# [Lesson] Basic Scale & Chord Construction



## Metal Ken (Aug 16, 2004)

*Basic Chord & Scale Construction.​*
The most important aspect of music is the Major (ionian) Scale. Everything is derived from this, all chords, all scales, everything. They can be traced back to the Major Scale. 

The Major scale is constructed of a repeating patteron of Whole steps and half steps, Whole, Whole, Half, Whole, Whole,Whole, Half. When you start it on C, it is C D E F G A B C. For the majority of this lesson, i'll be using C Major since its the best for explaining, with no sharps and flats. Now once you this know this, the concept of modes is really basic. A Mode is just a major scale with a different altered note to give it a different sound.

In C Major, your modes are:

C Ionian - Major
D Dorian - Minor
E Phrygian - Minor
F Lydian - Major
G Mixolydian-Major
A Aeolian - Natural Minor
B Locrian - Half Dimished

That's pretty simple. If you know a C Major scale and emphasize a different note, you get that respective mode. If you play a C major scale from E TO E,
You get a phrygian mode, which is minor and pretty egyptian sounding, so its cool. You can also apply a Formula to make modes from the major scale, to see
how each mode relates to each other. 

The FORMULAS for modes are:

Ionian - Straight Major
Dorian - 1, 2, 3b, 4, 5, 6, 7b
Phrygian - 1, 2b, 3b, 4, 5, 6b, 7b
Lydian - 1, 2, 3, 4#, 5, 6, 7
Mixolydian - 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7b
Aeolian - 1, 2, 3b, 4, 5, 6b, 7b
locrian - 1, 2b, 3b, 4, 5b, 6b, 7b

Now what this means is if you take a major scale and apply that chart to the above notes you'll get that scale, For example, you start out with an A Major scale:

A B C# D E F# G# A

Now you take the Aeolian formula, which you flatten the 3rd,6th and 7th notes. In The A Major scale, those are C#, F# & G#. So You flatten those notes. What do you get?
A B C D E F G A. Thats an A Aeolian/Natural Minor scale!

Now for the chords. Once again, as with scales, Major is the basis for all of our chord construction. The most basic chord you can have is a Major triad. A Triad is simply 3 notes (And a Dyiad is a harmonic relation, like a power'chord'). A triad is the smallest possible chord. A Major triad is simply the 1st, 3rd and 5th note of any major scale.

For example:
A C Major triad is simply the first, third and fifth note of a C Major scale, So:

Our Major Scale:

C D E F G A B 
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 

Our chord will be 1-3-5, so:

1(C)-3(E)-5(G). On guitar that looks like:

E----
B----
G-0--
D-2--
A-3--
E----
B----


The Minor Triad/Chord formula is ALMOST the same as the Major, except you take the 1st, FLAT 3rd and 5th of the major scale.
So for A Minor, you have your major scale:

A B C# D E F# G#
1 2 3 4 5 6 7

Our Chord is 1-3b-5, so:

1(A)-3b(C)-5(E). The C# becomes a C Natural. On guitar that looks like

E----
B----
G----
D-2--
A-3--
E-5--
B----

Extended chords are just as simple. A Seventh chord is just the 1st,3rd,5th, and SEVENTH note of a major scale. 
So lets take a look at a C Major 7th chord.

Our Major Scale:
C D E F G A B 
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 

Our chord will be 1-3-5-7, so:

1(C)-3(E)-5(G)-7(B). On guitar that looks like:

E----
B-0--
G-0--
D-2--
A-3--
E----
B----

So here's some chord formulas:

Chord Type Formula 
Major - 1, 3, 5 
Major7th - 1, 3, 5, 7 
Major9th - 1, 3, 5, 7, 9 
Major11th- 1, 3, 5, 7, 9, 11 
Major13th- 1, 3, 5, 7, 9, 11, 13 

Minor - 1, b3, 5 
Minor7th - 1, b3, 5, b7 
Minor9th - 1, b3, 5, b7, 9 
Minor11th - 1, b3, 5, b7, 9, 11 
Minor13th - 1, b3, 5, b7, 9, 11, 13 

Later on if anyone wants, i can write about Augmented, Dimished,suspended & Dominant Chords. this is just a brief skim over the stuff i did up by request of
Goliath, so i hope he enjoys if no one else. If anyone has any questions feel free to ask.


