Take the Major Scale to the Next Level
Expanding upon the sound of upbeat attitudes.
The Flavor of Major
We can all enjoy songs with an upbeat attitude. Songs like "Shut Up and Dance" by Walk the Moon, "For Those About to Rock (We Salute You)" by ACDC, and "Flying in a Blue Dream" by Joe Satriani are all upbeat songs from major scales or modes. Each song listed uses a different mode: Ionian, Mixolydian, and Lydian.
Modes are a way that musicians can use the same notes of a scale to create original context. Each of these three songs and their modes come from the major scale and are all major modes. After that they all have their own flavor. It's a lot like picking out ice cream. All three modes are chocolate, but you can have it plain, with chunks, or with raspberries.
Today we'll look at commonalities on each mode so that we can pick the flavor that we want. We can even mix flavors and create something unique for ourselves and others. So, buckle up as we blend musical ideas and create the flavor, "For Those About to Shut Up and Fly".
Start in the Center
Ionian is a great mode to start with as it resolves into itself very easily. Without getting into too much hard-core theory we can look at the major chords in Ionian.
Each of the seven chords above is built from a degree of the Ionian mode. The first degree is the Tonic and is where our musical moments move to. We can even think of this degree as "home". We can start a journey anywhere but ending it at home will create a sense of rest.
The fourth and fifth degrees are also known as the Perfect Fourth and Perfect Fifth. Using the "perfect" degrees will always make sense in melodies for a variety of reasons. By focusing on the major chords of Ionian and observing that they are the Tonic and both Perfects we can set ourselves up with a solid foundation. Let me explain this in a little more detail.
Playing major chords for degrees I, IV, and V will cause a song to have two qualities. The first is that it feels Ionian in that the IV and V chords move to the I chord "perfectly". You can play IV and V back and forth in any fashion and end on I to give your listener a sense of arriving at "home". The second quality is that we are playing chords that give us all the notes of our scale. In G Ionian the I chord is G-B-D, the IV chord is C-E-G, and the V chord is D-F#-A.
Being able to hear all seven notes of the scale from just three chords gives the human ear enough information to know what mode we are using. You don't have to be a musical prodigy to hum "do re mi fa so la ti do", so anyone can hear the chords G, C, and D as shown above and their brains will gladly accept Am, Bm, Em, and F#° as additional chords because they use the same notes. Essentially, Ionian’s three major chords define the entire mode for us.
Taking It to the Next Level
There are two other major modes that we can use called Lydian and Mixolydian, but they do not resolve as easily as Ionian. Lydian's major chords are the I, II, and V. Mixolydian's major chords are I, IV, and bVII. Both modes are major and have a major I chord. They also both have a perfect major chord, but only one. The other major chord is the II chord or the bVII chord. These slight changes help us to give away the sound of the mode.
Above we have the three modes with Ionian in the middle. When we play music in a major context, we can always use Ionian as a central hub, so I put this mode in the middle. We can then move to or borrow from Lydian or Mixolydian by adjusting one note. Look at the notes of G Ionian. Now compare that to G Lydian and G Mixolydian and you’ll find that Lydian takes the fourth degree of Ionian and sharpens it. You’ll also find that Mixolydian takes the seventh degree of Ionian and flattens it.
While it may appear that these three modes are totally different, they are actually very similar. Look at the order of chords in Ionian and you’ll see the order: 1 major, 2 minors, 2 majors, 1 minor, and 1 diminished chord. We can find this pattern in the other modes as well. In G Lydian, start on the chord D and in G Mixolydian start on the chord C for the same pattern.
So why does this matter? That first chord to start on is where the major scale starts. In other words, G Lydian is from the key of D Major, G Ionian is from the key of G Major, and G Mixolydian is from the key of C Major. Imagine playing G Ionian and sticking to those notes. Suddenly the chord A major is introduced. This causes the song to feel like it moved into a new key.
Blending Major with Major
Now to put this to the test. Try playing something in G Ionian. Above we have chords that match G Ionian highlighted in green. As you can see, there’s a lot of green. The other colors are all unique to their own mode. As you play in G Ionian, try out some of the major and minor chords highlighted in orange and blue. If you really want the mode to stand out, then pick a diminished chord. Just be careful. Diminished chords love to pull you up a half-step to a major chord or a whole-step down to a minor chord.
Simple Practice
If you’re having a hard time with his concept, then try out the following chord progression. Treat each chord as a bar and go as slow as you like. The song starts and ends in G Ionian and touches the sound of Lydian and Mixolydian when we use the orange and blue chords. Playing this is not what we are practicing. What I want you to do is listen to the flavor of the song when the chords A, Dm, and F are used.
Expanded Practice
If you get this concept but want to really use it to spice things up, then try out this progression. It shows all the chords from all three modes in ascending order. Think of it as a “rainbow progression” that continuously climbs through one octave of G to G. While playing this keep in mind that the green chords belong to more than one mode, but they do not have to belong to all three modes. This is due to using four-note chords. With an additional note we can draw out the sound of specific modes with more chord options.
You can also play scales / modes in place of each chord. For example, the first four chords can be played as melodic lines from G Mixolydian, G Ionian, A Dorian, and A Mixolydian. Try out modes that fit the above chords and see where it takes you. You can even change up the above progression as long as the root notes constantly ascend, so A7 to Bm7 to Bm7b5 to CMaj7 is perfectly fine to use. You can also modify the end to be FMaj7 to F#m to F#m7b5 to G.
Remember, you can always fall back to the notes of Ionian at any time to have a well balanced scale. Adding in Lydian or Mixolydian modifies the “flavor”. It’s up to you to decide just how much modification is needed for your song.
