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Who here plays in MODES ??
- Thread starter mike buzzetti
- Start date
Obviously I have no intention of doing that , Im not gonna teach anybody anything here.
Maybe, but are you hoping to learn something?
If you are playing typical Western music, you are always playing mode-based music. It's unavoidable, unless you are playing strictly atonal and/or chromatic music 100 percent of the time.
Wasn't hoping to but if I do then thats ok ! never to late to learn stuff , am I gonna go woodshed on it NAW .
Maybe, but the musical context and composition determine one or the other. They are not the same thing, they are not used the same way, they do not lead to the same musical outcomes and they are not interchangeable.
Listen again. It's I, bVII and V, not IV. There are other versions with alternate chords such as i (minor!) bVII and V, some use both IV and V...that's the folk process
My point still stands, many traditional tunes are modal.
I likely play in modes tho' I know I use the 1-5, 3-1, and occasional triads considering I'm playing Irish-post punk and Country these days. It's mostly in the moment but I keep it simple. It's about the audience and the song.
A more learned bass player could likely tell me what I'm playing. Though in any specific key, I know why I am playing the notes I play.
A more learned bass player could likely tell me what I'm playing. Though in any specific key, I know why I am playing the notes I play.
Yeah, I mostly play in modes, scales, and chord tones. My music teacher is a big jazz guy so there wasn’t any getting around that with him lol. I’m glad I learned this way, producers and bandmates alike have had no complaints so far!
The Harry Jacobson charts are correct, and the customary way of thinking of modes.
OK, I see why I'm confused about the "sharpie charts". I didn't see that the black circles are labeled "major root" (Ionian). I assumed that the black circles were the root of the mode, as was done in the Jacobson charts.
So the "sharpie charts" are correct for what they are, but the purpose seems limited. Normally, if I'm playing over G major, I would not consider playing the F# Lydian scale even though the notes are the same. G Ionian is the obvious choice for G major, and for different flavors I would stick with G root but a different mode: G Lydian and G Mixolydian are based on the same G major triad. If I wanted "extra spice" (dissonance), I'd go with one of the other modes, still using G as a base.
Of course I'm mostly thinking as a bass player, not a soloist. A soloist might do something like thinking in B Phrygian rather than G Ionian, even though the notes are exactly the same.
Disclosure: I am not a music theory instructor (obviously), but I did sleep at a Holiday Inn Express.
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My problem is not that the bass is not in tune. It’s that the right notes are in the wrong place. Probably a defective fretboard. It can’t be me playing the wrong note!
Listen again. It's I, bVII and V, not IV. There are other versions with alternate chords such as i (minor!) bVII and V, some use both IV and V...that's the folk process
My point still stands, many traditional tunes are modal.
My bad, I meant E.
And to your point, I still maintain that there is a distinction to be drawn between a functional song that makes use of modal interchange chords, and a purely modal song. Your example probably has a stronger case to make for being on the modal side, with a full 1/3 of the chords being interchange. That V to I though still says tonal to me. Plus there's plenty of jazz standards that are super tonal, but have MI turnarounds and whatnot.
Anyway that's just, like, my opinion man.
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As I recall, Modal Interchange is different from a tune being strictly modal. Modal Interchange is about using borrowed chords from a parallel tonality. Modal tunes typically don't have a usual V-I type of resolution. But yeah, I'd say that tune he described is tonally based on functional harmony
I am going to answer strictly from a jazz playing perspective
I learned modes years ago in order to learn jazz improvisation. After many efforts, I realized that improvising with modes did not sound "jazzy" one bit. It sounded more like Carlos Santana than Charlie Parker. I was disappointed. I eventually learned that, in a jazz context such as soloing Jaco style or playing walking bass, modes are
not something you really use. Instead, your melodic approach needs to be based on arpeggios (as the target notes on downbeats), passing tones (5th, chromatic, scale note from above/half-tone from below...) and chord substitutions. Learning this approach took me a lot more work than learning modes but eventually I was able to sound legit jazz.
I learned modes years ago in order to learn jazz improvisation. After many efforts, I realized that improvising with modes did not sound "jazzy" one bit. It sounded more like Carlos Santana than Charlie Parker. I was disappointed. I eventually learned that, in a jazz context such as soloing Jaco style or playing walking bass, modes are
not something you really use. Instead, your melodic approach needs to be based on arpeggios (as the target notes on downbeats), passing tones (5th, chromatic, scale note from above/half-tone from below...) and chord substitutions. Learning this approach took me a lot more work than learning modes but eventually I was able to sound legit jazz.
As you found out, the trap to avoid is to not make music about any ONE thing. It's all of it. Modes, arpeggios, pentatonics, intervals, etc etc etc. Modes are just a piece of the pie and as important as I think they are, its only one piece.
