# This free jam track gives you practice improvising in all seven modes!



## GJaunz (Jun 19, 2011)

Hey everybody, 

I just posted a new free jam track I made on my youtube channel. I based the track on the seven modes of the G major scale: G Ionian, A Dorian, B Phrygian, C Lydian, D Mixolydian, E Aeolian (aka Em), and F# Locrian. If you're new to modal playing, the concept is simply to take the notes of the major scale and write music that resolves on a note other than the tonic (eg G is tonic in the key of G major). Modal music has been employed by everyone from Yngwie Malmsteen (big fan of Phrygian) to the Allman Brothers (I read that Dickey Betts likes Dorian), to Dream Theater (all of them!). The track contains a little under two minutes for each mode and has a TAB on the screen of a scale that will work in each mode to get you started in case you're new to modal playing. Anyway, hopefully you find this jam track to be a helpful practice tool in mastering the ability to improvise in any of the seven modes. Enjoy the free jam track, and please consider looking up my music on iTunes, Amazon MP3, or here: http://www.cdbaby.com/Artist/Gianmarc , my artist name is "Gianmarc." 

Thanks in advance and happy jamming!!

Gianmarc


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## GJaunz (Jun 20, 2011)

A buddy of mine just pointed out that I made a mistake when I tabbed out the E Aeolian scale on the jam track I made for this thread. I just made a correction, sorry if that screwed anybody up!


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## idunno (Jun 22, 2011)

thanks for the vid! I tried it out and it was cool to hear it shift. Locrian didnt go so well though haha. Aolian sounded great!


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## theo (Jun 22, 2011)

Gonna check this out tonight, sounds like it may be a really good practice tool


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## GJaunz (Jun 23, 2011)

@idunno: No problem, glad you like it! Locrian is a tricky one to get used to since it resolves on a diminished chord (which doesn't exactly give an overwhelming resolved feeling . When you get to the Locrian section of this jam track, keep focusing on accenting those F#'s, and you'll get the hang of it.

@Theo: Good deal, it's also great for warming up.


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## Hollowway (Jun 23, 2011)

Wow, this is really cool, thanks for doing this! I always get confused with modes, though. Can you explain what's going on in the backing track to make it a certain mode? I assume that the two chords you are playing somehow define the mode? What is the chord progression for each mode? Since it's all in G major, I figured that anything I played over it would end up sounding like G Ionian, and to get a different flavor I'd have to play a different key. For instance, if you're playing G and C, since the notes of the chords are B, C, D, E, G I could play G Aeolian to give a different flavor, but that if I played A Dorian, B Phrygian, etc they'd all end up sounding like G Ionian since the notes are the same.


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## The Reverend (Jun 23, 2011)

This is legit. Thanks!


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## GJaunz (Jun 23, 2011)

@Hollowway: You're welcome, I'm glad you like it! The basic idea with writing a modal chord progression is that you take the chords from a major key (in this case it was G major, so G, Am, Bm, C, D, Em, and F#dim) and arrange them rhythmically so that instead of resolving on the tonic (in the case the chord G major), you resolve them on one of the other chords. I put the modes in order on the track, so each time the track changes modes, it's resolving one chord higher (starts in G called Ionian, then Am called Dorian, etc.). The important thing for you to remember as you practice with the track is to make sure the stuff you're playing is resolving on the same note as the mode you're in (eg. if the track is on B Phrygian, make sure you're accenting those B's). The link that I hold up on the piece of paper in the beginning of the jam track video leads to an intro lesson on modes, you might want to check that out as well. Enjoy!

@TheReverend: No problem, glad you're enjoying it


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## troyguitar (Jun 23, 2011)

This is cool. If you're feeling ambitious, I'd suggest doing the same thing over again but without moving the tonic. In other words, G Ionian - G Dorian - G Phrygian - etc.

I think the combination of both would really help to get a better feel for playing in different modes.


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## thecouchonfire (Jun 23, 2011)

Excellent warmup tool, thanks man.


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## Overtone (Jun 23, 2011)

troyguitar said:


> This is cool. If you're feeling ambitious, I'd suggest doing the same thing over again but without moving the tonic. In other words, G Ionian - G Dorian - G Phrygian - etc.
> 
> I think the combination of both would really help to get a better feel for playing in different modes.




Freak Guitar Vol. 1 has one track like that called Church Mode Mood... I think it's 4 bars of A Ionian, 4 A Dorian, etc. 

https://www.freakkitchen.com/shop/product.php?id=69


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## carnagereap (Jun 25, 2011)

That was awesome! It gave me a chance to solo in each mode. Cool Beans Bro!


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## Hollowway (Jun 25, 2011)

GJaunz said:


> @Hollowway: You're welcome, I'm glad you like it! The basic idea with writing a modal chord progression is that you take the chords from a major key (in this case it was G major, so G, Am, Bm, C, D, Em, and F#dim) and arrange them rhythmically so that instead of resolving on the tonic (in the case the chord G major), you resolve them on one of the other chords. I put the modes in order on the track, so each time the track changes modes, it's resolving one chord higher (starts in G called Ionian, then Am called Dorian, etc.). The important thing for you to remember as you practice with the track is to make sure the stuff you're playing is resolving on the same note as the mode you're in (eg. if the track is on B Phrygian, make sure you're accenting those B's).



