Quote:
Originally Posted by drew b
It doesn't help me much to think in terms of modes because (like you already said), it's still within the same scale. Also, it's not like you play the mode up and down as an exercise when you're using it to solo-so the "start" and "finish" points are fairly irrelevant. Others may have a different point of view, but they aren't very helpful to me.
Drew
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This topic comes up a lot, and I'm sure someone will weigh in with very detailed explanations. But the basic issue is that modes have to do with *harmony*, not just the notes. When you play D,E,F,G,A,B,C,D against a Dm chord, you get the sound of D Dorian. If you play those notes against a C major chord, they just sound like you're playing a C scale from D to D. It's all about the harmony center, not the notes. That's why it's more instructive to compare C major (C,D,E,F,G,A,B,C) to C Dorian (C,D,Eb,F,G,A,Bb,C). This makes it clearer that C is major, C Dorian is minor. The notes just by themselves don't matter, I can play the "white notes", and depending on the underlying harmony sound like any mode. And I can play any subset of the C scale, whether that's C-C, D-D, E-E, F-F, etc, and still sound like C major if I'm working within the context of C major harmony. So yes, it doesn't make sense to think in terms of modes when selecting notes, if the harmony isn't modal. But if you have a tune whose harmony is, say, D Dorian, or Phrygian, or Mixolydian, etc, then you have to conform to the mode to make it sound right.