# The Mode Map: All the Keys in Different Modes



## Kaickul (Jul 19, 2013)

So here is it, I couldn't find any of this in the web so might as well make my own and share it with you guys (to make life much easier). My self titled "The Mode Map". This is part 1 (The Major Modes). In part 2, I will include in part 2 (Melodic Minor modes). Of course you still need to read about the different modes to fully understand. This is just to serve as a guide. If you guys need the major/minor chord scale map visit here: http://www.guitarbyte.net/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/chords-scales.jpg . Here is a short summary of the modes and how they are constructed, http://chrisjuergensen.com/scaleformula.htm . Also do check out the parent major scales, http://www.justinguitar.com/en/SC-107-CalculatingPMS.php.


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## c0n0r (Jul 19, 2013)

Fantastic! Very helpful, thanks!


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## Adam Of Angels (Jul 19, 2013)

At the expensive of sounding stupid, on the chord maps, when it just says "B" or "F", what does that mean? Like, there's no designation so I'm just confused. I only have a working knowledge of this stuff, so forgive me if the answer is very obvious.


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## Mr. Big Noodles (Jul 19, 2013)

Make sure you have the correct note names. There are sharps where there should be flats. F major (ionian), for instance, should be F G A B&#9837; C D E, not F G A A# C D E. There should be one of every note name in each scale. You might not see the reason for this now, but it will matter down the line. And you might want to do this for flat keys, too.

G# lydian:

G# A# B#m Cx° D# E#m Fxm

And now the enharmonically equivalent A&#9837; lydian:

A&#9837; B&#9837; Cm D° E&#9837; Fm Gm

Much cleaner, no?


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## Adam Of Angels (Jul 19, 2013)

SchecterWhore said:


> Make sure you have the correct note names. There are sharps where there should be flats. F major (ionian), for instance, should be F G A B&#9837; C D E, not F G A A# C D E. There should be one of every note name in each scale. You might not see the reason for this now, but it will matter down the line.




I'll go ahead and sound undereducated again, but what is the difference between Bb and A#, for example?


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## Mr. Big Noodles (Jul 19, 2013)

Adam Of Angels said:


> I'll go ahead and sound undereducated again, but what is the difference between Bb and A#, for example?



From any kind of F, any kind of A is the interval of a third of some sort. Any kind of B is a fourth of some sort. They are numerically different, and at such a basic level, you run into problems when you start working your way up the ladder of harmony. If you're a bedroom guitarist, reading tabs and isolating yourself from the rest of the world, then this is no problem - by all means, A# and B&#9837; can be the same thing - but every other musician knows (or should know) that it should be B&#9837; there and not A #.


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## MetalBuddah (Jul 19, 2013)

Most useful thread ever  Thanks Liquid rage!


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## Adam Of Angels (Jul 19, 2013)

SchecterWhore said:


> From any kind of F, any kind of A is the interval of a third of some sort. Any kind of B is a fourth of some sort. They are numerically different, and at such a basic level, you run into problems when you start working your way up the ladder of harmony. If you're a bedroom guitarist, reading tabs and isolating yourself from the rest of the world, then this is no problem - by all means, A# and B&#9837; can be the same thing - but every other musician knows (or should know) that it should be B&#9837; there and not A #.




My guess is that its not a very simple thing to explain, but how are they numerically different? A# and Bb exist as the same note, so I always assumed that noting it one way or the other had more to do with consistency than functional notation


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## Mr. Big Noodles (Jul 19, 2013)

This is an F# minor scale:

F# G# A B C# D E

If you wanted to transpose it down a half step, you lower everything by the same amount. 
F minor:

F G A&#9837; B&#9837; C D&#9837;E&#9837;

That way, where there's an F# in one scale, there's an F in the other. When there is a G# in one, there's G in the other. Where there is a B in one, there's B&#9837; in the other. The correspondence is obvious. Compare that to this transposition:

F# G# A B C# D E -> F G G# A# C C# D#

There's no correspondence. Why are we skipping notes? Where did B and E go? What are those repeated notes doing there? If we're building triads, how do we know at a glance what the tonic triad is?

All of these problems don't pop up if you're using the proper intervallic relationships. ABCDEFG should correspond to 1234567 in some fashion. Seven note names, seven numbers. If we take that misspelled F minor scale, F G G# A# C C# D#, then assign a number to each letter name starting with F as 1, we get 1 2 2 3 5 5 6. It's not going to work out. F G A&#9837; B C D&#9837; E&#9837;, though, results in 1 2 3 4 5 6 7.


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## Adam Of Angels (Jul 19, 2013)

As somebody with OCD, I can appreciate that 

I guess I'm still not sure as to how that really creates problems, since I'm going to play the right note whether its written as F# or Gb, but for the sake of making the most sense possible, I understand the reason for writing it in a numerically correct form.


