It seems like whenever people decide to get more serious about their guitar playing “The Modes” inevitably come up. There are countless books and videos on the subject and yet I rarely have students come to me really understanding them, either how to accurately define them or recognize them. Understanding the Modes from a theoretical point of view is essential to anyone who wants to use them in their playing, but that will be covered somewhere else. What I want to share here is how I teach my students to hear and recognize the modes.
I do this by giving examples of songs that use them. By having an audio example to dwell on it is very easy to hear what a mode sounds like, what its essence is. So without further ado, here is a list of some songs you are hopefully familiar with, and their corresponding modes.
- Major (Ionian): “La Bamba”, Ritchie Valens; “Walking on Sunshine”, Katrina and the Waves; “Always with Me, Always with You”, Joe Satriani.
- Dorian: “Oye Como Va”, Carlos Santana (no, he didn’t write it but you know his version best); “Fire Woman”, The Cult.
- Phrygian: “Sober”, Tool; “Meeting of the Spirits”, Mahavishnu Orchestra; “Symphony of Destruction”, Megadeth
- Lydian: “Flying in a Blue Dream”, Satriani (intro: C Lydian); “Come Original”, 311 (intro: D Lydian); “The Riddle”, Steve Vai
- Mixolydian: “Summer Song”, Satriani; “Down”, 311
- Natural Minor (Aeolian): “The Thrill is Gone”, B.B. King; “Nothing Else Matters”, Metallica
- Locrian: “Theme from South Park”, Primus
- Harmonic Minor: “Still Got the Blues”, Gary Moore; anything by Yngwie Malmsteen
- Phrygian Dominant: “Hordes of Locusts”, Satriani; “Come out and Play”, The Offspring (that Arabian sounding hook that got caught in your head; you know it did!); anything else by Yngwie
- Melodic Minor: “Summertime”, George Gershwin
- Aeolian Dominant: “Sleepwalk”, the Farina siblings (my fav version is Danny Gatton’s)
Some notes on the above:
There are a lot of tunes listed from Joe Satriani and that’s because his music is usually modal in nature, and thus a good example of a specific mode. Even though I make jokes about Yngwie it doesn’t mean I don’t appreciate him as a player. I do, but everyone makes jokes about Yngwie, don’t they? Harmonic Minor and Phrygian Dominant are more or less the same thing, as are Melodic Minor and Aeolian Dominant. This is a slippery slope, as there are people who would say the same about the modes of the Major scale. Let’s not worry about this. This article is not supposed to be overly technical.
Take a listen to the above tunes and see if you can hear the characteristic sounds of their modes. Better yet, learn how to play them!
Related Posts:
What to Expect From Guitar Lessons
10,000 Hours – How to be a Great Guitarist
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