Writing modal

[Leftybass12]

First off, I'm not entirely sure if thisis suppose to be in a different section, but I felt that this was a decent place. Title is self explanatory. I realize that this is a very broad question, but what are the basics to writing modal?

[somegeezer]

Basics to writing modal? Know your modes... =P Simple as that I guess. Learn your modes and then write with them. Don't think of them like modes though. Just think of them like any scale. Even your major and minor. Use them the same way.

[liquid sunshine]

pick one and think of it as any other scale and use the notes and chords in it.
i'm not trying to sound like a dick either i used to over think it. it's easiest for me to think about the relative major and minor scale

[Leftybass12]

Originally Posted by liquid sunshine

pick one and think of it as any other scale and use the notes and chords in it.
i'm not trying to sound like a dick either i used to over think it. it's easiest for me to think about the relative major and minor scale

That wasn't d!ckish at all, I was looking for a straightforward answer. Detailed ones are cool too, haha. Thank you very much though, because I tend to really overthink things.

[BassChuck]

Most good theory/composition texts will cover this. Currently I'm working my way through a good one. "Hearing and Writing Music" by Ron Gorow. Its one of the best text on musical perception that I've reading 30 years.

[Antares]

Originally Posted by BassChuck

Most good theory/composition texts will cover this. Currently I'm working my way through a good one. "Hearing and Writing Music" by Ron Gorow. Its one of the best text on musical perception that I've reading 30 years.

Thanks for suggesting this to the OP, this looks like exactly what i myself have been looking for!

[Leftybass12]

Originally Posted by BassChuck

Most good theory/composition texts will cover this. Currently I'm working my way through a good one. "Hearing and Writing Music" by Ron Gorow. Its one of the best text on musical perception that I've reading 30 years.

Hopefully I can find that book at a Barnes and Noble or Boarders by where I live..if not there is the internet.

[BassChuck]

Sorry, should have posted this.

http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_ss...sprefix=ron+Go

[Bruce Lindfield]

Miles Davis read the book "Lydian Chromatic Concept" before writing his modal music...

[MalcolmAmos]

Modal music - You write modal for the modal mood. You get the modal mood with modal vamps. Chord progressions call attention to the tonal center of the progression - you need the vamp to sustain the modal mood. You first have to take care of that little detail. http://www.riddleworks.com/modalharm3.html

After that..... there is only one note difference between the major modes and the major scale.
Ionian = no difference
Lydian = one note the #4.
Mixolydian = one note the b7.

And only one note difference between the minor modes and the natural minor scale. Well yes Locrian has two the b2 and b5.

Aeolian = no difference
Dorian = one note the natural 6.
Phrygian = one note the b2.
Locrian = two notess the b2 and b5.

Taking into account the modal mood you want - use the notes from the two chords in the modal vamp for your melody.

You make a decision right at first if you are going to write modal or tonal, pick the chords that will let this happen and then draw your melody from the notes of the chords you decided to use.

Of course IMHO.

[Nashrakh]

Originally Posted by Bruce Lindfield

Miles Davis read the book "Lydian Chromatic Concept" before writing his modal music...

And Jaco only needed four strings

[champbassist]

I think the OP's question is a good one and well meant in that modes are not there just for the 'linear' sake of it, as lots of 'lessons' going around today propound. They are meant to serve a musical purpose (not just linearly but, very importantly, harmonically) as of themselves; it'd be unfortunate if one was to think of modes purely as derivatives of the major scale, because they're far more than that.

The thing about writing modally is that you need to make the modal root feel like it's the home base for your composition. I'd highly recommend Frank Gambale's lesson vid "Modes: No More Mystery" which covers this idea brilliantly.

[Bruce Lindfield]

I don't know why people find it funny - it's well-known that this book was what inspired "Modal Jazz" :

The Lydian Chromatic Concept of Tonal Organization
George Russell's book, The Lydian Chromatic Concept of Tonal Organization, first published in 1953, was the first theoretical contribution to come from jazz, and was responsible for introducing modal improvisation which resulted in the seminal recording of Miles Davis' "Kind of Blue."

Since it's publication, there have been scores of books on the market which have "borrowed" bits of the Concept's information, but there is only one original.

"[The Concept] was the great path-breaker for Miles Davis and John Coltrane's modality."
- Joachim Berendt, The Jazz Book.

http://www.georgerussell.com/lc.html

[champbassist]

Originally Posted by Bruce Lindfield

I don't know why people find it funny - it's well-known that this book was what inspired "Modal Jazz" :

The Lydian Chromatic Concept of Tonal Organization
George Russell's book, The Lydian Chromatic Concept of Tonal Organization, first published in 1953, was the first theoretical contribution to come from jazz, and was responsible for introducing modal improvisation which resulted in the seminal recording of Miles Davis' "Kind of Blue."

Since it's publication, there have been scores of books on the market which have "borrowed" bits of the Concept's information, but there is only one original.

"[The Concept] was the great path-breaker for Miles Davis and John Coltrane's modality."
- Joachim Berendt, The Jazz Book.

http://www.georgerussell.com/lc.html

I thought you were joking, i.e. you were trying to say (sarcastically) that Miles Davis didn't need any instructions/books to play modally.

[Bruce Lindfield]

No, as the quote says - this was the book that inspired Miles - can't do any better than that, if you're looking for a book?

Although I just think that listening to some of that and transcribing, would probably be a good start.

[Leftybass12]

Originally Posted by Bruce Lindfield

No, as the quote says - this was the book that inspired Miles - can't do any better than that, if you're looking for a book?

Although I just think that listening to some of that and transcribing, would probably be a good start.

If it inspired Miles Davis than it has to be an excellent book. Miles was a terrific musician.