For some reason there is no consistency in the quality of my playing skill. I know everybody has off days but i seem to have one every few days, sometimes i may be playing pretty good in the morning and then at the evening i will totally suck.

Should i just practice more? Or do i basically just suck?

It will build up with time.

Ya sure don't suck dude cuz I've heard you play. I think everyone gets off days when the instrument can feel a bit alien and you can't pull off anything. It's crucial to warm up properly. The temptation to lift your guitar and try to burn is overwhelming I know, but your playing from a cold start if you like will sound terrible if you don't warm up properly. You gotta get inspired as well. I watch a Vinnie Moore clip or something and think yeah awesome but I'm gonna have him! It's important to have some type of structure to your practice as well instead of just ripping through scales all the time. You gotta get a disc on and start grooving with it or lay down a loop and improvise over it. Try to come up with something new everyday lest you descend into apathy. ;)

I know what you mean man, whenever my hands get real cold, it takes like an hour to build my the muscles back up to play properly..

PRACTICE!

True! At band practices in the winter, we usually have to quit playing about every 10 minutes and hold our hands in front of a space heater in the garage, cuz we don't have an insulated/heated garage to play in.

you should practice more:P

you don't suck.

I say , practice LESS. Don't play in the morning. You tear into it all day and when it's time for band practice or a gig you've exhausted all of your musical ideas ( or your hands are tired or both ). But you want to do something musical with your day , break out a good theory book ( or online ) , and write out triads for chords ( on STAFF paper ) and learn some new stuff. Or listen to some old weird hendrix , blues , slow classical music...something DIFFERENT. And around 4:00 pm , crank up " Blowin Up the Radio " ( Racer - X ) and play along. SWEET ( the life I lived long ago , lol ). -Play Loud

PS - STAFF paper ( edit ...pointless nonsense on my part )

I think when you practice a lot, you need a break before you can play well... for example if I play for a 4 days 8 hours a day, than by the end I will be very bad... if I take break for a couple days than go back I can play very well. Thats just me...

I also had that problem before,but it builds up with time,as Acousolysis said...And i aslo had a problem when its cold...My fingers cant move,but when i practice home i put my fingers in frige couple of seconds and try to play,over and over...It helps a little...Crazy :)

I think to get more consistency have a shedule to practice the fundamentals daily. For example I would say that some fundamental scales to know are the major scales and the harmonic minor scale (also the melodic minor scale if you want to play any jazz)This obviously means you will learn all of the modes of these scales as a by-product. Learn those scales in every postion of the fingerboard - this may take some time. Then to maintain consistency, practice each scale as a warm up at the begining of your daily practice session in one key all over the fingerboard(change the key you are practicing in each day). Also practice scale sequences based on the scales. And practice to a metronome. It need only take fifteen or twenty minuets a day once you have learnt the scales.

To do this will require some discipline, but after some time you will be able to rip up and down the fretboard in any key with ease.

You could also apply this to arpeggio practice.

Once you have warmed up with this daily regime you can go onto some more "interesting" stuff. :)

Agree with HK on this. I also think that you come become more proficient with a more structured practice regime. Do you know your modes Steve?

I know of some of them.

Phyrgian
Lydian
Myxolydian (Sp?)
Dorian

I know there are 7 of them altogether too, beyond this i know nothing of them. I mean literally nothing.

Okay the modes in the major scale are Ionian, Dorian, Phrygian, Lydian, Mixolydian, Aeolian and Locrian. They always come in that order. If you take the notes of a major scale, say A major, the notes are A, B, C#, D, E, F#, G# so the modes of the A major scale are

A Ionian
B Dorian
C# Phrygian
D Lydian
E Mixolydian
F# Aeolian
G# locrian.

Understand so far Steve?

Since I'm not the first response to the mode question in the thread, I decided to go full out encyclopedia-like for this. Use ID's response for now, maybe copy this down and put it somewhere later, because I really don't want to delete this now :P Just in case you don't know where to start now that I gave you an uncalled for amount of stuff, start with memorizing the order, then learn and understand the concept of the scale degrees and moving tonic, memorize the major/minor tonality for each mode, and then do...the rest.

There are seven notes in the major scale, 1 2 3 4 5 6 7, after which it continues with 1 (but an octave higher). I trust that you know the major scale.

Ionian mode - the Major scale, 1 2 3 4 5 6 7, starting on the first note. In the key of C, this would be a C major scale.

Dorian mode - the major scale, starting on the second note. The scale is 2 3 4 5 6 7 1, when related to C. This would be the D dorian mode. It features the same notes as the C major scale, but the second note, the D, is the tonic. This is also a minor scale.

Phrygian mode - the major scale, starting on the third note. 3 4 5 6 7 1 2. Same deal, it has the same notes, but the third note is the tonic. Minor scale.