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## telecaster90 (Apr 2, 2005)

HateBreeder said:


> Later on if anyone wants, i can write about Augmented, Dimished,suspended & Dominant Chords. this is just a brief skim over the stuff i did up by request of
> Goliath, so i hope he enjoys if no one else. If anyone has any questions feel free to ask.



Good post.

What's the deal with Augmented, Diminished, Suspended and Dominant? Isn't Dominant a major triad with b7?


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## Metal Ken (Apr 2, 2005)

Pretty much. a Dominant will naturally fall on the V chord of any key as well. 
Augmented chords a stacked triads of major thirds, Dimished are stacked triads of Minor 3rds. Sus chords are chords like 1-2-5 or 1-4-5 instead of 1-3-5. You suspend the third in favor of anothe scale tone.

Theres a whole other mess of rules for usage of Augmented and Diminished in chord substitutions and all kinds of stuff. If you want, message me on AIM andi can break it down for ya.


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## telecaster90 (Apr 2, 2005)

IM'd


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## macalpine88 (Apr 3, 2005)

telecaster90 said:


> Good post.
> 
> What's the deal with Augmented, Diminished, Suspended and Dominant? Isn't Dominant a major triad with b7?



as hatebreeder said it is 2 major 3rds stacked on top of each other, instead of the normal major 3rd than minor 3rd. diminished is 2 minor 3rds. 

a few scales you can play that have an augmented 5th are, lydian augmented,1-2-3-#4-#5-6-7 which is the 3rd mode of the melodic minor scale, Ionian #5 same as the scale above except without the #4th, it is a mode of the harmonic minor scale. and the whole tone scale which is 1-2-3-#4-#5-6-b7, it is composed of all whole steps. chord construction is 1-3-#5

diminished chords are usually viio unless your in a minor key than its iio. some scales you can play over a diminished chord are locrian - 1-b2-b3-4-b5-b6-b7 which is a mode of the major scale, locrian natural 2nd and locrian b4 which are modes of the melodic minor scale.locrian natural 6th and alterd double flatted 7th 1-b2-b3-b4-b5-b6-b7 which are modes of the harmonic minor scale, and a very dissonent sounding one is the Locrian bb7 which comes from the harmonic major scale. the triad is 1-b3-b5 depending on the sound you want you can use any of these scales over it.

sus2 and 4th are not minor or major but you can play i minor, major scale or any scale with a 1-2-4-5 in it

dominant chords are built off scales like lydian dominant(1-2-3-#4-5-6-b7 and mixolydian(minus the #4) the usually are 1-3-5-b7 you can add a #4 and it is the so called Hendrix chord

holy hell i can ramble on, if i over complicated somethings i can correct them i


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## Drew (Apr 3, 2005)

macalpine88 said:


> 1-3-5-b7 you can add a #4 and it is the so called Hendrix chord



Not to call you out, but, well, er, I guess I'm gonna call you out on that.  The "Hendrix" chord is actually a 7#9, not a 7#4. The voicing everyone knows is the one from Purple Haze: 

|---|
|-8-| G - augmented 9th
|-7-| D - minor 7th
|-6-| G# - major 3rd
|-7-| E - root
|-0-| E - root
|---|

It's an incredibly tense chord because, enharmonically, a #9 is the same pitch as a b3, so you're playing a dominant chord with both a major and a minor third. 

As such, it makes an awesome turnaround - check out Jimi's "Villanova Junction" at the end of thr Woodstock album, an Am jazzy blues groove, where in one of the turnarounds, he arpeggiates that voicing. It sounds beyond badass. 

