I'm gonna show you an easier way to think about them
so you can finally understand what they are
and how to actually use them in your music.
Modes are scales.
If you already know the major and minor scales,
then you already know two of the seven modes.
The first way to think about modes
that people are often taught
is to take the major scale, but start on different notes.
So if you decide that C is your home pitch or your tonic,
and you play all white keys, you get the C major scale.
(piano music)
But what if you use those same pitches,
but you pick a different note to be home?
For example, we could still use all white keys,
Because there are seven different pitches
in our typical Western scale,
there are seven different modes.
A lot of times the explanation for modes stops there.
And so it's really no wonder to me
that people find that confusing and pretty useless.
The other easier and more useful way to think about modes
is how they relate to the major and minor scale.
And you only have to remember
a single unique thing about each one.
I'll show you a quick example of what I'm talking about,
and then we'll go into each mode one by one.
So think of the notes in the major scale
as 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 1.
When we play all white keys, but start on G
we get G Mixolydian.
(piano music)
If we compare G Mixolydian to the G major scale,
you can see that instead of the F sharp,
we have an F natural.
Essentially we have flattened
or lowered the seventh scale degree.
And that's the simple formula for Mixolydian
it's the major scale with a flat seven.
So C Mixolydian would be the notes from C major
except with a B flat.
(piano music)
A Mixolydian would be the notes from A major
except with a G natural instead of G sharp.
(piano music)
All seven modes have a formula like this
with a characteristic note and a unique sound.
Three of the modes are major
because they use the major third and four of them are minor.
So let's start with the major modes.
The first is called Ionian,
and the formula is 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 1,
which hopefully you recognize
is the exact same as the major scale.
(piano music)
The only difference between Ionian and being in a major key
is that if you were being very strict about Ionian,
you're not going to use any chromatic pitches
or chords from different keys.
It's just plain vanilla major.
If we rank the modes on a scale of how bright they are,
Ionian comes in at six.
Compared to most of the modes, it's pretty happy.
Mixolydian as we saw in our example
is 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, flat 7, 1.
(piano music)
It's a bit smoother than Ionian
and that flat 7 can give us a bluesy sound.
(piano music)
On the brightness scale, Mixolydian comes in at a 5.
I'll use Mixolydian when I want something that sounds
kind of major or positive,
but a bit softer or more neutral than just Ionian.
Because of that flat 7 scale degree,
instead of a 5 major chord,
we get a 5 minor chord,
which is what Coldplay use in their song "Clocks"
to get that bittersweet sound.
(upbeat piano music)
Lydian is 1, 2, 3, sharp 4, 5, 6, 7, 1.
(piano music)
On the brightness scale, Lydian is right at the top at a 7.
That raised fourth scale degree has this urgent pull upwards
and this overall feeling of lift.
When John Williams wants to evoke flying,
he'll often use the Lydian mode.
(soft piano music)
I'll use Lydian when I want things to be especially happy,
maybe sometimes even to a silly degree.
Now on to the minor modes.
Aeolian is 1, 2, flat 3, 4, 5, flat 6, flat 7, 1.
(piano music)
If you know the natural minor scale,
then you already know Aeolian.
The difference between Aeolian and minor
is pretty much the same as the difference between
Ionian and major.
In a traditional minor scale,
we're taught to raise the seventh scale degree
for the 5 chord to give us a strong classical cadence.
(piano music)
But in Aeolian we're more strict about
keeping those sixth and seventh scale degrees lower.
The result is a smoother and more hollow sound.
Ravel uses Aeolian in the "Sleeping Beauty" movement
from his Mother Goose suite,
where the hollowness is evocative of a melancholy fairytale.
(soft piano music)
On the brightness scale, Aeolian is at a 3.
I'll use Aeolian most of the time when I'm writing in minor.
That raised seventh scale degree from classical minor
can have a really old fashioned sound in the wrong context,
but Aeolian is much smoother.
Dorian is 1, 2, flat 3, 4, 5, 6, flat 7, 1.
(piano music)
What's unique about Dorian is that the characteristic pitch
is that sixth scale degree,
which is interesting because it's not a flat six.
Dorian gets a four on the brightness scale,
which puts it right in the middle of the chart.
Because of the raised six,
the four minor chord becomes four major.
It's perfect for when you want things to be serious
and maybe a little dark, but at the same time still heroic.
(upbeat piano music)
Dorian also gets associated often with traditional Irish
or Scottish or English music,
because that raised sixth degree
is really characteristic of those styles.
For example, it's used in English ballad,
"Scarborough Fair".
♪ Are you going to Scarborough Fair ♪
(audience applauding)
♪ Parsley, sage, rosemary, and thyme ♪
Phrygian is 1, flat 2, flat 3, 4, 5, flat 6, flat 7, 1.
(piano music)
It's like taking the Aeolian mode
and lowering the second scale degree to a flat two,
which becomes the characteristic pitch.
Compared to the other modes,
Phrygian is the darkest
that you will probably regularly use.
Technically Locrian is darker,
but it's really not used that much,
we'll get to that in a bit.
On the brightness scale, Phrygian is at a two,
that flat two scale degree is pretty sinister.
I'll use Phrygian when I'm trying to create
an especially dark mood.
"Battle With Magus" from Chrono Trigger uses Phrygian.
(sinister piano music)
Locrian is 1, flat 2, flat 3, 4, flat 5, flat 6, flat 7,1.
Locrian is a 1 on the brightness scale,
or in other words, the darkest of the modes
because of that flat 5.
You basically take Phrygian and make it even darker
by lowering that fifth.
(piano music)
Because in tonal music
that 1 to 5 relationship is so important,
you really don't find that many examples of Locrian.
David Bennett has a video literally titled
"A Song That Actually Uses Locrian",
which should give you some idea about how rare it is.
In that case, it's used by Bjork and there's other examples
often cited by Metallica or Slipknot.
So you should get some idea of the styles
that are using Locrian, when they're even using it.
Although it's technically the darkest of the modes,
I really don't use it that much.
If I'm going that dark anyway,
I'll probably end up with like a half diminished scale.
The modes are easier to understand if you think of them
relative to the major and minor scales,
as opposed to subsets of those scales.
I think it's a lot easier to remember that
Lydian has a sharp 4 rather than thinking, okay.
Lydian is the fourth scale degree from the scale
and having to think backwards to the key,
it just doesn't become that useful.
So for each mode,
you just have to remember what makes it special.
Ionian is the same as major,
Dorian is minor with a raised six,
Phrygian is minor with a flat 2,
Lydian is major with a sharp 4,
Mixolydian is major with a flat 7.
Aeolian is natural minor.
Locrian is minor with flat 2 and flat 5.
Because the scales are different
the chords end up being different too.
Where it gets really fun is when you start to mix and match
and borrow chords from one mode to use in another
which we call modal interchange.
You get a hint of modal interchange
when you use chords from different keys
where the roots are a third apart,
which I talk about in this video here.
It's how film composers can make fantasy scenes more magical
or villains even more sinister.
So definitely check that out
if you're a film or video game composer.