Mixo Flat 6 if for no other reason than because it beautifully incorporates the minor 4 chord into it (by the way, I loved your video on the flat 4) :)
Mixo flat sixo and Phrygian Dominant are my current fav spicy modes! So many haunting half step resolutions. I hadn't ever heard of Aeolian b5 whaaaaaat!?
IIRC, the Lydian Dominant scale is also called the Acoustic scale because it most closely approximates the first seven unique harmonic overtones. Easily one of my favorite scales.
It's *weird* that it has that name. The 11th harmonic is almost exactly half way between a 4 and a sharp 4. Like literally 49 cents. One of those things where you hear about it, and don't check. ;) I love the 11th harmonic, btw, but it doesn't feel like a fourth or a tritone.
@@themennissvids Yeah, hence "most closely approximates", given the nature of 12-TET tuning. If one wanted though, you could retune a keyboard (or refret a guitar, etc. etc.) in order to get that microtonal inflection to specifically have the exact microtones of the harmonic series, though it'd be limited to a specific 7-note scale unless you extended it to include the first occurence of each note closest to its 12-tone relative.
besides just the 11th, i don’t mind saying that it’s somewhat represented by the tritone, as it’s the closest we have in 12edo. the 13th is where it’s not entirely accurate, however, as that would most closely be matched by the minor sixth, not the major one. the major sixth is used because it represents the 27th harmonic, which is more commonly used as a tension, even in microtonal music, than the 13th
Rambling 0:44 Modes of MM (rambling) 2:00 Second Degree 2:52 Dorian = (flat 3, flat 7) 3:20 Dorian + flat 2 Note: all that talking could have been replaced with: "Minor scale, raised 6th flat2" Now I see why OP cut it 😂
Modes can be a little dry when taught in the traditional way but you make the whole process exciting. Thanks for this entertaining and interesting video.
You're such an inspirational creator. I've been writing my own solo piano music for almost 6 years now and I haven't thought to dabble in the minor modes at all - they always felt a bit too out there for my non-jazzified ears. But after hearing/seeing you go through them... I'm ready. Thank you ❤
I've always heard the 'Aeloian b5' called 'Locrian natural 9', and use it in a IIm7b5 - V7 - Im7 cadence or whatever II-V-I scenario where the I is minor and/or the II isn't diatonically a minor chord.
7:49 When you said it would sound familiar, and started dancing up the keyboard with it, it instantly hit me with "Marvel". It's EXACTLY the mode (and key) that the Phase 2 intro theme uses
When I was learning piano (and wikipedia confirms it), the Melodic Minor uses the b3 on the way up and then the b7 b6 and b3 on the way back down. Which is why I always did harmonic minor, b3 and b6 up and down.
From what I understand that is how classical theory utilizes melodic minor, but outside of classical music is played the same descending as it is ascending. He's not wrong, he's just coming from a different musical background.
@@ilodar5684 It's even used in both directions in some classical music: Vivaldi's "Summer" (3rd movement Presto) and Bach. th-cam.com/video/RVRsFzcBJhY/w-d-xo.html&ab_channel=MusicTheoryForGuitar
In jazz, the melodic minor scale is only referring to the ascending melodic minor - it is really only used for this purpose he is showing. The descending scale isn't used because it already has a name - Aeolian
Love this video. In my college Jazz Harmony and Theory class, we spent a lot of time talking about the modes of melodic minor, they have a lot of applications. I’ve also heard super locrian called the diminished whole tone scale, as the first half (up to the fourth degree) is a diminished scale, and then the second half is a whole tone scale. Great video, one of my favorites of late!
@@tinienne_rock2214 yes, that is what I learned it as through Mark Levine Jazz Piano Book, in there the b9 (locrian) vs. 9 (aeolian -5) is discussed quite a bunch but I was never sold that either of them is better than the other. It depends on the situation, but I use aeolian -5 more than locrian over half-diminished chords (I use them both though)
instead of Aeolian b5 I usually say Locrian Nat2, the iim7b5 in a major key is pretty common in jazz, R&B and pop songwriting (normally they just play it as an inversion of the ivm6 and play locrian over it - think All I Want for Christmas is You), I ALWAYS opt for locrian nat 2 here, cus it's just SO much better
Great stuff, are you going to do one on the modes of the harmonic minor? Phrygian dominant and Dorian #4 are two of my favorite modes, so I was wondering about how they work in jazz.
I don't know about jazz, they're great melodic modes. They pop up in Arabic music as the Hijaz and Nikriz maqams as well as Eastern European folk music traditions a lot.
@@RusNad Yeah I am familiar with their usage in Eastern European and Middle Eastern music (+ flamenco where the Phrygian dominant has a prominent role). I am specifically curious about the possibilities offered by jazz. The Dorian #4 looks particularly interesting and challenging to me. Let's do a quick run through the diatonic chords: Dorian #4 - D E F G# A B C D F A C - Dm7 E G# B D - E7 F A C E - Fmaj7 G# B D F - G#dim7 A C E G# - Am(maj7) B D F A - Bm7b5 C E G# B - Cmaj7#5 What would the options be for jazz harmony? It seems to me that the key tensions are in those chords with the G#, so we need to emphasize that note like we would do in Lydian , or like we vamp on the half-step movement in Phrygian between the tonic and the b2. The question is about comping ideas that sound good in jazz but at the same time manage to reveal the personality of the scale. I enjoy tension a lot so I'd try including the min(maj7) and the maj7#5 chords, but it's by no means an easy task.
Dude, I just posted about this. Lately I've been obsessed with modes of the harmonic minor. Those are two of my favorites, but I also want to shout out Lydian #2.