-D


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## macalpine88 (Apr 3, 2005)

ooops, sorry. it was late when i wrote that and i wasnt thinking properly  i just remember it was derived from the melodic minor scale


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## Drew (Apr 3, 2005)

You can also see it as a natural extension of the blues scale and blues harmonic context: essentially, blues harmony can be understood as dominant chords functioning as tonic chords, so in a minor blues you're seeing a harmonic context that implues 1-3-5-b7 over a chord that'd normally be 1-b3-b5. If you wanted to distill this tension down to a single chord, then a 7#9 is about as pure as you're going to get. 

-D


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## 7StringofAblicK (Jul 11, 2005)

i really need to learn how to read music effectively, more music theory. I've been playing for 7-8 years but never took the time to really undergo the theory.

nobody lives near northern kentucky who wants to give free lessons do they?


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## Drew (Jul 12, 2005)

No, but we're more than happy to oblige here...  

If HB'er ever gets off his ass and sends it over to me, he's contributing a chord theory lesson to our lessons page (http://www.sevenstring.org/forum/view.php?pg=lessons). If not, I'll just write one up myself. 

I've been meaning to start writing theory lessons, but busy as fuck at work lately...


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## 7StringofAblicK (Jul 13, 2005)

Drew said:


> No, but we're more than happy to oblige here...
> 
> If HB'er ever gets off his ass and sends it over to me, he's contributing a chord theory lesson to our lessons page (http://www.sevenstring.org/forum/view.php?pg=lessons). If not, I'll just write one up myself.
> 
> I've been meaning to start writing theory lessons, but busy as fuck at work lately...




Sweet. I'd LOVE to get in on it. I took one class in high school, but I don't remember much. I have a scales and modes poster that I practice but I'm not sure if they are in A or G or whatever. I know the frets well and I can move around on the board fine, just can't look and talk about it without saying fret numbers and not actual notes. sucks, been playing for so long and haven't taken the initiative (i hear it's easier to learn when younger anyways).


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## The Dark Wolf (Jul 13, 2005)

telecaster90 said:


> Good post.
> 
> What's the deal with... Suspended...



Just to give a little more detail on suspended chords. 

Simplest definition of a suspended chord is to replace the 3rd note of a chord with the 2nd or (much more commonly) the 4th note of that scale.

This gives the chord a tense, unresolved feel, hence 'suspending' the feeling of anticipation. (This is an old term from back in the days of counterpoint harmony, music like Vivaldi and Bach, where they used a lot of these 'suspensions' as hanging tones, particularly in cadences, or endings, if you will, of musical passages. Like the famous 'Amen' chorus "AHH-ah-ah-mehhhn.") Play an E major chord, but instead of the g# (3rd string, 1st fret) fret the a (3rd string, 2nd fret). You'll immediately feel/hear that neat sense of pretty, almost melancholy 'tension'. (The note A is the fourth note in the key of E- e, f,g, *A*, b, c, d, e- hence a sus4 chord!)

As stated, sus chords can be used in major or minor keys, as they are neither- they are harmonically 'neutral' I guess you could say. They make a neat transition from maj to min as well!


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## Durero (Jan 23, 2006)

Hey folks,
I'm relatively new to the site and I don't know if there's anyone still following this thread but I thought I'd add a little nitpick to Ken's otherwise excellent, concise, and accurate info.

in the list of basic triad chords the half-diminished term only applies to half-diminished 7 chords. a 1-b3-b5 triad is just called diminished.
half-diminished 7 is 1-b3-b5-b7 which distinguishes it from diminished 7 which is 1-b3-b5-bb7.
also half-diminished 7 is called m7b5 in jazz theory.

anyhow, as I said Ken's post is excellent - you sound like a good teacher Metal Ken.

cheers,
Leo


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## Leon (Jan 23, 2006)

i just read this for the first time. thanks for bumping it, Leo!


