It is important to understand modes, in order to understand how to build chords, voicings on guitar and piano and to improvise in music.
A mode is like a club, maybe a book club or a specialty coffee club or a coin collecting club. And the notes in the mode are like members. Different modes that are derived from the same scale, have the same notes. A mode is a major scale, but instead of starting on the first note of the scale, it can start on any note of the scale, each time carrying a new mood or emotion. This means that all of the modes related to the same major scale share the same notes. And if, for example, a book club and coin collecting club shared members would we assume they are the same thing? Of course not. So, we should not assume that about different modes that use the same notes, because they have a very different sound, emotion and use, which are all much more important than same notes. Yes of course, thinking of using the C major scale to solo over Dm7- G7- C^7 is much easier than thinking D dorian, G mixolydian, C ionian, BUT the things you play while thinking of the latter will create a story, feel less static and have more importance. Each mode carries a different feeling that we should be aware of and use!
There are seven notes in a major scale, which means there are seven modes, one mode starting on each note of the scale. You can play the C major scale for example, starting on any note of the scale (known as degree of the scale) to create a mode, and each mode will carry a different mood. In other words, modes are like different moods available in the same scale. Same notes, but different moods.
Two modes from the same scale sound different because the order of intervals is different. Each mode in a major scale has the same notes, but a unique pattern of intervals, that creates the unique sound of each mode. You can think of it as using the same ingredients, for example flour and eggs, to make pancakes or to make fettuccine, very different! There are seven different scale degrees in a major scale, meaning there are seven different modes. They are: Ionian, Dorian, Phrygian, Lydian, Mixolydian, Aeolian and Locrian. These names, that most schools/textbooks use to teach theory originated in Greece a long time ago.
Although this is the only system of modes taught in North America, South America and Europe, it is important to realize that scales and modes exist in different musical traditions all over the world. These scales and modes from other areas around the world work in a similar way and have similar functions, but also differ from western scales and modes in how they are built and played. Examples include Maqam in Arabic Music, or Raga in Indian Classical music.
The different western modes are used in different songs with different chords. In jazz standards for example, you find the dorian, mixolydian and ionian (or Lydian) modes all the time, because many standards are built from the chords ii- V- I (Ex. Dm7- G7- C^7) in a key, corresponding to the modes previously mentioned. So what came first, the chicken or the egg? This question applies to today’s topic because it is similar to the question: What comes first, chords or melody? Do we hear chords and then relate melodies to them, or do we hear melodies and relate chords to them? Or maybe what matters more is, which one conforms to fit the other.
Melody is super important, everyone can hum a melody and remember a melody, which is not the case with chords. Melody (and rhythm) are for everyone, but chords are for musicians. But of course, they are related, just like the chicken and the egg. If you stack melody notes together you make a chord… And on the flip side, you can think of melodies as arpeggiated chords or fragments of chords. So actually, they are the same thing just in a different format. Kind of like ice and water. They work together. And really, what defines a chord? Because if we have a bass note and a melody note, we have harmony, which means we have an implied chord, especially if we have the context of the rest of the harmony happening around that specific moment.
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