Thank you! That was the clearest, most concise, and well illustrated explanation of modes I have seen. Seeing them mapped to the keyboard finally helped me understand how they are structured and relate to the major scale. And your explaination of how they are used over a chord took the mystery of what people were talking about when mentioning what mode fit over a given chord.

That was a really well explained and very practical lesson on modes and how the intervals create them. Great video Aimee

A lot of people get confused about the modes. That is because they are derived from the diatonic series and people teach it like that; off a major scale (usually C) Many students get confused and say "Well they all sound the same...how are they different." I think the modes should be taught from the same root ie here' Dorian it has a flat 3rd and a flat 7th. play it from C and other roots. Here's mixo etc as such. Have the students learn major scales then learn the modes by making them themselves from C and other notes. eg make a scale with flat 3 flat 7 = Dorian .make a scale with all natural notes except a sharp 4th = lydian, make a scale with all natural notes but a flat 7th mixo etc. If I were a student I would be very confused by the shifting of half steps and whole steps approach. Let 'em learn the modes by rote first, get them in their ears, they'll figure out the half steps story later. Or then can be taught when they already know some of the modes.

You are sooo good at filling in the gaping holes in my musical knowledge. So many disjointed pieces are slowwwwly coming together. What a fun journey ! Thanks

I've been learning and working with the modes over the last few months. I've not been clear on how/why the root note is used to designate a desired starting point, the placement of intervals and playing over certain chords. I now know. FANTASTIC lesson Aimee!

That was actually quite enlightening, Aimee! Thanks!

Wow! This really is an excellent explanation of modes. Thanks for clearing the fog!

Best explain mode so far. You always Simplify on big topic. Thx

Thanks Aimee! Merry Christmas to you and your family!

Love the video. The comments have been very interesting, too. You've definitely helped several people, to judge from the comments: and at pushing the 18k views mark, it's likely there are some people who didn't comment who got something out of it. Of course there are people who think you should have gone a different way: and there are SO many different ways to go. The unfortunate thing about music is that learning the technical language involved requires a lot of rote-learning to start with, and people hate that. I hated music at school, but "tone, tone, semitone, tone, tone, tone, semitone" did get hammered in. The idea that the spatial relationship between those semitones might be somehow crucial escaped me for years. As so many resist theory as being fuddy-duddy and irrelevant, quite a lot of people turn that around and get ABSOLUTELY COMMITTED to theory as though it were something real, rather than an attempt to impose order on an unruly harmonic series so that all twelve notes are the same distance apart, a sonority I've come to absolutely adore since I got a guitar with a particularly well-intonated tuning system. (I don't know if you've checked out the guy with replaceable classical guitar fretboards, but he's done some fascinating videos. One of his fretboards somehow, to me, makes EVERYTHING sound flat. I don't have perfect pitch, btw. I have no CLUE about how that happens, but it dropped my jaw for a couple of seconds.) To me, as a self-taught musician, theory is all about putting labels to sounds. And so, for me, dorian mode (the first lightbulb moment) is Zep's "No Quarter". (I wasn't smart enough to know lydian was also in there at the time.) Then of course the next lightbulb moment was that anything you can do with the major scale you can and should apply to melodic/jazz minor and harmonic major and minor scales. So that's the rest of MY life sorted, then. Will I ever catch up to Rick Beato? Probably not, but it'll be fun trying.

Wow. I play guitar and study theory. Modes have been difficult to get a grip on in a guitar context, but 13 minutes 49 seconds of your explanation and I have it! Thanks Aimee

I thought I already knew the basics of what modes were but I watched anyway and was pretty much correct but it was nice to see an actual explanation of how they work. It was also nice to see how to play a melody in a different mode. Thanks!

Hi Aimee, thanks for the awesome videos, just found you last night and this one about modes really helps me. I bought a book on bass scales last week and it seemed like Greek, so I closed the book. Now all of a sudden after seeing this video, I cracked the book again and there is the interval formula printed out that you explained! I'm going to rewatch this a few times no doubt before I get a handle on modes. You understand these things so well and you are able to make newbies like me understand, thank you, keep up the cool videos! Jason

Brass player here, this video helped me out a lot. Had no idea what the modes were until I found you. Thanks a million!

Thank YOU Aimee Nolte for this time to Teach a fan just learning from RBeato slowly you are so Talented. FAN.