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## Metal Ken (Jan 30, 2006)

Thanks for the bumps and comments. 
But.. Which part were you talking about, Leo? The only point which i mentioned half diminished was in usage with the locrian mode. and locrian fits in the m7b5. Is that what you were referring to? i was going to correct it but wasnt sure where it lies.


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## Durero (Jan 31, 2006)

Hi Ken,
on second read I see that I may have misunderstood your intent on this part:



> In C Major, your modes are:
> 
> C Ionian - Major
> D Dorian - Minor
> ...



I assumed that you meant to list the 7 modes with the basic triad they go with beside them. Like this:

Mode (goes with) Triad

C Ionian - C Major triad
D Dorian - D Minor triad
E Phrygian - E Minor triad
F Lydian - F Major triad
G Mixolydian - G Major triad
A Aeolian - A Minor triad
B Locrian - B Diminished triad

But your mention of half-diminished suggests 7th chords, as in:

C Ionian - Cmaj7
D Dorian - Dm7
E Phrygian - Em7
F Lydian - Fmaj7
G Mixolydian - G7 (G Dominant 7)
A Aeolian - Am7
B Locrian - Bm7b5 (or B half-diminished)

On re-reading your original post I noticed that you listed "A Aeolian - Natural Minor" which suggests you may have intended to list scale qualities/types and not chords. So it's just that list of modes with major/minor listed after them that seems unclear to me.
Hope that's useful.

As I said before, your post is excellent with lots of great info. When I was learning this stuff I found it very useful to read info like this to re-enforce the terminology and scale/chord relationship concepts.
cheers,
Leo


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## cvinos (Dec 29, 2006)

Nice writeup. I have to say though that I find myself in disagreement with your first sentence. I do not think everything is derived from the major scale. One can certainly think like that, but I don't. And also if you really only look at the major scale itself, you could miss a whole lot of other scales that are not directly related to it. But that should already be clear, and, you could say that things outside the major scale are still derived from it.

Let me add a bit of stuff that is outside the major scale and address some general concepts:

Three important scales that are different from major are:

melodic minor 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, j7
harmonic minor 1, 2, b3, 4, 5, b6, j7
harmonic major 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, b6, j7

These scales can be compared to the major scale. However, they are not necessarily derived from it, say by lowering on or two tones of the major scale. They are separate scales with all their properties. Like they define chords. Each of them has seven modes again. Together with the modes of the major scale this makes 28 different modes already.

Note that harmonic minor and harmonic major not only consist of half-tone and whole-tone steps. They also contain one minor third step between the b6 and the j7.

Just a thought here, you would have a "new" structure if you cannot find an already defined scale that contains your structure. It should be clear that scales with 7 or less then 7 tones can be contained in one of the above scales that have been defined. Or lets say that have been given a name. But there are of course still structures left that are not contained in them. For example picture a scale with five tones like this:

1, b2, 2, b3, 3

The structure here is just four half-tone steps and then a big minor sixth step. The only named scale I can think of right now that contains this structure is the chromatic scale, which does not count here though, because it contains all twelve tones and thus contains all structures, in this sense here.

By the way, I have heard of scales that span two or more octaves.

For more info see

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Musical_scale

Note in the wikipedia article there is a distinction mentioned, a distinction made between a scale and a scale type. 'C-major' or 'D-harmonic minor' would be different scales, 'major' or 'harmonic minor' different scale types. Musicians however just call both things scales. In the first case, the keynote and the structure are given (and thereby all contained tones). In the second case, just the structure is given.


Edit: One more thing that my guitar teacher told me and that I also found in a good book:

On the technical side of guitar playing (note this can be applied to other instruments as well), do not start practicing modes without having in mind that they are just a scale started from a specific level. In fact, it is best to just practice the main scales, major, melodic minor, harmonic minor and harmonic major (if we let other scales aside for a moment) in the root mode first (i.e. in Ionian, MM1, HM1 and harmonic-major-1, respectively). Then, when you are firm with these, or one of these, start playing modes by starting the scale at a specific level. Your feeling for the fingering remains the same as with the main scale, you just have the additional information that a specific tone is the keynote or tonal center. This way, you just have to learn four layouts on the fretboard (with several fingerings each for every position on the fretboard though). With only four layouts you be able to play 28 different modes.


