Get Out Of That One Scale Per Song Mentality
Okay , its been a while since i blog about guitar lesson …Hey , i may be a businessman , but that doesn’t mean i QUIT playing guitar ..Once in a while , i still have customers & ex-students who seek advice from me .
A common question that i get is ..
“What are modes? How do i use them?”
Of course , being the nice gapnap , i started explaining to them ..the problem is .I realized. The more i try to explain modes , the more i find it more DIFFICULT for them to understand ..
I was thinking about it these few days , and i came up to a conclusion ..the reason why most people DO NOT understand modes , and DO NOT know how to use them ..is ..
They always think , ONE SCALE PER SONG ..
In other words , if a song is in a key of Aminor , they only think Aminor is the ONLY scale they can use in that song .
Wrong.
Okay , the truth is ..i am still trying to develop the lesson ..i know many of you want that “magic pill” blog post , ONE POST that solve it all , but that isn’t going to happen..(because i do not see a short cut in learning modes yet) ..
The best way to start , is to realized , are you having that “One Scale Per Song” Mentality ?
Let us put you to a test ..check out the chord progression .
|1 2 3 4|1 2 3 4|1 2 3 4|1 2 3 4|
E |G |A |B B C D|
All the chords are in MAJOR , there are no MINORS in the chord progression.
Tell me , what scale would you use on this chord progression ?
How many scales can you use ?
What are the modes?
Don’t be shy , post a comment . Pros and Otai are welcome too..
Let us all start to see a bigger picture in our playing ok? 
March 7th, 2010 at 1:52 am
i would play any random note that sounds nais but play the note of the next chord when the progression changes..lik e note bla bla bla g note wank wank wank a note etc etc
March 7th, 2010 at 2:16 am
E minor and E major,standard blues.betul ka?
em modes , G Aeolian?
March 7th, 2010 at 3:12 am
if it’s me, i would strategize my solo based on the chord construction of the chord itself. when it goes to this, i think i’ll put a 3rd of the chord for every first beat. then put any mode passing through depending on my mood.
i believe there are more people with better ways. haha
March 7th, 2010 at 8:54 am
Stumped
can I see the answerS?
March 7th, 2010 at 1:08 pm
hmm, based on my professional opinion.. i’ll hentam kao kao major scale all the way from E to F. i’ll use whatever that sounds nice and play super fast to cover my inept ability to recognize notes
if non guitar players tells me, “hey that sounds weird.” then i’ll just say, “it’s shred, muthafucka!!!!”
March 7th, 2010 at 2:07 pm
its a trick question,no modes. just e minor
March 7th, 2010 at 3:30 pm
just play 1 note. and if its wrong then try again.
but if its right, you’ll change the world.
March 7th, 2010 at 6:41 pm
+1 to Ross :p
March 7th, 2010 at 8:03 pm
e harmonic minor and e phyrigian.
March 7th, 2010 at 9:30 pm
the best way for me is to look at the chords 1st. since the chords, how to say, don’t fit into ONE key, i’d see it as being 1 key per chord. the chords given are all major. with this in mind, i have a major [ionian] scale for every chord in mind as well. the ionian scale is the THING here. every one needs to know the ionian scale because it’s THE scale!
we start off by building things based on this ionian scale. of course u can start off by using mixolydian, or watever -ian as long as the scale fits the chord [contains the chord tones]! from here, if i play the ionian scale for every chord, i won’t be wrong theoretically but some times i need to spice up things a little by adding some chromatics [or even change some of the NON chord tones] along the scale to sort of ‘change’ the flavor of the scale. add in a b7 into my ionian scale gives me a bebop scale. or maybe i can rearrange the notes in the scale to be something else that i find interesting. drop the natural 7 to a b7 and i get a myxolydian. raise the 4th to #4 and i get a lydian. i can just go on and on AS LONG as i have the chord tones in my scale i.e. 1, 3, 5 [C E G in c major].
i hope this isn’t confusing. i need to practice my teaching skills also because when i explain this to other people they go ‘…’
March 8th, 2010 at 12:21 am
Ariffdude, bro u spelled Phrygian wrongly =)
March 8th, 2010 at 2:45 am
Tried jamming it with my band just now.It was awesome! A report on what i did ..
E major – E major scale
G major – E minor scale
A major – E major or A major
B / C / D – Obvious E minor
This is a guitarist-blues thing.My keyboardist (classical background) couldn’t catch it. Good thing we got the pentatonic box
As for the modes , i do not understand modes so i have no idea .
You guys should try it with the band , its really fun . Reminds me of the rock and roll era !
March 8th, 2010 at 11:09 am
Em, Gmaj ??
March 8th, 2010 at 5:16 pm
kena ikut scale ke?
klu random xley ka bha?
hehe
March 8th, 2010 at 6:30 pm
oii…no modes lah
later lah that one ! now its just multiple scales in one chord progression
The Lesson is , you gotta use modes by situation ..not by SONG ..
when u start to see modes THAT way , that is where you start to understand it ..
example :
take a song , fly me to the moon , you can slice the song into aeolian and dorian ..2 different parts & situation ..instead of thinking the whole song use “A minor scale” ..get it ?