CHORDS-SCALES:


I should actually start this essay with a disclaimer, as those of you who have already heard me talk about scales know that I have reservations when it comes to learning Improvisation while running Modes up and down... There are some definitely more useful approaches to playing over changes (like chord-tones, arpeggios, guide-tones, etc.) yet, everybody talks about "the Modes" as if they were the most important thing to know when learning to play Jazz !!!

With that said, however, it is still important to understand the relationship between Chords and Scales... so let's see what we can learn here.

First of all, here are a few considerations about what we call the Modes:


Modes are generated by "parent scales" (also called "source scales"). There are 4 such scales:

1) The MAJOR SCALE which generates the following Modes:

IONIAN: Maj7(9 11 13)
DORIAN: m7(9 11 13)
PHRYGIAN: sus7(b9 #9 b13)
LYDIAN: Maj7(9 #11 13)
MIXOLYDIAN: 7(9 11 13)
AEOLIAN: m7(9 11 b13)
LOCRIAN: m7(b5)(b9 11 b13)



2) The MELODIC MINOR SCALE which generates the following Modes:

DORIAN #7: mMaj7(9 11 13)
PHRYGIAN #6: sus7(b9 #9 13)
LYDIAN-AUGMENTED: +Maj7(9 #11 13)
MIXOLYDIAN #4: 7(9 #11 13)
AEOLIAN-DOMINANT: 7(9 11 b13)
LOCRIAN #2: m7(b5)(9 11 b13)
ALTERED: +7(b9 #9 #11)



3) The HARMONIC MINOR SCALE which generates the following Modes:

AEOLIAN #7: mMaj7(9 11 b13)
LOCRIAN #6: m7(b5)(b9 11 13)
IONIAN-AUGMENTED: +Maj7(9 11 13)
DORIAN #4: m7(9 #11 13)
PHRYGIAN-DOMINANT: 7(b9 11 b13)
LYDIAN #2: Maj7(#9 #11 13)
ALTERED bb7: +6(b9 #9 #11)



4) The HARMONIC MAJOR SCALE which generates the following Modes:

IONIAN b6: Maj7(9 11 b13)
DORIAN b5: m7(b5)(9 11 13)
PHRYGIAN b4 : 7(b9 #9 b13)
LYDIAN-MINOR: mMaj7(9 #11 13)
MIXOLYDIAN b2: 7(b9 11 13)
LYDIAN-AUGMENTED #2: +Maj7(#9 #11 13)
LOCRIAN-DIMINISHED: dim7(b9 11 b13)



Each one of the parent scales generates 7 diatonic Modes, so we already have 28 modes to deal with. (By the way, yes, I'm assuming that you do know how modes are extracted from their respective parent scales... if you don't, please ask).

Other important scales are 3 symmetrical ones: Whole-Tone, Diminished and Augmented-- but those do not exactly generate modes, so I won't discuss them in this article).

For every mode listed, I used a chord symbol consisting of a chord type (4 notes) complemented by extensions written in parentheses (3 notes). The sum of all 7 notes gives us the complete mode. I find that system very practical, as we get to memorize easily the chord/scale relationship associated with each mode.

Here is an example: for Ionian, I prefer to think:

Maj7(9 11 13)

rather than:

R, M2, M3, P4, P5, M6, M7


Even though the chord built on the 3rd degree of the Major Scale is a Minor 7 chord, it is preferable to think of the corresponding mode (Phrygian) as having a sus7 sound. The 7 notes of the scale are the same, but we will simply organize them slightly differently. The sus7 chord is: R, P4, P5, m7 (no 3rd) and the remaining 3 extensions are now: b9, #9, b13. In other words, what was previously the m3 is now labeled a #9.

Same approach with the 2nd mode from Melodic Minor (Phrygian #6).

Here is another discrepancy: the chord built on the 7th degree of the Melodic Minor Scale is a Minor 7(b5), yet the corresponding mode (the Altered scale) is used over a Dominant 7 chord. The symbol for the mode is: +7(b9 #9 #11) which tells us that it fits a +7 chord (R, M3, +5, m7) and has the following extensions: b9 #9 #11.

Note: did anyone ever tell you that the Altered scale was actually the equivalent of IONIAN #1 ? Think about that !!! For example, G# ALTERED-DOMINANT is the 7th Mode from A Melodic Minor. The notes of that scale also happen to be the notes of a G Major Scale of which the root (G) would have been sharped... Whit Sidener, one of my Improvisation teachers at the University of Miami brought up that unusual perspective. He did warn us not to mention it to anyone else though-- since nobody would take us seriously :-)

By the way, Whit Sidener also came up with most of the names for those Diatonic Modes: what a logical, clever, and yet so simple idea it is to retain the original series from the Greek modes of the Major Scale ! Other names for those modes come from Ron Miller, another one of my teacher from UofM. I just sort of unified the system and came up myself with a name or two.