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## Durero (Dec 29, 2006)

terminology question cvinos:
what does the 'j' in j7 stand for?


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## cvinos (Dec 29, 2006)

j7 = maj7 denotes the interval


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## scab (Feb 8, 2007)

thanks for the great post.. i was reading it and you said something about phrygian being "egyptian sounding".. so i set out about 2 feet away and grabbed my guitar and i have to say.. it sounds a little egyptian, but i'd like it to sound more like it.. is their any notes to the phrygian scale that i can stress besides the root to make it sound more "egyptian like"?? 
Thanks Again!!
Scab


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## Metal Ken (Feb 23, 2007)

scab said:


> thanks for the great post.. i was reading it and you said something about phrygian being "egyptian sounding".. so i set out about 2 feet away and grabbed my guitar and i have to say.. it sounds a little egyptian, but i'd like it to sound more like it.. is their any notes to the phrygian scale that i can stress besides the root to make it sound more "egyptian like"??
> Thanks Again!!
> Scab



Sorry i didnt see this sooner. if you want to, PM me, i'll get back to you faster  

If you want your scale to sound REALLY egyption, take a regular phrygian scale and make the 3rd note sharp.
In the context of the lesson, i used E-to-E as an example. 
E-F-G-A-B-C-D-E
Now, if you take the third (G) and raise it,
E-F-G#-A-B-C-D-E
Thats phrygian dominant. It sounds Egyptian as fuck.


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## 220BX (Feb 23, 2007)

this one was extremely helpful. thnx a lot . really easy to understand
but where is the theory section! that will really help. and do add all the other chords that u've mentioned.
thnx again


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## ensam varg (Oct 11, 2007)

i was looking at the thread... and i noticed that the low B was never used in the examples given regarding the chords! This means that the low B is not used in chords?!

Thnks to all those who post these lessons!!


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## awesomeaustin (Jun 25, 2008)

Man, I ave been working on modes for weeks now and neither my guitar teacher, nor my girlfriend (who plays guitar) could teach me modes in a way that I understand. Thanks so much


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## NKGP (Dec 21, 2008)

My teacher has been trying to explain this to me like this:
In C major: C Ionian - Major, D Dorian - Minor, etc..
I couldn't find the logic in there, I wanted to learn it by the intervals.
After reading your post and playing for 15 minutes I'm starting to get it.
Thanks a lot.


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## Axayacatl (Jan 4, 2009)

Cvinos, I think that the melodic minor is not how you wrote it.

The melodic minor ascends as a natural minor with a raised sixth and seventh and descends as a natural minor. That is precisely the reason that it is useful to think of all scales as derived from the Major. What matters is the interval between a note of the scale and the root. As you have written the scales it is confusing. What does the 3 mean in your melodic minor? If it is not flat, then OK, it is just the third of a minor which we can understand as being a minor third from the root. But then why did you sharp the 7th and not the 6th? (Maybe that is just a typo). 

Point 1: you must end up with the same total amount of half steps (the span of an octave). 

Major: W W H W W W H (5 W's, 2 H's, total 12 half steps)
Minor: W H W W H W W (5 W's, 2 H's, total 12 half steps)

The Harmonic Minor is a Natural Minor with a raised 7th degree (useful in 
classical music because of the strength of the leading tone in resolving tensions... go ahead and play a Major without the last note.. its difficult!).

Harmonic Minor: W H W W H W+H H (same total)
From the Major: 1 2 3b 4 5 6b 7. 

The Melodic Minor ascends as a Natural Minor with a raised sixth and seventh (giving it a strong major flavor, you can think of it as a Dorian mode with a raised seventh as well, or, conversely, as a Major with a flatted third) and descends like a Natural Minor (caution, keep in mind that it is descending, or falling from the higher octave, so don't get confused like I do). 

