Guitar Modes help?

Question:If I have an A major scale What mode is it in the other keys

for example in the key of G or E etc. Q2 what a good website for teaching me the modes?

q3 Is there an easy formula for figuring out the modes?

thanks

Best Answer - Chosen by Asker: If I have an A major scale What mode is it in the other keys

for example in the key of G or E etc. Q2 what a good website for teaching me the modes?

q3 Is there an easy formula for figuring out the modes?

thanks

I start with the major scale... C D E F G A B C

Starting on C is major, starting on D is Dorian, E is Phrygian, F is Lydian, G is mixolydian, A is minor, and B is Locrian.

Associate the letters with the mode is how I do it. That's a matter of memorization, I guess. Knowing the order of the modes, from most sharp to most flat, is important too, but I'll get to that in a second.

It's three half-steps up from A to C, so the key of A major has three sharps in it. Since we're talking diatonic, I know which notes are sharp, too..... F#, C#, G#. So A major is A B C# D E F# G#.

Relate these notes to the C major scale C D E F G A B, and turn them into the mode names....

A relates to C which is Major.
B relates to D which is Dorian. A majors first mode is B Dorian.
C relates to E which is Phrygian. A major's second mode is C Phrygian.

etc.

Maybe I should give another example. Let's say I'm trying to figure out the notes in the key of D Mixolydian. First we look at the notes of the D natural scale. This is D Dorian. Hmmm. Dorian is the 'D' scale, and the Mixolydian scale is the 'G' scale. One sharp moves us from the D to G... so we can infer that going from D Dorian to D Mixolydian would require one sharp, specifically F->F#.

Flats B E A D G C F Sharps

This is a chunk of the circle of fifths, incidentally, and it gives us a great tool to use for transposition. If we want to move 'left' mode-wise (minor to dorian, for instance, or phrygian to mixolydian, etc) than we use sharps, and we use them in the order of F moving backwards (F, C, G...), one sharp per letter moved. Likewise for flats - "rightwise" movements will mean introducing flats, starting with B, then E, A, D, etc.

Let's do a different one. What are the notes of the B Lydian scale? B's natural mode is one the far left, so we'd have to move sharp-wise six times - all notes besides the B would be sharped! B major's notes would be all notes sharped but B and E.

Man, I hope this makes sense. Feel free to email me if it doesn't. I don't know if this is the "proper" way to think about it, but it makes sense, and I can figure out keys pretty fast, esp versus manually counting out the intervals, which is what I used to do....

As far as counting the intervals, what I mean by that is knowing that the Mixolydian scale is G -> G on the C major scale, I could count the first letter as "G", then since the next letter would be an "A" I would go up one step from my new root.... it's a little tedious, but it works.

Knowing how a mode is made isn't nearly as much fun as knowing how to use it....

Saul

Check out the source links I posted below and then you should be able to answer your own questions.

If you are talking about modes of the Major scale, i.e Ionian, Dorian Lydian etc. They are the same as for any other instrument.
Easy enough to teach. Go one octave from any note in the scale in the key of the scale. i.e. G Mixolydian is G to G in the Key of C. I am glad to help you with any more info you would like just email me.