Applying Solo Modes

Pre-requisites Tonic Chord Prog #’s , Modes and Scales

The GOSk website says it best

“So what’s the difference? There is no difference; it’s the chords that create the magic. Playing a G Mixolydian scale over a C major chord will sound exactly like playing a C major scale (because they are identical). However, playing a G Mixolydian scale over a G major chord will sound “Mixolydian”.

Playing a D Dorian scale over a C major chord will sound exactly like playing a C major scale (because they are identical). However, playing a D Dorian scale over a D minor chord will sound “Dorian”.

Playing an E Phrygian scale over a C major chord will sound exactly like playing a C major scale (because they are identical). However, playing an E Phrygian scale over an E minor chord will sound “Phrygian”.

So there it is: it is the chord that you play the scale over that makes the difference

When you solo you have a lot of options about how to use scales; you can either:

Play a proper modal scale in a different position over the major chord and have it sound identical to that major chord ex. D Dorian over C major

2. Play a mode over a major chord and create some tension with a slightly different sounding scale (works for some chords and fails for others)

3. Play over certain chord families with modes that the modal scale will go with (see Scales on Chords post)

4. Solo over a key (with one scale) using major or minor scales, or Mixolydian (dominant) -with a single or two scales – using 3 note per string or parallel scales

5. Solo with Pentatonics (using CAGED system) over a key or minor and major chords.

6. Using arpeggios over chord tones.

Playing a Modal Scale in a Key position

So if you start on the second note of an Ionian scale and end on that note; the notes you are playing are the same as the major scale. What’s the point?

Or if you play an actual dorian interval mode scale but start two frets above the root note – it’s the same scale, why bother?

Well emphasis and interval colour really are the only reasons really. They are not terrible reasons.

By emphasis I only mean where you stop and start a solo or phrase or what note you choose to let ring over a chord progression. If you hang on the 6th note that defines a Dorian scale you could be adding some small emphasis on that part of the major chord.

Could be that starting on a different scale position creates a lead note.

But since you are playing the same notes as the major scale you aren’t doing much of a different job than playing the Ionian.

Mainly though, it’s an inversion idea. It’s like playing a G chord on Capo 2 – two frets up from a non capo guitar playing an A chord. More notes from two different inversions.

Oh and if you want to riff off of the G form of the chord; your Dorian pattern – or derived riff – should fit right over it.

Ah, but the Dorian scale is a new interval pattern for your arsenal. Play a riff in the key position and you learn without accidental notes. THEN you move it down two frets and play the same pattern in all its Dorian minor tension glory. Playing two identical intervals on different parts of the fretboard. Happens all the time. I do it all the time.

Playing different modal scale over the same Key chord

This is where the fun begins. I play my B dorian riff over a B major chord. I add any notes outside of the major scale in B to colour the overall music. In this case the minor 3rd and major 6th should stand out – and the target notes in the riff should emphasize that. Will it sound chaotic or sweet. Well there are some rules but it doesn’t hurt to try – when alone and practicing.

I have a whole other post that states what chords different modes are often played over and what kind of mood the scale has. For now I will just add what target notes can be emphasized by using the modal scales over other keys or chords in a progression. And how to determine if the scale is appropriate.

Ionian major scale –
1, 3, 4, 5, 6, b7

The ionian scale mphasizes the key notes of a major key song and melody. Characterized by its 1, 3, 5 notes.

The Ionian scale is also the grandpa of all scale modes. Every other scale is derived from making changes to it.

The nice thing is that it can be played over any part of the song that is in the same key. Best when the key is also the tonic (the tonal center note and Scales that the bulk of the song revolves around)

The 4th note will sound temporary and a bit unstable. It usually needs to be resolved with the 3rd note.

(you may have to change to a different Ionian scale if they key changes or to another mode entirely if the dominant chord takes over the tonal centre of the song’s chord progression. More on those wrenches later.)

Dorian Mode
1, 2, b3, 4, 5, 6, b7

This very jazzy, mellow blues mode has a b3 (which makes it minor), a b7 (which makes it sound nice over any m7 chord) and it is defined by being the only minor key with a 6th – giving it a bright, almost major quality.

It’s good to use over minor chords not in the key of the song.

This scale is often mixed with the pentanonic minor and blues scales. The target note is the 6th.

Minor Bebop scale
1, 2, b3, 4, 5, 6, b7 7
Takes an extra 7th in the Dorian scale and adds it as a passing note. Used in jazz standards with The m7 chords in a minor blues progression, or the iim7 chord in a iim7-V7-Imaj7

Dominant Bebop Scale
1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, b7 7

Takes a mix scale and adds an 8th passing note 7th to it. Used to improvise over blues progressions and dominant 7th chord progressions

Major Bebop Scale
1, 3, 4, 5, 6, b7 7
Adds a 7th note as a passing 8 note to Ionian scale
Used with maj7 chords

Phrygian minor mode
1 b2 b3 4 5 b6 b7

I love this mode because I love Spanish Flamenco music. This is a very important minor scale in such music.