I'm addicted to your videos! Thank you so much for making these and staying classy :)

At last - after looking though countless vids, British ones and American ones you have at last got me to understand what the modes are!! It was the bit in you're video about the harmonic minor scale that finally got me to understand so well thanx for that!! As one jazz fan to another I'd like to see you work with & produce something with Diana Krall.. Keep up the good work Aimee...............

This is an excellent explanation. Well done.

Aimee, you know your modes so well, you can demonstrate them.... on the fly.

Forgot to say, comedy gold at the beginning. Loved it.

Now I just need to translate this information to the guitar. Thanks Aimee, a great help.

Love your work Aimee! :)

Aimee, that's the way I learned modes. I did not learn them in relation to the Circle of Fifths, though some have. I've been looking for a you tube person who taught this way

Thanks so much for making this video

Haha....being a fly on the wall in your studio is risky business.... 😂. Great lesson on modes, Aimee! My guitar teacher used the acronym I Don’t Play Loud Music Around Losers. Maybe not a very nice one, but I still remember it almost 20 years later....😉

*Aimee the Fly Slayer.* I predict a movie coming.

That was a good explanation. I do get it now. I didn't realize these note relationships carried over to different keys. I tested this creating these modes in G Major scale, and followed it through and noticed......the difference between the major scale and saw it was indeed one note. Can't remember, which that was or Dorian or another. But it follows to any key it does appear.

Thanks Aimee for the clear instruction on modes. Also, you have lightning fast hands, that fly didn't stand a chance!

This the best video by far for learning modes.

Got my attention with the fly ! I'm listening.

Thank you! You explained that really well. I got it!

Awesome ! Thanks for your time, for at least the past 6 month i could not wrap my mind around this... You untied a know in 13min - actually i think within the first 4min :D

Thanks for discussing this topic. I appreciate how your lessons go beyond the basic mechanics. I also find your opinions on how to approach the use of modes valuable. Let's learn modes well enough then transcend them to focus on making good melodies!

Loved this. My very good friend Vaughan Williams used a tune in the third mode in his Rhapsody on a theme by Thomas Tallis. It ain't jazz but hey who cares it's beautiful and it"s my sax warm up tune.

"...For Dummies." Just KNEW this lesson was meant especially for me. Like the fly, I was drawn to it. Great lesson. Modes can get confusing, but they're actually quite simple.

Although I agree that it makes sense to build an intuition about what "sounds good" along with a chord, I guess one reason to sometimes explicitly play around with modes is that you can get stuck in a groove of playing the same things that sound good without breaking out of your comfort zone and thereby expanding your musical range. The same applies for chords -- I always gravitated towards very vanilla minor/major 7/9/11ths and only in the past few months started to explore beyond that, stumbling onto videos like yours which explained tritone substitutions, interesting progressions and chord voicings, even finding a treasure trove of musical ideas in the super-jazzy gospel keyboard world. Even in just a few months I'm really enjoying the new sounds I can make, although it's still a struggle to pick some of the ideas up. Keep on jammin' :)

I am so happy for you Aimee for your success in understanding what my brain has not yet been able to file for correct recall and/or even explain to myself. Another person's jazz video shows my brain that a "Key of C Lydian" root chord "Csus2" should comprise piano keys G3-C4-D4-E4-G4; however watching this video of yours seems to suggest that a Csus2 major tonic chord might be C4-D4-E4-G4 but made Lydian would become F4-G4-A5-C5> I am going to follow the addage "repeat as often as needed" to replay your video until my brain clicks. Thank you for what you do. Best wishes for you and your family.

Your awesome... I play guitar but this helped me a lot. THANKS!

Brilliant explanation!

You are so funny and fun. Love the fly killing and that you left it in. You make learning and stretching so much fun. Thank you

I remember a bass player that must have been studying modes at the time. He announced at practice that he was going to use the NIckelodeon mode. I never knew nor did I ask if he was making a joke. It was all I could do not to burst out laughing.

Thanks Aimee! I'm a music theory geek!

Happy to see again yours hands on your piano. Maybe a beautiful song soon. Have a good " breakfast in America " tomorrow morning. 11.30 PM here.

You're just too cool Aimee!

