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Unlock The Improvisational Firepower of Using Modes

Understanding modes and how to unlock their improvisational firepower gives you more melodic options and a wider palette of colors at your fingertips. There is a lot of modal confusion out there, but in Take 5: Modal Improvisation, Rob Garland simplifies the process, helps you quickly understand the modes, and gives you 5 unique applications that will show you the way they can be used to bring your soloing to life.

Rob outlines 3 popular modes, explains in simple terms how they are formed and their signature sound, and then guides you through 5 modal soloing performance studies across a variety of musical styles, from basic to more sophisticated and challenging approaches, using one mode and then combining them in 2 examples of modal interchange.

"I’ve put together this course to help demystify the modes, and help make them part of your vocabulary right now. In this course, we’ll start with a modal improvisation primer. I’ll point out an easy way to internalize modes, we’ll talk about a few of their characteristic intervals, and I’ll also give you some tips for identifying which mode to play based on a quick analysis of the underlying chord progression. I’ll then guide you through 5 modal improv studies, ranging from a simple two-chord Lydian vamp to classic rock-style Mixolydian progressions, funky Latin Dorian sounds, and a sophisticated fusion jam via modal interchange."

Rob will explain and demonstrate all of the key concepts and approaches along the way. You’ll get standard notation and tabs for all of the performance studies. Plus, you’ll be able to use TrueFire’s learning tools to sync the tab and notation to the video lesson. You can also loop or slow down the videos so that you can work with the lessons at your own pace. All of the backing tracks are included to work with on your own as well.

Grab your guitar and let’s get modal with Rob Garland!

Modal Improv Primer - Demonstration

"A mode is simply a scale that is derived from a parent scale, meaning the mode is formed by beginning it on a specific note of the parent scale. The modes we'll be talking about in this course are derived from the major scale. Take the C major scale for example, CDEFGABC. If we were to begin the C major scale on it's second degree, D and play D-D we would get DEFGABCD. This is the D dorian mode, but why is it different to C major? Because now D is our tonal center, our home and the other notes are now relative to that D, so the intervals change meaning we now have a minor 3rd: the note F from D, a 6th: the note B from D and a b7th: the note C from D. To hear what the mode sounds like we have to put it in the context of it's tonal center, meaning if D dorian is a minor mode we have to hear it over a Dm chord to understand it's characteristics.”

Level 1: Modal Improv

"Our first song is a two chord vamp consisting of two major chords a whole step apart, B and C#. Usually when you see two major chords a whole step apart the assumption is they are the IV and V chord of a parent major key, so in this case that would be the key of F# as B and C# are the IV and V chords, a typical chord progression might be B-C#-F#. However the two chords do not resolve to F# and whats more, there is a static bass note, B, playing over both chords which is telling us that B is the tonal center or “home” to the ear. If you take an F# major scale and start on the note B, you get B lydian and therefore the chord progression is the key of B lydian. I will use the scale of B lydian to create a melody over the chords and then I’ll explain how I used it.”

Level 2: Modal Improv

"Our second song is based out of the D dorian mode with the chords |Dm |Am |Dm |G F Em| D dorian has the same chords as the key of C major, but the tonal center of the chord progression is not leading us back to a C, Dm is “home.” Listen to the way the G F Em walks us back to the Dm chord. The song is a i-v-IV-bIII-ii chord progression in D dorian. By adding a 6th to a minor chord we can hear the dorian sound, so in this example listen to a Dm6 chord. I will use the scale of D dorian to create a melody over the chords and then I’ll explain how I used it. I used D dorian to create a melody over the chords and also used the device of playing minor pentatonic a whole step up from the minor chord because it contains the 9th-11th-5th-6th-R Experimenting with resolving the B note on different chords, the note that defines the dorian sound in this key and being aware of chord tones.”

Level 3: Modal Improv

"Our third song contains a familiar rock progression followed by 2 bars of E7: |E |D |A |E |E7 |E7 | The progression E-D-A-E is a popular classic rock song template. Despite the chords coming from the parent key of A, E is the tonal center and sounds like “home.” Therefore if we take the chords of A major and play them from E we get E mixolydian. The E7 chord gives us the E mixolydian mode personified, as it contains a major triad with a flattened 7th. The song is a I-bVII-IV-I-I7 progression in E mixolydian. I will use the scale of E mixolydian to create a melody over the chords and then I’ll explain how I used it. I used E Mixolydian to create a melody over the chords. You can clearly hear the E7 chord tones that are in the Mixolydian mode, namely the R-3rd-5th-b7th, the notes E-G#-B-D.”

Level 4: Modal Improv

"Our fourth song introduces the concept of modal interchange whereby a chord progression does not stay in just one key and therefore several modes can be used to bring out the chord changes. The song begins with 8 bars of a dorian i-iv in Gm (or you could say a ii-V in F) but as the Gm chord is “home” we will treat it as dorian. This is a common funk and latin chord progression. Next comes 4 bars of Eb7, which you could think of as the V chord in Ab, but as this is the only chord from that key, Eb7 is now “home” and that is a mixolydian chord. Therefore we must shift back and forth between G dorian and Eb mixolydian. I used G Dorian over the |Gm7 C7| chords and Eb Mixolydian over |Eb7 |. Identifying where there are common tones and where the notes change helps suggest melodic ideas. It is important to keep both modes in the same position on the neck, at least when practicing and becoming familiar with the sound of the chord changes.”

Level 5: Modal Improv

"Our fifth and final song continues the theme of modal interchange but adds another chord change to the concept, moving from an Ebm9 chord to a BMAJ9#11 chord and then a dominant chord, A13. |Ebm9 |Ebm9 |BMAJ9#11| BMAJ9#11|A13 |A13. You may hear this kind of chord changes in a jazz fusion song where the harmony is less traditional than that of jazz standards. Creating a melody over the chords |Ebm9 |Ebm9 |BMAJ9#11| BMAJ9#11|A13 |A13| using 3 corresponding modes, namely Eb Dorian, B Lydian and A Mixolydian."