Bass Lesson 28 - Modes

By this point in your bass playing career you've probably stumbled upon some weird sounding scales called modes. Modes are a great way to easily follow the changes in jazz and blues music but can also be applied to other styles. To learn modes you should know how to play the C major scale and have an open mind.

One way to think of scales is just 8 new scales to use, but 8 new scales that aren't the same pattern. The other way to think of scales is different sections of the major scale. The C major scale is commonly associated with the 8 modes. If you have a Cmaj scale and play it from the first note to the 8th then you are already playing the Ionian mode. But what if you played the C major scale from the second note to the 9th note? This would be the Dorian mode. So if we play the C major scale from B up to B we have the second scale degree, or Dorian mode. Let’s check out a chart, according to the Cmaj scale, with all 8 modes.

1	Ionian	C D E F G A B C
2	Dorian	D E F G A B C D
3	Phrygian	E F G A B C D E
4	Lydian	F G A B C D E F
5	Mixolydian	G A B C D E F G
6	Aeolian	A B C D E F G A
7	Locrain	B C D E F G A B

This chart shows the scale degree on the left, name of the mode in the middle and the notes in the mode on the far right. The scale degree shows what note of the major scale the mode starts on. The Phrygian mode starts on the 3rd note of the major scale and ascends to the 12th note.

The name of the mode is the name of the starting note followed by the mode name. The C major scale can also be called the C Ionian mode, since the Ionian mode is just the first note to the eighth. Naming the other modes may be more difficult though. If we were to name the Mixolydian mode we would say G Mixolydian. But if you want to play it you will have to know that the Mixolydian mode is the 5th scale degree. Knowing this you can find out what major scale to use by finding the perfect 5th of G (the starting note) Since C is a 5th from G we would follow the C major scale from the notes G to G to make the G Mixolydian mode. Don't worry, modes really are a little tough to understand at first.

Let’s name a mode in the key of A. If we were to play the A major scale from F# to F# we would have the F# Aeolian mode. Since Aeolian is the 6th scale degree we would take the 6th note from the key of A major and use it to name our mode, the sixth note is F#, so our mode is F# Aeolian.

There are some even deeper tricks we can pull out of modes. The Ionian is the same as the major scale as said above. Likewise the Aeolian mode is the same as the natural minor scale. D Aeolian has the same notes as D minor. The 8 modes can be broken up into major and minor modes. The Ionian, Lydian and Mixolydian modes are only one note different from the major scale that is the only difference is a certain note raised or lowered. Dorian, Phrygian, Aeolian, and the Lorain modes are all considered minor scales. Each of these minor modes are only one note different from the minor scale. Get comfortable with all 8 modes by practicing them and figure out what notes are different from their respective major or minor scale. The next lesson will actually tell you how to use the modes, so stay tuned!