Lydian mode - Fourth note is the tonic. 4 5 6 7 1 2 3. This is a major scale (more consonant than the major scale, but that's another topic...).

Mixolydian mode - Fifth note. 5 6 7 1 2 3 4. This is yet another major scale.

Aeolian mode - Sixth note. 6 7 1 2 3 4 5. This is the natural minor scale. Related to the major scale, this is 1, 2, b3, 4, 5, b6, b7.

Locrian mode - Seventh note. 7 1 2 3 4 5 6. This is the most dissonant of the modes, because it doesn't have a perfect fifth (the most consonant and strongest interval, used in power chords). You probably won't use this a whole lot.

Modes can also be compared directly to a major or minor scale in terms of note value. With that, still assuming the c major scale is 1 2 3 4 5 6 7...

C lydian mode: Major scale, with raised fourth. 1 2 3 #4 5 6 7
C mixolydian mode: Major scale, lowered seventh. 1 2 3 4 5 6 b7

Or, with the minor modes

C dorian mode: Minor scale, raised sixth. 1, 2, b3, #4, 5, b6, b7
C phrygian mode: Minor scale, lowered second. 1, b2, b3, 4, 5, b6, 7

Now for the weird one, locrian. Locrian mode is technically diminished because it has a lowered fifth. The formula is 1 b2 b3 4 b5 b6 b7.

The major and minor tonality applies to chord theory, as well. From the tonic, still C, the chords in the key would be (in simplest form)...

C major
D minor
E minor
F major
G major
A minor
B diminished

This could also be expressed as I ii iii IV V vi vii*

There's your music theory for the day. Note how I related everything back to the major scale (even the non-major modes). This is a good habit, since the entirety of all western music theory is based on the major scale (no matter how much the harmonic minor rocks in a neoclassical metal format, this is still true).

Spot on Lektro, that saves me a pile of typing :D . To simplify the whole mode thing we'lltake the A major scale at the fifth fret:

E|---------------------------------
B|----------------------------------
G|--------------------------------------
D|-------------6-7----------------------------
A|-------5-7-9----------------------------------
E|-5-7-9-----------------------------------------

That is the Amajor scale. Start that one degree higher at thev seventh fret and go from B to B and you will get

E|--------------------------------
B|----------------------------------
G|-------------------------------------
D|------------6-7-9--------------------------
A|------5-7-9---------------------------------
E|--7-9--------------------------------------

This now the B dorian mode. Exactly the same notes that are contained in the A major scale but if you start it one degree higher i.e the B note you will have B dorian which will sound completely different to A major when started from the B note. As this is a minor mode play over a B minor chord etc.

Moving up another degree of the scale we come to C#. Play from C# to C# like

E|----------------------------------------
B|----------------------------------------
G|--------------6----------------------------
D|--------6-7-9--------------------------------
A|--5-7-9----------------------------------------
E|-9----------------------------------------------

This is the third degree of the Amajor scale and is known as C# Phrygian mode and will give you a Minor/Spanish sound when played once again even though the notes are the same as the A major scale when started from a different root it sounds way different. Phrygian is a minor mode so play this over C#Minor or C#min7 for example.

Okay so far Steve?

Ye, i think i'm getting it. Only problem is that i dont know how to play the major scale on guitar, i know what it is in theory, just not how to play it.

Check this link below. That is the A major scale right? Now if you click your scale finder and find either B Dorian, C# Phrygian, D Lydian, E Mixolydian, F# Aeolian or G# Locrian you will find that they contain the exact same notes but they just start at different degrees of the scale. So in essence if you know the A major scale you will also, by changing the scale degree also know the other six listed above.

Does that make it any clearer?

http://www.all-guitar-chords.com/guitar_sc...et&t=0&choice=1

Ye, that makes sense now. You get modes of other scales right?

All these modes are constructed from the major scale. So when you have a major scale you also have six other apart from the major (Ionian) modes contained within it. This will let you improvise over chord progressions much easier. Most people think that a major scale is just a major scale but when you start playing the scale at a different note to start on you will go into a different mode of that scale so you can actually play a dark flamenco sounding scale by just starting two notes up from the root of the major scale and playing those eight notes in sequence (octave to octave) will give you the Phrygian mode and this will sound minor even though it has the same notes as the major scale whch would in this case A major = A,B,C#,D,E,F#,G#,A so by starting on C# and then playing the sequence C#,D,E,F#,G#,A,B,C# you will have C#Phrygian mode.

The same rules apply to all the major scales. If we next take the G major scale it will work out as follows: G,A,B,C,D,E,F#. Now apply the modes to those notes and you will get:

G Ionian
A Dorian
B Phrygian
C Lydian
D Mixolydian
E Aeolian
F# Locrian

Do you understand that so far mate?

