Playing Modes without a context

Harmony & Theory
#1

In my current understanding modes need a backing to express themselves. Though my music tutor told me you can play a mode with no backing, and just the single note lines.

Can anyone give me an example or exercise to realize this? When I play a scale, I’m very anchored to the basic major and minor resolution, I can change from A minor and C major with a bit of note repetition, but the other modes seem very hard to hear using just a single line of notes with no background contrast. Is it just lack of experience playing them?

#2

Modes really need the harmonic structure to really shine, although you can hear them melodically by emphasizing the characteristic notes and resolutions. A good example of this would be by playing a 1 #4 5 note sequence to emphasize Lydian, though I wouldn’t put too many notes in these lines as then you will dilute them and have a hard time hearing them. It’s easier still even with a tonic drone under them.

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#3

One thing to mention too in case it has never been mentioned, you can find all the characteristic notes of the normal church modes, where the half steps exist in relation to the tonic. On the other side of this, removing those characteristic notes is exactly how you get the western pentatonics most use, which is why they are extremely safe sounding.

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#4

You can yes. If you are outlining a chord, say for example starting and ending phrases on the root, 3rd and 5th, you can then add in the notes that are the characteristic of the mode.
Phrygian b2
Lydian #4
Dorian natural 6
Mixolydian b7 etc

It’s actually more straightforward than outlining progressions. Although not as important in rock context’s. You hear it often with jazz musicians, like Charlie Parker for example. Many of his lines would spell out the ii v i’s

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#5

Steve Vai is known for his love of Lydian. I never really got it, though I know all of the modes and their shapes on the neck. I never dove further into how they sound. I just found that I like this shape over these chords…I guess half assing it.

This song is a perfect example of what you are talking about. It doesn’t have a chord, other than the open E string and a Lydian progression. It’s totally Steve and is as clear an example of Lydian as you will get. From this, I started creating songs with other modes, using the open E string or A, to really amplify the tonality of the mode.

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#6

Easiest way to do this, I’ve always thought, is to play them over an open string drone. Play E lydian lines with a low E ringing out below them, for example.

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#7

Few months ago I had a simple idea to work on (more or less) this problem. Let me know if it helps :slight_smile:

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#8

i think also and i know i might catch some flak for this is to know the tetrachord makeup of the scale. because it can help to hear the two tetrachord split apart, and how they will sound combined together. and then know how it will sound if you drift into or out of or blend through the harmonic or melodic minor sound on the upper tetrachord. this also helps to understand which scales and modes have tritones.

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#9

don’t go to thinking this is how it’s done, that is just the quick and dirty intro to music theory. but it helps to get those beginners thinking that maybe theory isn’t such a bad thing to understand when it can actually be quite helpful by knowing the basics of how things go in improvisation. i often see people talk about how gypsy jazz players do these altered licks, christiaan van hemert does this, i tend to just see it as them trying to find diminished, whether that means, arpeggio or tetrachord it doesnt matter. they love their diminished, and if they find it inside the altered scale of the melodic minor well they found it so bam now we use it. haha!

#10

The key is…well, the key. Once I understood modes, I realized that the thing that trips most people up is that they try to play all of these modes in the same key as the Ionian. For example, someone was playing C major/Ionian over a backing track in the key of C. Then he’d move up to playing a box-style pattern that was supposed to be D Dorian…but he was still playing over the backing track in the key of C. Which meant he’s basically still just playing C major/Ionian. He should be playing D Dorian over a backing track in the key of D minor, since in the key of C you have C-Dm-Em-F-G-Amin-Bdim. And subsequently, if you want to play some Phrygian licks, start playing over an Em (at least from my example, but you can use any key, as long as it’s starting on the 3rd interval of the associated major scale).