Sherif Shaaban (Dr_Frankenstein™)
Modes and tonality
Hi all. I've been trying for the past couple of weeks to learn more about musical theory: scales, modes when I ran into the word 'tonality'. It was someone saying that 'difference between various modes in a given scale is tonality'. I'd like to know why are modes different from each other as long as we just start the scale from another note and swich chords according to that. Also please explain the word 'tonality' to me. Thanks :-)
# 1
O.K. I'm gonna give this a try.
The first thing you must do is look at the major scale. Each degree of the scale has a varying degree of weight. What I mean by that is that the note wants do take you somewhere, or it wants to stay where it is. From the scale we build chords, which have the same basic properties as the single notes in the scale.
Lets start with the 1 (the tonic) and the 5 (the dominant). 1 is home. It is referred to as the tonal center; this note defines the key. All the other notes have the qualities they do because of how they relate to the 1. Usually at the end of a piece of music the harmony resolves to the 1. If you are playing a song in the key of G major, usually you will end on the G major chord. When you are there it feels complete.
The 5 however is a very active tone. Try playing a blues in G major and instead of ending on G stop at D (or D7). You will find That it doesn't sound complete. It will scream to you "GO TO G!" It wants to resolve to the tonic.
All the other notes hves specific characteristics. The 2 wants to go to 1. The 3 wants to go to 4, the 4 wants to go to 5 or back to 1. The 7 wants to go to one. This forms the basis of harmony. I really recommend you take at least of year of harmony class. It may seem like drag writing in the style of and analyzing Bach, but it will make you better musician. It will increase your sensitivity to the qualities of your medium...sound.
What makes a mode different than its parent scale is that the tonal cnter is shifted to the 1st degree of the modal scale. The notes behave differently, the chord tones are different, although technically it is the same notes.
Example. In the key of C major, G7 is the 5 chord. G7 is derived from the C major scale. Have a friend play a C chord while you slowly play a c maj. scale. Listen carefully to each note and how it sounds over the chord. Now have your friend play a G7 chord. Play the C major chord again and listen carefully. Pay particular attention to the c note. You will find that i woks great over the C chord...It's the root note. But over the G7 it has a very different quality. It is the 4th (or 11th) in realation to the G or root note. It will sound quite tense, it will want to resolve to the b note (the 3rd of the chord). Same key, same scale, but quite different effect. This should give you some idea of what makes modes important.
There are alot of books out there on this, but I strongly recommend study. If you have a guitar teacher start asking questions. If not you should get one. If your teacher doesn't understand this stuff you may want to consider getting a new one. Learn the basics, the nuts and bolts of music. Then you can work towards playing anything you want.
Email me if you have any other questions I may be able to help you with.
The first thing you must do is look at the major scale. Each degree of the scale has a varying degree of weight. What I mean by that is that the note wants do take you somewhere, or it wants to stay where it is. From the scale we build chords, which have the same basic properties as the single notes in the scale.
Lets start with the 1 (the tonic) and the 5 (the dominant). 1 is home. It is referred to as the tonal center; this note defines the key. All the other notes have the qualities they do because of how they relate to the 1. Usually at the end of a piece of music the harmony resolves to the 1. If you are playing a song in the key of G major, usually you will end on the G major chord. When you are there it feels complete.
The 5 however is a very active tone. Try playing a blues in G major and instead of ending on G stop at D (or D7). You will find That it doesn't sound complete. It will scream to you "GO TO G!" It wants to resolve to the tonic.
All the other notes hves specific characteristics. The 2 wants to go to 1. The 3 wants to go to 4, the 4 wants to go to 5 or back to 1. The 7 wants to go to one. This forms the basis of harmony. I really recommend you take at least of year of harmony class. It may seem like drag writing in the style of and analyzing Bach, but it will make you better musician. It will increase your sensitivity to the qualities of your medium...sound.
What makes a mode different than its parent scale is that the tonal cnter is shifted to the 1st degree of the modal scale. The notes behave differently, the chord tones are different, although technically it is the same notes.
Example. In the key of C major, G7 is the 5 chord. G7 is derived from the C major scale. Have a friend play a C chord while you slowly play a c maj. scale. Listen carefully to each note and how it sounds over the chord. Now have your friend play a G7 chord. Play the C major chord again and listen carefully. Pay particular attention to the c note. You will find that i woks great over the C chord...It's the root note. But over the G7 it has a very different quality. It is the 4th (or 11th) in realation to the G or root note. It will sound quite tense, it will want to resolve to the b note (the 3rd of the chord). Same key, same scale, but quite different effect. This should give you some idea of what makes modes important.
There are alot of books out there on this, but I strongly recommend study. If you have a guitar teacher start asking questions. If not you should get one. If your teacher doesn't understand this stuff you may want to consider getting a new one. Learn the basics, the nuts and bolts of music. Then you can work towards playing anything you want.
Email me if you have any other questions I may be able to help you with.
# 2
Wow. Good explanation.
So, in short, modes aren't different from each other. It's the same exact scale, but you're starting from and resolving to a different note. For example, if you play a C major scale starting on a G note it becomes it mixolydian.
