Ok first off I know what modes are, and I know how to play them. I jsut want to know if anybody can tell me what modes are good for certain types of music. I know one of them is good for a Latin sound and I know a lot of classic rock solos use the Dorian mode but I don't know all of it. Can anybody help?
all the modes are based around a major scale, same intervals, just starting on a different note ionian (root - major scale) dorian (2nd) phygian (3rd) lydian (4th) mixolydian (5th) aolean (6th natural minor) locrian (7th)
I wrote a long-ass reply and then figured out I'll wipe it off and just tell you I tried to help man.
What I wrote before wiping it off was all about modal chord progressions. Anyone interested, PM or MSN me and let's talk about it!
I definitely do! Alright well Jaakko just reccomended Frank Gambale's "Modes No More Mystery" video. I found a torrent of it.
Pretty much all Western music was based on modes up until the XVIth century. Harmony was treated differently than it is in XXth century modal music, though.
And you forget that until late 1800's, the equal tempered tuning system didn't even exist. Everything older than that sounds very different on the originally tuned instruments and the tuning we consider and HEAR "normal" today. It made an instrument strictly one-key-only and the intervals were all different and all chords sounded different because of that. So let's just ignore all that really OLD shit ok?
I was just answering the question about which styles made (or make) use of modes. And actually, the biggest (and most relevant) amount of music up until the XVIth century was vocal music, not instrumental music, and it didn´t use modulation extensively. Equal temperament does not play an important role when talking about the human voice, and specially not in non tonal, non modulating music. All recorded versions of renaissance music done by specialized scholars sound pretty normal, not like sung by untempered singers. So I believe it´s relevant to consider this really OLD shit when talking about the general use of modes.
Oh! And Bach wrote The Well-Tempered Clavier way before the late 1800s, when equal temperament was already familiar to musicians.
I don't think he's asking which styles use modes in general, but which modes create a certain stylistic sound. Of course, the answer is still pretty broad. Styles are not defined, in most cases, by modal sounds. You can use just about any mode in just about any style to good effect if you know what you're doing.
You're right. My answer should have read "Ionian, Dorian, Phrygian, Mixolydian and Aeolian are used in XVIth century polyphony, and if used accordingly they create an archaic sounding atmosphere."
Yes. A good musician can make any of those modes sound latin (or whatever other genre). I find that the mode determines the mood more than anything. The groove/rhythm will have a lot more to do with the perceived style. You can have happy latin or sad latin or mysterious latin or chillin' latin...whatever mood you want if you know your shit.
What exactly do you mean by Latin? You know latin music goes from Mexican "Rancheras" to Argentinian "Tango" and everything in between. I would say it is very hard to define an all-embracing latin sonority. On the other hand, yes, style and genre are determined mainly by the treatment given to rhythm, melody, harmony, texture, instrumentation, form, etc. Not by something as abstract as a scale.
Heh...ask an experienced latin musician sometime about all the different grooves. They'll start listing and explaining all these subtleties between them and which instrument defines each groove and/or the clave and your mind will be spinning the whole time.
Yup! I know. I am latin, and I live in Colombia (right in the middle) where all these influences from both north and south happen to come together. I am also an experienced musician, by the way.
Yeah you're one of those confusing motherfuckers. :P I know a little about it...some of the patterns. And my mentor right now is a beast with latin stuff (also his heritage) so I pick up bits from him...hoping to get really into it sometime after the new year. 8)
