Clever ways to memorize mode names

[J Sudjian]

What are some clever sayings you guys can or have came up with to memorize the modes, if you don’t remember them well?

using the first letter of each mode, ya know what I mean?

like I saw one on line that said......In Door Pools Lose Money And Licences

just an example.


By the time I come up with one I like I’m going to memorize them lmao.

 

[juggahnaught]

I found it easier just to learn the names in order when I memorized them, years ago. I just repeated them over and over. Took a day.

Ionian. Major.
Dorian. Minor scale, natural 6.
Phrygian. Minor scale, flat 2.
Lydian. Major scale, sharp 4.
Mixolydian. Major scale, flat 7.
Aeolian. Minor.
Locrian. Diminished scale, flat 5.

But if you must...(made this up)

indolent
dalmatian
puppies
lie
merrily
across
laps

Honestly, I'd just brute-force it.

 

[J Sudjian]

I found it easier just to learn the names in order when I memorized them, years ago. I just repeated them over and over. Took a day.

Ionian. Major.
Dorian. Minor scale, natural 6.
Phrygian. Minor scale, flat 2.
Lydian. Major scale, sharp 4.
Mixolydian. Major scale, flat 7.
Aeolian. Minor.
Locrian. Diminished scale, flat 5.

But if you must...(made this up)

indolent
dalmatian
puppies
lie
merrily
across
laps

Honestly, I'd just brute-force it.

Is the Ionian always Major notes, and then when you get one that says sharp 4 or flat 5 that means the 4th note in the scale is sharp, and the 5th note is a flat?

I’m one of those guys that can jam in a band all day and play great but don’t remember theory for crap lol, I’m relearning it all to advance, thanks.

 

[Wasnex]

Is the Ionian always Major notes, and then when you get one that says sharp 4 or flat 5 that means the 4th note in the scale is sharp, and the 5th note is a flat?

I’m one of those guys that can jam in a band all day and play great but don’t remember theory for crap lol, I’m relearning it all to advance, thanks.

Ionian is synonymous with the major scale. If you have a major scale altered with #4, the mode is Lydian. 2,3,6,7 are either major or minor intervals. 1,4,5,8 are perfect, augmented, or diminished. The #4 would be called an augmented 4th. It is enharmonic to a diminished 5th, but it is not the same thing. The Lydian mode has a perfect 5th and does not have a diminished 5th.

IMHO modes have very limited value. If you play a tune like "So What," you need to know that it is in Dorian mode. So you play minor patterns with a #6 (Major 6th).

I do think practicing modes is useful for learning your key signatures in and out. I think it also helps you learn how to use your fret board better.

Modes have also been derived for the harmonic minor and jazz melodic minor scales. I can't currently keep the modes derived from the Major scale straight, even though I have learned them several times, so I haven't studied the altered minor modes.

 

[juggahnaught]

Is the Ionian always Major notes, and then when you get one that says sharp 4 or flat 5 that means the 4th note in the scale is sharp, and the 5th note is a flat?

I’m one of those guys that can jam in a band all day and play great but don’t remember theory for crap lol, I’m relearning it all to advance, thanks.

Yeah, that's correct.

A "major" or "minor" scale is mainly determined by the tonality of the third degree of the scale. So yes - a major scale with a sharp 4 is a Lydian scale, and a major scale with a flat seventh is a Mixolydian scale. (The nomenclature I used above isn't fully accurate in that regard - it does assume that you know the natural major and the natural minor, and defines the modes based on alterations to those core scales. The diminished can't really be done this way unless you specify all the note alterations. It's usually better to just spell out the entire scale.)

Ionian is natural major and Aeolian is natural minor.

Modes do have a lot of uses....but for the average bass case, they are mostly utilized as finger patterns. (You may be aware, but just like C major and A minor have the same notes, it's the same with all the modes - C major (Ionian) and D Dorian have the same notes, along with E Phrygian, F Lydian, etc. - they are all in the key of C, just starting on different notes.) You should know the modes inside and out, but recognize that most of the time, you'll simply be playing in key - so just use your ears. If you're playing jazz, you'll want to know how the modes can map to extended chords (but at that point you may be using altered or non-diatonic scales anyway).

Modes do have many uses in terms of reharmonizing a melody....but most people don't really do that anymore, so yeah. Just use your ears, learn the modes and the theory, and apply them to the fretboard.

 

[J Sudjian]

Yeah, that's correct.

A "major" or "minor" scale is mainly determined by the tonality of the third degree of the scale. So yes - a major scale with a sharp 4 is a Lydian scale, and a major scale with a flat seventh is a Mixolydian scale. (The nomenclature I used above isn't fully accurate in that regard - it does assume that you know the natural major and the natural minor, and defines the modes based on alterations to those core scales. The diminished can't really be done this way unless you specify all the note alterations. It's usually better to just spell out the entire scale.)

