9.4 · The Modes

Name that mode

Every mode below sits on the same C, over the same drone, so the only thing left to hear is the color. Each step down the list flattens exactly one more note.

The brightness spectrum

Lydian is the brightest thing the seven notes can do; Locrian is the darkest. Play down the list. One new flat per step.

major with a raised 4 · floating, filmic wonder
the major scale itself · bright, settled
major with a flat 7 · sunny but never quite resolves
natural minor with a raised 6 · cool, rolling minor
natural minor itself · dark, serious
natural minor with a flat 2 · Spanish, menacing
natural minor with flat 2 and flat 5 · unstable. Home never feels like home

Where you've heard them

Modes aren't exotic. They're all over your library. A cheat sheet for the five 'new' ones:

Dorian: Scarborough Fair · So What · Mad World.

Phrygian: flamenco & metal riffs.

Lydian: The Simpsons theme · dream sequences.

Mixolydian: Sweet Home Alabama · Norwegian Wood.

Locrian: almost nowhere: that absence is the lesson.

Game · Name that mode

1 / 5

A mystery scale over the same C drone. Which mode is it?

Listen first. Then answer.

Quiz

1 / 4

Major, then something brighter still. What did you hear?

Listen first. Then answer.
Score 100% on every quiz and game to complete this lesson. A perfect run sticks: a later miss never undoes it.Modes in real songs →