@@rome8180 Yeah Lydian #2 is also fun, all modes are worth exploring and have something to offer. What I think is important to remember though is that modal jams and compositions should be approached differently with regards to harmony. What I tried to do above is apply functional harmony and perhaps that's not the best way to do things. If the mindset is modal, we can't stray far from the tonic. Maybe I should revisit one of Rick Beato's old videos on "exotic" scales and modes.
I will say, I've never really been interested in music theory persay because of how complicated it seems, but the way you describe everything, play examples, as well as your genuine love for music showing through just makes me wanna learn 😭
I just came up with alternate names for melodic minor modes: 1. Ionian Dorian 2. Dorian Phrygian 3. Super Lydian 4. Lydian Mixolydian 5. Mixolydian Aeolian 6. Aeolian Locrian 7. Super locrian (Basically same name)
It'd be fun to go over examples of cool chromatic chords and scales, I recently found arpeggiating root, major third, flat 5, dominant 7th, major 7th and stepping back down to the root sounds great. That sounds pretty rough as a chord voicing, so if you got something like strings in the background playing the entire color at once, you could try root, flat 5, major 7th, major 3rd and then that dominant 7th at the top. Spacing out the semitones in major 7ths (Maybe flat 9ths when the other relations are smoother that way, maybe even room for another octave in between) also helps a lot with voice leading to and from other chords, otherwise it can get a bit messy. As for an example progression I quickly cooked up using this chord: This chord on D, B Dorian, E Dorian and D Lydian. Absolutely beautiful imo!
When I first tried this scale, I raised the 3rd degree of minor*, without any other change, aka barely major. It's probably my favorite scale with a major 3rd. Now I know the name of it. *Didn't knew any other minor than natural minor back then
Lydian dominant is like a musical paradox. Subdominant sound over a dominant tonic. No longer static sounding like Lydian tends to, and unable to resolve diatonically to a mode one fourth to contest it, it sounds like a jazzy, unbridledly bright dominant scale. Extra bright through the major 3 and #4, but bluesy and even a bit subdued through the b7.
Fun fact: the altered scale is also sometimes called the diminished whole tone scale, since the first half of the scale is like a diminished scale and the last half is a whole tone scale. This leads to some people calling it the Dimwit scale (derived from Dim/Wh. T).
Lately I've been obsessed with the modes of the harmonic minor. The Phrygian dominant is the most commonly used one, but that's a little too familiar for me. I'm all about the Dorian #4 and the Lydian #2.
@@rome8180 I don't remember what I was thinking when I asked this 10 months ago, but I suspect I had some kind of brain fart. There's nothing wrong with Dorian #4. Maybe I had been writing something in Lydian and thought "Oh, no! You took away the nice vii chord that you got from raising the 4!", not realizing that ♭VII+ has its merits too.
It would be interesting to see you react to/analyze music theory of Indian or Middle Eastern music cuz we use a lot bigger variety of scales a lot more commonly. In Carnatic music (South Indian), we have a base of 72 different scales with basically every variation you can think of, and there are hundreds or thousands of "spin off" scales from those base 72.
technically most carnatic ragas can be "translated" as western scales, although the same can't be said for maqams. i agree that that would be a really interesting series of video topics. also want to bring up the pelog & slendro gamelan tunings!
You managed to explain what my guitar teacher wasn't able to in 1999: *why* the super locrian scale is awesome. He just tried to convey how cool that scale was, but he never gave me the background you just did. Thank you!!
I've always liked this move of 1 major to 2 diminished and back again. It's very similar to the minor four cadence, but it just sounds so much spicier because of that diminished chord. Mixo flat 6 is just such a good flavor.
I remember figuring these out on my own a couple years ago and went looking for a video, of which there was nothing so you might be one of the first! The way I figured them out is we have the tone and semitone pattern of the modes of the major scale: TTSTTTS. And I was like what if we shift that pattern so that it has 4 whole tones in a row and one tone in between the two semitones. So as an example: TSTTTTS and when I realized that was the melodic minor scale it totally blew my mind! I've also heard of the Lydian Dominant called the "acoustic scale" because that sharp 4 and flat 7 actually mimics the natural harmonic series if you were to keep following it up. Like if I were to go up the C harmonic on a trumpet you'd get: C, G, C, E, G, Bb, C, D, E, and then F# (NOT F). Thank you for making this!
Besides the major and its modes, the melodic minor and its modes are the only other set of heptatonic scales that has only half steps and whole steps between adjacent notes. All other heptatonic scales (like the harmonic minor and its modes) have larger gaps (minor thirds or larger) between scale degrees (counting the step from the 7th to the octave).
I play a bit of middle eastern music on oud, bouzouki and saz. These scales are called “maqams” and seem quite normal and have different names in Arabic, Greek, Turkish and Persian. They all have variations that use 3/4 notes, which are often misunderstood by westerners as microtonal. I also play folk, rock and a bit of jazz. It’s interesting to see the crossovers of understanding. The Dorian flat 2 scale is very common in Persian music. I have a Casio A3 “oriental” keyboard for playing that music as well so we can play in maqams such as “rast” which is like natural A minor but the second note is halfway between B flat and B natural.
It's amazing how our ears work in a relative way in the face of so many modes originating from the same scale with very few changes. Congratulations because of the attention you have given to each of the scales/modes 👏
I seriously cannot get over how much I love altered. I cant stop using it in minor II-Vs in my music lmao Putting that little whole tone cluster in the middle voices and then putting the #9 at the top just hits SO nice
Dude….ive been playing guitar for 17 or so years now. Always used the major modes, (Dorian, lydian, mixolydian etc). I never knew melodic minor modes existed! This is seriously gamebreaking
Great tip for quickly remembering the altered/superlocrian while on the dominant: play harmonic minor from a half tone above the dominant. As an arpeggio the chord tones in e minor would be c minor major 7 + 9 + 4+13 (c-eb-g-b-d-f-a)
Synesthesia makes me enjoy videos like these without knowing much about music theory, and it makes it easier to actually learn about music theory without knowing all of "the basics". I can't be the only one with synesthesia having this experience.
