Greetings,

I was wondering if you think it is good to learn all the modes of 7 or 8 note exotic scales. Even just melodic/harmonic minor. I guess I mean more specifically about hand&scale positions. So far the modes of harmonic/melodic seem to sound unique and semi-strange(which is good). I just don't know if I should try to memorize 7 different patterns for each scale. Or use different modes in each hand. That seems to sound pretty cool so far.

So if I wanted to memoriize all 7 hand positions of each scale x mel x har x maj x strange scale#z(ect) it would be an insane amount to memoriize! For me at least, so thats where Im having trouble I guess. Still yet, I am seeing if yall have some tricks or advice.

Basically I want to know how to emphasize/express the specific tonalitys of each mode in a scale.

Hope I kinda explained that,
-ben

If you learn the original scale fingerings, the modes have the same patterns just different roots and scale tones. The note values are displaced but the grid patterns are the same.

Donwa' Shafit

I've asked myself this question a lot! I learned these scales a couple of times then forgot them because I never used them! I guess I could never get them in my ear, but I would if I used them, I would use them if I played music that used them. What a horrible cycle! No matter how much Holdsworth I listen to it just never sinks in! Not to hijack the thread but are you going to Interlochen Oceans? I'm going to be there!

Hi Ben,

Modes add shades of gray to the black-and-white world of major and minor harmony. Training your hand and ear to work together is what's important.

Just practice the modes with the different fingerings so that you can play them comfortably at any position, no matter where you are on the fretboard, and with whatever finger you happen to have on the board at any given moment.

Play them against the root in the left hand (as shown on pages 6-5 through 6-7 of The Stick book), and listen to how they sound. As you look at the modal scales, each defines the harmony a little differently from the rest.

The easiest way to see this is to look at the triads that emerge from each mode. Look at Page 6-5 of the Stick Book, Volume 1. If you are playing F-Ionian, then the triad that starts with C in the root in that mode will be a C, E, G (C Major). If you are playing F-Mixolydian, then it will be C, Eb, G (C minor).

So even though Ionian and Mixolydian are both major modes (they both have a major 3rd), the chords that come out of them are slightly different. Training your ear to hear that difference makes knowing the modes in your muscle memory more useful.

One thing that helps is to make exercises out of the intervals you find (what do the 3rd, 5th and 7th sound like against the root?, what kinds of chord extensions are in the mode, b9 in Phrygian, #11 in Lydian, etc.).

Personally, I never think in terms of "hand positions" on The Stick. Every mode is available no matter where you are, so having the three different fingerings for each gives you the ability to play the entire key all over the fretboard, not just in specific locations.

Knowing the key makes your Hands more Free.

If you know your Major scale modes, here's a page that explains an easy way to adapt them to Melodic and Harmonic minors:

http://www.jazzguitar.be/forum/theory/1208-harmonic-minor-scale-mode-names.html

IMO, an understanding of chords and good relative pitch recognition are more crucial for developing musicianship.

Cheers,
Andy

There is a scale that works with any chord progression. It's real tasty. Yes, it's the Piala mode.

SA

Used extensively by Clapton in Cream, and forgotten rapper Vanilla Ice.