Modes: Dorian and Mixolydian

A mode is a scale built by starting on a different note of the major scale and treating it as home. Two modes turn up constantly in guitar music: Mixolydian (a major sound with a flat seventh) and Dorian (a minor sound with a raised sixth). This lesson shows how they come from notes you already know.

By the end of this lesson you will be able to:

• Explain how a mode comes from the major scale by changing the home note.
• State the formulas for Dorian and Mixolydian and how they differ from natural minor and major.
• Play and hear each over a simple vamp.

Take a major scale and start on a different note. Keep the same notes, but treat the new starting note as home. You have made a mode.

From the C major notes (C D E F G A B):

• starting on D, you get D Dorian (D E F G A B C)
• starting on G, you get G Mixolydian (G A B C D E F)
• starting on A you would get A natural minor, which you already know.

Mixolydian is the major scale with a flat seventh: 1 2 3 4 5 6 ♭7. It sounds major, but more relaxed and bluesy. It is the sound of the ♭VII chord in rock, as in D C G.

Dorian is the natural minor with a raised sixth: 1 2 ♭3 4 5 6 ♭7. It sounds minor but brighter than natural minor, like the minor sound in much folk, soul and funk.

A mode is a colour, not a new set of notes. It only sounds like itself when something makes its home note clear: a vamp (a short repeating chord loop) or a drone. D C G suggests D Mixolydian. Am to D suggests A Dorian.

Hearing the difference.

1. Loop Am. Play A natural minor over it and hold the F. It has a dark, sad character.
2. Now play A Dorian over the same Am: replace the F with F♯. The mood lifts, as if a light has come on.
3. Next loop D, C and G. Play D Mixolydian over it. The C natural (the ♭7) fits the C chord perfectly, and if you play C♯ instead, it clashes.

Ask of each mode: "Which note is different from the scale I already know, and what does it do?"

Do these in order. Each one is small. Tick the ones you have practised.

• 1.Name that mode

  4 min

  1. Write the C major scale: C D E F G A B.
  2. Start on D and write the same notes: D E F G A B C. That is D Dorian.
  3. Start on G: G A B C D E F. That is G Mixolydian.
  4. Compare each with the nearest major or minor scale.

  You have it when

  • You can say that D Dorian and G Mixolydian use the notes of C major.
  I practised this one

• 2.Dorian against natural minor

  4 min

  1. Play Am and let it ring, or loop it.
  2. Play A natural minor (frets 5 to 9, see the diagram) over it and notice the F (the ♭6).
  3. Now play A Dorian over the same chord. The F is replaced by F♯ (the natural 6th).
  4. Describe the difference in a word.

  You have it when

  • You can hear that Dorian is brighter than natural minor.
  I practised this one

• 3.Mixolydian over D, C, G

  4 min · 60 → 90 BPM

  1. Strum D, C and G, one bar each, in a loop.
  2. Improvise using the D Mixolydian scale (D E F♯ G A B C).
  3. Notice the C natural (the ♭7) that gives the sound its character.

  You have it when

  • You can improvise over the vamp using D Mixolydian for two minutes.
  I practised this one

Slow, 60 BPM. Modes are about hearing a different home note, so hold a chord or drone and listen to each note against it.

• Thinking of a mode as a new set of notes. A mode uses the same notes as a major scale. What changes is which note is home.
• Playing a mode over chords that do not support it. A mode only sounds like itself over a chord or vamp that makes its home note clear: D C G for D Mixolydian, Am D for A Dorian.
• Trying to learn all seven modes at once. Start with Mixolydian and Dorian. They are the most useful and are enough for a long time.

Sweet Home Alabama's D, C, G is D Mixolydian: the C is the ♭VII. A minor vamp like Am to D (Dorian) is the basis of much funk, soul and folk-rock.

Try it in: Sweet Home Alabama (chord version).

Short version (10 minutes)

Play the D, C, G loop and hum a D Mixolydian melody over it for five minutes.

Standard version (about 30 minutes)

Do all three exercises, then write the notes of E Dorian and A Mixolydian from the major scales they come from.

• A mode is a major scale started from a different note.
• Mixolydian: major with ♭7 (1 2 3 4 5 6 ♭7).
• Dorian: minor with a natural 6 (1 2 ♭3 4 5 6 ♭7).
• Modes need a vamp that makes the home note clear.

You are ready to move on when you can honestly say:

• I can explain how D Dorian and G Mixolydian come from C major.
• I can state the formulas for Dorian and Mixolydian.
• I can improvise over a Mixolydian vamp.