So Far So Good. (So What)

Hurray for bad Megadeth reference.

So if you now tab out the notes of the major scale in sequence and then apply the modes in order Ionian, Dorian, Phrygian, Lydian Mixolydian, Aeolian, Locrian you will then have all the major scale modes. Then you should tab out going from octave to octave i.e A to A, B to B, C to C etc in each of the modes remembering to do this using the intervals in the relevant major scale. Then you can start improvising over chords:

Ionian: Major or Maj7 etc

Dorian: Minor or Min7 etc

Phrygian: Minor or Min7 etc

Lydian : Major or Maj7 etc

Mixolydian: Maj or Maj7

Aeolian: Minor or Min7 etc

Locrian: Minor7b5

Awesome, thanks for typing all that out man.

No worries dude. Let me know how you get on with the modes or if you have any questions. ;)

Found this while looking through some old threads and have decided to bring it back to life.



Maybe there's something I don't understand but if I'm playing over say, a C# Minor backing track using the C# Minor scale, everything I play has the same feeling regardless of which mode I note I start with on the guitar. So it seems that modes are mainly for chord progressions and not much use for soloing.

Is this right or am I not getting something?

The mode is based on the chord that is being used. In order to get the sound of a mode, the chord must be played for at least 10 seconds. Modes need more time to establish themselves. Otherwise it is just part of the progression. If the key is in C#minor and the chord stays on B7 for a long time, that would be the Mixolydian Mode sound when soloing.

Steve: Here is a great lesson on modes that will let your hear the different tonalitys of each mode.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JKbPIGnqt80&feature=relmfu

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8uhN5h1o7ww

Great tutorials, thanks for those.

So if I'm playing to a backing track that is in C Major and I play the scale like this:


e|
b|
g| 4
d| 5 7
a| 5 7 8
e|8

If I then move that to start on the 6th fret so that the second note in the scale is C rather than it being the first, then that would be the second mode (Lydian?) And if I move it to start on the 4th fret so that C is the third note, then that would be the third mode which is Phrygian?

C D E F G A B

To clarify even further, I mean to ask, if I started on the A so it went - A B C D E F G - and C was the third note, then that would be phrygian?

Ya man!! Think of the whole fretboard as the mode though. So when your playing in C Ionian start on a C Note anywhere etc etc. Moving up one degree of the scale will put you in a different mode, ie D,E,F,G,A,B,C,D is Dorian, E,F,G,A,B,C,D,E is Phrygian. You can really hear the differnt sounds of the modes when you drone/use the Ionian root note as a reference point.

So what determines what mode I'm in?

D E F G A B C

B C D E F G A

Which one is Dorian? From the tutorial you linked to, I was of the impression that you change the mode by moving the root note of the key you're in.

In C Major:

D E F G A B C

That's Dorian mode.

B C D E F G A

Locrian Mode

Ok, got it. Just start the scale on 4th note to play the 4th mode etc

So how do modes work if I'm playing a natural minor scale? Are they the same modes?

Yeah, they are always in the same order:

Ionian
Dorian
Phrygian
Lydian
Mixolydian
Aeolian
Locrian

So if you're starting on Natural Minor it would be

Aeolian
Locrian
Ionian
Dorian
Phrygian
Lydian
Mixolydian

For instance Locrian would be the second mode of Natural Minor (Aeolian), Ionian would be the third mode etc etc.

Confused again.

In those tutorials you linked me to the guy played E Major like this:

E|
B|
G| 6 8 9
D| 6 7 9
A|7 9
E|

While doing this he droned the low string. Thing is, he played the different modes by moving the shape round the neck rather than just starting the scale from a different note in the same place.

So to play Phrygian he moved it so that you started the shape on 3rd fret A string and had E as the third note. I also noticed that when he played it on the 3rd, the shape has notes that aren't in E Major. If I play the same shape but start on the third note (6th fret D string) and drone the low e string it just sounds like a major scale.

Think I just figured it out.

To get the Dorian sound out of that shape while droning the E, rather than playing the exact same shape from the 9th fret A string, do you have to play the major scale starting from that note?

So Dorian would be like this:

E|
B| 6 7
G| 6 8
D| 6 8 9
A|9
E|

No, you are actually starting on a G Note there.

Here's the D Dorian scale, D,E,F,G,A,B,C

http://www.all-guitar-chords.com/guitar_sc...et&t=0&choice=1

E|
B|
G| 11
D| 12 14
A| 12 14 15
E|15

If I start from the 12th fret A string and play through to 12th fret on the G would that be the A Dorian mode? And I would be able to play it and the rest of the shapes in the caged system over this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wdg8NlRvkQY&feature=related ?

Think I understand it now. (Assuming all of the above is correct)