Great explanation. I hate when people talk about modes and say "you start on this and that and it changes the sound" without explaining that the reason the sound is changing is because the intervals are changing, so thank you for saying because now we have these intervals and not those intervals.
Aeolian flat 5 is very common in metal. Thrash and death metal use mainly natural minor but also love to throw in flat 5s since it is a weird and dissonant interval (originally known as the “devils interval”).
Most mind blowing is when you recognize that the Greeks were doing this 2500 years ago. They arrived at the same idea by a different method. Tetrachords. Each scale can be seen as a pair of four-note scales. So, for instance, G mixolydian flat six can be seen as a major lower tetrachord with a minor upper tetrachord, or just the major-minor scale.
14:34 man I can only hope to one day be so intuited with music that I can just laugh at "trying out" a scale like this, you do it so intuitively its as if the piano is just an extension of your hands.
If we’re making a bit of a stretch, Aeolian b5 can be lightly used within a blues improvisational context, with that b5 also being in the blues scale, also letting you incorporate those standard minor scale tones that are removed from the pentatonic scale.
Great video Charles. Would love to see you talk about how and where you use the various modes of both the harmonic minor scale and harmonic major scale. Keep up the great work!!
Back when I took bass lessons out of the Real Book my teacher explained what an alt7 chord was (ie Dalt7, Galt7). Alt7 means you have a b9 or a #9 AND a b5 or a #5. I was then warned not to play a perfect 4th, 5th, or 9th. I was then introduced to the Super Locrian scale. It was a game changer.
From another perpective, it's a combination of the octatonic and whole tone scales. The lower tetrachord is like a half-whole octatonic scale and the upper tetrachord is an augmented tetrachord which is made of all whole tones.
Wow! Charles I wish I could take your infinite knowledge and download into my brain space. As a player myself, I know learning and practicing some of these type of modes and scales can really take me to the next level. Thank you man.
Lydian Dominant has my favorite chord as the I: I7add9add#11. It's my favorite because if you play it in closed voicing (stacked thirds), the root, third, and fifth form a major triad, the third, fifth, and seventh form a diminished triad, the fifth, seventh, and ninth form a minor triad, and the seventh, ninth, and eleventh form an augmented triad. You get one of each triad in the chord, and that musical symmetry is really cool to me, plus the chord sounds incredible.
I wish someone explained modes to me like this a decade ago. Now I kinda get a lot of them but holy sh!t did it take a lot of time and effort on my own
I've done Scale studies for a long time and I discovered a lot of these scales back when I was still in High School and my personal favorite modes are the modes of the Harmonic Minor scale. One of which being the Phrygian Dominant scale, which when you play the scale yourself it makes a lot of sense that you've actually heard it before in a lot of places; and chord wise it sounds really cool when you start incorporating some borrowed tones from Natural Minor.
Fun fact: The lydian dominant (also known as “acoustic”) scale is sometimes used in Polish/Góral folk music, particularly in the musical traditions of Podhale.
Yeah, super locrian js kinda like that too. Someone asks “does it have a flat nine? Or a sharp nine? Does it have a flat 5? Or a sharp 5?”. And you reply “yes.”
My favorite mode/scale.. 1,b2,3,4,5,b6,b7 Phyrigian with a major 3rd or harmonic minor starting on the 5th. Introduced to it as hejaz in my music and cultures course at york u.
I'm not entirely confident, but I believe some parts of the Diablo III soundtrack may use Aeolian b5. It's really the only thing that came to mind for me when listening to you play around with it.
Mixolydian b6 is my favourite, and when I heard it here, I immediately remembered a song that uses it: Genesis One, by David O'Brien and Chris Egan. Chills down the spine every time I hear it, without exaggerating. A close second is the lydian dom. Makes me want to play Sims again, build a house, and lose all sense of time while I decorate the living room.
Well that's not melodic minor. Also I've heard of that scale but doesn't sound like it's actually used. Cuz a bare minimum of songs would have that, and then again people would probably explain it to you differently. If u go up minor and descend major you would only miss out on the b9 and the b5. Doesn't sound practical to me but again I could be wrong.
Technically yes, the ascending melodic minor goes 1-2-b3-4-5-6-7-8, and the descending one goes 1-2-b3-4-5-b6-b7-8. But you might have noticed, the descending form is just the natural minor scale; it seems to me to be a case similar to the "no parallel fifths/octaves" rule, which well, probably meant something in the past, now it doesn't lol. Citing Wikipedia: -Composers have not been consistent in using the two forms of the melodic minor scale. -In jazz, only the ascending form of the scale is termed as "melodic minor". Honestly, you could use this theory, especially if you want to avoid augmented or diminished triads in your harmony (so you switch back to the natural minor whenever that would happen, thus getting a chord with a 5th), but it's really up to the composer. I remember learning the Melodic minor like this (ascending/descending), but even my teacher told me "just play it how you want to; this is music theory, not music legislature".
I always find the Lydian Augmented scale intriguing because it’s as close as a 7 note scale can get to the whole tone scale. Thus, you get a lot of the floating dreaminess of the whole tone, but still have a key centre to ground it.
Great video, Charles. I use a few different names for the Melodic modes. The one I would suggest is the fifth mode, the Melodic Major. It makes sense in that the Melodic Minor is the major scale with a minor third and the Melodic Major is the minor (natural) scale with a major third. Thanks for sharing. Cheers.
