2009 April | The Guitar Master

What is a Mode?

Apr 23
2009

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The term “mode” is typically used to describe one of seven different versions of the diatonic scale. Each version is simply the same diatonic scale, but beginning on a different note. The important thing to remember here is that the scale loops around.

The diatonic scale is a way of getting from one note to it’s octave either above or below, in a series of seven steps. This gives you a total of seven notes (eight including the last note, which is the same as your first note but either one octave higher or lower). Each note is either a whole or half (semi) tone away from it’s neighbour.

The formula which you’ve probably seen many times before is:

T - T - S - T - T - T- S

T means tone and S means semitone. These terms refer to the gap between each note, and not the notes themselves. The example used is for the major scale, otherwise know as Ionian mode. Here is an example in C major, which is often used as it has no sharps or flats:

C-D-E-F-G-A-B-C -T-T-S-T-T-T-S-

The term “mode” can be used to refer to a scale on it’s own, or a whole section of music, the chords used determining what mode it is in.

The scale C,D,E,F,G,A,B,C would be C ionian. D,E,F,G,A,B,C,D would be D dorian. Read some of the other articles on modes on this site to try and learn why this is.

Likewise the chord progression C, Dm, Em, F, G, C could be described as being in C major, or C ionian mode. Playing these chords whilst jamming around a C major scale would pretty much keep you in C ionian mode. However, change that chord progression to be Dm, Em, F, G C, Dm, and still playing around a C major scale over the top, would help you to achieve D dorian mode. Likewise, playing Em, F, G, Am or Am, G, F, Em, whilst playing around a C major scale will help you to achieve E phrygian mode, etc…..

Ionian mode is definitely “happy”. It is also called the major scale.
Dorian modie is classed as a kind of minor scale and is “sadder”, but not typically sad like the minor scale
Phrygian mode is also classed as minor. It is very “eastern” sounding and quite mysterious
Myxolydian mode is is a variation on the major scale and is “happy”
Lydian mode is also happy and classed as major
Aeolian mode is your classic minor scale and is definitely “sad”
Locrian mode is more rarely used. It is related to the diminished chord

To learn more, read some of the articles on this site on modes, the major scale and the circle of fifths. Check out the interactive circle of fifths on this site, and try using the tags on the right hand side.

Tags: aeolian, circle of fifths, dorian, ionian, locrian, lydian, major, minor, modes, myxolydian, phrygian, scale

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Cavatina

Apr 22
2009

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Stanley Myers
Cavatina

Tabbed by The Guitar Master

(Section A start) |-7----------|-------7----|------------|-------9----|------------| |----------5-|------------|----9-------|-10-12------|-10---------| |-------4----|-4----------|-8-----8----|------------|----9-------| |----6-------|----6-----6-|----------6-|----------11|-------11---| |------------|-------6----|------------|-9----------|----------9-| |-0----------|------------|------------|------------|------------|

|------------|-------7--9-|------------|------------|-7-----7----| |-------10---|----10------|----10------|------------|----10------| |----9-----9-|------------|-------9----|----------8-|------------| |-11---------|-11---------|-7--------7-|-------7----|----------9-| |------------|----7-------|------------|----9-------|------------| |------------|------------|------------|-7----------|-------0----|

|------------|------------|----5--4--4-|------------|----2-------| |----9-------|----------3-|------------|-------2----|------------| |-9-----9----|-------4----|-4----------|----2-----2-|----------2-| |----------9-|----6-------|------------|-2----------|-2--0--4----| |------------|------------|----------0-|------------|------------| |------------|-0----------|------------|------------|------------|

|----------0-|-2----------|-------0----|------------|-0----------| |-2----------|----------0-|------------|----0-------|----------0-| |----2-------|-------0----|-0----------|-0-----0----|-------2----| |-------4----|----0-------|----0-----2-|----------2-|----4-------| |------------|------------|-------3----|------------|-2----------| |------------|-3----------|------------|------------|------------|

|------------|----2-------| |------------|----------4-| |-2--------2-|------------| |----4-------|-4-----4----| |-------2----|------------| |------------|------------| (Section A end)

(Transition to Section A - Play Section A twice) |------------|------------|----0--4--5-| |------------|-------0----|-0----------| |-2-----1----|----1-----1-|------------| |----4-----1-|-2----------|------------| |------------|------------|------------| |------------|------------|------------| (End of Transition to Section A - now go to section A and play once more before going to Transition to section B, below)

