What do the modes do?

[Gunnar Þór]

I remember seeing a thread which explained this a while back but the search for it comes up blank. What I mean is how the modes sound, Ionian (Major) is happy, Aeolian (Minor) is melancholic, this I know but what about Dorian, Lochrian, and all the rest?

[Gard]

Well, I've always tended to group the modes into three "camps":

Major: Ionian, Lydian, Mixolydian

Minor: Dorian, Phrygian, Aeolian

Diminished/m7b5: Locrian

Then I work from there to be more specific:

Ionian sounds major, kinda plain, but good. Lydian is a "brighter" major, because of the raised 4th. Mixolydian is a "darker" major because of the lowered 7th.

Aeolian is the natural minor scale, and like Ionian, it can be kind of plain sounding. Dorian is a brighter sounding minor, with a raised 6th; Phrygian is interesting because the lowered 2nd gives it an "Arabic" feel.

Locrian is it's own special thing, minor, but more than minor because of the lowered 5th degree.

I will also relate each mode to a chord built on it:

Ionian: maj13
Dorian: min7#13
Phrygian: min7 b9 b13
Lydian: maj7#11
Mixolydian: (dominant)7
Aeolian: min7 b13
Locrian: min7 b5 b9 b13

I don't know if that helps any, but I hear chords at "flavors", and relate modes to them.

[Chris Fitzgerald]

Scales/Modes-What's the difference?