While we are on the subject of names, you will encounter many, many labels for some of these Modes-- often contradicting ones too. Particularly when we come to "ethnic" names, such as "Gypsy", "Egyptian", Hungarian", etc.

As for common synonyms, you need to know that the ALTERED-DOMINANT (or ALTERED) SCALE is also referred to as SUPERLOCRIAN, or DIMINISHED/WHOLE-TONE.

DORIAN #7 (aka the MELODIC MINOR SCALE) is sometimes called JAZZ MINOR.

MIXOLYDIAN #4 is often called LYDIAN DOMINANT.

It is all the same thing. You call them what you want: Enigmatic, Dystrophic, Phthisic Minor, Trans-Sylvanian, Equa-Dorian...

I happen to like the system I'm presenting here because it makes it easy to memorize the names. Thank you Whit !


Now let's look at our Modes again, but now organized by chord types. I omitted the few ones that are not really that interesting-- even though that can be a question of personal taste:


MAJOR 7TH:

IONIAN: Maj7(9 11 13)
IONIAN b6 aka Harmonic Major: Maj7(9 11 b13)
LYDIAN: Maj7(9 #11 13)
LYDIAN #2: Maj7(#9 #11 13)
IONIAN-AUGMENTED: +Maj7(9 11 13)
LYDIAN-AUGMENTED: +Maj7(9 #11 13)
LYDIAN-AUGMENTED #2: +Maj7(#9 #11 13)


MINOR 7TH:

DORIAN: m7(9 11 13)
DORIAN #4: m7(9 #11 13)
AEOLIAN: m7(9 11 b13)


MINOR/MAJOR 7TH:

DORIAN #7 aka Melodic Minor: mMaj7(9 11 13)
AEOLIAN #7 aka Harmonic Minor: mMaj7(9 11 b13)
LYDIAN MINOR: mMaj7(9 #11 13)


HALF-DIMINISHED:

LOCRIAN: m7(b5)(b9 11 b13)
LOCRIAN #2: m7(b5)(9 11 b13)
LOCRIAN #6: m7(b5)(b9 11 13)
DORIAN b5: m7(b5)(9 11 13)

(see my other article on The Minor7(b5) or Half-Diminished chord)


DOMINANT 7TH:

MIXOLYDIAN: 7(9 11 13)
MIXOLYDIAN #4: 7(9 #11 13)
MIXOLYDIAN b2: 7(b9 11 13)
PHRYGIAN-DOMINANT: 7(b9 11 b13)
PHRYGIAN b4: 7(b9 #9 b13)
ALTERED: +7(b9 #9 #11)


SUSPENDED 7TH:

PHRYGIAN: sus7(b9 #9 b13)
PHRYGIAN #6: sus7(b9 #9 13)

(see 2 other articles on Sus Chords: Sus Chords (Part I) and Substitutions for Sus7 Chords )



So how does all this work ?

If we want to improvise over a simple ii-V7-I (let's say Dm7-G7-CMaj7 in the key of C) the simplest approach would be to play:

over Dm7: D DORIAN
over G7: G MIXOLYDIAN
over CMaj7: C IONIAN

Even though everything will sound OK, there is definitely not much excitement going on because all 3 Modes happen to be diatonic to the key of C. In fact, when playing over this chord progression, players with limited experience will "noodle around" the C Major scale and find comfort in the fact that all of the notes "work" over all 3 chords...

Now try to play this instead:

over Dm7: D DORIAN #11 (4th Mode from A Harmonic Minor)
over G7: G ALTERED (7th Mode from Ab Melodic Minor)
over CMaj7: C LYDIAN (4th Mode from G Major)

None of those 3 modes are related to each other, and none of them are diatonic to our original key of C Major either, yet the colors achieved are very fitting.

Here is precisely why we should understand and master the Modes: we can play a completely different sound over each chord of a progression, as we borrow from various parent scales-- and not necessarily from the main tonal center.

Taken from the previous list of "useful Modes" organized by chord types, here are a few more colorful Modes I would encourage you to experiment with over Dm7-G7-CMaj7 (we are still in the key of C Major):

over Dm7:
D DORIAN #11 (4th Mode from A Harmonic Minor)
D AEOLIAN (6th Mode from F Major)

over G7:
G ALTERED (7th Mode from Ab Melodic Minor)
G MIXOLYDIAN b2 (5th Mode from C Harmonic Major)
G PHRYGIAN b4 (3rd Mode from Eb Harmonic Major)
G PHRYGIAN-DOMINANT (5th Mode from C Harmonic Minor)

over CMaj7:
C LYDIAN (4th Mode from G Major)
C LYDIAN #2 (6th Mode from E Harmonic Minor)
C LYDIAN-AUGMENTED #2 (6th Mode from E Harmonic Major)

Now, if you want even more excitement, get yourself ready for the next article: The Wrong Scale In The Right Place !!!

No rush though...









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