(Transition to Section B) |------------|----------0-|----0--4--7--11-| |------------|-------0----|-0-----------11-| |----2-----1-|----1-------|-------------11-| |-------4----|-2----------|-------------11-| |------------|------------|-------------11-| |------------|------------|-------------11-| (Now go to Section B)

(Section B Start) |----12------|----------12|------------|-11-9--9--11|-12-11------| |------------|-9----------|-------9----|------------|----11------| |----------9-|----9-------|----9-----9-|------------|----11------| |-------9----|-------9----|-9----------|-9----------|----------9-| |------------|----------9-|------------|------------|------------| |----9-------|------------|------------|------------|-------7----|

|----------9-|-7--5-------|------------|----7-------|------------| |----9-------|------------|-2--------10|----------7-|-9--------9-| |-8-----8----|----------2-|----2-------|------------|-------9----| |------------|-------2----|-------2----|-7-----7----|----9-------| |------------|------------|----------9-|------------|------------| |------------|----2-------|------------|------------|-0----------|

|------------|----------0-|-2--4-------|----------5-|------------| |------------|----3-------|------------|-2----------|-------7----| |-9----------|-4-----4----|----------2-|----2-------|----6-----6-| |----9-----6-|------------|-------2----|-------2----|-7----------| |------------|------------|----0-------|----------5-|------------| |-------0----|------------|------------|------------|------------|

|----6-------|----------7-|------------|----7-------|----------12| |------------|-7----------|-0-----7----|-0-----0----|-7-----0----| |----------6-|----6-------|----8-----8-|----------7-|----7-------| |-7-----8----|-------8----|------------|----0-------|------------| |----7-------|----------6-|------------|------------|------------| |------------|------------|------------|------------|----------8-|

|------------|-11-12-12-8-|-8--10-10-7-|-7--8--8--5-|-7--8--12---| |----0-----0-|------------|------------|------------|------------| |-0-----9----|------------|------------|------------|-------9--5-| |------------|-------10---|------------|------------|------------| |------------|-------9----|------------|------------|------------| |------------|-------7----|------------|------------|------------|

|------------|------------|------------|------------|----------2-| |------------|------------|------------|------------|-------2----| |-5--7--7--4-|-4--5--2----|------------|------------|------------| |------------|----------4-|-2----------|------------|----2-------| |------------|------------|----3--2--0-|----------0-|-1----------| |------------|------------|------------|-3--2--3----|------------|

|------------|------------|------------|------------|------------| |-2----------|-3----------|----------3-|------------|------------| |------------|------------|-------3----|-3----------|------------| |----2-----4-|------------|----3-------|----3--3----|-1-----1--3-| |-------2----|-------2--4-|-5----------|----------1-|----1-------| |------------|----2-------|------------|-------2----|------------|

|----------3-|------------|------------|----------0-|------------| |-------4----|-4----------|------------|-0----------|-------0----| |----3-------|----3-------|------------|------------|------------| |-5----------|-------8----|-6-----6--8-|-------9----|-9--------2-| |------------|----------6-|----6-------|----7-------|----7-------| |------------|-------7----|------------|-4----------|-------4----|

|----0-------|------------|------------|------------|------------| |-------2----|-------0----|------------|-0--0--2--0-|------------| |-4----------|----2-----2-|----------2-|------------|-------1----| |------------|-1----------|-1-----1----|------------|----0-----0-| |----------2-|------------|----2-------|------------|-2----------| |------------|------------|------------|----------0-|------------|

|------------|------------|------------|----------2-|------------| |------------|------------|----0-------|------------|----4-------| |-------6----|------------|-2-----2----|----2-------|-------2----| |----------7-|-6--4-----2-|----------2-|-------4----|-4--------4-| |-2--0-------|------------|------------|-2----------|------------| |------------|-------2----|------------|------------|------------|

|------------|----------0-|-4--5--| |------------|-0-----0----|-------| |-1--------1-|----1-------|-------| |----1--2----|------------|-------| |------------|------------|-------| |------------|------------|-------| (End of Section B. Now play section A one more time, followed by the first transition and then proceed to section C)

(Section C Start) |-11-12-12------|-------2--4-|-2----------|-0----| |-9--------4--5-|-5--5-------|----5-------|------| |-9--------2----|----2-------|-------2----|-2--4-| |----------2----|----4-------|----------4-|-4--6-| |---------------|----2-------|------------|------| |-9--------2----|------------|------------|-0----| (Congratulations - The End!)

