No worries Geoff.

Right!!

I shall attempt to explain simply the "modes of the major scale", what they are, where they come from and how they can be used.

Before we get to the "modes of the major scale" however, we must first look at the "notes of the major scale" and the "chords of the major scale.

This may seem too easy to begin with, but it is essential to build upwards from first principles so that we can understand these terms in context when they start to get a bit more complex.

I will add that once you understand these principles, you will have everything you need to build a thorough understanding of western Music from Baroque to Jazz and how and why they have developed.

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Let us consider the key of C major.


This is the easiest key to examine as it contains no sharps or flats.


The notes of C major are as follows:

C - D - E - F - G - A - B

As we are in the key of C, the tonic note is C.

This is the first degree of the scale and is represented with a 1.

We may therefore see the scale like this:

1   2   3   4   5   6   7
C - D - E - F - G - A - B

With each number signifying the degree of the scale.

Each degree has its own name. You will recognize the names of notes 4 and 5 which are called the "subdominant" and the "dominant" respectively.

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Ok - now to the chords of the major scale.


In western music, chords are made by "stacking thirds".

Stacking what?

A "third" (3rd) is an "interval" between two notes

There are two types: the Major 3rd and the minor 3rd.

A major 3rd is an interval of two whole tones in either direction from any note.

e.g the distance from C to E.

A minor third is an interval of one whole tone and one semitone.

e.g. the distance from C to E-flat, or the distance from E to G.


right - so lets "stack" some.


Lets start by building a chord from the tonic note in the key of C major.

First we take C (the tonic) and then we stack a 3rd on top.

the third above C is E.

Easy. Our chord now looks like this:

E
C

But we want to make a "Triad" so we need another note.

So we need to stack another 3rd.

to do this we start where we left off, from E

going back and having a look at our notes of the C major scale, we see that the note a 3rd above E in the key of C major is G.

E - G is an interval of one and a half semitones, which is a minor 3rd.

So we can stack G on top of C and E.

So our chord looks like this.

G
E
C

Or more commonly recognized as the chord of C major.

This is the tonic chord in the key of C major and is represented by the roman numeral I

If we go through the same process with note 2 (D) of the C major scale, we get the chord of D minor (Dm).

And if we do the same with each note of the C major scale we get the following chord scale.


I   IIm IIIm IV V   VIm VIIdim   
C - Dm - Em - F - G - Am - Bdim

("dim" signifies "diminished" and refers to the interval of a flattened 5th/diminished 5th which exists between the B and the F)

If we stack another 3rd on top of chord one we get a tetrad as follows.

B
G
E
C

otherwise known as the chord of "C major7" (Cmaj7)

The "major" in this chord symbol refers to the interval of a "major 7th" between the C and the B.


If we apply the same principle to the rest of these chord we get the following chord scale in tetrads.

Imaj7   IIm7   IIIm7   IVmaj7   V7    VIm7    VIIm7(flat 5)
Cmaj7 - Dm7 - Em7 - Fmaj7 - G7 - Am7 -   Bm7 (flat 5)


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The modes of the C major scale are calculated in a similar way.


Mode one is the Ionian mode and is the same a the scale of C major starting and ending on C.

Mode two, the Dorian, starts and ends on the second degree (D) of the scale of C major

IMPORTANT!!!!!

Mode 1 in the key of C is "C Ionian".

Mode 2 in the key of C is "D Dorian".

Mode 3       =          "E Phrygian"

Mode 4       =          "F Lydian"

Mode 5       =          "G Mixolydian"

Mode 6       =          "A Aeolian"

Mode 7       =          "B Locrian"



This is the first step in understanding "chord/scale relationships"

We see that Chord I corresponds with the Ionian mode and chord II corresponds with The Dorian etc ...


So if you ever see a G7 chord, you know that G mixolydian will sound good over it.

And it follows that where you see C7, C mixolydian will sound good.


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Making things a bit more practical .....


But lets say we encounter a C7 and we want to work out C mixolydian to play over it ...

.. the last thing we want to have to do is work out its parent Key and then deduce it the long way as above ...

No.

It makes more sense to view modes independantly in terms of their own structure and not in relation to their parent keys.

So ...


Lets Consider the key of C again.


C Ionian is the same as the scale of C major, so we know that the Ionian mode will always be the same as the major scale in any key.


But how do the other modes compare with their paralell major scales?


Mode 2 in C major is D Dorian.


How does D Dorian compare to D major?


Well, in the scale of D major there is and F# and a C#

In D Dorian there is an F natural and a C natural.

So compared to D major, D dorian has a flat 3rd and a flat 7th


So if we wish to play C Dorian, we should therefore take C major and flatten the 3rd and the 7th.

Which gives us the following:


C - Major > C D E F G A B

C - Dorian > C D Eb F G A Bb



If we apply the same process to all the other modes, we find that the modes compare to the major scale in the following way.



Ionian (Major scale) - no sharps or flats [in context]

Dorian       - b7th b3rd    (I am using a small b as the symbol for a flat)

Phrygian    - b2nd b3rd b6th b7th

Lydian       - #4th

Mixolydian   - b7th

Aeolian      - b3rd b6th b7th

Locrian      - b2nd b3rd b5th b6th b7th



Or we could order them dfferently.


Lydian -    #4

Ionian -    neutral

Mixolydian - b7

Dorian -    b7 b3

Aeolian -    b7 b3 b6

Phrygian -   b7 b3 b6 b2

Locrian -    b7 b3 b6 b2 b5


Notice how the sound of these modes gets steadily darker.


Now - copy and paste that onto a word doument and print it out and sit down with a piano or a guitar and have fun.


If you get to grips with this you will have overcome the biggest step into the world of western musical theory and you will have all the basic tools you need to study music.