Lydian Dominant is also called Lydian-Mixolydian (which is more of a mouthful or sure). These are easily described as combinations of multiple modes and I'm so glad you finally made this video.
As a guitarist who lives and breathes the modes, I am absolutely sick of playing diatonic all the time. This actually has opened my eyes to where all the stuff I can't follow comes from. THANK YOU 😊
Currently in Music School at SELU, these scales are usually discussed in Form & Analysis II Class which deals with more 20th/21st Century Composers as well as discussed in Jazz Theory, using the book Jazz Theory Book by Mark Levine
I actually have to learn this stuff for an exam on Monday and I already watched this video a couple weeks ago just for fun and now studying I realised that I had forgotten most of it again so I came back to watch this video again and every time I watch any if your videos I just get really happy and excited about jazz and music in general it’s amazing how different it is learning this from you versus learning it from my teacher (who somehow manages to make it extremely boring and uninteresting even though i love jazz and it’s such a cool topic to be taught at school)
Hey Charles, great video. Best context for Aeolian b5 I would say is a 6minor - 4dominant progression. Using the Aeolian b5 off of the root of the 6 chord - you are then essentially playing Lydian dominant over the 4 chord too. Cheers.
If I recall, the only time we use modes in music is with western classical music before the classical period (baroque, renaissance, medieval) and Jazz music along with anything based on it. There might be some other uses for it as well but these are all of the main uses.
Sir the Aeolian b5 is standard use of the ii-V-i major or minor, over the ii chord. It is equally standard as the super locrian altered dom and fast players navigate 2-5-1 via moving the same scale up a minor third degree from (literally playing the same phrase of notes if you want to simplify it) 2 to 5.
My attitude toward modal music is that if you're only thinking about it in terms of the major (ionian) and minor (aeolian) scales, you're... kind of missing the forest for the trees. All seven modes are equal in complexity, the fact of being more popular doesn't make ionian and aeolian simpler, better, or worse, it just makes them more popular.
In my school band, third year band students are required to to test on Lydian Dominant when we do scale tests. Seniors do the Super Locrian. At the end of the year, all band students have to play all 12 of their respective scales
Everything was explained clearly and I understand how to build all of them, but I don’t understand why we start from the melodic minor instead of the natural minor. I guess I’m confused because I think of the melodic minor as an altered version of natural minor/aeolian mode and figured everything else would be built off that as well.
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Which one is your extra spicy favorite?
lydian dominant !
Mixo Flat 6 if for no other reason than because it beautifully incorporates the minor 4 chord into it (by the way, I loved your video on the flat 4) :)
Sus scales
Mixo flat sixo and Phrygian Dominant are my current fav spicy modes! So many haunting half step resolutions. I hadn't ever heard of Aeolian b5 whaaaaaat!?
Super locrian! Loved this video!! :D
Number 8 - Depeche Mode
Begone bot
Wow it actually left
Number 9 A la mode
wdym, my dad always tells me about them lol
Those are good modes.
IIRC, the Lydian Dominant scale is also called the Acoustic scale because it most closely approximates the first seven unique harmonic overtones. Easily one of my favorite scales.
Ooo
It's *weird* that it has that name.
The 11th harmonic is almost exactly half way between a 4 and a sharp 4. Like literally 49 cents.
One of those things where you hear about it, and don't check. ;)
I love the 11th harmonic, btw, but it doesn't feel like a fourth or a tritone.
@@themennissvids Yeah, hence "most closely approximates", given the nature of 12-TET tuning. If one wanted though, you could retune a keyboard (or refret a guitar, etc. etc.) in order to get that microtonal inflection to specifically have the exact microtones of the harmonic series, though it'd be limited to a specific 7-note scale unless you extended it to include the first occurence of each note closest to its 12-tone relative.
besides just the 11th, i don’t mind saying that it’s somewhat represented by the tritone, as it’s the closest we have in 12edo. the 13th is where it’s not entirely accurate, however, as that would most closely be matched by the minor sixth, not the major one. the major sixth is used because it represents the 27th harmonic, which is more commonly used as a tension, even in microtonal music, than the 13th
@@sihplak have you ever seen the weird wavy frets on some of Steve Vai's guitars
Sound samples of each scale
3:54 - Dorian flat 2
4:49 - Lydian Augmented
5:38 and 6:15 - Lydian Dominant
7:51 to 8:49 - Mixolydian flat 6
9:33 - Aeolian flat 5
11:19, 12:20, 13:25, 13:58 - Super Locrian(short samples)
14:25- Super Locrian
Rambling
0:44 Modes of MM (rambling)
2:00 Second Degree
2:52 Dorian = (flat 3, flat 7)
3:20 Dorian + flat 2
Note: all that talking could have been replaced with:
"Minor scale, raised 6th flat2"
Now I see why OP cut it 😂
Mixolydian b6 is one of my favorite tonal centers, the G - Cm6 is just so juicy as a vamp.
Agreed! Interestingly it’s the negative of melodic minor (i - V7, or i6 - V7 more specifically).
Well described, it’s my favourite, I keep using it in my compositions haha
I wish this wasn't fucking gibberish to me.
Dire Dire docks from Mario 64 is in G Mixolydian b6 IIRC
@@OhGodWhatIsThisAah I unironically studied quantum physics and then music theory became less gibberish. Ear training is huge too.
Modes can be a little dry when taught in the traditional way but you make the whole process exciting. Thanks for this entertaining and interesting video.
I love the recent use of the piano layout it makes the videos much more interactive and informative!!!
Might have resembled Rhapsody in Blue @ one point . The rest was sheer unfamiliar fun.
I was a music major at school but never learned this. Really fascinating Charles!
You might want to get a refund.
That's cause you didn't minor in music
@@jeshaiahbretz4320 that's fucking great.