The target notes are the b2 and the b6
Because of the b7 this mode can be used with m7 chords. Be careful not to over use the b2 and b6 notes as they can clash.

Phrygian Dominant
(1, b2, 3, 4, 5, b6, b7)
Used a lot in heavy metal. The 3rd is not flattened.

Gypsy Scale / Hungarian Minor
(1, b2, 3, 4, 5, b6, 7)
A Phrygian scale with a non flat 3rd and 7th
Both the P Dom and Gypsy are good over major chords a half tone apart

How to use modes with chord changes in a progression

So far we have talked a bit about using certain modes over certain chords or progressions. However, we haven’t really touched on how to find out which modes to use in a particular song.

That process is not has hard as one thinks as long as you know that the chord voicings in a key are based on the same 7 modal changes as the notes of the major scale.

So basically all that you have to do is figure out the chord progression in a song and apply the modes to the chord changes.

So lets say you have a song that goes

I-V7-IV-ii – then you can see that the following scales fit

I – ionian (or lydian)

V7 – mixolydian

IV – Lydian

ii – Dorian

The complication is that you have to have the skill and wits about you to change modes with every chord. That takes a LOT of study and practice.

There is no rule that you have to change modes for every chord change in many songs either. You could use just the Lydian and Mixolydian scales in this song and it could sound find over the minor chord. You could choose not to solo over some chords as well.

Problems arise when the tonal centre shifts to other keys from the dominant chords to the sub-dominant chords (in a substitution)

For example

I-V7-II7-IV – the ii7 has been replaced by a subdominant II7 – the scale choice do Dorian for the ii7 would NOT fit

Bigger problems occur when there are key changes in the song. Of course you will have to change modes for the part of the song where the key changes.

For more on modes and their applications with specific chord families go to this link

Counting Keys

Jun9

[PreReq – Learn Chord Names with #s]

You can literally figure out the key to most rock songs by counting on your fingers. Here’s how to do it for both major and minor keys

MAJOR KEY CHORDS

Remember how chords were made up of 1 (R), 3rd, and 5th NOTES. Well now we will go macro and get into chord progressions for songs.

Basically the major three chord song is 1st (key chord), 4th (major chord) and 5th (major chord)

The starting chord (I) is the same as the key (see caveat below)

The I, IV, V pattern works for every key

A basic 4 chord rock song is 1 (key), m3, 4th, and 5th

Before we go further let’s get into the theory. It is very similar to that of scale notes. But this time we are ordering chords according to a 7 chord pattern where every chord has notes in the same key.

Starting at C a chord progression would be C, Dm, Em, F, G, Am, Edim, C

Here is all how it matches up.

Use roman numbers for the chord numbers and the arabic (normal) numbers for the chord types

ex iim7 would be the 2nd chord in the key as a minor 7th, V7 would be the fifth chord in the key major 7th

What needs to be remembered is the major and minor sequence pattern

Major Key

I – major, ii – minor, iii – minor, IV – major, V- major, vi – minor, vii – is a diminished chord

So if you have a key of C

– just count the 4th and 5th on your fingers and you get C, F, G; the minor is the 3rd so

C (I), D (ii), Em (iii)

Key of D – I, ii, iii, IV, V – D, Em, F#m, G, A, Bm, C#0

This works for all keys – the chord you start on as I determines the key

Chord Progressions

So NOW you can make songs from various patterns in ANY key (as long as you know the pattern)

I – V

I, IV, V – standard three chord folk/rock song – La Bamba – Ritchie Valens, Twist and shout – The Beatles

I7, IV7, V7 – three chords blues song

I, iii, IV, V – standard 4 chord rock song – with minor (m3rd)

I, IV, V, vi – another form of standard rock song – with relative minor (m6th)

I – IV – I – V – Free fallin’ – Tom Petty, Brown Eyed Girl – Van Morrison

I – vi – IV – V – Stand by me – Ben E King, Every breath you take – Sting, Love hurts – Everly Brothers

I – V – vi – IV – You’re beautiful – James Blunt, I’m yours – Jason Mraz, With or without you – U2

vi – IV – I – V* – The other side – RHCP, Zombie – The Cranberries, One of us – Joan Osbourne

Be careful with this one because someone might say it is in a minor key as Im, VI, III, VII (see below)

MINOR KEY CHORDS

It gets a little more complex when musicians start talking about Minor keys. The Major Key section at the top is the same as above BUT have a look at the lower half of the chart for Minor keys. They are ordered differently.

