The Locrian Mode – Lesson 66

[SynGates.com]

In this lesson we go over the Locrian mode – its scale construction and related chords.

 

[Christian Schulze]

I was very afraid of tackling the modes..but thank you for demystifying them and making them easy to understand !

 

[Levi Clarke]

You know you can play the seven patterns of the major scale positions in different octaves, could you do the same for the modes? For instance when PG played the Dorian mode over that c note, could you move that pattern up a whole step and it would still count as as a Dorian scale?

 

[Chris Johnston]

You know you can play the seven patterns of the major scale positions in different octaves, could you do the same for the modes? For instance when PG played the Dorian mode over that c note, could you move that pattern up a whole step and it would still count as as a Dorian scale?

If you move the same pattern around when soloing over the same note or chord then it will change the Mode that you are using and might cause some dissonance/half step rubs between notes.

For example if you're playing over a C Major chord and you move the Major scale pattern that you would use from C up two frets, you're then playing the D Major Scale - Which will clash with the C Major chord & Key as you're adding an F# (#4) and a C# (b2) over the chord.

In order to play all over the neck in Dorian you would just use all 7 positions of the Major Scale with Dorian's root note starting off your 2nd shape (You really can think of them as all 7 shapes of whichever mode you're selecting). Think of all 7 shapes as one big conveyor belt, connected on your Guitar - if you shift that conveyor belt in either direction, it shifts you out of Key/Mode

Hope this helps!

 

[Levi Clarke]

If you move the same pattern around when soloing over the same note or chord then it will change the Mode that you are using and might cause some dissonance/half step rubs between notes.

For example if you're playing over a C Major chord and you move the Major scale pattern that you would use from C up two frets, you're then playing the D Major Scale - Which will clash with the C Major chord & Key as you're adding an F# (#4) and a C# (b2) over the chord.

In order to play all over the neck in Dorian you would just use all 7 positions of the Major Scale with Dorian's root note starting off your 2nd shape (You really can think of them as all 7 shapes of whichever mode you're selecting). Think of all 7 shapes as one big conveyor belt, connected on your Guitar - if you shift that conveyor belt in either direction, it shifts you out of Key/Mode

Hope this helps!

Yeah I kinda knew that if you were to move up to a different note you would be playing in a different key, but if you were to move up that Dorian pattern up to a different note, let's say a D note, and played any one of the seven positions of the major scale starting on that note, would it still count as a Dorian scale, rather it'd be D dorian instead of C Dorian?

Hope this clarifies what I'm trying to say.

 

[Chris Johnston]

Yeah I kinda knew that if you were to move up to a different note you would be playing in a different key, but if you were to move up that Dorian pattern up to a different note, let's say a D note, and played any one of the seven positions of the major scale starting on that note, would it still count as a Dorian scale, rather it'd be D dorian instead of C Dorian?

Hope this clarifies what I'm trying to say.

So if you were playing in C Dorian using the 'Dorian pattern - (shape 2 of the Major Scale)' starting from the C note - and you wanted to still play in the same C Dorian scale starting from the D note, then you would use the next shape up in your Major Scale shapes (Shape 3 - or the Phrygian Pattern) - If you wanted to still be in C Dorian starting from Eb then you would use the Major Scale shape 4 (The Lydian Pattern) and so on with every note in your scale - If you were just to move the Dorian shape up to D or Eb then you would be playing in D Dorian & Eb Dorian.

I think of it this way, If I'm playing a 'Dorian shape' - it is silently connected to the 6 other Major Scale shapes surrounding it, so when I move that same shape somewhere else, I'm moving the positions of the 6 other shapes connected, or more accurately, I'm moving the whole key.

One crucial thing to note is that the scale will only really be considered Dorian if it's used over the right chord - For example if you played the D Dorian shape over a C Major chord then your ear/your listener's ear will always hear it as the C Major Scale starting from D - the Harmony underneath really dictates the Mode rather than the scale shape!

Hopefully that cleared it up a bit for for you! It's a bit wordy so I tried to bolden the important bits

So in a nutshell: If you move the same shape anywhere, you're moving the whole Key and all the relative shapes surrounding it. If you want to move position on the fretboard and be in the same scale/Key, you have to use the different shapes build off of each scale tone

 

[Shumu]

If you move the same pattern around when soloing over the same note or chord then it will change the Mode that you are using and might cause some dissonance/half step rubs between notes.

For example if you're playing over a C Major chord and you move the Major scale pattern that you would use from C up two frets, you're then playing the D Major Scale - Which will clash with the C Major chord & Key as you're adding an F# (#4) and a C# (b2) over the chord.

In order to play all over the neck in Dorian you would just use all 7 positions of the Major Scale with Dorian's root note starting off your 2nd shape (You really can think of them as all 7 shapes of whichever mode you're selecting). Think of all 7 shapes as one big conveyor belt, connected on your Guitar - if you shift that conveyor belt in either direction, it shifts you out of Key/Mode

Hope this helps!

Great explanation, cheers!