# Modes in B minor



## amberawakening (Nov 14, 2013)

I'm a total noob to music theory, I've played for the longest time but I avoided actually getting myself to learn most of it.

Recently, I started playing in B minor (subconscious decision) and I've been having the hardest time mapping out the modes.

The notes are B, C#, D, E, F#, G, and A, but I can't tab them out for the life of me.

Can someone share or map up some tabs for the modes of B minor for me? (7 string tabs in BEADGBE)

Any help would be greatly appreciated, thank you for reading.


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## TeeWX (Nov 14, 2013)

amberawakening said:


> I'm a total noob to music theory, I've played for the longest time but I avoided actually getting myself to learn most of it.
> 
> Recently, I started playing in B minor (subconscious decision) and I've been having the hardest time mapping out the modes.
> 
> ...



The different modes are very simple. If you have the key of B minor, as you stated with the notes B, C#, D, E, F#, G, and A. Then the modes are as follows.

Ionian: D
Dorian: E
Phrygian: F#
Lydian: G
Mixolydian: A 
*Aeolian:* B
Locrian: C#

The notes are all the same, as they are all relative keys. The tonic is all that is changing here. If you wanted to start on the same string you could do something like this...

*B Minor (B-C#-D-E-F#-G-A-B)*
E -------------------------------------
B -------------------------------------
G -------------------------etc....---
D ----------------------0-2-4-------
A ---------------0-2-4--------------
E --------0-2-3---------------------
B 0-2-3-----------------------------

*D Ionian (D-E-F#-G-A-B-C#-D)*
E -------------------------------------
B -------------------------------------
G -------------------------etc....---
D ----------------------4-6-7-------
A ---------------4-6-7--------------
E --------3-5-7---------------------
B 3-5-7-----------------------------

Does that make sense?


What you should really learn here is how to find out all the notes so that you can map these scales all over your fretboard and learn them. If you learn all 7 modes you will basically know where every note is on the entire fretboard.

Do you understand the Chromatic Scale and how it is layed out on your guitar?
Do you understand Intervals?


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## cromaticas (Nov 14, 2013)

I made this myself,it's 3 notes per string,starting on the 7th fret of the 6th string. Each new pattern starts with the next note,so each pattern is a mode. This means the first pattern is B minor ( or B aeolian,the 6th mode of D major). The next pattern would be c sharp locrian,etc.






You can grab the patterns that are past the 12th fret and play them 12 frets lower,so you basically can play in Bm all over the fretboard..hope it helps.
For more info you can read this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mode_(music)


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## amberawakening (Nov 14, 2013)

TeeWX said:


> Do you understand the Chromatic Scale and how it is layed out on your guitar?
> Do you understand Intervals?




I have no idea about either of these. Your post made a lot of sense and helped me out thank you both!


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## TeeWX (Nov 15, 2013)

amberawakening said:


> I have no idea about either of these. Your post made a lot of sense and helped me out thank you both!



The Chromatic Scale is an easy one. It is all of the notes in western music.

So.. A - A#/Bb - B - C - C#/Db - D - D#/Eb - E - F - F#/Gb - G - G#/Ab

So 12 notes, all of which are in alphabetical order just like how I listed them. So for example, if the open note of your lowest string is B, then the note on the 1st fret is C, the note on the 2nd fret is C#/Db (name depends on the scale), the note on the 3rd fret is D, the note on the 4th fret is D#/Eb, and so on...

Intervals are pretty easy as well. This is the "distance" between two notes. The main ones are as follows, listed first by name, and the "distance" or number of frets apart.

Unison - 0 ( This is the same note you just played )
Minor 2nd - 1
Major 2nd - 2
Minor 3rd - 3
Major 3rd - 4
Perfect 4th - 5 ( inverted power chord)
Tritone - 6
Perfect 5th - 7 ( power chord )
Minor 6th - 8
Major 6th - 9
Minor 7th - 10
Major 7th - 11
Octave - 12 - ( This is the same note you just played, but higher or lower )

Scales are made up of intervals. For example the Minor Scale is made up of the following intervals...

Major 2nd, Minor 2nd, Major 2nd, Major 2nd, Minor 2nd, Major 2nd, Major 2nd

I recommend you read through an introductory music theory book. It will explain a lot of things.