@@jeshaiahbretz4320 Ha, nice 🤣
Same, never learned about these other modes in music school!
You're such an inspirational creator. I've been writing my own solo piano music for almost 6 years now and I haven't thought to dabble in the minor modes at all - they always felt a bit too out there for my non-jazzified ears. But after hearing/seeing you go through them... I'm ready.
Thank you ❤
I've always heard the 'Aeloian b5' called 'Locrian natural 9', and use it in a IIm7b5 - V7 - Im7 cadence or whatever II-V-I scenario where the I is minor and/or the II isn't diatonically a minor chord.
7:49 When you said it would sound familiar, and started dancing up the keyboard with it, it instantly hit me with "Marvel". It's EXACTLY the mode (and key) that the Phase 2 intro theme uses
When I was learning piano (and wikipedia confirms it), the Melodic Minor uses the b3 on the way up and then the b7 b6 and b3 on the way back down. Which is why I always did harmonic minor, b3 and b6 up and down.
yeah it sounds like he overlooked that when he was talking about melodic minor
Finally found a commenter that also noticed this. Thank goodness I'm not alone 😅
From what I understand that is how classical theory utilizes melodic minor, but outside of classical music is played the same descending as it is ascending. He's not wrong, he's just coming from a different musical background.
@@ilodar5684 It's even used in both directions in some classical music: Vivaldi's "Summer" (3rd movement Presto) and Bach. th-cam.com/video/RVRsFzcBJhY/w-d-xo.html&ab_channel=MusicTheoryForGuitar
In jazz, the melodic minor scale is only referring to the ascending melodic minor - it is really only used for this purpose he is showing. The descending scale isn't used because it already has a name - Aeolian
40 years of music, your repeat visual display is hands down the best and most efficient way of teaching/learning theory, Keep up the great work!
Love this video. In my college Jazz Harmony and Theory class, we spent a lot of time talking about the modes of melodic minor, they have a lot of applications. I’ve also heard super locrian called the diminished whole tone scale, as the first half (up to the fourth degree) is a diminished scale, and then the second half is a whole tone scale. Great video, one of my favorites of late!
Is calling it #1 funny to anyone else?
Exactly, for me Super locrian is an Augmented scale, a perfect fit for a V7#9 (#5)
@@KittSpiken yes it is, it just break the rule of always play the Major scale of the One (I) in a II V
@@spickeys5078 got to break some egg rules to make a joke omelet
Oh interesting, my college’s jazz theory class called it the altered scale
Aeolian flat 5 is is literally what I play over every half-diminished chord (on Stella by Starlight first chord this hits the nail on the head)
This
So do I! It's actually more of a locrian mode with a natural 2, since the chord built on it is a min9b5
@@tinienne_rock2214 yes, that is what I learned it as through Mark Levine Jazz Piano Book, in there the b9 (locrian) vs. 9 (aeolian -5) is discussed quite a bunch but I was never sold that either of them is better than the other. It depends on the situation, but I use aeolian -5 more than locrian over half-diminished chords (I use them both though)
instead of Aeolian b5 I usually say Locrian Nat2, the iim7b5 in a major key is pretty common in jazz, R&B and pop songwriting (normally they just play it as an inversion of the ivm6 and play locrian over it - think All I Want for Christmas is You), I ALWAYS opt for locrian nat 2 here, cus it's just SO much better
Nostalgia
@@weakw1ll haha the NOSTALGIA note lol
@@cookiecoderbt yessss lmfao
???
Great stuff, are you going to do one on the modes of the harmonic minor? Phrygian dominant and Dorian #4 are two of my favorite modes, so I was wondering about how they work in jazz.
yes!!
I don't know about jazz, they're great melodic modes. They pop up in Arabic music as the Hijaz and Nikriz maqams as well as Eastern European folk music traditions a lot.
@@RusNad Yeah I am familiar with their usage in Eastern European and Middle Eastern music (+ flamenco where the Phrygian dominant has a prominent role). I am specifically curious about the possibilities offered by jazz. The Dorian #4 looks particularly interesting and challenging to me. Let's do a quick run through the diatonic chords:
Dorian #4 - D E F G# A B C
D F A C - Dm7
E G# B D - E7
F A C E - Fmaj7
G# B D F - G#dim7
A C E G# - Am(maj7)
B D F A - Bm7b5
C E G# B - Cmaj7#5
What would the options be for jazz harmony? It seems to me that the key tensions are in those chords with the G#, so we need to emphasize that note like we would do in Lydian , or like we vamp on the half-step movement in Phrygian between the tonic and the b2.
The question is about comping ideas that sound good in jazz but at the same time manage to reveal the personality of the scale. I enjoy tension a lot so I'd try including the min(maj7) and the maj7#5 chords, but it's by no means an easy task.
Dude, I just posted about this. Lately I've been obsessed with modes of the harmonic minor. Those are two of my favorites, but I also want to shout out Lydian #2.
@@rome8180 Yeah Lydian #2 is also fun, all modes are worth exploring and have something to offer.
What I think is important to remember though is that modal jams and compositions should be approached differently with regards to harmony. What I tried to do above is apply functional harmony and perhaps that's not the best way to do things. If the mindset is modal, we can't stray far from the tonic. Maybe I should revisit one of Rick Beato's old videos on "exotic" scales and modes.