Tags: cavatina, tabs

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The Root of All (Western) Music

Apr 22
2009

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Want to know what the ultimate base of all western music is? Well, in my humble opinion, it is the major scale.

Here’s the problem…. Practising scales is generally considered by most people to be as boring as hell. So how do we get around this problem?

Try to relate scales to actual music, and vice versa
Look for patterns in your scales and how they can be extended
Try treat the scales as just one shape, that is started from different points to achieve different sounds
Use the circle of fifths to figure out how to achieve different modes from a given major scale
Try to understand that the major scale is absolutely relevant to almost all music that you hear
Read some of the posts on major scales, modes and the circle of fifths on this site, by clicking on the tags on the right

The major scale really does hold a lot of the answers behind music, if not all of them. Another problem is that there is no point in learning how music works, if there is no creative thought behind writing a song, it will not sound interesting. In fact it’s completely possible to stick to the “rules” of music and write something that is absolutely boring and or just sounds terrible.

But I’m assuming that as you’ve come here, you have some creative flair and know in your own head what sounds good to you. That is sometimes enough to start creating great music. But imagine how many more possibilities there are if you are simply aware of more of those possibilities?

The major scale and the circle of fifths are two things that can help you improve your own song writing and general musical ability. It also makes it much easier for you to figure out how to play songs by ear.

Tags: circle of fifths, major, modes, scale

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Guest Article -
Playing Guitar and Singing

Apr 19
2009

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How to play guitar and sing at the same time…By Chris Beckett

Playing and singing, when done well looks very easy. Many people are surprised at how hard it is when they give it a go. The main thing to keep in mind when starting out, is that there’s several things going on at once, and you have to be sure whats going on with both the guitar or vocal at any point in the song. Here’s a few pointers to get you flying……

1: Tap your foot.

The rhythm of the guitar will be entirely different from the vocal, so you need something that’s going to ‘glue’ them together. The beat of the song holds everything together, without it the vocal is likely to ‘float’ over the guitar, not really knowing where it fits. When tapping your foot watch out for tapping to the rhythm of the voice NOT the beat. As with all learning, take it very slowly.

2: Break down the song.

You don’t need to attempt the whole song in one go; that’s too much. Try just the first couple of lines, very slowly. Once that feels smooth add in the next two lines, and so on. This is how to intimately learn the song: you’ll know how all the lyrics fit over the chord progressions, and you’ll gain more emotional depth from the song. It’s also the best way to learn the lyrics.

3: Don’t rely on tab sheets.

You know the ones with the words and the chord names above; they’re handy for getting the overview of the song, but you need to go into greater detail. When you’re learning the song line by line, you can write out exactly how many beats there are of each chord. Then you know exactly where you are. Often people remember the chord progression from the lyrics, not from the chord structure.

4: Joining words/syllables:

Once you know the exact chord structure, you need to remember the words that happen on the chord changes. If we take the start of Hey Jude by the Beatles. The capital letters show the sound on the start of each new chord change

- - - - - C G F C

Hey JUDE / / don’t make it BAD / / take a SAD song / / and make it BETTER

Those capital words are your joining words that will help to glue the song together. If you want to play around with a vocal and re-phrase the words, it’s easy as long as you keep in time with the joining words. If you sung Hey Jude, but sang the BAD before the change to G it sure would sound strange!

5: Once you’ve learn the song, experiment.

Try different chord variations (7^th s are often the best), strum pattern, or try picking the song, playing it slower or faster. Remember you need to spend time on the song BEFORE you start experimenting…..

Some great beginner songs to try:

Knocking on heavens door Bob Dylan: probably the best song to try first.

Hey Jude: nicely laid out for the beginner

Lucky Man: The Verve: simple yet effective.

Heart of Gold: Neil Young: more complex chord progressions, yet not too hard.

Tambourine man: Bob Dylan. Actually quite hard, the vocal and guitar create a complex syncopated rhythm.

As an established music teacher of guitar and vocals, Chris Beckett has developed teaching methods that are a sharp departure from the ‘traditional’ values of music tuition; struggle, perfection and rigidity. My philosophy is simple: once the student begins to relax and let go into their playing, they begin to feel the sheer joy of creating music. In this positive state progress becomes effortless, stress and strain evaporates. The old ethos of dogmatic hard work is replaced by aware practice.