I've always felt like I was doing it backwards from everybody else, although it seemed way easier for me with guitar. I first learned the minor pentatonic scale, like lots of guitarists do. Then I learned sort of by accident that you can solo over C-Major using the same notes as the A-Minor. At that point I didn't know the concepts of modes, I really only knew about major/minor. Knowing the relative major meant I could easily improvise over any major or minor key using the minor pentatonic pattern in the correct place. (Minor is just three frets down from the major) It wasn't until I heard Steve Vai and tried to solo over Boston Rain Melody, which sounded bad using E major or minor. Even though I knew the key was in E, it just sounded right playing B major, at which point I had to do some research and discovered lydian. I applied the same heuristic to lydian in this case with B and E, so I knew that if you want to play in lydian for any key it has the same notes as the major scale a fifth above. Over time I filled in the missing few notes from the pentatonic, and now 15 years later I still use this heuristic to improvise in any mode in any key and I feel like I only really need to know the minor pentatonic to do it... I wonder if that hurts or helps...

Well explained!

Watched it twice and now I get it!!! Dear Lord above, thank you so much! When you sang It's A Marvelous Night, it explained what nobody else did! The modes aren't in relation to C. Using the C scale just simplified visually what happens in each mode. Then to play Dorian, you start with the root note and W-H-W-W-W-H-W. Thank you again, so much! And then you said something profound to me. That is just the Major scale. Does each mode stay the same no matter what scale you use?

5:17 - "....don't go stabbing at notes...." LOL---what I do all the time--AMATEUR!

Best explaination ever

Also a study in relative-pitch, the do-re-me. Remember the old NBC chime or signature? One-Six-Four. Or, Here Comes The Bride: One-Four. The octave...Somewhere Over The Rainbow...Told to me by a piano teacher years ago. Thanks for lesson on Bb - Ionian, Dorian, Phyrigian, Lydia etc. Now, I'll have to figure out where and how to apply them.

Hi Aimee, looking at your videos make me want to have my old antique piano tuned up again and start to learn to play piano. You are the result of my dream that never came true for me. I'm already 58 so I missed the 'piano train' long time ago when I was younger. I almost never have time to practise but my love for the piano never dies. But anyway, is this the right video to start with or is there another ? You explain it so easily so I want to give it another try.

Thanks Aimee. Good video. Nice shot on the fly too. Cat-like reflexes!

Thank you for your reply, I'll try and use your suggestions, as I drift through my improv dream. I feel like I need new tools sometimes. Always on the look out for lucky accidents. Been trying to wrap my head around playing " slide guitar", and although much will be traditional, wouldn't it be cool to think on a modal tangent, perhaps adjusted to guitar " open tunings", just a notion. Would break a lot of cliches for me, don't want to be cliche you know, been playing since I was 15-16 and I'm almost 60, so heard a lot of music in my life, countless artists over many decades, well, early 60's and on. Always want to take it farther out, probably progressive rock influence, bands like yes, elp, steely Dan...etc. thanx again, you sound great

0:34 being next to the window I was expecting and waiting for you to say "out the window" 🤣

Thanks! That was great. :)

The "start" word confuses people I think, bcause you don't always start a song with the root. It helped me a lot when someone sad "emphasise" instead of "start". that made sense to me.

Thank you 😊

this is gold :) thank you

Great video, when you switched modes to make the tunes sound the same is this the same as transposing?

Hmm, always good to understand the structure of scales and modes, the whole and half step relationships, but I've always found it easier to find a mode in any key just by sussing it's tonic note's position to a parent scale. For instance, the C Dorian, C is the second degree of what scale? Easy. Same with all the other modes, if lydian is based on the 4th degree of a major scale, and I'm looking for F Lydian, what scale is F the fourth of. Easy. Should be easy in any key if one knows their scales or even just scale degrees, like I, IV, V, Vi, etc. I will go through this video and learn the whole/half step construction of each mode, but I know it would slow me down right now if I need a mode on the fly (no pun intended, great hunter). Your lessons are incredible, you are incredible, could not be more impressed, Aimee Nolte.

The learning zone is very fly.. Im buzzing with excitement because I can see whats what and Ill need to review and take notes writing the modes out formula wise I see and then try to figure this for guitar to see it there or to feel it rather since its a bit hard to see on Fretboard as it faces away from you and its upside down somewhat. This is very fly as my modes need forensic help but it helps to see and learn you know like a fly on the wall... zzzzzzzzzz ..........................

Got it. This is classical music l 'play' by ear so far.

I play 0 instruments and don't read music, but I love your videos. Music is fun and fly swatting is more charming in your videos than anywhere on the internet. Do you understand why I watch? It's because you're so interesting and you live in 2 worlds.

I find it useful to think about ioanian mode alterations when building other modes. I mean Dorian has b3 and b7, Lydian has #11, and so on. And then if you know how to build a maj7 chord you can easily build any mode from it. And it becomes really simple in every tonality.

