by cunamara » Tue Jan 15, 2008 4:44 pm
Thing is, ya gotta be careful to play music rather than scales and modes. Soloing is creating a counter-melody over the harmony.
I mean, if you're thinking "OK, A Ionian here, then E Mixolydian, then D Lydian here, then- dang, Dmin7b5 WTF? Oh yeah, that's the ii of C melodic minor..." Well, then, you're not playing music are you? You're just painting by numbers using scales.
I think in terms of tonal centers: this stretch of chords in is A, then there's one bar in Eb, then back to A. It's a lot easier than trying to remember how all those modes relate to the chords. Modes and scales are just guides showing what notes are "inside" at any moment, but it's hard to remember that stuff on the fly and- at least for me- it tends to get in the way of playing music.