The Seven Musical Modes

The musical modes are based on the diatonic scale–a seven note scale containing five whole steps and two half steps.  The modes add a twist to music.  They can induce unique moods, and add interesting textures to a song’s tonality.  If you’re familiar with the Major and minor scales, then you already know two modes.  Ionian and Aeolian are the same as Major and minor.  While major and minor have become a standard–there are still five other modes to explore.

In this article I will present to you each of the seven modes.  Each section will contain a movable guitar scale diagram that repeats twice for a total of 24 frets.  This will help in visualizing how the scale interacts with the entire fretboard.  While it is essential to know different “positions” of scales, the ultimate goal is to blend that into one continuous flow that utilizes the entire fretboard.  That’s why I’ve chosen to show the entire pattern.

Finally, towards the end of this article, I will discuss how to implement the modes into your own playing.

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With that said, let us begin…

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Same Intervals, Different Starting Point

As I mentioned in my introduction, each of the seven musical modes are based on the diatonic scale, which is:

W-W-H-W-W-W-H      (W = whole step, H = half step)
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Now, the only difference between the seven modes (on a strictly fundamental basis) is that each starts at a different point in the sequence.  Here is an easy way to visualize this:

Ionian (Major)      W W H W W W H
Dorian                W H W W W H W
Phrygian                H W W W H W W
Lydian                    W W W H W W H
Mixolydian                  W W H W W H W
Aeolian (Minor)               W H W W H W W
Locrian                         H W W H W W W
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So for example, C Ionian (C-D-E-F-G-A-B) contains the same notes as A Aeolian (A-B-C-D-E-F-G).  Now, you might be wondering how I knew which notes were in each of those modes.  It’s really simple — you just need to apply the intervals to the chromatic scale:

C

C♯/D♭

D

D♯/E♭

E

F

F♯/G♭

G

G♯/A♭

A

A♯/B♭

B

C

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So starting with C Ionian, we know the intervals are:

W W H W W W H
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We start with C, then go a whole step and the next note is D, another whole step and we get E, and then a half step gives us F, and so on to get:

C D E F G A B
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Each of the modes borrows its notes from a parent tonality.  For example, C Ionian, D Dorian, E Phrygian, F Lydian, G Mixolydian, A Aeolian, and B Locrian all contain the same exact notes (C-D-E-F-G-A-B), but the difference is that each mode starts on it’s respective root note.

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In the next few sections I will introduce each of the seven modes, and their unique tonal properties.

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Ionian Mode

Formula: 1-2-3-4-5-6-7
Intervals: W-W-H-W-W-W-H

The Ionian mode is also the same as the Major scale.  It has a very bright and happy sound to it.

Notable using the Ionian mode:

• Happy Birthday To You
• Twinkle Twinkle Little Star

24-Fret Scale Diagram

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Dorian Mode

Formula: 1-2-♭3-4-5-6-♭7
Intervals: W-H-W-W-W-H-W

The Dorian mode can sound soulful and bluesy depending on how it’s used.

Notable songs that employ Dorian are:

• Light My Fire – The Doors
• Born to Be Wild – Steppenwolf
• Theme from Halo

24-Fret Scale Diagram

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Phrygian Mode

Formula: 1-♭2-♭3-4-5-♭6-♭7
Intervals: H-W-W-W-H-W-W

The Phrygian mode has a Middle-Eastern or Spanish sound.  This mode is common in flamenco music, and is sometimes referred to as the “Spanish” mode.

Notable songs that employ Phrygian are:

• White Rabbit – Jefferson Airplane
• Not to Touch the Earth – The Doors

24-Fret Scale Diagram

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Lydian Mode

Formula: 1-2-3-♯4-5-6-7
Intervals: W-W-W-H-W-W-H

The Lydian mode is similar to Ionian, but the sharpened fourth gives it a very dreamy and spaced out feel.

Notable songs that employ Dorian are:

• Flying In A Blue Dream – Joe Satriani
• Theme From The Simpsons

24-Fret Scale Diagram

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Mixolydian Mode

Formula: 1-2-3-4-5-6-♭7
Intervals: W-W-H-W-W-H-W

The Mixolydian mode can either sound funky or folky, and has been used on a lot of ’60s and ’70s songs.