“ It always amazes me how fast students with a positive attitude progress, and how much they enjoy playing. Those with a less open approach are often caught up in stress and struggle, and never get the satisfaction from playing they truly desire. My role is to cultivate the idea that music is fun and enjoyable”

As well as teaching, chris has recently written and ebook: How To Be A Great Musician; helping any player getting the most from their music, avoid injuries, have more fum and progress quicker.

www.playandsing.co.uk

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My New Guitar and Music Website

Apr 15
2009

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I’ve recently migrated from my old CMS to wordpress. so far, all is looking pretty good. I’m still tagging up old posts, so watch the tag cloud as it expands.

I’m planning a tabbed menu system to take better advantage of some of the wordpress features, so keep your eyes peeled.

For the usual stuff, read on!

Tags: notice

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The Major Scale

Apr 13
2009

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Learning the major scale can be a long and tedious process. This article tries to ease the pain and answer some questions, as well as explain why this is such a worthwhile endeavour.

We’ll start with G major. Why G major? Because it is relative to E minor, meaning that it contains exactly the same notes. Based on this fact, hopefully you should see some similarities between the G major scale and the E minor pentatonic. In practicing these two scales, you will hopefully start to realise that the major (and minor) pentatonic scales are simply the complete major (and minor) scales, but with two notes missing.

The tab-style diagram below shows you the position of every note in the g major scale up and down the fret board:

Figure A:
|-0-2-3-5-7-8-10-12-14-15 |-0-1-3-5-7-8-10-12-13-15 |-0-2-4-5-7-9-11-12-14-16 |-0-2-4-5-7-9-10-12-14-16 |-0-2-3-5-7-9-10-12-14-15 |-0-2-3-5-7-8-10-12-14-15

The first two notes on the low E string are in the G major scale. But if you start from there, there is the chance that your scale will sound more like E minor, which contains all the same notes. Search my site for “modes” or click on the modes tag for more info. This is the first version of the major scale the most people become familiar with:

Figure B:
|---------------------------2-3 |-----------------------3-5---- |-----------------2-4-5-------- |-----------2-4-5-------------- |-----2-3-5-------------------- |-3-5--------------------------

The scale below is also a G major scale, but a slight variation on the first version above. The aim is to try and get 3 notes on every string. This is a good exercise for flexibility and speed:

Figure C:
|-------------------------------3-5-8 |-------------------------3-5-8------ |-------------------4-5-7------------ |-------------4-5-7------------------ |-------3-5-7------------------------ |-3-5-7------------------------------

You will notice some patterns that emerge in these scales. There is always a gap of either 1, or two frets between notes. A couple of things will always be true when practicing or figuring out your major scales. If you play the following pattern, on one particular string (which you will find to be quite a lot)….:

Figure D:
|---x-|-----|---x-|---x-|-----|-----|-----|-----

The second two of these notes make up the first two notes of the following pattern on the same string, and this will always be….:

Figure E:
|---x-|---x-|-----|---x-|-----|-----|-----|-----

So combining the two makes…:

Figure F:
|---x-|-----|---x-|---x-|-----|---x-|-----|-----

That might seem like a small amount of information, but when you consider that this pattern always comes in pairs, it becomes more significant. Let us consider the first version of the major scale that we covered above in Figure A:

Figure G:
|-----|---x-|---x-|-----|---x-|-----|-----|----- |-----|-----|---x-|-----|---x-|-----|-----|----- |-----|---x-|-----|---x-|---x-|-----|-----|----- |-----|---x-|-----|---x-|---x-|-----|-----|----- |-----|---x-|---x-|-----|---x-|-----|-----|----- |-----|---x-|---x-|-----|---x-|-----|-----|-----

You can see some of the patterns starting to emerge. We have two examples of Figure D on the 3rd and 4th strings, and two examples of Figure E on the 5th and 6th strings.

So from having learned the first basic example of the major scale, and the rule described by Figures D and E, we can expand on this shape to give us more of the major scale:

Figure H:
x-----|---x-|---x-|-----|---x-|-----|-----|----- |-----|-----|---x-|-----|---x-|-----|-----|----- |-----|---x-|-----|---x-|---x-|-----|---x-|----- |-----|---x-|-----|---x-|---x-|-----|---x-|----- x-----|---x-|---x-|-----|---x-|-----|-----|----- x-----|---x-|---x-|-----|---x-|-----|-----|-----

OK, so we’re still mising a couple of notes from the above before it becomes a “complete” set of notes for the major scale in these positions. You can try working out what the missing notes are by ear. Or you can refer to the tab in Figure A, above.