What is going on is that the Minor key starts as the relative minor sixth of its Major key

ex, key of C is also the key of Am [look at the chart and see that the chords are the same]

But in the minor chord progression the I chord is now a minor i – that relative minor (6th chord)

So a minor key pattern with all 7 chords is:

Im (i-m), II0 (ii-dim), III, IVm (iv-m), Vm (v-m), VI, VII – this pattern is pretty much a flip of minor and major chords

The confusion CAN come when musicians refer to the i, iv, v (or any progression)- but they are refering to a minor key; not a major

So it would not be C, F and G (major -I, IV, V) the chords would be (minor – Im, IVm, Vm) – Am, Dm, Em

Common Minor Key Chord Patterns

Im, VI, VII – Stairway to Heaven

i – iv – i – I shot the Sherif (Marley)

i – v – Losing My Religion (REM)

VI – VII – i – Don’t Cry (GnR)

i – VII – VI – VII – All along the Watch Tower, While my guitar Gently Weeps (countless others)

i – VII – VI – V7 – Stray Cat Strut

Im, VI, III, VII – The other side – RHCP, Zombie – The Cranberries, One of us – Joan Osbourne

Coloured chord progressions

You can colour both minor and major chord progressions with 9ths, maj7ths, 13th to get more of a funk or jazz sound

If you want to get into Jazz chord progressions, check out this site.

IMPORTANT NOTE: Tonic Center chorts vs. Key (Tonic) Chords – “what’s it in”

You will often find yourself in this situation when jamming in rock or folk. You will ask the guys you are jamming with; “what’s it in” and they will say “It’s in A”. SO using the I, IV, V chord pattern (discussed on my other site) you will try to play the chords in the key of A as A, D, E ….BUT the song actually has the chords D, G, and A. The song is actually in the key of D with the A chord being the tonal centre.

Let me put this another way. The tonic of the key is the I dominant major chord of the key of a song based on notes in the Ionian major scale. However, the tonal centre of a part of a whole song does NOT have to be based on the tonic (I) chord of a scale.

I will say it again: the tonal centre of a song, or part of it, is the chord that a the song has as it’s most important. How? Well the music often resolves to it as a start or an end chord. Or it could be the chord that the main solos and melodies are sung over. If a song is in the key of A, it’s tonal centre can still be another chord – often the V chord, sometimes the IV chord. [Only when the tonal centre of a key goes to the VI minor or III minor do we think about renaming the key] Yes, tonal centres CAN change through the tune. The chorus of a song might have the tonic (I) chord as the tonal centre: the key is the same as the tonal centre. However the verses might revolve around the Vth chord.

Example. I have a song called Trick boys that I originally wrote in the key of with the chords A, Bm7, Em5 in the chorus and the verses using chords D, C6/9, and G. [sorry this recording is painfully amateur] So what key is that beast in? Well the tonal centre of that version is A for the verses with the A, Bm7, Em5 open string chords all with an A open string bass drone. However, the tonal centre of the verses switches to D. This gives the tune a classic Pete Townsend/Who structure. (note the A power chords that define the chorus) If you take all the chords D, C/G, G, A, Bm7 – it works out this way, D (I), G (IV), A(V), Bm7(vii) – [the C/G is the bVII which barely fits in this key as an open major power chord with a G (4th) as the bass note.]. The key of Trick Boyz is, in fact D. The key is not A because though it has a D (subdominant iV of A) it does not feature an E chord (the dominant 5th).– though if you listen carefully I use E as a passing chord in the descending riff A, G, E, D at the end of the chorus phrases. This tune also has a Bm7 as its relative minor (iv) not F#m if it were in the key of A.

Interestingly I shipped Trick Boyz out after 23 years, [it was written in 1989], in 2012 to Shogo Minami of the electropop band TripMen. The Tripmen decided to change the tonal centre of the entire song to the D. including the chorus! It sounded great, so instead of riffing off the A progression tonal centre of the chorus, that version of the tune riffs to a D major chord, (so does the solo I think). I sing the chorus of the electropop version of the Trick Boyz in the tonic key of D, not the tonal centre of A anymore. (unless I perform it acoustically, then the chorus centre is back to A – the whole song is still in the key of D though.).

A more complex explanation is that the parent key of the song is stated differently than the actual modal scale of the song. A song whose tonal centre is the V is in the mixolydian mode of the key. (Ex. A tonic chord is actually the Vth in the key of D – but most of the important notes of the song revolve around the A mixolydian mode scale.) For a more detailed explanation of the tonic chord not matching the I key chord read the first chapter of Desi Serna’s Fretboard Theory II.

Here is a good wikihow post on how to determine what key you are in.

