Message 9/27
Date: 15-Feb-01 @ 03:02 AM -
RE: so whats this scale?
It's not a Jazz scale per se but it is used a lot more often in Jazz than it is in other forms of popular music.
The modes are basically just scales if you played the white keys of the keyboard starting on C and played only the white keys until you came to the next C an octave higher you would have played the C Ionian mode also known as the C Major scale.If you then started on the D and played only the white keys until you reached the next D an octave higher you would have played the D Dorian mode.If you look at the C Major scale you can see that it has a pattern of gaps between each note in the scale so C D E F G A B C has a pattern starting from the root note in this case C of 2 2 1 2 2 2 1
(2 notes between C&D 2 notes between D&E 1 note between E&F etc.)
If you then look at the gap pattern between the notes of the D Dorian mode you will see that it has a gap pattern of 2 1 2 2 2 1 2 now if you take that gap pattern and start from the C note you will be playing the C Dorian mode which has a totally different sound from the C Ionian mode or C Major scale as it is now called.The different tonalities you get from each mode are very useful for coming up with interesting melodies.
So to figure out the gap or step pattern for the different modes all you have to do is start from each note of the C Major scale and play only the white keys like so
C to C is the Ionian mode(Major scale)
D to D is the D Dorian mode
E to E is the E Phrygian mode
F to F is the F Lydian mode
G t G is the G Mixolydian mode
A to A is the A Aeolian mode(The Natural minor scale)
B to B is the B Locrian mode
The modes are named after the most important of the ancient Greek tribes look at the keyboard diagram above for an example of the D Dorian and the E phrygian modes the D Dorian is at the lower end of the keyboard in this example does that make it any clearer?