-Christoph
# 3
Thank you very much, redheffer. Your note was very helpful to me. You're right about studying harmony. But the problem is that I don't have time. Another problem is that it's hard to find a good music teacher. The first teacher for me was a friend of mine, but he had limits. He told me how to play chords, but he lacked the basics of harmony. So, I turned to the Internet and found it a great source, as long as there are people like you out there. But taking a lesson is the best choice, so I'll try to find a good teacher. Thank you again and expect some silly questions for me the next days :-)
Sherif Shaaban (Dr_Frankenstein™)
# 4
The only thing silly is not asking a question when you really want to know the answer. I'm glad I could help. God knows I still ask a lot of questions and pay a lot of money for help!
# 5
Here's a good graph of modes in C (men do better visually)
--C--D--E--F--G--A--B--C
-----D--E--F--G--A--B--C--D
--------E--F--G--A--B--C--D--E
-----------F--G--A--B--C--D--E--F
--------------G--A--B--C--D--E--F--G
-----------------A--B--C--D--E--F--G--A
--------------------B--C--D--E--F--G--A--B
Notice that there are 7 modes. Small roman numerals mean they sound minor. Lets explore mode ii (the dorian).
The intervals between each note are either 1 whole or
5 for (.5) for a half step. For the Dorian they are
D to E = 1
E to F = .5
F to G = 1
G to A = 1
A to B = 1
B to C = .5
C to D = 1
1.5.1.1.1.5.1
Those intervals are very different from the 1st mode IONIAN intervals of:
C to D = 1
D to E = 1
E to F =.5
F to G = 1
G to A = 1
A to B = 1
B to C = .5
1.1.5.1.1.1.5
Now you can see why modes although based off of the same scale, sound vastly different.
Here's an experiment for you.
Play the IONIAN mode across all six strings (all notes played in four fret range) Play it long and hard and hear it.
Now put the guitar down for about 20 minutes, come back and play only the dorian mode. You will hear a major difference.
[Edited by acoustic_guitar on 04-24-2001 at 09:15 AM]
--C--D--E--F--G--A--B--C
-----D--E--F--G--A--B--C--D
--------E--F--G--A--B--C--D--E
-----------F--G--A--B--C--D--E--F
--------------G--A--B--C--D--E--F--G
-----------------A--B--C--D--E--F--G--A
--------------------B--C--D--E--F--G--A--B
Notice that there are 7 modes. Small roman numerals mean they sound minor. Lets explore mode ii (the dorian).
The intervals between each note are either 1 whole or
5 for (.5) for a half step. For the Dorian they are
D to E = 1
E to F = .5
F to G = 1
G to A = 1
A to B = 1
B to C = .5
C to D = 1
1.5.1.1.1.5.1
Those intervals are very different from the 1st mode IONIAN intervals of:
C to D = 1
D to E = 1
E to F =.5
F to G = 1
G to A = 1
A to B = 1
B to C = .5
1.1.5.1.1.1.5
Now you can see why modes although based off of the same scale, sound vastly different.
Here's an experiment for you.
Play the IONIAN mode across all six strings (all notes played in four fret range) Play it long and hard and hear it.
Now put the guitar down for about 20 minutes, come back and play only the dorian mode. You will hear a major difference.
[Edited by acoustic_guitar on 04-24-2001 at 09:15 AM]
# 6
Thanks :-) I thought I would be lost without lessons, but with persons like you around, that will never happen :-) I can recognize the difference now between modes. It was a little tricky, but it started to unfold. Thanks again :-)
Sherif Shaaban (Dr_Frankenstein™)
# 7
You're Welcome!
Lots of people say things like "modes are over-rated, I'd rather do this or that". From a theoretical perspective, they are the -only- notes that make sense in a given key. Yes, some scales such as the pentatonic and blues scales are different, but they, for the most part contain all the notes common to the modes.
I can identify a pentatonic player and distinguish him from a modal player. To me, playing modal is the only way to fly. Sometimes I'll add blue notes or chromatics, but knowing the modes gives me a large palette to choose from.
later dude!
p.s.
This month's Guitar Player has an excellent article by Andre Bush on what to play over a major7#11, he starts by showing why a Lydian is the correct mode and then subtracts a few notes and concludes that the major7 chords sound really cool when adding a pentatonic 1 step above the root.
Well, in modal thinking, he's saying play, the dorian for major 7, but don't play all the notes. Yet he arrived at this formula from the Lydian rather than the Dorian. What's correct? Either, it really doesn't matter how you come up with a formula, it's just fun having the knowledge to derive it.
happy picking!
Lots of people say things like "modes are over-rated, I'd rather do this or that". From a theoretical perspective, they are the -only- notes that make sense in a given key. Yes, some scales such as the pentatonic and blues scales are different, but they, for the most part contain all the notes common to the modes.
I can identify a pentatonic player and distinguish him from a modal player. To me, playing modal is the only way to fly. Sometimes I'll add blue notes or chromatics, but knowing the modes gives me a large palette to choose from.
later dude!
p.s.
This month's Guitar Player has an excellent article by Andre Bush on what to play over a major7#11, he starts by showing why a Lydian is the correct mode and then subtracts a few notes and concludes that the major7 chords sound really cool when adding a pentatonic 1 step above the root.
Well, in modal thinking, he's saying play, the dorian for major 7, but don't play all the notes. Yet he arrived at this formula from the Lydian rather than the Dorian. What's correct? Either, it really doesn't matter how you come up with a formula, it's just fun having the knowledge to derive it.
happy picking!
# 8
