Musical Modes

Musical modes are used in several genres of music. They are used to add some specific kind of atmosphere to the music and avoid predictability. You can create a mode by naming a different note at the root instead of the original root of the scale.

Each mode has a very unique sound. E.g. the Phrygian (III) mode sounds melancholic, the Lydian (IV) mode sounds happy, the Mixolydian (V) mode is bluesy, and the Locrian (VII) mode sounds strange so it's rarely used.
Musical modes are different from musical scales. A scale is a series of intervals in a specific order, which - with the key (or first note) - tells you that scale's steps. However, in modern music, a mode is normally used in the sense of scale, applied only to the seven specific diatonic scales (using only the white keys on a piano or keyboard) that follow the first note (or central tone or tonic). Music which contains more than one mode is called polymodal.

All major scales have the same interval sequence W-W-H-W-W-W-H, where "H" means half a step and "W" means a whole step (two semitones). If we talk about musical modes, this interval sequence is called the Ionian or Major mode. It is one of the seven modern modes. There are seven of them because only seven diatonic notes can be used as the tonic (C, D, E, F, G, A, B). If you take any one of the major scales, you can make a new scale by taking a different degree of the major scale as the tonic (first note). It means that all the modes consist of the same notes. The difference among the musical modes is the tonal center. The E Phrygian scale means that the note E is central. In other words, E becomes the tonic, while all the notes remain the same as those of the C-major scale. This concept can be transposed chromatically to every major scale.

The Seven Modes

Ionian (I)
Ionian is usually considered to be the first musical mode. It is identical to the major scale, and begins on C. It consists of C (the tonic or first note), D, E, F, G, A, B, and the upper-octave C. It follows the pattern W-W-H-W-W-W-H. The majority of popular songs are written in the Ionian mode. It's pronounced as [ahy-oh-nee-uhn].

Dorian (II)
Dorian is the second mode, beginning on D. It consists of D (the tonic), E, F, G, A, B, C, and the upper-octave D. It follows the pattern W-H-W-W-W-H-W. The Dorian mode is most common in Celtic music and early American folk songs derived from Irish melodies. Songs written in this mode sound a bit melancholic because the final note doesn't resolve itself. It's pronounced as [dawr-ee-uhn, dohr-].

Phrygian (III)
Phrygian is the third mode, starting on E. It consists of E (the tonic), F, G, A, B, C, D, and the upper-octave E. It follows the pattern H-W-W-W-H-W-W. Modern musicians often use the Phrygian mode because it works well with the Ionian. It's pronounced as [frij-ee-uhn].

Lydian (IV)
Lydian is the fourth mode, starting on F. It consists of F (the tonic), G, A, B, C, D, E, and the upper-octave F. It follows the pattern W-W-W-H-W-W-H. The Lydian mode is the opposite of the Ionian. It feels as solid as a major scale but the intervals are surprising and unexpected. This mode is popular among creative jazz musicians. It's pronounced as [lid-ee-uhn].

Mixolydian (V)
Mixolydian is the fifth mode, beginning on G. It consists of G (the tonic), A, B, C, D, E, F, and the upper-octave G. It follows the pattern W-W-H-W-W-H-W. Mixolydian is similar to Lydian because it also has a major scale feel with minor intervals. The Mixolydian mode is a popular choice for solo musicians who wish to counterpoint the Ionian key of the song. It's pronounced as (ˌmɪksəʊˈlɪdɪən).

Aeolian (VI)
Aeolian is the sixth mode, beginning on A. It is also called the natural minor scale. It consists of an A (the tonic), B, C, D, E, F, G, and the upper-octave, A. It follows the pattern W-H-W-W-H-W-W. The Aeolian mode is still fashionable today but musicians rather refer to it as the minor key. The Aeolian mode creates a modern, sad and bluesy sound. The last note of the Aeolian scale feels resolved differently than the Ionian. It's pronounced as [ee-oh-lee-uhn].

Locrian (VII)
Locrian is the seventh and last mode, and begins on B. It consists of B (the tonic), C, D, E, F, G, A, and the upper-octave B. It follows the pattern H-W-W-H-W-W-W. This mode is so unstable and unsatisfying that it’s rarely used. It's pronounced as [lock-ree-an].

To remember the seven musical modes, many musicians use this memory aid: "I Do F(ph)ollow Lonely Men And Laugh.". The first letters of the words stand for: Ionian, Dorian, Phrygian, Lydian, Mixolydian, Aeolian and Locrian.


Major modes
The Ionian mode is the same as the major scale. Scales in the Lydian mode are major scales with the fourth degree raised a semitone. The Mixolydian mode is the same as the major scale with the seventh degree lowered a semitone.

Minor modes
The Aeolian mode corresponds to the natural minor scale. The Dorian mode is identical to the natural minor scale with the sixth degree raised a semitone. The Phrygian mode is the same as the natural minor scale with the second degree lowered a semitone.

Diminished mode
The Locrian is neither a major nor a minor mode because, although its third scale degree is minor, the fifth degree is diminished instead of perfect. Therefore it is usually called a diminished scale.

If you would like to learn about musical modes in more depth, I recommend The Complete Book of Scales, Chords, Arpeggios and Cadences.

More about Music Theory 

Key Signature Chart

You must have seen a key signature chart, if you've seen sheet music.

Where are key signatures on the staff?