Ionian is natural major and Aeolian is natural minor.

Modes do have a lot of uses....but for the average bass case, they are mostly utilized as finger patterns. (You may be aware, but just like C major and A minor have the same notes, it's the same with all the modes - C major (Ionian) and D Dorian have the same notes, along with E Phrygian, F Lydian, etc. - they are all in the key of C, just starting on different notes.) You should know the modes inside and out, but recognize that most of the time, you'll simply be playing in key - so just use your ears. If you're playing jazz, you'll want to know how the modes can map to extended chords (but at that point you may be using altered or non-diatonic scales anyway).

Modes do have many uses in terms of reharmonizing a melody....but most people don't really do that anymore, so yeah. Just use your ears, learn the modes and the theory, and apply them to the fretboard.

Thanks, yeah playing by ear is great but when someone says hey play this or that real quick I’m like well hum it real fast lmao.

 

[kevindahl]

It's probably better in the long run to recognize modes by the way they sound. ie major #4 sound(lydian) or that spanish sound (phyrgian). Also hearing the steps. 1 2 3 4. C D E F, C D Eb F, C Db, Eb F, C D E F# and C Db Eb F. You can learn even more with Harmonic minor, altered etc.

 

[Drucifer]

My favorite is I Don't Punch Like Mohammed Ali (it's true).

 

[consectaneus]

MILLPAD

Invest one hour in watching this and then proving the concept on your own bass, and if you are anything like me, you will not only know the names of the 7 modes, but will have a mental map of the intervals of each which you can recite at will and start any mode from any note or place on the fingerboard. Granted, it won't make you fluent in playing them or tell you how to use them in music, but it removes a major roadblock...i.e. memorizing all those patterns.

 

[joeeg33]

My favorite is I Don't Punch Like Mohammed Ali (it's true).

you’re missing one at the end....

 

[Drucifer]

you’re missing one at the end....

Ali =A & L

 

[InhumanResource]

What are some clever sayings you guys can or have came up with to memorize the modes, if you don’t remember them well?

using the first letter of each mode, ya know what I mean?

like I saw one on line that said......In Door Pools Lose Money And Licences

just an example.


By the time I come up with one I like I’m going to memorize them lmao.

I just use the scale degree or more realistically the chord at play, no real reason to use the long form name on my side.

 

[vvvmmm]

As a rank amateur with punk leanings, I wanna say that modes is most useful on apple pie.

Ok, so I said it.

 

[dalkowski]

I Dig Players Like Miles And Lester

 

[JTE]

I
Don't
Particularly
Like
Modes
As
Learning

 

[Dean N]

The mnemonic in my jazz theory class was "I don't particularly like music a lot".

 

[daniel9.7]

I Don't Pee Like My Aunt Lucy

 

[BillyBA]

I Don't Phrygging Like My Anchovy Lunch

 

[JW56789]

I've been playing something since I was in kindergarten ( . . . .and I just turned 65), was up for a full ticket to North Texas State for piano, played lots of bass in bands till I hung up my guns around 10 years ago. Had lots of theory (including modes), read both clefs like a newspaper, and for the life of me, I've never once thought in the middle of a tune, 'gee, right here I could drop a Myxolidian scale right here to get out of the bridge and back to the verse'.

For me, the music and the playing came first, whether I was winging an ear chart in a dive bar or staring down a Schirmer copy of Bach's 'Italian Concerto' while I was reading and playing it. Theory was the 'written word' to explain and document what I ( or JS Bach) just played. It's a great mental exercise, and great practice to work your hands, and hey, it might light off an insight you might not have thought of otherwise. But the last thing I'd do is kill myself to learn all of them chapter and verse: I'd rather make music.

Now, Pie Ala Mode, we'll talk.

 

[210superair]

I've been playing something since I was in kindergarten ( . . . .and I just turned 65), was up for a full ticket to North Texas State for piano, played lots of bass in bands till I hung up my guns around 10 years ago. Had lots of theory (including modes), read both clefs like a newspaper, and for the life of me, I've never once thought in the middle of a tune, 'gee, right here I could drop a Myxolidian scale right here to get out of the bridge and back to the verse'.

For me, the music and the playing came first, whether I was winging an ear chart in a dive bar or staring down a Schirmer copy of Bach's 'Italian Concerto' while I was reading and playing it. Theory was the 'written word' to explain and document what I ( or JS Bach) just played. It's a great mental exercise, and great practice to work your hands, and hey, it might light off an insight you might not have thought of otherwise. But the last thing I'd do is kill myself to learn all of them chapter and verse: I'd rather make music.

Now, Pie Ala Mode, we'll talk.

I agree. Practiced them at one time, but that's the last thing in my mind when I'm playing. My mind is so stuffed with daily stuff I can't remember people's names I should know. Memorizing stuff like this rates low nowadays.