Melodic Minor: 
Ascending: W H W W W W H (12 Half Steps)
From the Major: 1 2 3b 4 5 6 7
Descending: W W H W W H W (12 again, read it backwards and it is the minor described above).

Looking at an actual scale will help make it more concrete and will help make points 2 and 3. 

A Major: A B C# D E F# G# A
A Minor: A B C D E F G A (Major with flat 3, 6, and 7)
A Harmonic Minor: A B C D E F G# A (Minor with raised 7, or Major with flat 3,6)

A Melodic Minor:
Ascending: A B C D E F# G# A (minor with rasied 6, 7, or major with flat 3)
Descending: A G F E D C B A 

Point 2: Notice that what makes scales different (ie, what makes them 'tick') is the placement of the half steps. It follows that there is no problem in thinking of the major scale as the base scale and to think of other scales as modifications of the major. Why not? Suppose you tell me that we miss out if we do not use the harmonic as a base scale, that there are some scales we will not arrive to. But then it is just a matter of skipping a step. First I go from Major to Harmonic Minor by flatting the third and sixth, and then we are ready to make any modification that you want in order to get a new scale. 

Thus I could make any one of the modes my 'base' scale and we would not lose anything as long as we agree what the base is. This is because what ultimately matters to the ear is the distance between any particular note and the root. 

For Example:
Suppose I make the Dorian my 'base' scale and you say you want to get to a Harmonic Minor (recall the Harmonic Minor was a Minor with a raised seventh). It is easy, we take the Dorian and flat the sixth and raise the seventh and we are home free. Why? The Dorian is like a Minor with a raised sixth (which is why people like Santana use it so much.. it is sad with a happy moment). Then to make it a Harmonic Minor on the same root I just have to flat the sixth to bring it back to a minor, and then raise the seventh to make it harmonic (and lead in a 'major'' sense back into the root). 

Points 1+2 give Point 3: It follows that you can 'disagree' with the original post in any of seven ways by picking a different mode as the base!

To develop this intuition it is important to do two exercises. First, to jump between modes for a particular root. Second, to find the modes of a particular root. This is also helpful when improvising or writing music. 

Example of the First (finding the mode relative to the same root):
You are in E Dorian and I ask you to form an E Mixolydian.
Easy! We know that the Dorian is like a Minor with a raised sixth (the happy moment) and that the Mixolydian is like a Major with a flat seventh (a sad moment) so we just take our Dorian and raise the 3rd to give it the necessary major flavor. We inherited the raised 6th from the Dorian and in addition we raised the third so now we have the major 3rd (raised relative to minor), major 6 (raised relative to the minor) and the flat seventh we need for the Mixolydian.

ie, 

E Dorian: E F# G A B C# D E (W H W W W H W, 12 total, compare to the Minor and notice the extra step at the 6th note)

E Mixolydian: E F# G# A B C# D E (W W H W W H W, 12 total; just take an E Major and flat the seventh). 


Example of the Second Exercise:

Suppose you are in the key of E minor (overall somber sounding) and you want to have a brighter solo, say, in a Lydian mode which is like a major with a raised fourth (and sounds 'exotic' for this reason). But which is the Lydian of E minor?

It is easy if you recall that Lydian happens to be from F to F with no sharps or flats. So go to your A minor and ask, how many do I have to count to get to F? A, B, C, D, E, F....6 counts. For any minor, the Lydian is the 6th mode, meaning you keep the original notes, but start and end on the sixth. Thus, the Lydian in your E minor song would be (counting in E minor) E, F#, G, A, B, C... voila, we are done.

So grab your solo section and emphasize the C as a root in your phrasing, E, F#, and G and you have a major sounding moment without leaving the original key. 

Knowing all this also helps you make key changes. For example, Mr. Ludwig Beethoven is often in C major but he occasionally throws in an F# (a chromaticism.. it does not belong to the C major scale). Then he emphasizes this more and more by repeating the V of C major and then suddenly you are in G Major (which is like C major but with a sharp F). 