I will say, I've never really been interested in music theory persay because of how complicated it seems, but the way you describe everything, play examples, as well as your genuine love for music showing through just makes me wanna learn 😭
I just came up with alternate names for melodic minor modes:
1. Ionian Dorian
2. Dorian Phrygian
3. Super Lydian
4. Lydian Mixolydian
5. Mixolydian Aeolian
6. Aeolian Locrian
7. Super locrian (Basically same name)
It'd be fun to go over examples of cool chromatic chords and scales, I recently found arpeggiating root, major third, flat 5, dominant 7th, major 7th and stepping back down to the root sounds great. That sounds pretty rough as a chord voicing, so if you got something like strings in the background playing the entire color at once, you could try root, flat 5, major 7th, major 3rd and then that dominant 7th at the top. Spacing out the semitones in major 7ths (Maybe flat 9ths when the other relations are smoother that way, maybe even room for another octave in between) also helps a lot with voice leading to and from other chords, otherwise it can get a bit messy.
As for an example progression I quickly cooked up using this chord: This chord on D, B Dorian, E Dorian and D Lydian. Absolutely beautiful imo!
The Mixolydian -6 is my favorite. That -6 adds so much dramatic beauty to a melody.
When I first tried this scale, I raised the 3rd degree of minor*, without any other change, aka barely major.
It's probably my favorite scale with a major 3rd. Now I know the name of it.
*Didn't knew any other minor than natural minor back then
John Williams uses that mixolydian flat 6th scale in Star Wars. One of the most beautiful things i have heard.
Lydian dominant is like a musical paradox. Subdominant sound over a dominant tonic. No longer static sounding like Lydian tends to, and unable to resolve diatonically to a mode one fourth to contest it, it sounds like a jazzy, unbridledly bright dominant scale. Extra bright through the major 3 and #4, but bluesy and even a bit subdued through the b7.
Fun fact: the altered scale is also sometimes called the diminished whole tone scale, since the first half of the scale is like a diminished scale and the last half is a whole tone scale. This leads to some people calling it the Dimwit scale (derived from Dim/Wh. T).
Crazy insightful & clear. Definitely played Mixolydian b6 without knowing it.
I would LOVE if a film composer used these different modes to represent different characters, situations, or emotions in their film score.
John Williams scores are a great reference -the E.T. Score is FULL of the Lydian mode and the Star Wars stuff too for example
Stargate. search sg1 theme it's in the minor 5th.
Lately I've been obsessed with the modes of the harmonic minor. The Phrygian dominant is the most commonly used one, but that's a little too familiar for me. I'm all about the Dorian #4 and the Lydian #2.
Doesn't flattening the 7 kind of defeat the purpose of raising the 4?
@@horurmartomasson1041 Where does "purpose" enter into anything? Also, I'm not sure I get your reasoning anyway.
@@rome8180 I don't remember what I was thinking when I asked this 10 months ago, but I suspect I had some kind of brain fart. There's nothing wrong with Dorian #4.
Maybe I had been writing something in Lydian and thought "Oh, no! You took away the nice vii chord that you got from raising the 4!", not realizing that ♭VII+ has its merits too.
Fun fact: Minor chords have minor 16th between *minor* third and the 5th harmonic of root, which is a *major* third.
It would be interesting to see you react to/analyze music theory of Indian or Middle Eastern music cuz we use a lot bigger variety of scales a lot more commonly. In Carnatic music (South Indian), we have a base of 72 different scales with basically every variation you can think of, and there are hundreds or thousands of "spin off" scales from those base 72.
technically most carnatic ragas can be "translated" as western scales, although the same can't be said for maqams. i agree that that would be a really interesting series of video topics. also want to bring up the pelog & slendro gamelan tunings!
You managed to explain what my guitar teacher wasn't able to in 1999: *why* the super locrian scale is awesome. He just tried to convey how cool that scale was, but he never gave me the background you just did. Thank you!!
I actually love the 2-5-1 from the altered scale bit.
Something about a V chord with all those alterations just....hits right. Example 13:37
I'm super new to piano so this is more advanced than I'm able to truly appreciate but it makes me excited for what's to come.
I've always liked this move of 1 major to 2 diminished and back again. It's very similar to the minor four cadence, but it just sounds so much spicier because of that diminished chord. Mixo flat 6 is just such a good flavor.
I remember figuring these out on my own a couple years ago and went looking for a video, of which there was nothing so you might be one of the first!
The way I figured them out is we have the tone and semitone pattern of the modes of the major scale: TTSTTTS. And I was like what if we shift that pattern so that it has 4 whole tones in a row and one tone in between the two semitones. So as an example: TSTTTTS and when I realized that was the melodic minor scale it totally blew my mind!
I've also heard of the Lydian Dominant called the "acoustic scale" because that sharp 4 and flat 7 actually mimics the natural harmonic series if you were to keep following it up. Like if I were to go up the C harmonic on a trumpet you'd get: C, G, C, E, G, Bb, C, D, E, and then F# (NOT F).
Thank you for making this!
Besides the major and its modes, the melodic minor and its modes are the only other set of heptatonic scales that has only half steps and whole steps between adjacent notes. All other heptatonic scales (like the harmonic minor and its modes) have larger gaps (minor thirds or larger) between scale degrees (counting the step from the 7th to the octave).
If you do a flat 3, 4,5,6,7 I think that works out.
I play a bit of middle eastern music on oud, bouzouki and saz. These scales are called “maqams” and seem quite normal and have different names in Arabic, Greek, Turkish and Persian. They all have variations that use 3/4 notes, which are often misunderstood by westerners as microtonal. I also play folk, rock and a bit of jazz. It’s interesting to see the crossovers of understanding. The Dorian flat 2 scale is very common in Persian music. I have a Casio A3 “oriental” keyboard for playing that music as well so we can play in maqams such as “rast” which is like natural A minor but the second note is halfway between B flat and B natural.
