You're welcome! Addressing specific concerns.
"To clear up a lot of confusion on the mechanics of the modes why not simply provide something like the following prior to each lesson and focus more on the musical aspects?"
All of that information is in the text description of each lesson.
The intervals that make each mode unique & how they fit in the pentatonic boxes is covered in the context of the lessons. I also cover it explicitly in my pentatonic tutorial.
"What is missing is an example (or a few) of playing a song type musical lick using the mode with the backing track. Pointing out where the mode special notes are, and how that fits into the chord sequence and why it works."
Maybe it's too basic for what you are after, but that's exactly what I do in each lesson. I use a chord progression that intentionally focuses on the harmonic structure of the mode. For more in depth uses you might need to go to more advanced lessons or even songs that use these modes in a direct application.
"Maybe also demonstrating the exact same lick but using a different mode, i.e. only changing the notes of the lick where intervals of that new mode differ. Again, pointing out where the mode special notes are different and why it sounds bad"
Again, maybe my example is too basic for what you are after, but in each tutorial I contrast & compare various modes for their unique sounds. In the first tutorial I play all of them one after the other. In the major & minor mode tutorials I compare & contrast 2 similar modes at a time to really focus on the differences as well as the similarities.
"I think this is where a lot of people get hung up, not the mechanics of the modes but how to use them musically. Why that particular mode sounds good (in that context), or better than another mode, or why you shouldn't use a mode."
Some of that is going to be a personal preference. In some cases it's straight forward, use a certain mode because it contains or emphasizes the notes of the melody or chords in the song.
Other times the harmony is ambiguous enough to allow a personal preference.
But a lot of times in order to get to that level of application you need a musical example. For example I go into practical musical uses of modes in this jazz lead guitar tutorial.
https://www.guitartricks.com/tutorial/1757
Or you can look into some of my improvisation tutorials to get more musical examples of how to navigate chord progressions and modulation with modes.
Overall, I think if you already understand the material in the modes tutorials I linked, then you might be ready for a more in depth study of applications. You might try a one-on-one lesson with Dave. And I'm sure Dave has more to say about this topic in future tutorials!
Hope that helps!
