How many of you know all of the modes of any scale? Or am I the only one who thinks that's good to know. And not only know it, but actually apply that knowledge to your guitar or other instrument skills?
I know all of the modes, which is very advantageous for someone who wants to improvise, especially a Jazz musician. Phrygian mode and Locrian Major #5 are my favorite modes for metal and classical music, but for Jazz improvisation I like the Mixolydian and Superlocrian #5/#7 modes. Modes don't mean a whole lot if you just want to jam, but if you want to really master your instrument inside and out, if you want to be able to create really original phrases, the modes are your best friends. Something you should try next time you want to make really cryptic sounding music is play a Minor progression like say i, V, IV, ii*, i, over a diminished scale and modulate half way into a more exotic like Persian or Mohammedan scale, and half way through that scale, switch to the Phrygian mode and finish on the last 2 or 3 notes of the original scale. This type of scalular modal modulation shift is really common in Classical music and some great Progressive/Black Metal bands. This is kind of why the melodies grab me so much, and an attest to the fact that modes are really important in making really original music. It's good to see young musicians really trying to grasp every part of the instrument, we need more people who desire a full knowledge creating music these days.
Yeah, that's kind of what I thought. I've only been playing for about eleven months and I've had to teach myself everything including Theory because I had almost no knowledge of it. All I knew when I started was the notes: ABCDEFG and where they are on the staff. I have the major scalle and the pentatonic major scale entirely memorized. I figure if I know the modes well, like I know where all the first, second, thirds and so on are, I could easily pick up a minor pentatonic simply by knowing which notes to minor.
i use to be all into this kind of stuff but recently i kinda just tossed it out the window probably b/c my fave guitarist now is omar rodriguez-lopez and that guy doesn't even know what notes he's playin
It's better to have and not need than to need and not have. Theory will help you in those times that you need a perfect melody behind a perfect chord structure. If you know theory you'll know where to go and what will sound good behind your chosen chords. If you don't know this stuff, it will take you a lot more time fucking around on the fretboard to find what you're looking for, and because you don't know the scales and the modes of those scales, it will take you another good amount of time to find the proper phrasing you like because you won't have enough proper experience with the sound or structure of each scale and its modes to be able to appropriately find the phrasing you want by ear. You'll end up noodling around on the fretboard for about 10 or 20 minutes looking for the proper melody for your song. That's fine if you and your bandmates are patient, or if you're not in the studio paying $300.00 an hour and are looking to write an original phrase, because you've just thrown out one you've pre-written.
man, we're required to know those for school, and it's a bitch, lemme tell you... at the end of each semester, all clarinet players are required to do "scale juries" which means we have to play all of our major and minor scales, major and minor arpeggios, major scales in 3rds, and diminished 7th arpeggios. all from memory. but at the same time, it's excellent to know it because it's all under your fingers after you pass the test.
Yeah, but you'll be really glad you learned this stuff when you're 30-years old and you know your instrument like the back of your hand. You'll certainly get more "gun-for-hire" gigs.
