1) Know all of the notes that are available diatonically to the key you are in. No one can tell me this is not important to know. Remember what I said about confidence? Yes, it's work but it pays off in spades in the long run. You can try to get around having to learn this but your playing, confidence and knowledge will be limited. You'll get frustrated with your playing and in the meantime you could have just learned this from the start and would be done with it.
Or just know the key (or the key center for those songs that move around). Knowing C Ionian gives me D Dorian et. al. without yet another level of categorization.
2) Allows you to play within the chord melodically by either playing within the specific chord/scale or applying another sound, color, emotion whatever over the chord. Eg. Key of C, C Maj7, I chord and playing the D Dorian over it. Think of it this way, most people when they first start playing tend to play the VI mode, "Aeolian", natural minor of the major key over the song. Why? Because it creates a nice mood, color, feeling over the passing chord or chords.
Still going to wind up sounding like C major under that C chord. Same notes, and unless you're really stomping on the D, F, and A, it's going to sound like C.
3) Allows you to play/think about applying one static mode over many chords. E.g. Key of C major, II-7, V7, IM7 chord progression. You could play C Ionian over the entire progression, Play the respective modes over the individual chords: D Dorian, G Mixolydian, C Ionian. Or, Play the D Dorian over the D and G chords and then play the C Ionian over the C Maj7. The possibilities become almost endless as to what you can do. But you need to know these modes well in order to do this. Once again, remember playing with confidence and for that matter freedom?
And that's the point- anytime you're seeing it as ii7 V7 IM7 (btw, using capital Romans for a minor chord is kind of confusing- I had to read this a couple of times to see that) it's much more useful IME/IMO to think of that section as all in the key of the tonic, and use your C major scale as your pallet. Again, instead of mentally switching gears with each chord change and going for a different mood, we need to see the connections. Our job is to define the harmony and we don't define the connections that make a ii V I work if we constantly put them into different moods.
4) Allows you to "imply" changes over static chord vamps. This is when things start to get really cool! There are millions of ways to do this and many books that can describe how to go about it better than I can with a limited amount of space.
The one area where modes are the most direct route to finding the right notes to play.
Now just as a rant. I noticed that some people here suggest to learn/concentrate just on the arpeggios. Arpeggios are also just as important to learn because they are the chord tones of the specific chords being played and will enforce the harmony of the song or melody.
Well, I'd say more important, but they gotta be taught correctly, which is your point below...
However, I notice that when most players use arpeggios they only know them with one (possibly two) different fingerings and only in one position. Meaning that they have to jump around the neck to play the arpeggios for the respective chords when they change. What happens is they get lost and it sounds choppy or worse. And I'd like to add they only know them in the root position and rarely know them in their inversions. What is happening here is that their knowledge is limited and they play without confidence which in turn sounds crummy.
Yep, scales, arpeggios, modes, etc. are a construct upon which we build music. That means they're not going to be used only in root-to-root fashion. It comes to what one means when they say they "know" a scale or an arpeggio. If all you know about an Amin7 arpeggio is that how to play it from A to A starting with your first finger on the E string, you don't know squat. And that's too often what people mean when they say they "know" something. Knowing an Amin7 arpeggio means you know that it's A C E G, you can find those notes anywhere on the neck with whatever fingers are available, you know how it lies in the key of C as the vi, in G as the ii, in F as the iii, and most importantly you know how it SOUNDS. Now the thing is, I don't think I've seen anyone fostering an idea that only knowing arpeggios from root-to-root is going to help you play.
The solution to this is: To know all of the notes on the neck that apply to that arpeggio. Know how to play the arpeggio starting with the first, second and fourth finger in each position. By doing this you first are able to see all of the chord tones available to that chord and second you are able to play without having to jump around the neck and make clean fluid lines that are not interrupted. Your hand can stay in the same position and move effortlessly to the next chord.
Also, once you have this down you will then also be able to see the modes available to you at the same time. You then are able to play all of the notes of the given chord as well as chord tones of the chord.
Well, that last paragraph is the crux of this. After learning arpeggios, I've found modes to be even less useful as a method of organizing knowledge. If you "see" and understand ii V I as DFAC then GBDF then CEGB, and you grok the way they lie on the neck, then you see the C major scale as a pallet of tones available all over the neck. And you see the notes of the individual chords as your target tones, but not in any way as limitations to the other notes.
Yes, this is work but so what? You want to play with confidence and play whatever is in your head? Well, this is the only way to do it. Prepare first and then have fun playing.
EXACTLY- I love this paragraph! Thanks for espousing it so succinctly! Things are only worth what we're willing to pay to get them. Learners need to ask themselves if playing music worth the work of learning to do it well, or are you satisfied with "Quick 'n' Easy Bass Secrets of the Stars" kind of crap?
