Guitar theory covering all the modes, Major, Minor, Mixolydian, Locrian, Phrygian, Lydian, Dorian.
 |
Welcome to Guitar Jam: Rock Guitar Theory The 7 classical modes provide musicians with a wide-variety of sounds and tonal flavors. The purpose of this site is to introduce modal theory for rock guitar, as well as the basic music theory required to apply this theory in practical use. What follows is an abbreviated version, which should provide some food for thought. The building blocks of all scales, including the classical modes, are obviously notes, but more importantly you need to understand the intervals that compose these scales. There are 12 intervals to consider. In the following chart, these 12 intervals are examined. It takes two notes to have an interval, a lower note and a higher note. In this chart, the lower note is the Root. The Root is the name of your starting point, often Root is considered the key of a song. For example, if a song is in the key of A, the Root is the A note. The chart examines the 12 possible intervals, the higher note is ascending by one note, or guitar half-step for each row of the chart until we cycle through all the intervals and come back to the Root in the next higher octave. Consider the individual intervals and their tonal qualities: |
| Interval | Half Steps | Tonal Quality |
| Root | - | Unison |
| Minor 2nd | 1 | Ominous tension |
| Major 2nd | 2 | Melancholy |
| Minor 3rd | 3 | Sad or Serious |
| Major 3rd | 4 | Happy or Light |
| Perfect 4th | 5 | Triumpant |
| Raised 4th, Flatted 5th | 6 | Angry or Scary |
| Perfect 5th | 7 | Royal |
| Minor 6th | 8 | Tense |
| Major 6th | 9 | Light Bluesy or Jazzy |
| Minor 7th | 10 | Dark Bluesy or Jazzy |
| Major 7th | 11 | Mysterious and Dark |
| Octave | 12 | Unison or Royal |
|
Each of the 7 classical modes selects 7 of these intervals, including the Root. Then the pattern repeats in the next Octave. Octave is a latin word that means 8. After 7 notes, you get back to the Octave. Make sense?
Before we talk about the specific construction of each mode, let's talk about some commonalities between them. Every mode has a root, that's a no brainer. Every mode has a 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th, and 7th. 2nds, 3rds, 5ths and 6ths must be either major or minor. 4ths can be either perfect or raised, and 5ths can be either perfect or flatted Every mode fits into this pattern, it's basically a matter of which intervals (2nd/3rd/6th/7th) are major or minor, and which intervals (4/5) are perfect or otherwise. Each of the 7 Modes has it's own unique sound depending on it's interval receipe. The 3rd is the most important interval in any scale because it defines whether the whole mode is major or minor. If a mode has a major 3rd, the mode is considered "major", and the same for minor. When listening to music in, for example, Natural Minor, it's minor 3rd results in an overall "minor" tonal quality. Although few people can identify a song's mode, most people can tell you if it sounds more happy or more sad. This should underscore the fundamental nature of the 3rd interval in any mode, as well as scales that are outside the realm of the 7 Modes, like Harmonic Minor or a Whole Tone Scale Let's look at the construction of all 7 modes in the following chart. Notice how the Major modes use mainly Major intervals, and the Minor modes use mostly Minor intervals. Also notice how the major or minor-ness of the scale always corresponds exactly to the 3rd. |
|