- Savageflux78
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- Honorable Member
Posted by: jaythenerdkid
They're scales that produce a different kind of tonality when used. Generally, each is associated with a certain musical mood - for example, Phrygian mode is used a lot in music that we Westerners might register as "Middle Eastern", and Dorian mode is used a lot in modal jazz. Each can be expressed as an eight note scale starting on a different sol-fa pitch: in order, they are Ionian (do-do), Dorian (re-re), Phrygian (mi-mi), Lydian (fa-fa), Mixolydian (so-so), Aeolian (la-la) and Locrian (ti-ti, the only one where the tonic triad makes a diminished chord). Dorian, Phrygian and Aeolian sound like harmonic minor scales; Ionian, Lydian and Mixolydian sound like major scales with some adjustments in the case of the latter two; Locrian sounds harsh and atonal because Western music doesn't use diminished chords very often.
I love modes. :DThanks Jay, but I knew most of that. I guess what I was trying to say is that there is something about them that just doesn't make sense to me, although I can't quite pinpoint it. I don't think it's something you can answer, rather, it will just "click" for me eventually.
My teacher told me a story once about how something didn't make sense to him even after going to a music school. One night at a gig, he was playing and it just suddenly connected out of the blue, and everything made sense. I feel like with me, once I am exposed to modes enough, they will just start to make sense.
I do appreciate your effort, though, and it was not in vein. This did help me with which are minor and which are major. I know this is terrible of me, but I always get Ionian and Aeolian mixed up. I know they are complete opposites, but it is just that; (on bass) the fingerings are opposite, so I often mix the two.