It's amazing how our ears work in a relative way in the face of so many modes originating from the same scale with very few changes. Congratulations because of the attention you have given to each of the scales/modes 👏
I seriously cannot get over how much I love altered. I cant stop using it in minor II-Vs in my music lmao
Putting that little whole tone cluster in the middle voices and then putting the #9 at the top just hits SO nice
Dude….ive been playing guitar for 17 or so years now. Always used the major modes,
(Dorian, lydian, mixolydian etc). I never knew melodic minor modes existed! This is seriously gamebreaking
Great tip for quickly remembering the altered/superlocrian while on the dominant: play harmonic minor from a half tone above the dominant. As an arpeggio the chord tones in e minor would be c minor major 7 + 9 + 4+13 (c-eb-g-b-d-f-a)
These can all be made *even spicier* if you change all sharps to sharts!
What.
Synesthesia makes me enjoy videos like these without knowing much about music theory, and it makes it easier to actually learn about music theory without knowing all of "the basics".
I can't be the only one with synesthesia having this experience.
14:01 sounds like the final two chords in Holst’s Neptune Suite, even the way you switch between them! Spooky indeed
Great explanation. I hate when people talk about modes and say "you start on this and that and it changes the sound" without explaining that the reason the sound is changing is because the intervals are changing, so thank you for saying because now we have these intervals and not those intervals.
alternatively titled "7 ways to flatten the Phrygian"
Aeolian flat 5 is very common in metal. Thrash and death metal use mainly natural minor but also love to throw in flat 5s since it is a weird and dissonant interval (originally known as the “devils interval”).
I'd love to see another video just like this, but about modes of the harmonic minor.
Most mind blowing is when you recognize that the Greeks were doing this 2500 years ago. They arrived at the same idea by a different method. Tetrachords. Each scale can be seen as a pair of four-note scales. So, for instance, G mixolydian flat six can be seen as a major lower tetrachord with a minor upper tetrachord, or just the major-minor scale.
To this day, classical Arabic music is defined by tetrachords rather than scales.
14:34 man I can only hope to one day be so intuited with music that I can just laugh at "trying out" a scale like this, you do it so intuitively its as if the piano is just an extension of your hands.
This is so clear and really valuable info! But even more delightful is just watching you jam in these wild modes - what a vibe!!!
really like charles' turn towards more theory focused videos. that was indeed well done and super interisting
Bruh idk why but just the three notes you sang at the end, made me so happy for no reason bruhh
Alright I finally find the perfect video to eat my noodles.
If we’re making a bit of a stretch, Aeolian b5 can be lightly used within a blues improvisational context, with that b5 also being in the blues scale, also letting you incorporate those standard minor scale tones that are removed from the pentatonic scale.
Great video Charles. Would love to see you talk about how and where you use the various modes of both the harmonic minor scale and harmonic major scale. Keep up the great work!!
Back when I took bass lessons out of the Real Book my teacher explained what an alt7 chord was (ie Dalt7, Galt7). Alt7 means you have a b9 or a #9 AND a b5 or a #5. I was then warned not to play a perfect 4th, 5th, or 9th. I was then introduced to the Super Locrian scale. It was a game changer.
Can we please have a whole album of Charles just playing in different modes!
Great idea - like Bach preludes and fugues but for modes
From another perpective, it's a combination of the octatonic and whole tone scales. The lower tetrachord is like a half-whole octatonic scale and the upper tetrachord is an augmented tetrachord which is made of all whole tones.
Wow! Charles I wish I could take your infinite knowledge and download into my brain space. As a player myself, I know learning and practicing some of these type of modes and scales can really take me to the next level. Thank you man.
Lydian Dominant has my favorite chord as the I: I7add9add#11. It's my favorite because if you play it in closed voicing (stacked thirds), the root, third, and fifth form a major triad, the third, fifth, and seventh form a diminished triad, the fifth, seventh, and ninth form a minor triad, and the seventh, ninth, and eleventh form an augmented triad. You get one of each triad in the chord, and that musical symmetry is really cool to me, plus the chord sounds incredible.
12:47 Sounds like Rhapsody in Blue.
I wish someone explained modes to me like this a decade ago. Now I kinda get a lot of them but holy sh!t did it take a lot of time and effort on my own
I've done Scale studies for a long time and I discovered a lot of these scales back when I was still in High School and my personal favorite modes are the modes of the Harmonic Minor scale. One of which being the Phrygian Dominant scale, which when you play the scale yourself it makes a lot of sense that you've actually heard it before in a lot of places; and chord wise it sounds really cool when you start incorporating some borrowed tones from Natural Minor.
Fun fact:
The lydian dominant (also known as “acoustic”) scale is sometimes used in Polish/Góral folk music, particularly in the musical traditions of Podhale.
Altered scale: imagine you played a dominant chord and when asked what alterations you just said yes.
Yeah, super locrian js kinda like that too. Someone asks “does it have a flat nine? Or a sharp nine? Does it have a flat 5? Or a sharp 5?”. And you reply “yes.”
My favorite mode/scale.. 1,b2,3,4,5,b6,b7
Phyrigian with a major 3rd or harmonic minor starting on the 5th.
Introduced to it as hejaz in my music and cultures course at york u.
I'm not entirely confident, but I believe some parts of the Diablo III soundtrack may use Aeolian b5. It's really the only thing that came to mind for me when listening to you play around with it.
Sounds like chick corea
I had never thought of the melodic minor that way in relation to the major scale. It’s a great way to put it. Thanks!
Ionian b3 :)
"There's no reason you can't"
Ladies and gentlemen, JAZZ!
Mixolydian b6 is my favourite, and when I heard it here, I immediately remembered a song that uses it: Genesis One, by David O'Brien and Chris Egan. Chills down the spine every time I hear it, without exaggerating.
A close second is the lydian dom. Makes me want to play Sims again, build a house, and lose all sense of time while I decorate the living room.