Well I think you did better hitting the knats quickly and quietly on your last "live" ... but at least you finally got the fly and you brought the modes into my vocabulary. thank you ... "Grasshopper"

Aimee - would love to see a video on your musical beginnings . How you learned/ started/ studied and highlights and turning points.

I would never learn anything with you cause your beauty would prevent me from focusing.... True For the innocent 😇 fly... Rest in Peace 🙏

In drone talk, that's a "No Fly Zone." LOL. You are so far above my level of comprehension on this video. But I love watching them. Thanks for sharing your expertise.

cant wait to study and memorize this asap. unfortunately we're getting ravaged for the next two weeks in pharm school so its gonna be a little bit :/ more vids for dummies like me would be loved tho!!! :)

First I didn't know what you ment by "modes". When you explained, I understood that you are talking about the "Kirchentonarten", how we call it in Germany. To be more precisely I looked it up at Wikipedia and found "Gregorian modes" .

Thank you for this lesson on 'The Modes' Aimee :-) The modes are the bain of my musical life... It's clear now the meaning of Mode. But why is 'knowing' them an advantage as a piano player? At the moment if there is an Eb minor chord in the left and I improvise using say Db Major scale of which it comes from. Too simple?

I would just say: amazing :)

now even I understand this concept .Never got it in Guitar at all.

When I watch your videos, I am never sure if I envy your ear or your energy more! When I play -- especially when learning something new -- I like mental shortcuts. (For instance when first learning half diminished chords, I saw they were minor triads beginning a full tone above the tonic: then I could find the notes quickly when I had to). When you play modes do you think of them as sitting in a major scale, just starting on a different note? (Like thinking of the D Dorian as using the C Maj scale, but organized around the D).

hi aime! quick question... lets say i play in d dorian.. where is the stronger resolution? and whats the tonic.. is it D or C ? THANKS !

Hit it again Aimée! The fly I mean...

Aimee if you search on the Modal Circle of Fifths there is a cool colorful image by Jim Fulton, I won't post the link cause you said that KZfaq removes them. It is the imgur image. Thanks for all your effort!

oh thank you for filling in an other blindspot in my music theory !

Very clear. I like your well zoomed-in videos. So now I know at last what I am, I'm a dummy cause this suits me fine. Theory presented i practise. I'm funking on a jazz-ballad thou I'm not a jazzman. There's one chord missing (I think) and I need to figure that out to be able to post it up. Maybe theory gives a clue.

Hi Aimee, I'm working on Confirmation and I'm having trouble improvising. Can you do a video on how to practice improvisations over a song. Thank you.

Hi Aimee. I am still puzzled how to use the modes. Sometimes in a chart it is already written, for instance in Brite Piece by Dave Liebmann, the chart says that the bridge should be played in A phrygian. Then I know what to play at the bridge. And for some pieces I got advice to play some parts in a mode, for instance Milestones by Miles Davis, one can play certain bars F# in the E dorian mode. And your advice is figure out what sounds best/nice and try to see what mode fits in. So when analyzing a piece, I can study the piece and know in advance what modes to play. But this is all in advance, how can I use the modes to enhance and improve my playing on the spot? OK, analyzing in advance is always good it seems to me and also helps for on the spot. But while playing spontaneaously I can not think quick enough and all I can do is responding to the chords. Hope i am clear, but do you know what I mean? So, I clearly see the advantage of knowing your modes, but how to use them and integrate them in my playsing so that my playing benefits more of it? (I play alto saxophone). Thank you.

its a defcom no fly zone mode melodic day..helpful too..you know I never thought of them as half note-tones before..I always thought of them as whole notes..thats so crazy after all these years..wow..now do I know it all dumb downed yet...mm..honestly I dont know...now I knew Ionian and dorian..the others I never ever heard of them..I may have been taught that but it was a century ago...)) so lydian and what mix---)) I missed that part..))

