, scales, chords and 12-tone guitar from my GuitArchitecture book series.

This first posting is an entry-level post for the beginning or intermediate guitarist who may have heard some music theory terms but weren’t really clear about what they meant.

If you’re already familiar with basic musical terminology and single string scales, you may still find some useful tips and observations below and use this post as a useful primer and/or review.

Note:

If you’re new to this, there’s a lot of initial ground work to cover, but once we get past it the applications are really useful (read: cool) !

So you want to know about Modes?

I have some good news and some bad news about learning modes.

I’ll start with the good news.

The Major, Melodic Minor and Harmonic Minor scales (and their associated modes) make up a lot of the melodic and harmonic material used in western pop and jazz music in the 20th (and 21st century).

If you’re an intermediate player with a basic understanding of intervals, chords and scales, I can show you a way to adapt a positional fingering pattern for all of the above scales or mode that can be modulated to any key in about 10 minutes – 20 minutes depending on your skill level.

Given a 1/2 hour or more, I can show you an integrated way do the same thing anywhere on the fingerboard using seven core fingerings and a simple visualization method that can be applied to any scale.

The Bad News:

Making music from those fingerings will take a lot longer.

To paraphrase W.A. Mathieu, “There are only a few notes and learning them takes forever.”

I can’t teach you to be musical in an hour-long lesson – but I can certainly try to guide you towards being more musical when you leave the lesson than when you walked in. One way to do that is to bring your attention to some benefits associated with sonic visualization.

Sonic Visualization?

Here are a few notes to clarify what I’m talking about:

The GuitArchitecture concept, in broad strokes, is that the nature of the guitar’s fretboard and tuning lends itself to visualizing fingering patterns.

While patterns performed mindlessly can be a bad thing, they can allow people to realize ideas more readily.

More importantly, patterns can be associated with sounds and visualizing how to realize a sound by seeing its shape on the fretboard makes performing it easier. Hence the term Sonic Visualization.

If I hear a sound in my head, and know how to finger it on the fretboard before I play it, that not only allows me to create the sound but also offers me more flexibility when improvising.

Likewise, if I stumble across a sound I’ve never heard before, and understand the fingering behind it – it makes it easier for me to remember that sound for future use.

The GuitArchitecture Process

While GuitArchitecture utilizes sonic visualization as it’s core foundation, the process behind developing and utilizing that process can be adapted to any musical context. The process itself is fairly straightforward:

Understand the approach (harmonic or melodic)

Develop a fingering pattern to use with that approach

Associate the pattern with a sound

Manipulate the patterns to make music

Now let’s start to apply this to Major Scale Modes. In order to understand modes, we need to have a grasp of the Parent Major scale.

Understand the Approach or

Parent Scales and Painless Theory

A parent scale is a sequential collection of notes within an octave that define a tonality. An example of a parent scale would be the C Major scale which has no sharps or flats and is spelled, C, D, E, F, G, A, B and C. The easiest way to visualize this on the fingerboard initially is on a single string.

Played on the B string it looks like this in standard notation.

Note:

Instead of speaking about notes (which are tied to specific scales), when speaking about scales in general, musicians sometimes refer to their location in the scale as scale degrees and use numbering based on the Roman numeral system to indicate their position (this will come much more into play when we get to chords). In this specific case:

C=I : D=II : E=III : F=IV : G=V : A=VI and : B=VII

Building Blocks:

The smallest unit of measurements on the fingerboard are the 1/2 step (1 fret) or the whole step (2 frets).

If you look at the tablature above, you’ll see that the Major Scale is made up of a series of whole steps with 1/2 steps between the IIIrd and IVth degrees (E and F in this case) and the VIIth and VIIIth degrees (B and C).

This general formula applies to any Major Scale.

All major scales are made up of whole steps 7 scale degrees with a 1/2 step between the 3rd and 4th scale degree and the 7th and 8th. The distances between these notes are constant. If we move the C major scale to the E string:

Since C is still the root of the scale (also refered to as the tonic), the 1/2 steps still occur between the IIIrd/IVth and the VIIth/VIIIth degrees. Since this is true of any major scale, any major scale can be visualized this way, but the number of components makes it cumbersome to get around. So let’s look at positional shapes.

Positional Playing

Or developing a fingering pattern to use with that approach

A position is usually defined as a four-fret section of the fingerboard. If the scale is broken down into positional components, we end up with a series of three-note shapes. We’ll number each one from the scale degree for now:

A Brief Interruption

When practicing anything on the guitar, you should pay attention to what I call the 3 T’s (Tension, Timing and Tone). If you are unfamiliar with practicing methodology, you may want to read through my practicing posts (you can find them under the lessons heading on the Blueprints page).

First here’s the tab:

And a generic 3 note shape. The numbers indicate recommended fret hand fingers to use.

III

VII

Putting it all together

If you combine all of the patterns together. You’ll get something that looks like this:

Notice that the fingering patterns move in sequential order (I, II, III… etc) up the B string. If we play the C Major scale on the E string:

The fingering pattern now starts with pattern #3, but continues in sequential order.

Next steps:

I’ve covered a lot of groundwork here, so this is a good place to stop for now. In the meantime, here are some things to consider:

1. Theoretical:

The important things here are learning the initial pattern fingering sequence, and associating each of them with a sound.

In addition to using a time keeping device of some kind (like a metronome, drum loop, etc) playing along to a chord or a bass note will help establish tonality and help associate each pattern with a sound). For now try playing the patterns over the related major chord (C Major / C Major 7) or the relative minor chord (A minor/A minor 7 chord).

Sing. The most tried and true method to attach the sounds made with your hands to your ears is to sing what you’re playing. This isn’t an American Idol audition, so you don’t have to worry about how good you are as a vocalist. Instead, just work paying attention to the tuning and timing between your voice and your guitar (and check out some George Benson guitar solos to hear at least one place where this approach can take you.)

2. Technical:

While it’s natural to want to progress quickly, trying to play too quickly too soon results in excess hand tension which will increase the difficulty of what you’re trying to play.

Fluidity comes from focused, relaxed repetition. From a technical standpoint, this observation is really important. (As in: you may want to write that down on a piece of paper and tape it to your guitar level of important).

Even many intermediate to advanced players can gain something by really focusing on making clean transitions between the fingering shapes.

3. Musical:

Making music from the patterns is a whole other skill set, but you need to know where to put your fingers on the strings while you bend, slide and phrase your way into making music. Having said that, since the visualization process doesn’t take that long, as soon as you get the patterns down I’d recommend to start manipulating the patterns to try to make them more musical to your ear. There are a number of different ways to do this:

Try changing up the ascending note order. While the example here is presented as 1-2-3 (C, D, E) , you can try other note orders such as: 1-3-2 (C, E, D), 2-1-3 (D, E, C), 2-3-1 (D, E, C), 3-1-2 (E, C, D) or 3-2-1 (E, D, C) as variations.
Try using different rhythms (16th notes, etc).
Try integrating rests in the patterns.
Try sliding between pitches instead of using different fingers. Like-wise try bending to notes (Example play C, D and then bend it up to E )

In the next lesson, I’m going to cover how to exploit standard tuning in visualization, expand on the single string fingerings for these forms and continue to move towards making modes (and music) out of them.

The next posts in the series will hopefully be a little shorter (and have more examples) but in the meantime, I recommend that you just go through the lesson at your own pace and return as you need to. Please feel free to post any questions you might have (or pm me at guitar.blueprint@gmail.com).

I hope this helps and as always, thanks for reading!

-SC

P.S. If you like this post – you may also like: