Hi again,
ethic - I have not idea what your current level of understanding theory is, but I would suggest that you only need to look at modes if you already understand:
1. How notes work (i.e. being able to find any note on the guitar, knowing the distance between all the natural notes, understanding sharps and flats)
2. How intervals work (i.e. the distance between all the natural intervals, understanding sharp and flat intervals, finding interval distances on the guitar from any root)
Once you understand these things, it's a good idea to look at major scale theory (in particular how chords are formed from the major scale), and then, if you're interested, the modes and other scales. These things are really easy (as easy as counting to 7) once you know your notes and intervals, and seriously confusing before that.
If you're in the boat of needing to understand these, don't worry, I'm in the process of preparing some info on notes and intervals, and it'll be up soon.
In the meanwhile, RockaBilly you're right that there are two main ways of thinking about the modes, and IMHO the second one is much more useful...
Modal Approach #1 - 'Days of the Week'
This is essentially what RockaBilly and allthumbs described... Let's say we're looking at the C major scale: C-D-E-F-G-A-B. Imagine that each of the 7 notes of the major scale is a day of the week:
- C-D-E-F-G-A-B-C would be Monday to Monday
- D-E-E-G-A-B-C-D would be Tuesday to Tuesday
- E-F-G-A-B-C-D-E would be Wednesday to Wednesday, and so on
These are the modes of major scale. There are 7 of them, one for each note. Each has a Greek name that makes the whole idea sound much more complicated than it really is...
1. Ionian (aka the mode starting on the first note of the major scale, which makes it just the major scale!)
2. Dorian (aka the mode starting on the second note of the major scale)
3. Phrygian (aka the mode starting on the third note of the major scale)
4. Lydian (aka the mode starting on the fourth note of the major scale)
5. Mixolydian (aka the mode starting on the fifth note of the major scale)
6. Aeolian (aka the mode starting on the sixth note of the major scale, aka the Natural Minor scale)
7. Locrian (aka the mode starting on the seventh note of the major scale)
Really, IMHO this way doesn't tell you much about anything, it';s just a stepping stone to...
Modal Approach #2 - 'Scale Formulas'
If you look at the distance between the notes in each mode, you'll find that they all have a unique sequence of intervals.
You need to understand note distances and intervals clearly, or you won't get this - if you don't I'll have a lesson up soon
Here is a list of all the possible intervals in one octave, each separated by a semitone:
1 b2 2 b3 3 4 #4/b5 5 b6 6 b7 7 8
Now, since you know the distance between each natural note (all are a tone apart, except for E-F and B-C, which are a semitone apart), you just need to line up the notes in each mode along this list of intervals...
EDIT: Formatting didn't work, see the attached pdf file, which should work!
So, each mode has a unique interval structure. Once you learn the formula for each mode, you can apply them wherever you like. Notice that the Ionian, Lydian, and Mixolydian all contain 1-3-5, and thus produce major chords? The Dorian, Phrygian, and Aeolian all contain 1-b3-5, so they all produce minor chords... The Locrian contains a 1-b3-b5, so it produces a diminished chord. The extensions (2, 4, and 6) are different for each mode, so make sure you memorize those as well.
I've gotta go, but I'll talk more about how you use this info later...
James
