Play these notes starting on C and you're playing the C major scale (also known as the Ionian mode – the 'first' mode). Start on D and you're playing the second mode (D Dorian, as it happens). By the ...

As we’ve said before, in recent issues, the easiest way to understand modes is to think of them as re-workings of the major scale, simply starting on a note that isn’t the root. The Aeolian mode is no ...

This month, we share a few less common concepts and ideas that you can apply to whichever scales you use. Hopefully, you will find some of the following examples helpful. Guitarists often like ‘boxes’ ...

In the grand panorama of Western tonality, the Aeolian mode occupies a position of both historical gravitas and contemporary ubiquity. Often simply called the “natural minor” scale by composers and ...