A while ago, I had posted that given an hour, I could get almost anyone at an intermediate level to visualize any of the Major, Melodic Minor or Harmonic Minor modes anywhere on the guitar. In this overdue return to the serialization of the guide to modes book – I guess this is my put up or shut up moment. ; ) Since this is print as a pixel based medium – I’m going to cover it in a lot more detail than I might normally in, say a 1/2 hour lesson.

As a precursor, all of the information here works off of the 2-string (3 note-per string) pattern visualization method that I’ve covered in parts 3a and 3b of this series, if any of the initial shapes (or connecting ideas) in this post seem confusing, just go back and review the following:

A Pedagogical note (taken from part 2)

Since the initial emphasis of this lesson series is on sonic visualization and making sense out of 2-string and positional fingerings, I’m only dealing with visualizing parent scales (Major, Melodic Minor or Harmonic Minor in this case) 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/Melodic Minor/Harmonic Minor for now.

Extremely important elements in this process, such as harmony, modal interchange, arpeggios, individual modes and actual music making are the topics for other 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).

With that in mind here’s a review of much of the information as it relates to C major. For the Melodic and Harmonic minor shapes – just skip down to the next section.

Major Scale/Modal Visualization Review

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 modular 2 string modal shapes I use look like this (The numbers represent fingers).

Here’s a C major scale played on only the B and E strings:

Comparing the initial shapes to the ascending pattern, the positional patterns can be broken down into the seven 2-string modal fingerings that ascend in sequential order (i.e. C Ionian, D Dorian, E Phrygian, F Lydian, G Mixolydian, A Aeolian and B Locrian).

Since the two-string patterns are modular they can also be adapted to positional playing. So if we look at a C Major scale played in the 8th position and starting from C:

This 6-string fingering can be seen as containing three distinct patterns:

Two-string sets of C Ionian

Here are the important things you need to know for visualizing this:

As the fingering pattern ascends across the strings,

the six note modal fingerings descend to the next modal pattern.

Like wise, as the fingering pattern descends across the strings,

the six-note modal fingerings ascend to the next modal pattern.

This is true of any 2-string pattern.

Adapting Major shapes to create Melodic and Harmonic Minor fingerings

I’ve talked before about the modal microscope and seeing things on the parent major level. The advantage of this comes into play right here. First, let’s take another look at a C major scale played in the 8th position again:

Here’s the audio.

Note:

In all the audio examples, I’ve played the example first as sextuplets – then at a slower tempo (i.e. 16ths) – then as sextuplets again.

Each mode is associated with chords as well. Here’s a chart of the triad and 7th chords for C Major:

In all of the chord examples below, I’ve taken sample diatonic 7th chord shapes for the E, D, G and B strings with the roots on the low E string. These are certainly not the only way to play these chords, but if you’re not familiar with the voicings they’re not a bad place to start. Also, while I’ve notated each chord as a 1/4 note, I’ve held each chord for 2 bar lengths (i.e. 8 beats) to be able to play the scale patterns against.

Also, distortion tends to wash out chords with larger voicings, so for all the examples in this exercise, I’ve used a clean setting courtesy of Scuffham Amps.

Melodic Minor

To visualize Melodic Minor Patterns – simply flat the 3rd of the Parent Major scale.

(i.e. to visualize C Melodic Minor just play C major but change every E to Eb).

It’s important to note that all of the fingering conventions mentioned here are solely to assist with visualization. Melodic and Harmonic Minor really aren’t directly related to the Major scale sonically.

Melodic Minor short cuts:

Using the Parent Major patterns above here’s a list of short cut’s to help you visualize the patterns.

Note: in the F Lydian shape – there’s no change from the major shape since there’s no Eb in the 2-string pattern.

Here’s the initial melodic pattern with the modified major fingerings written above the 2-string shapes:

Here are the diatonic triads and 7th chords.

Try playing the initial C Melodic Minor shape over any of these chords..

Harmonic Minor

To visualize Harmonic Minor Patterns – simply flat the 3rd and the 6th of the Parent Major scale.

(i.e. to visualize C Harmonic Minor just play C major but change every E to Eb and every A to Ab).

Here are the pattern adaptations. In a situation like this, it can get confusing to remember a formula like “Dorian b2, b5” so as an alternative you may just want to try remembering something like “Pattern 1” for Ionian b3, b6, “Pattern 2” for Dorian b2, b5, etc.

Here’s the same scale pattern – I left off Pattern 6 by mistake but the sequence is Ionian b3, b6 (Pattern 1 ), Locrian b4 (Pattern 7) and Ionian b5, bRoot (Pattern 6). You can really see this if you compare it to the initial major patterns.

Here are the diatonic triads and 7th chords:

Try playing the initial C Harmonic Minor shape over any of these chords…

Performance Notes:

This whole process just a short cut for a visualization process to see C Major/Melodic Minor/Harmonic Minor on the fingerboard. In parts 3a and 3b of this series, I’ve provided every C major positional fingering. As a first step, you should consider adapting each of those fingerings to Melodic and Harmonic Minor. After you get the shapes under your fingers, try moving them 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). I’ll get more into application in further lessons, but for now try playing the patterns over any of the bass notes or chords in the mp3s and once you get familiar with the chord shapes, try writing tunes or solos with the material.

Technical Notes:

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).

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 shapes down I’d recommend to start manipulating them 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 for some suggestions for how to do this.

Like I said before, I’ll be going deeper into using these scales (and using them in other harmonic contexts) in future posts. With any lesson material, 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:

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Practicing:

The In-Between

Two-String is The Thing

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