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## amberawakening (Nov 15, 2013)

So the chromatic scale is literally every note on the guitar? Also, I already knew what intervals were. I just didn't know that they were called intervals


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## TeeWX (Nov 15, 2013)

amberawakening said:


> So the chromatic scale is literally every note on the guitar? Also, I already knew what intervals were. I just didn't know that they were called intervals



Yep! The chromatic scale is just every note. Hence a "chromatic tuner" can let you tune to any note.


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## amberawakening (Nov 15, 2013)

The thing is, I don't exactly know much of anything about modes. Your diagram fits my perception of a mode, but it doesn't exactly explain what is happening to me. How should I go about teaching myself the seven modes?

Are the modes preset? They just begin with each corresponding note of the scale you're using?


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## TeeWX (Nov 15, 2013)

amberawakening said:


> The thing is, I don't exactly know much of anything about modes. Your diagram fits my perception of a mode, but it doesn't exactly explain what is happening to me. How should I go about teaching myself the seven modes?
> 
> Are the modes preset? They just begin with each corresponding note of the scale you're using?



The relative (all of the same notes) modes are preset in that they don't change. Like in your example, B minor will always have the relative mode of C# Locrian and D# Ionion(Major).

In all honesty though I have absolutely no clue about how to correctly apply the modes. Every article and every book I've ever read always says the same thing and I never understand it. Basically if you have a chord progression taken from a specific scale you're suggested to play the scale mode that corresponds to that chord when playing lead over it. But to me that never made any sense at all, because the scales have all of the same notes. So it's literally just telling you to start your phrases on the same note as the root note of the chord? I guess. It all sounds identical to me.

However, if you were to plot out the B Ionion, B Dorian, B Phrygian, B Lydian, B Mixolydian, B Aeolian, and B Locrian Scales and then play them you'd find that they sound different. Probably because they're actually different scales.

Hopefully someone who understands theory far beyond me can chime in with a useful explanation of how to apply modes.


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## Solodini (Nov 15, 2013)

TeeWX said:


> The relative (all of the same notes) modes are preset in that they don't change. Like in your example, B minor will always have the relative mode of C# Locrian and *D Ionion(Major) [not D#]*.
> 
> In all honesty though I have absolutely no clue about how to correctly apply the modes. Every article and every book I've ever read always says the same thing and I never understand it. Basically if you have a chord progression taken from a specific scale you're suggested to play the scale mode that corresponds to that chord when playing lead over it. But to me that never made any sense at all, because the scales have all of the same notes. So it's literally just telling you to start your phrases on the same note as the root note of the chord? I guess. It all sounds identical to me.
> 
> ...



Wee correction in there.



amberawakening said:


> The thing is, I don't exactly know much of anything about modes. Your diagram fits my perception of a mode, but it doesn't exactly explain what is happening to me. How should I go about teaching myself the seven modes?
> 
> Are the modes preset? They just begin with each corresponding note of the scale you're using?



Modes are, in their simplest form, just the same scale starting on a different note of that scale. As the major scale always has the same set of intervals from the tonic note, the same spacings between notes, so the modes of that also have their specific sets of spacings.

Each of these modes have their own character. They are not, necessarily, just derivations of the major scale.

M= major, m= minor, P = perfect.
The major scale has tonic, M2, M3, P4, P5, M6, M7
The phrygian mode has tonic, m2, m3, P4, P5, m6, m7.

Play each of these starting on B (B C# D# E F# G# A# B and B C D E F# G A B respectively) and listen to the character of each set of notes. Take a simple melody in a major key and map out its notes by their function in the scale: tonic, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th, 8ve. In C Major, those functions would fit the notes C D E F G A B C, respectively.

Now transpose that melody to the 3rd mode, phrygian. The 3rd mode of C major is E phrygian. The tonic of E phrygian is E, the 2nd is F, the 3rd is G, the 4th is A, the 5th is B, the 6th is C, the 7th is D, the 8ve is E.

Now apply those functions of the major melody (star wars theme would be 1 5 4 3 2 8 5 4 3 2) to phrygian. That would make the E phrygian version of the star wars theme E B A G F E(8ve) B A G F. This won't sound like your usual triumphant star wars theme. Hear the difference in character? That's what a mode does.

Each mode has its specific character. To learn them, I would say, as advised by the gent above me, go through each of them starting on the same tonic and become familiar with the character of each. Try the melody thang on them and see how they end up sounding. 

You should also learn the fundamentals of theory which we have skipped up until this point as that will make you less confused by what and why. My book will help you with that and I'm happy to help further if it confuses you at all.