Cvino's teacher is perfectly right. Once you learn your major and minor positions, finding your modes is trivial since you stick to the same patterns but just start and end on different notes. Want to sound Egyptian? Take that original Minor position, flat the second (making it phrygian) and raise the 3rd. You can make it sound even more weird (at the risk of losing a tonal center) by also raising the fourth... but then you can raise that second back to normal and also raise the sixth and seventh and BAM! just like that you are in a Lydian mode. Doing this elegantly is difficult. 

Last thing which I find interesting. In ancient times music was extremely important as a coordinating (and inspiring) device in battle. Different modes were used to signal different movements. Do you wonder why metal music places such an emphasis on the Phrygian mode? (The phrygian mode being a minor with a flatted second as well... like in Metallica's ...And Justice For All album)

It is said that Alexander the Great would be having dinner and if the musicians switched to the phrygian mode it would so inflame him that he would automatically reach for his sword! (reference: Machiavelli's Art of War, but caution he is mischievous and makes a lot of stuff up). 

What is the deal with the Phrygian? Well, take a look at the relationship between the Major mode (happy sissy tea party sounding) and the Phrygian (manly war beast sounding). 

Major: W W H W W W H (ie, C D E F G A B C)

Phrygian: H W W W H W W (ie, E F G A B C D E or in C: C Db Eb F G A B C... take C minor, flat the second)

What do you notice? That the Phrygian mode is the exact reverse of the Major mode!!! 

W W H W W W H for Major
H W W W H W W for Phrygian

It is like its opposite! (If this is not exciting for you I do not how to help you). 

The Locrian mode (B to B) sounds really weird because it is basically like a Phrygian with a flatted 5th. To see this (and to drive home my feeling that the 'base scale' is irrelevant) take a B minor (B C# D E F# G A B) and turn it into a Phrygian by flatting the second step (B C D E F# G A B) and then make it a Locrian by flatting the fifth (B C D E F G A B) which is exactly how we think of the Locrian mode. This is why the Locrian sort of stand alone (because of it's diminished fifth)

Another way to think of the modes is to classify the modes as modifications of major and minor into 3 groups. 


Modifications of Minor:
Aeolian (minor itself), Dorian (minor with raised 6th), Phrygian (minor with flat 2nd)

Modifications of Major:
Ionian (major itself), Myxolydian (major with flat seven), Lydian (major with raised fourth) 

Stand alone:
Locrian (minor with flat second and fifth, or, to be obnoxious about it, major with flat 2, flat 3, flat 5, flat 6, flat 7).

Notice that we can classify the modifications in yet another way. Some modify the scale into its 'opposite' direction (I'm being very imprecise with my language). For example, the Myxolydian makes the major minorish by flatting the seventh, and the Dorian makes the minor majorish by raising the sixth. Other modifications just make them 'weird' like flatting a second for the Phrygian or raising a fourth for the Lydian. 

I my procrastination has proved useful to at least one of you!!


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## 8string (Dec 31, 2009)

THANK YOU!!! I've been "playing" guitar for most part of my life and never got this shite into my head. It actually made sense now.


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## Metal Ken (Dec 31, 2009)

Man, its cool to come back and see how many people actually found this useful.


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## 8string (Jan 1, 2010)

I hope, when i actually this inside my head i can feel more like a musician instead of just a guitarplayer


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## xlambxofxruinx (Jan 26, 2010)

yeah man post those augmented, diminished, and dominant chords. and also some tips and what chords to play with what notes in melody and a scale

yeah man post those augmented, diminished, and dominant 7th chords. also give some tips on what chords to play under the notes of a melody. chord inversions would be nice too. send this to me if you can. thanks


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## xlambxofxruinx (Jan 28, 2010)

good stuff. post some stuff explaining what chords to play with what notes in melodies. and chords inversions would be cool as well


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