Modal Pentatonics
(25 Aug 05)
Those chord-thingies
Now, how to apply them?
Well, of course you could start of by using each one of those pentatonics over a static chord i.e. D Dorian over a static Dmin (or Dmin7), or F Lydian over a static Fmaj, or Fmaj7
(Here are the triads of C major again, if you're not familiar with how they are derived, check out Guni's articles about chord scales: C-Dm-Em-F-G-A-Bdim-C, or as 7th chords: Cmaj7-Dm7-Em7-Fmaj7-G7-Am7-Bm7b5)
Now, I think it's even more interesting if you try to bring out the sound of each mode not only with the scale you use, but also with the chords you use in the background. And you can go beyond just strumming one static chord, by doing this:
As our starting point, we take the three major triads of the major scale. In C, those would be Cmaj, Fmaj and G maj. Now let's turn that into a 2 bar progression: half a bar of G, half a bar of F, one bar of C. (or, one bar of G, one bar of F, two bars of C, to get a 4 bar progression).
If you use the C major scale (or C maj pentatonic) over those, you'll essentially get a good representation of the "major sound". If you use the modes (or modal pentatonics) over it, the results may vary.
I think that one thing that a lot of people forget about, or do not figure out, is that it's not only the scale you use that creates a modal sound, but also the chords you use that scale over. Now, let's use those slash chords (slash chords are basically chords with a bass note that is not part of the chord, or at least not the root of the chord. If you i.e. See Dm / C, it means "Dminor chord over a C bass note". C is usually not part of the chord. Or D/F#... Dmajor triad over F# bass note. The F# is the third of the chord, but in this case, we have the F# (or another one) in the bass, as the lowest note. That's it in a nutshell.)
Now, let's take the chord progression above (G F-C) and add a D bass note to each one. So we get G/D F/D – C/D.
Now, record yourself playing those chords over and over, or use a keyboard or sequencer to create a loop of them, or have a friend play them for you... or use Powertab to create a loop with a piano or string sound. (Adding a bass in powertab or with your keyboard will be even better... try adding the bass note in static 8th-notes).
And then... play the D dorian pentatonic (or, if you prefer to think of it that way, the Dmin pentatonic) over it. I think you'll see that that gets out the dorian sound a bit better than just playing a full dorian scale over a min chord.
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