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

amberawakening said:


> The thing is, I don't exactly know much of anything about modes. Your diagram fits my perception of a mode, but it doesn't exactly explain what is happening to me. How should I go about teaching myself the seven modes?
> 
> Are the modes preset? They just begin with each corresponding note of the scale you're using?





TeeWX said:


> In all honesty though I have absolutely no clue about how to correctly apply the modes. Every article and every book I've ever read always says the same thing and I never understand it. Basically if you have a chord progression taken from a specific scale you're suggested to play the scale mode that corresponds to that chord when playing lead over it. But to me that never made any sense at all, because the scales have all of the same notes. So it's literally just telling you to start your phrases on the same note as the root note of the chord? I guess. It all sounds identical to me.
> 
> However, if you were to plot out the B Ionion, B Dorian, B Phrygian, B Lydian, B Mixolydian, B Aeolian, and B Locrian Scales and then play them you'd find that they sound different. Probably because they're actually different scales.
> 
> Hopefully someone who understands theory far beyond me can chime in with a useful explanation of how to apply modes.



On this: most of the information propagated about modes is fairly inaccurate, both online and in print. Their structure is well documented, but analysis and application is taught very poorly. A lot of information on modes is laid out in this thread, but I feel like I can offer a different take on it here.

99% of the musicians you ask tell you that the way you use modes is to figure out what mode goes with which chord, and then play that mode when the corresponding chord comes along; in the key of D minor, i is going to be D aeolian, ii° is E locrian, III is F ionian, iv is G dorian, blah blah blah. That's a BS cookie cutter method for teaching improvisation, and we can know this for a fact because it only works one way: if you already have chords. If you see Gm7 C7 F&#8710;, you can see that it's a ii V I in F major (!), and somebody will tell you "G dorian, then switch to C mixolydian, then switch to F ionian". If you're given Gm7 G&#9837;7 F&#8710;, it's a little more complicated because of the chromatic substitution ("G&#9837; lydian dominant" is what my jazz teacher would prescribe), but you can still give it the same treatment of "chord -> mode".

Alright, cool. Now try coming up with chords to a melody.






How are you going to do this? And, for the sake of the discussion, how do modes factor in? Really, I can't think of a way to use the "X chord = Y mode" method to come up with chords out of thin air. Please let me know if you can think of a way to rationalize this problem with modes; I'm always interested in how people think of this stuff, even if I completely disagree with it. At any rate, I've been paid to put chords to something on far greater occasion than I've been paid to do anything with modes. Priorities.

The way that I do it is look at the structure of the melody first. What we have is an eight-measure parallel period: there are two phrases (measures 1-4 are phrase "a" and measures 5-8 are phrase "b"), and the beginning of each of the two phrases is the same. In a period, there is an antecedent phrase, which is a sort of musical question, and a consequent phrase, which supplies a musical answer. At the end of each phrase is some sort of cadence, a closure to the music: the first one fairly weak, and the second one fairly strong. Also notice that the end of the antecedent phrase goes up, and the end of the consequent phrase goes down. That kind of balance is typical in these small forms, and it helps to reinforce the finality of the consequent cadence.

Since I know I have cadences, I have to have at least two chords: one for tension, and one for release. I can feel where the harmonic changes are, and what they are, simply because I am a composer and have to do this kind of work all the time, but you can also prescribe some rules to some degree. I mentioned a tension and a release chord earlier. For this tune, those are going to be D (by extension, D7) and G, respectively. The release chord is [almost] always going to be the tonic, or I. If you count up from G (I) to D, you'll find that they span five note names, so D is V in the key of G. V I is the basic progression in Western music, and you can harmonize a huge amount of diatonic tunes with just those two chords, especially in simple music like this. Next, go to the first note of every measure. Check if the note on the downbeat belongs to I (G B D) or V7 (D F# A C). Slap the corresponding chord on top, and that will be the chord for the entire measure. This will get you a workable, if not completely boring, harmonization.






In the penultimate measure, I'm speeding up the harmonic rhythm for the cadence. You could do D or D7 all the way through, but it sounds better if the harmony is jumping around a bit more.

Now that there are chords on this thing, you might be tempted to think "Oh, okay, I can play D mixolydian over that V chord". No. Don't do it. Modes are complicated. Mary Had A Little Lamb is not complicated. Modes have absolutely no application to harmonization, and harmonization really doesn't have a lot to do with modes. This entire tune is in the key of G major (not G ionian), and the fact that there are chord changes in there does not mean that you have to think modes. Harmonization is about making functional chord progressions that have a smooth flow from one chord to the next, or at least it's about making non-functional chord progressions that sound cool. With that in mind, let's make a more complicated harmonization.