It should be easy to see that with practice and by extrapolating these ideas, it would not be too long before you have learned the whole major scale up and down the whole fretboard. And then the world is your oyster!!!! Try some of the articles on this site for modes and the circle of fifths.

For your reference, this is the entire major scale from fret 0 to 12:

Figure I:
x-----|---x-|---x-|-----|---x-|-----|---x-|---x-|-----|---x-|-----|---x- |-----|-----|---x-|-----|---x-|-----|---x-|---x-|-----|---x-|-----|---x- |-----|---x-|-----|---x-|---x-|-----|---x-|-----|---x-|-----|---x-|---x- |-----|---x-|-----|---x-|---x-|-----|---x-|-----|---x-|---x-|-----|---x- x-----|---x-|---x-|-----|---x-|-----|---x-|-----|---x-|---x-|-----|---x- x-----|---x-|---x-|-----|---x-|-----|---x-|---x-|-----|---x-|-----|---x-

0---1-|---2-|---3-|---4-|---5-|---6-|---7-|---8-|---9-|---10|---11|---12

Why is this so useful and important? Well the major scale is pretty much the foundation of all music. Once you know the major scale patterns (for example):

Start the same shapes on a different fret to change the scale (instead of G major, shift the whole lot up one fret to make it a G# major scale, etc….)
Play the same shapes but begin on different notes, other than the root, in order to achieve the different modes (begin on the 6th degree to make an E minor scale, the second note to achive A dorian, etc….). If you click on G in the interactive circle of fifths, so that it is at the top of the circle, you are presented with a list of mode names around the left hand side of the circle. The notes are the names of the major scale required to achieve that mode of G.
Mirror image the mode names through the vertical line (kind of like this), and you have a list of modes that the G major scale can be used for.
Play alternative notes to start building up chords in the associated key. So for the G major scale, we can find the chords in the key of G major. These are also chords in the key of E minor, or A dorian, anything that is built up from the G major scale, etc…. (1,3,5 = G major; 2,4,6 = A minor; 3,5,7 = B minor; 6,1,3 = E minor; 7,2,4 = F#diminished; 1,3,5,7 = G major 7th etc…)
The world really is your oyster!

If you have any questions / comments / suggestions, or if you spot an error in this article, please fill in the reply form below, or visit the contact page.

Thanks!

Tags: circle of fifths, major, modes, scale

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Modal Music (Modes) -
A Methodical Approach

Apr 12
2009

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There are 7 modes. Each one assumes a particular colour or feeling when played. But knowing how to use them is a bit of a black art. I hope to simplify this for you.

First of all, make sure you have easy access to the interactive circle of fifths while you read this article.

You will see the names of the modes along the left hand side of the circle, going from 7 ‘o’ clock to 1 ‘o’ clock. The first step is to choose the name of the mode you would like to create. Lets say we would like to jam along in E Myxolydian mode. Start by clicking on the “E” and watch patiently as it cycles round to the top of the circle. Now you can see that in order to achieve E Myxolydian mode, we are interested in the A major scale.

The next step is to click on A, and wait until it is at the top of the circle. We must remember that it is E Myxolydian that we are hoping to achieve. Around the right side of the circle are the names of chords in the key of A major, from D major at 11 ‘o’ clock, through to G# Diminished at 5 ‘o’ clock.

Here’s the golden nugget of information: These are also chords in the key of E Myxolydian!

The trick here is to try and use the chords from A major (which include E), but instead of having A as the root note or chord of the song, use E. A simple chord progression to achieve this could perhaps be: “E, D, A, E”, if you wish to keep it nice and happy.

The next thing is to think about the melodies you want to use. Again, if you play notes around the A major scale on top of a chord progression like this, you will find yourself pretty much in E Myxolydian mode. For a nice example of this, listen to “Sweet Child of Mine” by Guns and Roses.

And that really is about all there is to it. (I wish!!!)

Try and do the same for other modes. You’ll be amazed at how easy it can be to achieve different sounds, using chords from a particular key. Another example might be E phrygian mode, which requires the C major scale, and chords from the key of C major, but concentrating on the E minor.

Good luck. Ask your questions or post your comments below!

Tags: circle of fifths, guns and roses, modes, scale, theory

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New Site is Live!

Apr 9
2009

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So this is the new site, powered by wordpress.

Thanks to DazB for his assistance and advice during the move. Check out his site for some awesome photo’s and links to his flickr bits and pieces and other such fun.

Tags: notice

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Cavatina

Stanley Myers
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The Root of All (Western) Music

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The Major Scale

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A Methodical Approach

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