An Improvisation Exercise
So far we've covered a lot of ground with music theory covering Keys, chords, modes and pentatonic scales. This post pulls together a number of these ideas into an improvisation…
Pentatonic Scales
As an alternative to modes, pentatonic scales are very commonly used for soloing. The definition is often somewhat overcomplicated, pentatonic basically means 'five tones' so these are 5 note scales.…
Two octave fretboard patterns for modes
Following the recent series of blog posts on modes and modal chords, this post gives you two octave patterns for all the modes rooted on the E string so that…
Modal Chords
So far I've discussed modes in terms of their structure and relation to the comparative major scale. I haven't been too prescriptive about how to use them and have encouraged…
The Locrian Mode
The Locrian mode starts on the seventh scale degree. It is the least used mode, in fact you'll find very few examples of its use. In fact I can't really…
The Aeolian Mode (natural minor scale)
The Aeolian mode starts on the sixth scale degree and like the corresponding chord is minor in nature. It is probably the most commonly used mode over minor chords and…
The Mixolydian Mode
The Mixolydian mode starts on the fifth scale degree. It is the only mode that is dominant in nature and is mostly used in blues and jazz music. In the…