Quote:
Originally Posted by bishopdm
I purposely avoided the "modal" issue of the original post, JonPR, since I really didn't have a clear idea what that meant. (Perhaps the OP could give some more information on the source of the term "modal vamp"?) But your examples are all really good, I think, since they include the "characteristic pitch" that identifies each mode. I'm curious, though, about what would be the difference between a tonal progression in major and a modal progression in ionian. Would avoiding the use of the V-I succession point toward a more modal sound?
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IMO, to all intents and purposes, the "major key" is the same thing as "ionian mode". (Strictly speaking, in classical terms, I think there probably is a distinction, but for our purposes it wouldn't matter too much.)
However, rock music has a liking for long vamps on one or two chords (or vamp-like repeated short cycles of 3 or 4 chords), which suggests that - even in a major key context - they like "modal-ish" grooves.
Hence the idea - for this exercise - of stripping a major key sequence down to just the I chord, with maybe the IV or ii in support. This is a pretty common sound in rock, and - while it leaves the 7th open - generally implies a maj7 in the scale.
A full-blown "major key" progression would roam around away from the tonic chord a lot more. In a sense, "visiting" the other modal "stations", but without stopping there. The major key tonic is strong enough to spend some time away from it and still retain the sense of that Ionian key centre. Key progressions can even include chromaticism, such as secondary dominants and passing chords. (Modern modal music would avoid any such thing.)
Of course, there are a ton of songs which would be hard to define clearly either way, and "major key" is usually a better term than "ionian mode".