Other Scales and the Modes
In this lesson, we look beyond major and harmonic minor, and you'll learn to recognize the other main scales: the modes, harmonic major and the pentatonic scales.
Danhauser studies two scales: the major scale and the minor scale with a leading tone. In his note (j), though, he acknowledges that modern music uses other scales. A degree that is altered consistently, not just in passing, creates a genuinely new mode, just as lowering the 3rd degree creates the minor mode. He adds that the theory of resonance, that is, the harmonic series, isn't the only possible basis: Eastern musics and plainchant use other arrangements of whole and half steps.
The ten scales of note (j), with their modern names
| Danhauser (on C) | Notes | Modern name |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Major mode | C D E F G A B | major, or Ionian mode |
| 2. Major without leading tone | C D E F G A Bb | Mixolydian mode |
| 3. Major without leading tone, minor sixth | C D E F G Ab Bb | Mixolydian b6 (5th mode of melodic minor) |
| 4. Major with leading tone, minor sixth | C D E F G Ab B | harmonic major |
| 5. Major with raised 4th degree | C D E F# G A B | Lydian mode |
| 6. Minor without leading tone | C D Eb F G Ab Bb | natural minor, Aeolian mode |
| 7. Minor without leading tone, major sixth | C D Eb F G A Bb | Dorian mode |
| 8. Minor with leading tone, minor sixth | C D Eb F G Ab B | harmonic minor |
| 9. Minor with leading tone, major sixth | C D Eb F G A B | melodic minor (ascending) |
| 10. Minor with lowered 2nd degree | C Db Eb F G Ab Bb | Phrygian mode |
The seven modern modes
Now play the C major scale starting from each of its notes, with no accidentals. You get the seven modes, whose names come from the church modes of plainchant. Each one has its own arrangement of whole and half steps, and so its own color.
| Mode | Compared with major or natural minor | Color and uses |
|---|---|---|
| Ionian | major | the tonal reference |
| Dorian | minor with a major sixth | a bright minor: Celtic traditional music, modal jazz of the late 1950s, funk |
| Phrygian | minor with a minor second | dark, Spanish-sounding; with a major third (Phrygian dominant), a flamenco and Middle Eastern color; metal |
| Lydian | major with an augmented fourth | floating, magical: very common in film music |
| Mixolydian | major with a minor seventh | major without the pull of the leading tone: rock, folk, blues rock, traditional music |
| Aeolian | natural minor | minor without a leading tone: pop, rock, singer-songwriter music |
| Locrian | minor with a minor second and a diminished fifth | unstable, rare; sometimes in metal and in jazz (over a half-diminished chord) |
- Scale
- D Dorian
Pentatonic scales
Let's finish with a simpler scale. The most common pentatonic scale has only five notes and no half steps: the major one is C D E G A, and the minor one is A C D E G. The five black keys of the piano, F#, G#, A#, C# and D#, form one. You'll find it in a great many traditional musics, in Asia, Africa, Scotland and the Americas, and it's the basis of improvisation in blues and rock.
Write on G: a) the Dorian mode; b) the Lydian mode; c) the Mixolydian mode.
That's a lot of new colors to explore. In the next lesson, we'll see how musicians around the world name and write these notes. First, check your understanding with a few questions.