Modes of The Major Scale
The number of scales available to improvising musicians continues to expand. As modern techniques and musical constructions appear, jazz players find the ones they can put into compositions or use as material for melodic exploration. Prominent examples are the seven modes of the diatonic major scale and added-note scales.
| I | Ionian mode | C D E F G A B C | (associated with C Major 7 chord) |
| ii | Dorian mode | C D E♭ F G A B♭ C | (associated with C-6 or C-7 13 chord) |
| iii | Phrygian mode | C D♭ E♭ F G A♭ B♭ C | (associated with Csus4 ♭9) |
| IV | Lydian mode | C D E F♯ G A B C | (associated with C Maj7 ♯11 chord) |
| V | Mixolydian mode | C D E F G A B♭ C | (associated with C7 chord) |
| vi | Aeolian mode | C D E♭ F G A♭ B♭ C | (associated with C-7 ♭13 chord) |
| viiø | Locrian mode | C D♭ E♭ F G♭ A♭ B♭ C | (associated with C-7♭5 chord) |
Compare each of the modes to the major scale for clues as to the subtle differences between them. Ionian is based on the 1st degree of the major scale, Dorian on the 2nd, Phrygian on the 3rd, etc.
| C Ionian | C D E F G A B C | (associated with C Major 7 chord) |
| D Dorian | D E F G A B C D | (associated with D-6 or D-7 13 chord) |
| E Phrygian | E F G A B C D E | (associated with Esus4 ♭9 chord) |
| F Lydian | F G A B C D E F | (associated with F Maj7 ♯11 chord) |
| G Mixolydian | G A B C D E F G | (associated with G7 chord) |
| A Aeolian | A B C D E F G A | (associated with A-7 ♭13 chord) |
| B Locrian | B C D E F G A B | (associated with B-7♭5 chord) |
Combinations of the characteristic details of these modes are also in common use. For example, the Lydian dominant uses the raised 4th degree of the Lydian with the flatted seventh of the Mixolydian, yielding C D E F♯ G A B♭ C. Chromatic alterations are also useful,as in the Lydian Augumented scale C D E F♯ G♯ A B C for use on the chord Cmaj7+5.
Read more about this topic: Jazz Scale
Famous quotes containing the words modes of, modes, major and/or scale:
“In the final analysis, “style” is art. And art is nothing more or less than various modes of stylized, dehumanized representation.”
—Susan Sontag (b. 1933)
“The history of reform is always identical; it is the comparison of the idea with the fact. Our modes of living are not agreeable to our imagination. We suspect they are unworthy. We arraign our daily employments.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)
“True spoiling is nothing to do with what a child owns or with amount of attention he gets. he can have the major part of your income, living space and attention and not be spoiled, or he can have very little and be spoiled. It is not what he gets that is at issue. It is how and why he gets it. Spoiling is to do with the family balance of power.”
—Penelope Leach (20th century)
“I love to weigh, to settle, to gravitate toward that which most strongly and rightfully attracts me;Mnot hang by the beam of the scale and try to weigh less,—not suppose a case, but take the case that is; to travel the only path I can, and that on which no power can resist me. It affords me no satisfaction to commence to spring an arch before I have got a solid foundation.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)