Right after the bass clef or the treble clef. (If you are not familiar with "staff", "bass clef" and "treble clef" I recommend the how to read music notes page of HitJerker-Songwriting. But now back to our main topic here.

What are they?

They are one or more sharp (♯) or flat (♭) symbols right after the clef. Their number and position will tell you what the key of the music is and which notes are sharp of flat in that key (and in that piece music therefore). It's important, however, where you put these sharp and flat symbols. In the illustration below, you'll see what they look like, where you have to place them on the staff, and which keys they belong to.

Why do we use them?

It's much easier to signal that certain notes will be sharp or flat at the beginning of lines of the stuff in sheet music than having to write the sharp or flat symbol each time we encounter such a note. So to simplify writing and reading music, there is a key signature for every major and minor key.

(I borrowed the illustration above from the Learn and Master Piano coursebook. It's a DVD/CD/coursebook course that takes you from beginner to advanced level. I have this course and love it! Especially Will Barrow, the instructor, who is a Grammy-winner pianist and his mimicry and gestures are really fun to look at :))

What's important to know about the stuff you see in the key signature chart?

• If there is a key signature at the beginning of the staff, it's going to be effective for the whole piece unless it's cancelled by a different one.

• They are in a specific order according to the rules of the circle of 5ths.

• C major is the only key that doesn't have any flat or sharp notes in it. All the others contain them. And of course, they either contain flat notes OR sharp notes, these are never mixed. There are some keys, however, that are so called enharmonic. They have two names but are exactly the same. For example, G♭ and F♯.

• You'll see in the key signature chart that sharp key signatures follow each other in a specific oder: F, C, G, D, A, E, B. If you're a fan of mnemonic devices, try memorizing "Father Charles Goes Down And Ends Battle" (because of the initials of course!).

If you look at this list above, you'll see that every scale follows the next that's a 5th above it. And in each scale we add a new sharp note.

• The flat key signatures also follow a specific order: B, E, A, D, G, C, F. If you examine this list, you'll see that it's the same order as in case of the sharp series of notes but it's in a reverse order. Another little mnemonic device to help you remember it: "Battle Ends And Down Goes Charles's Father".

It's similar to the sharp keys but here every scale starts a 5th below (or you could say a 4th above) the former one.

More about Music Theory 

Nashville Number System

The Nashville Number System is similar to sheet music but much simpler. It gives you basic instructions on how to play a song. There is no information about melody, rhythm in this system. It only gives you the chord structure of the song and might also give you some production ideas. It's an awesome method because it leaves plenty of room for the players to interpret the song and improvise as much as they want. Also, charting your songs this way comes handy when you'd like to transcribe music quickly.

By the way, it's not used exclusively in Nashville and by country musicians; even the Beatles used this method to chart their songs!

How to Read and Write Music
Using the Nashville Number System

• Use Roman numerals to represent chords. (In Nashville sometimes they use Arabic numbers but it's easy to confuse with scale notes. So I suggest that you stick with Roman numerals.)

• Decide about the key then check or learn which numbers belong to which chords:

• Put a dash "-" after the chord to show that it's minor.

• Write the numbers by hand on a piece of paper. For some reason, musicians don't print Nashville Number System chord charts.

• Write four measures per line. For example:

1
3
5
1

(4 measures of the 1 chord, four measures of the 3 chord, etc.)

• When musicians read these chords, they will say "thirteen-fifty-one", for example.

• Show the different sections of a song in the chart either by writing the full name of the section or by writing "I" for Intro, "V" for Verse, "C" for Chorus, "B" for Bridge and "TA" for Turnaround.

• Indicate split-bar measures with one of these:

Slash notation: 4/5 (this is the most common one)
Parenthesis notation: (4 5)
Underline notation: 4 5
Box notation: 4 5 (in a box)

They mean that there is two beats of the 4 chord and two beats of 5 chord in a measure.

• Don't confuse the slash notation with slash chords!

• Sometimes chord lengths are not split evenly in a measure so you can put dots (or sometimes hash marks) above the chord. This way we can see how many beats a certain chord gets, for example:

… .
4/5

• Sometimes a chord doesn't receive a full beat. In that case, we use the method of regular sheet music and write the rhythm above the chords in question. If you don't know how to read sheet music, I recommend that you study at least the basics. It will be tremendous help in your songwriting career.

• If you would like to use a 7th chord, indicate it the following way:

C becomes 1
C7 becomes 1 and 7 in the upper right corner
Cmaj7 becomes 1△
Cmin7 becomes 1-7

• To represent a diminished chord, put a little circle after the number.

• To chart an augmented chord, use a plus sign "+" after the number.

• If you use a different bass note, you don't use a slash in the Nashville Number System but represent it as a fraction. The top number stands for the number of the chord, and the bottom number stands for the bass note. For example:
4
-
1

• A walkup or walkdown is a rising or falling movement between chords. In the Nashville Number System, use an arrow pointing up or down to show this tendency.

• Sometimes you'll see a diamond in these kind of charts. They mean that you should let the chord ring for its duration to make this specific part of your music more emphatic.

• If you want to do the opposite, that is not let the chord ring for long, you should use a stop sign, i.e. two slash marks, like this:
1//


These are the basics of the Nashville Numbering System. If you would like to get really proficient at this "language", I recommend Chas Williams's book, The Nashville Number System. It tells you how this system came to existence and gives you step-by-step instructions on how to chart any song.

More Music Theory