When I was 17 or 18, I decided to figure out what “modes”
were. Many of the different explanations made sense to me, but
one comment was puzzling: “modes are rarely used in their pure
form.” Now, after twenty years as a professional guitarist, I have
a much clearer understanding of what the “modes” really are
and of their function. In this issue let’s focus on the second of
the seven basic modes, aka the Dorian mode.
There are two approaches to truly understanding any mode: the
medieval and the modern. The former focuses on taking the
Ionian/major scale and making the second tone the root or home
tone. The latter is a microwave version in which you simply alter
certain tones of the Ionian/major scale to achieve the Dorian. The
medieval approach gives us a more complete understanding of
how Dorian really works, while the modern approach gives us a
quicker way to relate to this mode.
Using the traditional or medieval idea, we take the major scale
and make the second tone the root; this gives us the scale
sequence of whole, half, whole, whole, whole, half, whole. After
we harmonize each tone in the Dorian scale we have following
chord sequence: i-ii-III-IV-v-vi°-VII-i. One of the most important
things I’ve learned as a musician is that to truly understand anything
in Western music, we must trace whatever we do back to
the Ionian/major scale and/or the Aeolian/minor scale.
The second tone of the major scale, if harmonized, gives us a
minor chord. Since the Dorian mode is based on the second
tone of the major scale, it must have a minor tonality. In fact,
we notice the only difference between the Dorian scale and
the Aeolian/minor scale is that the Dorian scale has a sharp
sixth tone when compared to the minor scale. If we just play
the basic minor scale and sharp the sixth tone, then we have
a Dorian scale. We must manipulate this tone, the sharp sixth,
to get the Dorian tonality. If not, you’ll just sound like you’re
using the minor scale. Since major and minor are the meat and
potatoes of music, I’ll just play the minor scale and occasionally
include a sharp sixth tone.
Modes are best used to give your licks a little “spice.” If we want
to use the Dorian scale we can use it sparingly to give our licks a
Dorian tonality. Here are a few examples:
We have a basic pentatonic melody with the sharp
sixth (D#) included in F# minor.
Notice that the sixth tone of the Dorian scale, when
harmonized, gives a diminished chord. Here I’ll manipulate that
idea with an intervallic approach to a diminished arpeggio, focusing
on the sharp sixth in G minor (the sharp sixth being an E
note instead of E flat).
Often I’ll use the diminished mode over a pentatonic
scale to give my melodies a Dorian tonality. Here is a simple idea
of the diminished arpeggio over the blues scale, here in G minor.
In our last example, we’ll use the James Bond
theme to show how the Dorian mode can be used to alter the
basic sound of the minor scale in E minor.
Jeff Beasley holds B.A. degrees in Music and Classical Guitar. He offers his readers 30
years of experience in studio, teaching, and performance. He is on the National Guitar
Workshop faculty in Nashville, TN. Jeff’s CD “Tiebreaker” is available through CD Baby,
Guitar 9, and Jeff’s website, GuitarSource3.com
. Jeff holds endorsement agreements with
Peavey, DiMarzio, RKS, THD, Ensotec, Robert Keeley, Knucklehead, and In Tune.