Relative modes?

Littlewing's recent lesson made me think of relative modes. Like in lesson there was mentioned that D aeolian is relative to F major (ionian).

so how this happen? :D. Is there somekind of rule why it is way it is and can I use some of tools to figure out those relatives somehow.

Thanks in advance.
Empirism

Thats a good question Emp!

That's just the case of relative majors and minors. They share the same notes, albeit in a different order:

D aeolian (natural minor) - D, E, F, G, A, Bb, C

F ionian (major) - F, G, A, Bb, C, D, E

C major

C D E F G A B C

D dorian

D E F G A B C D

E phrygian

E F G A B C D E

F lydian

F G A B C D E F

G mixolydian

G A B C D E F G

A aeolian / minor

A B C D E F G A

B locrian

B C D E F G A B

oooooooo thts hgow it is

baudelaire show'd ya, here's a little rule. These seven note scales are more like a seven note key which contains seven scales, not one.

What are these seven? The modes. Look carefully at them, do you see anything that seems to link them all? When playing chords you can/are playing these corresponding modes. When playing in the key of C, and you begin playing an Em and solo over it, if you've emphasized the E, you are playing in E Phrygian! And so on...

Is there a video where someone demonstrates this?

What's with you and videos? :P

I'm not sure if there are, but... You could use the jam tool on here, and play the triad in regards to the mode you want. B dim for B locrian and such. And just play around with the basic C major notes, and you should figure it out that way.

I feel like a hill billy in a college class room.

lol same

you are not going to find any video that will tell you so you can fully understand it. The best thing to do is to get books on it. It is really the only way no matter how much you hate reading. and i don't mean to make fun of any one but these ideas are really that complex to grasp, to understand of the level of Bach maybe not but that depends on how you look and use the ideas.

The trick with Modes is HEARING them. Learn them and play them over chords, after a while you will begin to hear and naturally play a slightly different style (Some scales sound middle eastern, some hispanic, some just really sad, some exciting etc.) But telling you won't do a thing until you pick up your instrument and listen to what you play.

Try playing E Phrygian over Em. then switch to C Major and back, notice the change? Part of the trick is understanding to emphasize the relative root of the chord i.e. E in Em while playing E Phrygian.

It's relative because it's within the F Major scale. It's the 6th position. D is the 6th note in the F Major scale.

Just take a look at what Baudelaire wrote.

Walla, you are away. :D

Here's how I understood modes, and maybe it will help you...

diatonic modes are basically constructed simply by playing the notes of the key you are in (like F) but instead of starting to play the scale from the first degree of the scale (F in the case of F) and playing until you reach F again one octave higher, you instead start on a different note of the scale, and play through until you reach that note again one octave higher, so...

In the case of the key of C (for simplicity's sake) if you start at C and play to C again, you are playing Ionian.

If you start at D and play to D again, you are playing Dorian... but you are still using all the same notes as the C major scale.

To continue... if you play from the third note of any major scale and play until you reach that third note again, you are playing Phrygian.

4th note to 4th note - Lydian
5th note to 5th note - Mixolydian
6th note to 6th note - Aeolian
7th note to 7th note - Locrian

In the case of F major, the sixth note in the scale is D. So if you play the notes of the F major scale starting from D and through to D again, you are playing D Aeolian.

That's how D Aeolian relates back to F major.

At least... that's one way it does. The sixth degree of a major scale is also the relative minor of the major scale. Maybe he meant that?

In that sense, every Aeolian scale relates back to the major scale it is based on by virtue of starting at the relative minor position.

In another sense, every diatonic mode "relates" back to the key it is based on by virtue of the fact that the modes are made up of only the notes that are in that major key.

Hope that helps. Lots of people tried to explain modes to me in terms of intervals, and it confused me for a long time.

You have one freaky ass display picture, Davo. What happens if I tell it to "kill"?

Yeah, you're also right, and explained it in more detail than the rest of us.

Hopefully everyone's comments will be helpful to you Empirism.

Thanks Jazzman. When I was starting out, I found the partial explanation would leave me more confused than no explanation at all some times hehe.

I piked that image from one of Radiohead's old websites.

Yeah, that's the best way to go about it, but I think the reason why most things are so vague is because they want people to also learn on their own - which I also agree with, but only to a certain level.

Radiohead? Wow wouldn't have guessed that.

Oh yeah, thanks davo!, even my kind of old dog can learn new stuff :D, thanks also everyone else who tried to hammer these things to my head...

Cheers!