Quick Question! First off, you're awesome :) haha Second, I tend to over think things when it comes to music, so.. I learned RWWHWWWH just like you, and I also learned MmmMMmDim to add upon it, to then understand which chords go where within the scale. Now.. When you do a mode, when you start on 2 of the scale, does it remain a minor chord as M(m)mMMmDim dictates.. OR does the pattern get moved up and then 2 becomes 1 and 3 becomes 2? Idk if I'm sounding confusing but it makes sence in my head. lol Like let's say I start at 2, do I start RWWHWWWH and MmmMMmDim again using 2 as the now root note of the mode? I would think that doing that in the key of C would actually throw me out of the white keys and force me to use sharps and flats which would be considered wrong.. or jazz. haha So in all, just 2 questions.. does the 2 just remain 2, and the scale follow as normal? or does it become 1? Also do the chords remain the same? does two remain a minor chord, or does it become the root of the mode hence becoming 1 and a major chord? I'm so sorry for the long comment, but thank you for taking time to read it out! :D

I also found that the description on basicmusictheory.com/#mode, which is Topic “14. Mode”, helped clarify the relationship between C Major scale and definition of Modes and Mode naming in my tiny mind. 🙂

this question might be off topic , but what scale would i use to improve over an augmented chord ?

I can't say I've ever got into modes, but my own take on this is, wouldn't it be a better learning path to first learn all the major scales, and get them down pat, and only *then* go into modes? Because then, to play, say, from one of your early examples here, Dorian mode starting on Eb, you know right away just to play the notes of a Db scale, starting on its 2nd degree. And in general, whatever mode and starting note you want, you can quickly home in on which major scale's notes you're playing, by knowing which number of the scale that starting note is, which tells you what major scale it must be. All this follows once you've been trained to visualize instantly, any given major scale. Anyway, that's how I'd want to do this, rather than try to memorize all the whole-tone, half-tone sequences for each mode; different folks might find your way easier, I suppose. I guess it boils down to which is easier to memorize - all the interval sequences by mode, or all the major scales. It's just that the major scales will need to be learned anyway, so why not build modes on that knowledge? Well, I'm just discovering your videos, and I think they're gonna turn out to be a treasure trove! I'm looking forward to watching many more of them. Thanks for doing these!

Ninja skills! And thanks for the explanation.

Is this any different than thinking of any key but starting on the 2nd or 3rd etc note of the scale? For instance in the key of Bb major, if I were on th IV / Eb chord, start on the Eb and using the notes of the Bb scale for improv. E.g. using Eb-F-G-A-Bb-C-D?

Great Video -- now I understand modes a little bit more using your 'constructive' method. what i found very useful is when you used an example of a song that kind of uses a particular more, for example Van Morrison 'Moonlight'. Do you have other examples for other modes -- that would be very helpful for me -- and perhaps others.

Hi Aimee, thanks for a ( killer ) explanation !So a mode the same as a scale?If I compose a song in say C - Dorian, would chords 1--4--5 be appropriate ?Wayne

OH MY GOD YOU'RE AMAZING CAN YOU TEACH ME

So if you play a standard D major scale (with the 2 sharps) is that Ionian? And if you play the same scale starting on E (then F#, G etc), would that be the Dorian mode in D or is that not how the modes work?

I wish I could find an instructor like you in the greater Detroit, MI, area I am a classical guitar player wish to learn classical piano in Bach, Mozart

Didn't know they were called modes, started experimenting in this way as soon as i started learning scales

I think I get the "book definition" of the modes, but I dont really understand why we talk about them in practice.. For example, your example of moondance, I would describe not as D-Dorian, but as just d-minor, as a relative key to F, and if you play through it in that key, the song has the b flat in it, which would seem to back up my interpretation. What am I missing?

😂😂😂 I started watching this while chugging a glass of water, not conscious of anything that could happen beside hearing about modes... then the fly thing happened and I almost choked to death. You're so funny loll

The way I always done it is just to use 7 numbers 1-2-3.4-5-6-7.1 no jump between 3 and 4 and no jump between 7 and 1. That is all you need to know. That will work no matter what key you start from without having to remember any h h w h h blah blah formulas. EG. If you want to play dorian in any key just call the start note degree 2 and count up 2-3.4-5-6-7.1-2 etc. If you want to start on Lydian just start on 4 like so 4-5-6-7.1-2-3.4. When ear training Lydian is the hardest that degree note 7 note is a killer because your expecting mode 1. In other words by the time you reach note 7 your brain is expecting a semitone jump like the mode 1 major Ionian scale. The other modes are much easier to learn to sing. Also using numbers is key independent as same note degree numbers no matter what key your in. Lot less to juggle in your mind. Use numbers all time.

A “No-Fly Zone.” I will need to listen to this a couple more times for me to be able to fly through the modes.

Aimee how can I take advantage of the modes while I'm playing in mid song or soloing?

You should do a follow up called ‘The Modes For Drummers’.