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## tedtan (Jul 19, 2013)

Adam Of Angels said:


> A# and Bb exist as the same note


 
They may be the same pitch (called enharmonic equivalents), but they are not the same note for the reasons SW mentioned. It comes down to how music is written so that it is easily understandable. Without following the writing conventions, it can be a clusterf_u_ck to read or understand on the written page.


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## Mr. Big Noodles (Jul 19, 2013)

Adam Of Angels said:


> As somebody with OCD, I can appreciate that
> 
> I guess I'm still not sure as to how that really creates problems, since I'm going to play the right note whether its written as F# or Gb, but for the sake of making the most sense possible, I understand the reason for writing it in a numerically correct form.



Aurally, they are the same. Intellectually, they are different. Also, these are conventions that were developed on a staff. If you're reading a staff, then it's a complete pain in the ass to deal with repeated notes where they need not be. For example:






All those accidentals are a waste of ink and make it difficult for the eye to pick up everything that is going on. It should be spelled like this so that the reader sees the motion of the line:






The more you learn about chord spelling and keys, the more you understand the reason why some notes are sharp and some are flat. I've given isolated examples where one could say "Alright, but as long as I get the notes, I'm okay", but when you look at an entire score that is written incorrectly, you can hardly read the thing because it's so frustrating to have to figure out the notes for every measure. Good sightreaders don't see notes, they see shapes and patterns.

One last reason, for good measure: you need consistent chord spellings. A G major triad is G B D. By way of convenience, G+ is G B D#, Gm is G B&#9837;D, and G° is G B&#9837; D&#9837;. Notice that they're all G B D, in some way or another? Now here are the exact same notes, but spelled differently: G B D#, G A# D, G A# C#. Okay, they all have a G, but by the end of it, those don't even look like they came from the same pattern.


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## Adam Of Angels (Jul 19, 2013)

Seeing the actual notation makes a lot more sense. I've taught myself music using shapes and patterns, recognizing intervals as having particular shapes and whatnot. So, I can certainly appreciate needing to see patterns as opposed to quickly translating what I'm reading note for note.

Odd, because that concept is fairly simple, yet it's been years since I've wondered why it matters. Thanks, man


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## Hollowway (Jul 19, 2013)

Liquid Rage, this is awesome! I noticed the same thing as SW (which made me feel all smart) about having an A and A# in the same key, but barring that I really like this. I like this WAY better than not washing my hair!


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## viesczy (Jul 19, 2013)

Awesome work there!

We as guitarist tend to over think modes, worrying not on the music/tone/feeling/personality/character they create within the piece of music we're performing but just on the mechanical creation of the modes. 

It is the muiscal and not the mechanical that matters. If you can play the major scale across the fretboard, you can make every mode. It is the application of that mechanical process within the context of the music which gives the true life/character/personality/tone/feeling musical meaning to the mechanical process. 

It is the "soul" of the body that is music.

I hear music in shapes & colors, the progression is the shapes and what "fits" by my ear into that progression, and those shapes are expressed on the fretboard as where to play, where to transition and such. The colors are the various applicable modes.

Too deep?

Derek


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## Osorio (Jul 19, 2013)

SchecterWhore said:


> Aurally, they are the same. Intellectually, they are different.



I'm having the most gigantic of flashbacks. One of my first discussions on this forum and first exchanges with you was about this. You posted these exact same charts... If I remember correctly, the sentence was "One of these is not a pain to read".

Good times.

Just so I can add something to the actual content: It pays to give some attention to "cohesiveness" of scalar spelling. If nothing else, constructing chords becomes incredibly easier when you know the difference Sharps and Flats and when each should be used. It's the kind of knowledge most guitarists (that I know) tend to ignore, but it would solve 90% of their problems is they could be bothered to get it straight.


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## Kaickul (Jul 19, 2013)

Adam Of Angels said:


> At the expensive of sounding stupid, on the chord maps, when it just says "B" or "F", what does that mean? Like, there's no designation so I'm just confused. I only have a working knowledge of this stuff, so forgive me if the answer is very obvious.



It is the dominant chord in the mode. 




SchecterWhore said:


> Make sure you have the correct note names. There are sharps where there should be flats. F major (ionian), for instance, should be F G A B&#9837; C D E, not F G A A# C D E. There should be one of every note name in each scale. You might not see the reason for this now, but it will matter down the line. And you might want to do this for flat keys, too.
> 
> G# lydian:
> 
> ...



Thank you for pointing that out, I'll just make another one with the flats to make it theoretically correct, I don't read music and I'm sure a lot of people don't. The reason I did it all sharp is just to make it easier to look at, I just prefer looking at sharps than flats (easier way to look at it).


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