I'm using the same principles here, but with a few more chords. The first system is basically V and I. The F#° (vii°) is a diatonic substitute for V, so it's really not too out there. In the "X chord = Y mode" method, vii° suddenly becomes "locrian". It's not that complicated, people: we only have the chord for two beats. Go _through_ the chords, not _over_ or _on_ the chords. In measure 5, I introduce a subdominant chord (IV), and it leads nicely to V (it should actually be D7; my bad). That E7 in measure 6 is an odd one out. It's a secondary dominant, specifically V7/ii. It's not in the key of G major (or remotely near any one of the 'modes' associated with G major), but it leads naturally to Am (ii) in the next measure. The F#°7 (vii°7) is a borrowed chord from G minor, but it is acting as a substitute for V. I am getting all of these chords, even the chromatic ones, simply by looking at the melody. More specifically, I am looking at the direction and tendency of the melody, and then deciding what would be good in the way of voice leading.

Alright, let's go crazy now. A chord on every melody note, with as many chromatic chords as I can think of that will still flow smoothly.






The first chord, Em, is a substitute for G. There is some more old hat here. F#°7, as said before, is vii°7 from G minor. The B in measure 2 has a chromatic mediant relationship with G, using B as the common tone. That's a 19th/20th century technique and falls outside of the realm of functional harmony, but it still is possible here given the voice leading. The E7 is acting like V7/ii again, and indeed it resolves to ii. In measure 3, F is a borrowed chord: VII in G minor. I'm using it in a very cliché way here, going from VII to V. Measure 4, I pull out another borrowed chord: Gm is i in, uh, G minor. Measure 5 has another one of those borrowed tonics, as well as A7, which is the secondary dominant V7/V. There is a delayed resolution of the A7, because while the leading tone resolves, it's not to the chord that we expect. This would only work with G/D, because it will be heard as a cadential 6/4 chord (the expected progression is A7 G/D D7 G; we only get half of it here). B7 is another secondary dominant (V7/vi) and it resolves normally to Em (vi). Then we get E7 again, which goes as expected to Am. Dm7 is a borrowed chord, v. The cadence is almost normal, we have G (I), D7 (V7), and... E&#9837;, the troll face chord. E&#9837; is another borrowed chord from G minor. Its function is VI, so there is a deceptive resolution at the end of the period.

Look at how harmonically dense I made this thing. Despite all of the chromaticism, the entire thing will still be heard as G major. Why? Because the melodic tendencies really do affect the music that much. It's still Mary Had A Little Lamb. You can't isolate a chord and say that there's all this fancy modal mumbo jumbo going on in there, because there's not. Modality is a phenomenon of melody, and we harmonize melodies; nobody melodizes harmonies, even though that's what so many people are trying to teach and learn. If you look at what I did above, the melody was always my guide. Composition and improvisation are about melody-making and melody-following, not 'knowing' which scale goes with which chord. You should be able to reharmonize a melody in a zillion different ways, and still look at it as having the same tonality and modality.


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

With that, let's have a look at some real modal tunes to get an idea of how real modes work.

What Shall We Do With A Drunken Sailor?







Here is a fairly well-known shanty in the dorian mode. The key is E. Notice that we are dealing with a parallel period again. Notice, too, the balanced nature of the two phrases: the first phrase is generally descending, and the second phrase is generally ascending. That's good melodic form. Has nothing to do with the modality, but I figure there isn't enough instruction on melodic writing on the internet. Learn it, live it. If we didn't have the chords on the chart, it would still be easy to tell how to harmonize this melody. Here are measures 1 & 2: B B B B B B B G E G B. Looks like an Em triad, right? E G B. Here are 5 & 6: A A A A A A A F# D F# A. Looks like a D triad: D F# A. Hey, look at that, the chords for those measures are Em and D. Harmonizing is a piece of cake when you see arpeggios.