Gotcha. Now let's say the chord progression was the G and C, and you solo in G Aeolian. What would that be called?


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## GJaunz (Jun 29, 2011)

@Carnagereap: Glad you enjoyed it 

@Hollowway: If the chord progression goes back and forth between a G major chord and a C major chord, G Aeolian might sound a little wierd since that scale begins and ends on A (ie resolves on A) but neither one of those chords is an Am. For a progression that goes back and forth between G and C, choose a scale that resolves on either C or G, but probaby G since the progression is starting on a G major chord (eg. G Ionian will work, so will G Mixolydian, etc).


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## SirMyghin (Jun 29, 2011)

Still have to sit down and go through this, but gave it a view, thanks GM


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## Mr. Big Noodles (Jun 29, 2011)

Hollowway said:


> Gotcha. Now let's say the chord progression was the G and C, and you solo in G Aeolian. What would that be called?



Polymodality - music that contains elements of both major and minor modes simultaneously. I'll try to find some easy examples.



There's also an Augustus Pablo piece in which the key is clearly minor, but the bass player is playing in the parallel major for some reason. I remember hearing it and thinking, "Oh, polymodal reggae!"  Unfortunately, I haven't been able to find it ever since, even though I only own one Augustus Pablo album. Maybe I hallucinated it.


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## GJaunz (Jun 29, 2011)

Schecterwhore brings up a good point, you certainly don't have to play scales that use only the notes found in the key/mode of the chord progression, it's just easier to stick to that when you're first getting the hang of modal playing. Any of the "rules" found in music theory can be broken of course . Although I will say, the better you know the rules, the more effectively you can break them... kind of like lawyers and breaking the law really


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## niffnoff (Jun 29, 2011)

That B Phrygian so exotic :|
love the phrygian mode however


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## Mr. Big Noodles (Jun 30, 2011)

GJaunz said:


> Schecterwhore brings up a good point, you certainly don't have to play scales that use only the notes found in the key/mode of the chord progression, it's just easier to stick to that when you're first getting the hang of modal playing. Any of the "rules" found in music theory can be broken of course . Although I will say, the better you know the rules, the more effectively you can break them... kind of like lawyers and breaking the law really



To be a little more concrete, you have to differentiate between essential tones and non-essential tones. As a disclaimer, I don't mean that terminology to suggest that one tone is more important than another; the terms just help to discriminate. If you're conscious of the chords when you are writing and improvising, then you win. Chord tones are where it's at. Everything else is filler. Check this out:









At bar 37 (2:13 in the video), there is a chromatic scale over an A pedal tone (It's actually G. This is a transposed score, but it was the best I could find as an image file.). So, what, the chord there must be some crazy ass thing with all twelve tones in it? Whenever you hear it, you noodle around the chromatic scale and don't give a damn about where your fingers flail on the fretboard? No, not really. It's just a V7 chord, maybe even a V triad. All but three or four of the tones in measures 37 and 38 are non-chord tones, and if you have a look at the direction of the music, it's obvious that the chromaticism is only being used to embellish that pedal tone and establish the dominant chord before it goes into that final cadence. Scales are muh, worry about chord tones.

Hal Galper says this in a much more opinionated jazzer way than I could ever hope to acheive:




Edit: An addendum to my brief post on polymodality - I found that you can alter chords until the point that they're unrecognizable and people won't have a problem with them. However, as soon as you split a third, you hear the groans of complaint. I used this chord in something I wrote for a songwriting class, and I really wasn't expecting anybody to have a problem with it, but somehow it was picked out of all the other bizarre harmonies.


```
F#(add9)/A

e-4
b-2
G-3
D-4
A-0
E-
```

In other words, be careful with polymodal writing. I personally think that this chord suits the music in question perfectly, but just know that people seem to have a problem with more than one third in a chord.


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## niffnoff (Jun 30, 2011)

SchecterWhore said:


> In other words, be careful with polymodal writing. I personally think that this chord suits the music in question perfectly, but just know that people seem to have a problem with more than one third in a chord.



more than one third in the chord is the same as having a second 5th, it over powers the tonic note, making the chord seem different. Now if you had a second 3rd in chorale writing (A la J.S Bach) you would probably get a slap of the wrist for being a moron for not following the rules of harmony. 

But I find that an extra third in other writings is acceptable


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## Konfyouzd (Jun 30, 2011)

@OP - Are you the dude that has that cool drop A 8 string tuning?


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## Mr. Big Noodles (Jun 30, 2011)

niffnoff said:


> more than one third in the chord is the same as having a second 5th, it over powers the tonic note, making the chord seem different. Now if you had a second 3rd in chorale writing (A la J.S Bach) you would probably get a slap of the wrist for being a moron for not following the rules of harmony.
> 
> But I find that an extra third in other writings is acceptable



Forget about voice leading rules, I'm talking about split thirds, id est a major and a minor third in the same chord.


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## GJaunz (Jul 1, 2011)

@SirMyghin: No problem, have fun!

@Konfyouzd: Yup, that's me :-D


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