Modes PT II: Names, Character Notes, & Chords

About the Author

Sean Meredith-Jones

Sean Meredith-Jones

Guitarist, Composer, Online Guitar Instructor

 

Sean has been teaching the guitar in all its facets for over 20 years.  He is a graduate of the prestigious Berklee College Of Music in Boston, Ma.  He is an adjunct guitar and Contemporary Music Ensemble professor at Redeemer University in Ancaster, Ontario.  He has dedicated his career to teaching and mentoring guitarists from all walks of life since his days at music college.  Sean’s original music can be found on Apple Music, Spotify, and Youtube,  To read more about Sean’s personal music story, see his “Tales Of A Practicing Guitarist” Blog.

 

In my “Unsolved Music Mysteries” blog entry, I set out a basic framework for what modes are and how they are used in general terms. In this blog entry, I’ll deal with this topic in higher resolution. Each mode/scale creates a series of intervals measured from the root to each secondary note. The major scale is simply: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7… that is Root, major 2nd, maj 3rd, perfect 4th, perfect 5th, major 6th, major 7th. All other modes are various alterations of that structure. Here are the three parent scales (Major, Harmonic Minor, Melodic Minor) and all the secondary modes they create through inversion. Each mode in effect has a unique signature sound because of the unique interval spacing and tonic chord. Here they are.

Modes of The Major Scale

  1. Ionian (1 2 3 4 5 6 7 ) Tonic Chord: IMaj/ IMaJ7/ IMaj6 Characteristic note: 4
  2. Dorian (1 2 b3 4 5 6 b7) Tonic Chord: Imin/ Imin7/ Imin6/ I7sus4 Characteristic note: 6
  3. Phrygian (1 b2 b3 4 5 b6 b7) Tonic Chord: Imin/ Imin7/ I7sus4 Characteristic note: b2
  4. Lydian (1 2 3 #4 5 6 7) Tonic Chord: IMaj/ IMaj7/ IMaj6/ IMaj7(b5) Characteristic note: #4
  5. Mixolydian (1 2 3 4 5 6 b7) Tonic Chord: IMaj/ I7/ I7sus4 Characteristic note: b7
  6. Aeolian (1 2 b3 4 5 b6 b7) Tonic Chord: Imin/ Imin7 Characteristic note: b6
  7. Locrian (1 b2 b3 4 b5 b6 b7) Tonic Chord: Idim/ Imin7(b5) Characteristic note: b5

Modes of the Harmonic Minor Scale.

These scales are named as variations of the modes of the Major scale. For most, the characteristic notes appear in the scale name. Those notes might appear as 9, 11, or 13 which is how they function over their tonic chords. They appear as 2, 4, and 6 when written as scale tones.

  1. Harmonic Minor ( 1 2 b3 4 5 b6 7) Tonic Chord: Imin/ Imin(Maj7) Characteristic note: 7
  2. Locrian Natural 13 (1 b2 b3 4 b5 6, b7) Tonic Chord: Idim/ Imin7(b5) Characteristic note: 6
  3. Ionian #5 ( 1 2 3 4 #5 6 7) Tonic Chord: I+ (Aug)/ IMaj7(#5) Characteristic note: #5
  4. Dorian #11 ( 1 2 b3 #4 5 6 b7) Tonic Chord: Imin/ Imin7/ I-7(b5) Characteristic note: #11
  5. Mixolydian b9, b13 (aka Phrygian Dominant) (1 b2 3 4 5 b6 b7) Tonic Chord: IMaJ/ I7 Characteristic note: b9 b13
  6. Lydian #9 (1 #2 3 #4 5 6 7) Tonic Chord: IMaj/ IMaj7, Imin(Maj7) Characteristic Note: #9
  7. Double Diminished (1 b2 b3 b4 b5 b6 bb7) Tonic Chord: Idim/ Idim7 Character Note: bb7

Modes Of the Melodic minor scale

Also named as variations of the modes of the major scale. Characteristic notes appear in the names. Those notes might appear as 9, 11, or 13 which refers to their function over their tonic chords. They appear as 2, 4, 6 when written as scale tones.

  1. Melodic Minor ( 1 2 b3 4 5 6 7) Tonic Chord: Imin/ Imin6/ Imin(Maj7) Character Note: 6
  2. Dorian b9 ( 1 b2 b3 4 5 6 b7) Tonic Chord: Imin/ Imin6/ Imin7 Character Note: b2
  3. Lydian #5 (aka Lydian Augmented) ( 1 2 3 #4 #5 6 7) Tonic Chord: I+/ IMaj7(#5) Character Note: #4
  4. Lydian b7 ( 1 2 3 #4 5 6 b7) Tonic Chord: IMaj/ I7/ I7(b5) Character Note: b7
  5. Mixolydian b13 ( 1 2 3 4 5 b6 b7) Tonic Chord: IMaj/ Iaug/ I7/ I7(#5) Character Note: b6
  6. Locrian natural 9 ( 1 2 b3 4 b5 b6 b7) Tonic Chord: Idim/ Imin7(b5) Character Note: 2
  7. Super Locrian (Altered Scale) ( 1 b9 #9 3 b5 #5 b7) Tonic Chord: Idim/ I7(b5)/ I7(#5)

What is a characteristic note?

In each of the 7 modes of the major scale, there will be one note that makes that scale unique. It’s the note that differentiates it from the other modes with the same tonic chord.

IE: There are 3 modes with a Imin tonic chord: Dorian, Phrygian, and Aeolian. Only Dorian has a natural 13. Only Phrygian has a b2. Aeolian has a b6 which separates it from Dorian.

There are 3 modes with a IMaj tonic Chord: Ionian, Lydian, Mixolydian. Only Lydian has a #4. Only Mixolydian has a b7. Ionian has a natural 4 which separates it from Lydian.

What is a Characteristic Modal Chord:


Any chord within a mode that contains the characteristic note. There will be three triads and four 7th chord possibilities. The characteristic note can be the root, 3rd, 5th, or 7th of the chord. Chords containing the characteristic note are often used as modal interchange chords (same tonal centre/tonic chord but different notes).

IE: Introducing an Fmin chord in a C major tune introduces the note Ab. That’s scale degree b6 which is the characteristic note of Aeolian

Introducing the chord DMaj in a C major tune introduces the note F#. That’s scale degree #4 which is the characteristic note of Lydian.

To Learn more about how you can personalize the use of modes in your music, check out my 8 week course:

Modes: The Colour Of Music