The way a lot of these traditional modal tunes are laid out is thus: the tonic triad makes up the first bit of the melody, then another chord is expanded in the same way, then it does something else for a bit, and finally ends with a cadential figure. We've already established the arpeggiation part. Measure 5 and 6 are the "something else" (in this case, repeating the opening motive and expanding the melodic range). Measure 7 and 8 are the cadential figure. Harmonically, we're looking at III VII i, which is pretty common for the dorian mode. Notice that the harmonic rhythm increases in measure 7, to facilitate the cadence. In terms of melody, these are the usual cadential motions, notated in scale degrees:

2 1
7 1
5 1 (can be from above or below)
4 1 (can be from above or below
3 1 (not as strong as the stepwise motion of 2 1 and 7 1)

At the end of this tune, the melodic cadence is 2 1.

The most important thing to note: you do not play modes over the chords, the chords are helping to reinforce the tonality and modality. It's not E dorian only on that Em chord, it's E dorian _the entire time_. Hear the minor modality? Hear the major sixth in measure 6? That's dorian for you. I could change the chords around completely, as I did with Mary Had A Little Lamb, and it would still sound like E dorian. Substitution is the freedom to change harmonies without having to screw up everything else.

Another piece for discussion. Here is a Scottish (although we're not really sure) air in E dorian.

Arran Boat Song







The tonic triad isn't really expanded at the beginning, but the tonic is emphasized by a neighbor tone in the first measure. There is a whole lot of E, which helps to establish E as the tonal center, though that's not always the best marker or method of tonicization. More parallel periods. Antecedent always ends in a question (here, a half cadence) and the consequent always ends in an answer (here, an authentic cadence). Notice that the cadence from measure 7 to measure 8 approaches the tonic below from 7, so it's 7 1 motion.

Looking at the harmony, you see a lot of this going on:

i VII
i VII i
i III VII
i III VI
i III VII
i VII i

Get it? Lots of i, then lots of VII and i. In that order, too. There's a bit of variety in the middle with III (going to VII... which goes to i), and VI, which is a substitute for i. These are the modal cadences. Learn them, live them. VI is interesting, actually. Why do we have C instead of C#° (#vi°)? I mean, E dorian is Em F#m G A Bm C#° D, and this is a dorian tune, right? Well, look where that C is situated: at the end of a phrase. Cadences happen at the ends of phrases, and the melody note is the tonic, so we're looking at something other than a half cadence (for which B, D, F#, and A would be suitable melody notes). Em could work, but that's kind of boring. C#° could be there, but at a cadence involving the tonic note, a diminished triad is too dissonant for this kind of song. Instead, C is being borrowed from E minor to give the sound of a deceptive cadence (with III substituting for v; a rare occurrence in Common Practice music, so you don't hear about it much).

Another interpretation:



On the cadences, these guys play IV instead of i. Kind of a plagal half cadence. Still sounds like E dorian (or whatever - I don't have my guitar with me to check the tonic), it doesn't suddenly become A mixolydian there because there's an A chord. Once the tonic and modality is established, it will stick around until the proper changes have been made in the music to allow a different harmonic context.

Something modern:

Pat Benatar - True Love


I transcribed this song for a client a million years ago. It's a minor blues, but you can spot the dorian right away if you look at the bass part, which I have graciously supplied. I wrote a key signature of B&#9837; minor, and used accidentals to indicate the major sixth degree. When they're on that B&#9837;m, the bass is playing the upper tetrachord of B&#9837; dorian, which of course contains that money tone G. It's a simple walkdown from the tonic to the dominant, but it has that little dorian surprise in there, which makes it a tad more interesting. One thing I found interesting in the song is that E&#9837; is never represented as a complete triad, it's always E&#9837;5. I tried it with the third, and it sounds awful. We get the G enough elsewhere that the implied harmony is sufficient. Notice, too, that whenever the dominant chord rolls around, it's not the dominant chord that is diatonic to B&#9837; dorian. Just like in the minor mode (i.e. tonal minor), v7 becomes V7. There is no fear of alteration of that dominant, either. We get F7(#9) a few times, and F+ in the introduction. However, most of the harmony is i and IV, so the fact that A and C# (though D&#9837; is enharmonically equivalent) are not diatonic does not immediately negate the dorian sound.


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## ROB SILVER (Nov 19, 2013)

amberawakening said:


> I'm a total noob to music theory, I've played for the longest time but I avoided actually getting myself to learn most of it.
> 
> Recently, I started playing in B minor (subconscious decision) and I've been having the hardest time mapping out the modes.
> 
> ...



There's a load of scales mapped out on the link below for 7 string including all the modes as 3 note per string shapes. Just put the (R) in the diagrams on a B and you're away.


ROB SILVER: FREE RESOURCES FOR SEVEN STRING GUITAR- Everything


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