Grateful Dead Music Forum

Alright here is the equivalent scales, maybe this will clear it up for you

This is for C Major

A Minor (also known as Aeolian), B Locrian, D Dorian, E Phrygian, F Lydian, G Mixolydian


blob wierd used that in a different thread and that clears ooooh so much up for me.. can anyone extend. for example a major is equivelant to.... bmaj is equivalent to as he did for the Cmaj.... much appreciated.. i think that just made guitar scales 100 times easier

it all depends on the tonic

It does all depend on the tonic, which in most music is always in motion. Its a big shifting scale, but once you get a firm grip on the concepts then you can really start to ride the wave instead of being ridden by the wave.

im confused... can u better explain that, i have a good grip on alot of scales, but instead of learning like the most used 40 or 50 id rather learn 7 real well, and use them as an equivalent, kinda like what he said like cmaj is gmixo

What you need to do is learn all the modes in one specific key. Which is in sense, just learning one scale all across the neck. That is a good starting point. Think of that as a basic training. You need to know that the exact same notes exist in all the modes within one given key. The patterns are different because they start at different spots on the fretboard.

Now with that knowledge you can now branch out and differentiate the modes from one another. While they are all in one key and contain the exact same notes, they are not the same. Playing G mixolydian is not the same as playing C major or playing F lydian. This is where it gets a little trickier.

The key here is the tonal center. The tonal center for a C chord in the key of C is C. An appropriate mode would be C Ionian or C major. But in a progression in the key of C, when playing the F chord, the ear expects to hear a melody line that more closely relates to the now changed modal center, from C to F. F lydian would be a good choice there. Now from the C to the F you are playing the same scale, C major, in terms of notes played but the tonal center has changed and will revolve around the F note instead of the C note.

And then even further from there you can mix up what modes you play for each chord. For example, over that same C chord, the ear expects to hear something that revolves around that C. You can get a more exotic sound by using a mode that is parrallel (major to major, minor to minor) but not what is expected, like G mixolydian.

It all is very confusing at first but when it all hits you, it really gets fascinating.

C- the Ionian mode
D- the Dorian mode
E- the Phrygian mode
F- the Lydian mode
G- the Mixolydian mode
A- the Aolian mode
B- the Locrian mode

C Ionian is a major scale All of the above are notes in the key of C Major.

Now substitute the first root note and keep doing that like so. All of these modes below are all notes in the key of D. (D E F# G A B C# )

D- the Ionian mode
E- the Dorian mode
F- the Phrygian mode
G- the Lydian mode
A- the Mixolydian mode
B- the Aolian mode
C- the Locrian mode

thanks jackr thats what i was lookin for!

jackr, those sharps that you mentioned for the key of D major are correct. you should have them rrepeated below

ie. F# - the phrygian mode and C# - the locrian