Notable songs that employ Mixolydian are:

• Dear Prudence – The Beatles
• Norwegian Wood – The Beatles
• The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald – G0ordon Lightfoot
• Sweet Home Alabama – Lynyrd Skynyrd
• Satisfaction – The Rolling Stones

24-Fret Scale Diagram

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Aeolian Mode

Formula: 1-2-♭3-4-5-♭6-♭7
Intervals: W-H-W-W-H-W-W

Aeolian is the same as the natural minor scale, and has a dark and sad sound to it.  It can also sound tough and mean when used in heavy rock songs.

Notable songs that employ Aeolian are:

• Achilles Last Stand (Guitar Solo) – Led Zeppelin
• The Ants Go Marching In

24-Fret Scale Diagram

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Locrian Mode

Formula: 1-♭2-♭3-4-♭5-♭6-♭7
Intervals: W-H-W-W-H-W-W

The Locrian mode is probably the strangest of the seven modes.  Similar to Phrygian, it can have a spanish feel to it, but much more unresolved and darker.

Locrian isn’t a very practical mode, and has been called a “theoretical mode” by some experts.

24-Fret Scale Diagram

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How To Use the Modes

When using modes, a parallel approach usually works better.  That means that a different mode is used for each chord in the progression.  Take a look at the following example:

C Lydian        C Ionian	C Aeolian  
CMaj7(♯11)	CMaj7  		Cm11		

C Dorian	C Phrygian      C Phrygian
Cm7		Cmin11(♭9)	Cmin9(♭9)
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The above progression is an example of using pitch-axis theory.  I will discuss this in more detail in a later article, but essentially what that means is that the root note (C) stays the same for every chord in the progression.

Take a look at the table at the end of this article to understand why certain modes were used over certain chord types.

Also, If you wanted to stay in one mode for the entire progression, you could do something like this:

C Lydian
CMaj7(#11)      Amin            Dmaj7           GMaj9
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And to really reinforce that this is a Lydian progression, you could stress the tonic (aka root note) note.  For this progression, C is the tonic note, so we could play a C note in the bass of each chord voicing:

C Lydian
CMaj7(#11)      Amin/C          Dmaj7/C         GMaj9/C
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Useful Tables

The table below shows which types of chords can be made from the notes of each mode.  This is very useful if you’re trying to write a progression that stresses a certain mode, or figure out which mode is appropriate for a certain chord.

Mode	Triad	7th	9th	11th	13th
Ionian	Maj	Maj7	Maj9	Maj11	Maj13
Dorian	min	min7	min9	min11	min13
Phrygian	min	min7	min9(♭9)	min11(♭9)	min11(♭9♭13)
Lydian	Maj	Maj7	Maj9	Maj7(♯11)	Maj13(♯11)
Mixolydian	Maj	7	9	11	13
Aeolian	min	min7	min9	min11	min11(♭13)
Locrian	dim	min7(♭5)	min7(♭5♭9)	min11(♭5♭9)	min11(♭5♭9♭13)

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This next table shows a list of characteristic chords associated with each degree for every mode.  Note that this is just one possibility–chord substitutes can be made.  For example, Majors can be interchanged with Major 7ths, minors can be interchanged with minor 7ths and so on.  Just remember to keep the Major/minor type the same.  For ease of viewing, I’ve color coded the chart. Red chord names are Major types, and blue chord names are minor types.

Mode	I	II	III	IV	V	VI	VII
Ionian	Maj (I)	min (ii)	min (iii)	Maj (IV)	Maj (V)	min (vi)	dim (vii°)
Dorian	min (i)	min (ii)	Maj (III)	Maj (IV)	min (v)	dim (vi°)	Maj (VII)
Phrygian	min (i)	Maj (II)	Maj (III)	min (iv)	dim (v°)	Maj (VI)	min (vii)
Lydian	Maj (I)	Maj (II)	min (iii)	dim (iv°)	Maj (V)	min (vi)	min (vii)
Mixolydian	Maj (I)	min (ii)	dim (iii°)	Maj (IV)	min (v)	min (vi)	Maj (VII)
Aeolian	min (i)	dim (ii°)	Maj (III)	min (iv)	min (v)	Maj (VI)	Maj (VII)
Locrian	dim (i°)	Maj (II)	min (III)	min (iv)	Maj (V)	Maj (VI)	min (vii)

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