That scale is, in fact, the melodic major, being like the aeolian mode but with a major third.
i thought the melodic minor was the one where you play it differently going up to going down?? does anyone know why that happens
Well that's not melodic minor. Also I've heard of that scale but doesn't sound like it's actually used. Cuz a bare minimum of songs would have that, and then again people would probably explain it to you differently. If u go up minor and descend major you would only miss out on the b9 and the b5. Doesn't sound practical to me but again I could be wrong.
Technically yes, the ascending melodic minor goes 1-2-b3-4-5-6-7-8, and the descending one goes 1-2-b3-4-5-b6-b7-8. But you might have noticed, the descending form is just the natural minor scale; it seems to me to be a case similar to the "no parallel fifths/octaves" rule, which well, probably meant something in the past, now it doesn't lol.
Citing Wikipedia:
-Composers have not been consistent in using the two forms of the melodic minor scale.
-In jazz, only the ascending form of the scale is termed as "melodic minor".
Honestly, you could use this theory, especially if you want to avoid augmented or diminished triads in your harmony (so you switch back to the natural minor whenever that would happen, thus getting a chord with a 5th), but it's really up to the composer. I remember learning the Melodic minor like this (ascending/descending), but even my teacher told me "just play it how you want to; this is music theory, not music legislature".
Yeah, that's what melodic minor means in classical; but jazz theory seems to stick to the same notes.
I always find the Lydian Augmented scale intriguing because it’s as close as a 7 note scale can get to the whole tone scale. Thus, you get a lot of the floating dreaminess of the whole tone, but still have a key centre to ground it.
I evolved because of this video. Never thought about creating scales this way using 1 pattern and changing the root. awesome lesson.
Fantastic explanation! I've never learned any music theory and even I was fully able to appreciate these scales!
I've actually been wondering about this for a while! Nobody's really covered anything like this. Thanks for going in depth into cool musical niches!
12tone did
Great video, Charles. I use a few different names for the Melodic modes. The one I would suggest is the fifth mode, the Melodic Major. It makes sense in that the Melodic Minor is the major scale with a minor third and the Melodic Major is the minor (natural) scale with a major third. Thanks for sharing. Cheers.
I love the altered scale but have never understood how it came from doing modes of the melodic minor! Super cool
Aeolian b5 is commonly used for M7b5 chords, so it's perfect for that II chord in a minor II-V-I.
The harmonic modes feel so exotic and unique.
4:50 well mr. Satie I didn't see you there. Love the content keep it up
Lydian Dominant is also called Lydian-Mixolydian (which is more of a mouthful or sure). These are easily described as combinations of multiple modes and I'm so glad you finally made this video.
Now the same video about the modes from the harmonic minor scale :D Like phrygian dominant, 1 b2 (nat)3 4 5 b6 b7 just sounds so nice!
Loving the new visuals with the keyboard!
The descending of the melodic scale is supposed to include A flat and B flat
As a guitarist who lives and breathes the modes, I am absolutely sick of playing diatonic all the time. This actually has opened my eyes to where all the stuff I can't follow comes from. THANK YOU 😊
Currently in Music School at SELU, these scales are usually discussed in Form & Analysis II Class which deals with more 20th/21st Century Composers as well as discussed in Jazz Theory, using the book Jazz Theory Book by Mark Levine
I actually have to learn this stuff for an exam on Monday and I already watched this video a couple weeks ago just for fun and now studying I realised that I had forgotten most of it again so I came back to watch this video again and every time I watch any if your videos I just get really happy and excited about jazz and music in general it’s amazing how different it is learning this from you versus learning it from my teacher (who somehow manages to make it extremely boring and uninteresting even though i love jazz and it’s such a cool topic to be taught at school)
Hey Charles, great video. Best context for Aeolian b5 I would say is a 6minor - 4dominant progression. Using the Aeolian b5 off of the root of the 6 chord - you are then essentially playing Lydian dominant over the 4 chord too. Cheers.
I'd say Harmonic Minor's modes are more common, if for no other reason than Phrygian Dominant being BEST SCALE
If I recall, the only time we use modes in music is with western classical music before the classical period (baroque, renaissance, medieval) and Jazz music along with anything based on it. There might be some other uses for it as well but these are all of the main uses.
Sir the Aeolian b5 is standard use of the ii-V-i major or minor, over the ii chord. It is equally standard as the super locrian altered dom and fast players navigate 2-5-1 via moving the same scale up a minor third degree from (literally playing the same phrase of notes if you want to simplify it) 2 to 5.
My attitude toward modal music is that if you're only thinking about it in terms of the major (ionian) and minor (aeolian) scales, you're... kind of missing the forest for the trees. All seven modes are equal in complexity, the fact of being more popular doesn't make ionian and aeolian simpler, better, or worse, it just makes them more popular.
Those modified modes definitely have a sound that reminds me of Scriabin.
In my school band, third year band students are required to to test on Lydian Dominant when we do scale tests. Seniors do the Super Locrian. At the end of the year, all band students have to play all 12 of their respective scales
Everything was explained clearly and I understand how to build all of them, but I don’t understand why we start from the melodic minor instead of the natural minor. I guess I’m confused because I think of the melodic minor as an altered version of natural minor/aeolian mode and figured everything else would be built off that as well.
Excellent, timely lesson, Charles. LOVE YOUR CHANNEL !!
I’ve almost always used the harmonic major or mixolydian b6, I just love the melodic complexity of it and it works over major/minor substitutions
That aeolian flat 5 bit that you were playing sounded a little bit like the spirit of Vince Garauldi playing for a very brief moment.
Great explanation of the modes! I find even more interesting chord voicings staking 4ths with the root on the top.
Great vid! You make it so that each mode's flavor really stands out prominently. This is a really good ear training vid