Playing with modes

["Umm, fish?"]

So, I'm still relatively new at all this so I don't know if this will help anyone but me. I've gotten fascinated by the relationships found in the symmetrical geometry of the mandolin neck lately.

I had an "a ha" moment a while back while playing a major scale on beginning on the D string and wondered where I would go if I continued down onto the G string. I suddenly realized that I had just been playing the second half of the lydian mode.

At that, I decided that I needed to be more systematic about finding the modes in different positions. Here's a chart I made up for A major. Let me know if you like it.

http://www.ummfish.com/playing_with_modes_A_major.pdf

[DougC]

Yup, it's helpful but I have a more practical approach it seems. It is a great idea to learn the neck positions and I'm gonna give this a closer look with instrument in hand. However after playing Irish and klezmer for nearly 20 years I know a few modes are essential and then the odd ones are fun. A Dorian and E Dorian and how they relate to major keys one step down i.e. G major and D major is really the 'bread and butter' in Irish. D freygish in klezmer is really common. That is D Eb F# G A Bb C and going down the scale one uses a B natural below the tonic D. Also pentatonic scales are really handy because you avoid the 4th note of the scale and therefore no clashes or complications in accompaniment.
There is tons of stuff about this on mandolin cafe and the net. It' s a great topic. Thanks.

[MONami]

Great work...you made that?? Very cool, thanks.

[jramsey]

Hi Andy,

Gotta love those "a ha" moments. Check out Tim O's expanded approach to the same idea.... Rather than playing each mode in one octave, he plays two (+) octaves of each mode without shifting, always leading off with his first finger on the low G, using a specific pattern for each mode. Ultimately, he hits all of the diatonic notes (and modes) on the fretboard.... and it's closed, so it moves to any key. Very handy.

["Umm, fish?"]

Thanks, y'all. Of course, I learned the A as a two octave scale at first. That's where all this originally came from. Well, that and then practicing over stuff like ii, V, I.

In fact, all of these patterns are, after all, A major. The whole point wasn't that this takes the place of learning the major scale. The point for me was that this is a quick way to learn the patterns of the modes and their relationships to the "comfortable" (I, ii, V) modes for me (i.e., less thought to find my way around and up the neck). So, if I'm in the middle of improving in a key and I think I need a little tension, I can easily drop into locrian for a minute. (And that sure builds the tension: 7th, 2nd, 4th, 6th of the major as an arpeggio. All want to resolve somewhere. ) Despite all being the same scale, each of the modes has its own "flavor," so it helps me to break the two octaves down into smaller chunks so I easily know where to go when I want some of that flavor.

Just a way I'm using to help the music come from my spinal chord instead of having to take the time to get all the way to my brain. At least, that's the hope.

Thanks for the video, Jordan!

(MONami: Thanks. Yeah. I'm a typesetter as a day job, so it's not too tough: It's just a bunch of rectangles and circles, after all. After a whole book of quadratic equations, nothing looks hard any more. Actually, I had written this out freehand first but I couldn't read the dang thing. That's why I set up the template.)

[Flattpicker]

As someone who originally learned the modes (and corresponding arpeggios) in the full 2 1/3 octave form, I am presently a believer in practicing/teaching the one octave form and then putting the one octave forms together to form the two octave forms. It's simply more digestible, especially if you're planning to work on Melodic minor, Harmonic Minor, Diminished, Whole tone, Super Locrian, etc.

["Umm, fish?"]

Thanks. Plus, it gets you moving your hands around the neck, which is something I like, too. I do really like how the shapes of the various mode octaves jump right out at you and are ready to be plugged in elsewhere. That's something I didn't really get when I was playing them across all 4 strings.