Do I really need to know my modes?

[Nevada Pete]

No. You need to know your intervals.

 

[lfmn16]

This is why a good teacher is so valuable. You’re asking strangers on the internet with unknown qualifications and almost no knowledge of you and your situation whether or not you should invest hundreds of hours of your time into learning modes. Does that really make sense?

 

[LBS-bass]

Modes are interesting to practice as alternate scales. They give the fingers a little different pathway (and breaking out of patterns is good thing do). Modes have a different sound and that helps keep the ear open, another good thing.

I'm not that great with modes in the sense that, though I studied them years ago, I could not tell you one from the other by name today. But IMO this is correct advice. Learning and practicing modes to some degree will help break you out of fixed patterns and habits that cause you to reach for all the standard notes.

It's useful to have those alternates at your fingertips when you are playing walking lines, so that you can come up with interesting options beyond the usual stuff. Whether or not you attach a label to what modes those different notes are creating, knowing your options in some way or another is a helpful thing. But it is mandatory that you learn them as scales and practice them obsessively for most music people play? Probably not.

 

[dkelley]

No, you don't need to know them. Major scale is a mode. You can fake it to come up with ways to think outside that box by starting on a different note of the major scale, but make that different note the key or chord you're playing in.

Voila... you're playing in modes.

So...If you know major scale fingering, playing on a C chord with your band, to play a scale you would normally start with 2nd finger.... playing 2 4 1 2 4 1 3 4.

To try the mode trick I suggested, play the C with the 4 (2nd fingering of the scale), so your fingering is now 4 1 2 4 1 3 4 1.

And so on...

It's a cheap introduction to modes.

You can decide if any of them are valuable to you.

 

[landrybass]

MILLPAD

 

[kirkplunkett]

In my experience, knowing "the modes" (and any music theory really) has lent itself best to ear training. I find that I can color a chord that someone else is playing with passing notes that I probably wouldn't have gravitated towards unless there was a soloist directing the song there with concepts... Instead, I can rely on my ear and hear the colorful notes on my own.

That being said, it is absolutely not necessary, and some of the worlds best bass players never venture outside of the box. It is all about personal preference and style.

 

[RedMoses]

I found modes very useful and worth the time invested, especially for Bass. While you may not be soloing in the upper register, the Bass is usually the only melodic instrument that occupies this frequency range, so you actually are soloing, just in support of the other melodic instruments. If you are not already familiar with Miles Davis "Kind of Blue" album you will get a good idea of how modes are used effectively.

 

[Element Zero]

Nope.

 

[BrotherMister]

Do you really need to know them? No. Will knowing them benefit you? Sure, all knowledge is good knowledge.

If I'm thinking about theory while I'm playing a gig something has gone monumentally wrong for me. The only time theory ever comes into my head is if I'm in the situation where someone has kicked off a song I've never heard before and I'm ear training my way through it, in those situations I'll sometimes have to take educated guesses of where the song might be headed and I want to identify that as soon as possible so the combination of being able to label sounds in real time is helpful.

Where I use that stuff is in analysis. In the practise room I'll deconstructing music to see whats going on. Even then I don't really look at a standard or music from the classical realm and say 'oh it's a ii chord so that means Dorian'. In those types of tunes I'm looking at the harmony and it's function. The chord/scale theory doesn't particularly lend itself well too understanding functional harmony as it quickly reduces the function of each chord to painting by numbers. Where it does lend itself to is modal music and music with non functional harmony, which a lot of music we play and hear has now. So it's nice to be able understand as much as I can, get the sounds into my ears as much as I can and then make the most informed musical decisions I can.

 

[Dirk Diggler]

Since you asked it that way, nope, not at all.

And as a matter of fact there are plenty of professional players that know 0% theory.

However knowing the rules and theory in general are very useful tools to have.

I would say scales are more important than modes, and totally agree with the person saying knowing intervals is more important.
Dirk

 

[LuisKretzschmar]

I primarily learned the modes to memorize the fretboard better. Helped me a lot, but if you already now what you can play and what not you probably don't really need them for that. Regardless, it's nice to have some vocabulary even if you are not going to use it a lot.

 

[John Webb]

Depends......

 

[IamGroot]

Warning: not trying to brag.

I have the bass thing down pretty solid so now I am a frustrated sax player trapped in a bass player body.

Consequently, my knowledge of modes ( chord tones) is pretty extreme. I absolutely think everything in chord tones. This didnt come overnight. It took many years, but now when i want to play something, i dont think, i just feel and my fingers do the rest on cruise control.

Having this knowledge has opened up so many new paths for playing bass all around the neck.

Just saying.

Thank you for your indulgence

 

[arbiterusa]

You don't "need" to know anything.

But I've never learned anything musical that I haven't ended up using.

 

[Robscott]

No-one "needs" modes. Modes is just another way of describing what you already know

 

[Mikey F]

Why wouldn't you want to know them? It will make you a better player, and once you understand them it actually makes things easier. I play at church mainly too, and understanding the patterns make a chord chart a breeze.

 

[MtManiac]

Depends on how far you want to take your education and skills development. At some point, to advance, you do need to know modes. If you’re happy staying ahead of that point, then no, you don’t.

If you want to understand chord progressions, knowing some of the modes can definitely help. If you want to understand melodic voice leading, knowing more about modes can help with that. If you want to know what your options for scales to use while soling over a given chord progression, understanding modes will be necessary, unless of course you’re good with sticking with the pentatonics or major/minor/dominant arpeggios, which will sound boring.

 

[cnltb]

No, you don't need to know them. Major scale is a mode.

There is more than one major scale. Which one are you referring to and which mode of which scale is it?

 

[Smooth_bass88]

The way I see it, the more I know about music the better musician I will be thereby giving ME the edge over anyone else who thinks they can try and take my gigs.

 

[drumvsbass]

Everything I want to write here makes me sound an *******.