ANOTHER NOTE: Multiple Keys in one song

Remember too that rock, pop, jazz, and blues songs can have more than one key because they change keys in the middle of the song.

For example the classic Stones tune Sympathy for the Devil has the following chords

Verse – E D A E – that would be the key of A (I, IV, V = A, D, E) with a pattern V, IV, I, V

But the Chorus is B, A, E – key of E (I, IV, V = E, A, B) with a pattern of V, IV, I

There is no D in the key of E (it would have to be Ddim). In the key of A, there is no B (it would have to be Bm)

But it IS a common trick in rock to substitute the IIm (minor 2nd) for a II (major 2nd) – so most rockers would just call it the key of A. Not technically correct though.

I have compiled a whole list of rock tunes by key progress (and chord scales for solos) in the post called

Rock Tunes Keys and Scales

Also Check out my Modal Keys Jam video page [coming soon) where YouTube vids can play progressions you can jam to or solo over.

Just for fun, here is an interesting analysis of keys and chords used in modern pop music

Now you can go onto check out the Post on Chord Subsitutions and Circles of 5ths [coming soon]

Modes and Scales

Jun8

In order to play leads and construct interesting chords is to know your scales. It may look complex and daunting at first, but once you see the patterns and know the “rules” you can play just about any scale.

A scale is the pattern of notes between one tonic note and the note 8 interval tones above it (called an octave).

The mode is basically the sound or mood that scale makes as it is played over a chord progression.

Rule (secret) #1 – All modes are derived from the Ionian major scale

Rule (secret) #2 – the scales run over TWO octaves across the fretboard from E 6th string to E 1st string

major_1st_posn This is only the first position (E shape) of the Major scale – with the root (R) on th 6th string. [this scale position starts on F# – E string 2nd fret- so it is the F# Dorian scale – they of F3) There are actually five positions (later)

The mode is basically what note you start on in this scale. The chart below shows all the notes in the key of C.

scale-mode-pic-8

Ex. if you start on the 2nd note (2nd degree) of the Ionian scale – D instead of C (in the key of C) then you have a Dorian Scale (mode) (the scale below starts on the 5th fret so it is the A Dorian scale – key of G)

dorian-a-pos-1

If you start on the third note of the Ionian scale – E instead of C (in the key of C) then you have the Phrygian mode.

phrygianmode

Locrian mode scale (1st position – root on 6th string) – starts on the 4th note (degree) of the Ionian scale

Locrian-root-6th-diagram1-300x176

Mixolydian Mode scale – (1st position on 6th string) starts on the 5th degree of the Ionian scale

mixolydian-1st-position

Aeolian (natural Minor) Mode Scale – (1st position on 6th string) starts on the 6th degree of the Ionian Scale

xnaturalminor.gif.pagespeed.ic.vsOQTj7zXr

If you alter ONE note in the Natural minor (Aeolian scale) you get the Harmonic Minor scale. Basically you raise the 7th note to a major 7 instead of a b7th

harmonic_minor

Finally the 7th degree of the Ionian scale is the Lydian scale (note that it is one half step below the Ionian scale as shown by the dot.

lydian_2

More Positions of Scale Modes

All of the patterns above are based on the 1st postion of the scale modes. There are actually five positions of each scale mode !!! [I will show them here but don’t try to memorize them – there are better systems. Actually, if you just memorize the Ionian mode and know to start on the different degrees – your sort of have mastered all the modes – but that is hard to do when comping – playing scales over chord progressions]

Ionian (major) scale – 5 positions

Dorian Mode scale positions

dorian dorianposit

Mixolydian Major Scale Positions

cmixolydianpatterns

Aeolian Natural Minor Scale positions (click for bigger image)

NaturalMinorScales (2)

Harmonic Minor Scale positions

Harmonic Minor 2of2

I didn’t list Locrian, Lydian, and Phyrgian five positions but you can look them up.

BIG TIP – Learn 6th E root and 5th A root positions of each mode

Learn the Modes on the 6th E string root, 5th A string roots first. The reason is that the 6th string root can be played over an E position of the key chord. The 5th string root can be played over the A position of the key chord. If you know your barre chords then you can position these scales and modes easily

Ionian-Scale-Charts

Dorian 6th E root and 5th A root

Dorian-Scale-Charts

Locrian-Scale-Charts Lydian-Scale-Charts Mixolydian-Scale-Charts Phrygian-Scale-Charts

Check out this great take lessons blog for more details

	Wilbur K Smith on Modes and Scales
	codystrum on Modes and Scales
	John H on Modes and Scales
	M6Q3 – Site Ti… on Applying Solo Modes
	codystrum on Chord Families for Scale …

Cody Chops

Essentials for Advanced Guitarists

Category Archives: Progressions