G Mixolydian over E minor

[eastwood]

I decided to play G Mix over E minor progression and I loved the results !

Why was that ?

I sounded kinda 'spooky'....horror film stuff !

Love to know the theory behing that.

Daz

[eastwood]

arrrghhh !

Just worked it out...i think !

I was experiencing E Phygian !

G Mix = E Phyg ?

Daz

[EricV]

Uh-huh, G Mixolydian has the same notes as E-Phrygian, both are modes of C Maj.
Eric

[eastwood]

Eric,

If G mix has the same notes as E phyrg.......

So if I play G mix over a Eminor progression this is the same as playing E phyg over an E minor progression ?

Or am I getting lost Eric ?

Thanks,

Daz

[EricV]

Well, basically you could say that... it´s the same notes after all. Playing in a certain mode required treating that mode like the major scale though... you gotta play out certain notes to emphasize the sound of the mode.
Also, the chords in the background are important too... if you have some progression like Em-G-F-Em, it will imply a phrygian sound, even if you think "G Mixolydian"
If you play Ephryg. or G Mixo. over an actual E Minor progression, such as Em-D-C-Em ( playing out the minor and major chords instead of playing powerchords ), it might work, but you also might get some weird sounds, since the Dmaj contains an F#, while E Phryg. and G Mixol. do not.
Many people think that using modes simply means to play a major scale from a certain degree to its octave ( such as playing from the thrid note to the octave of that note = Phrygian ), and nothign else.
But it´s also important to pay attention to the chords and progressions in the back.
Try i.e. playing a progression like Em-G-F-Em over a static G-bassnote, while playing over that in G mixolydian. This might result in a rather mixolydian sound
Hoep this helps
Eric

[eastwood]

Thanks Eric...that has helped alot !

I think I need to write myself some 'modal progressions'

Can you point me in the right direction for some help on this ?

I have always tended to try and fit a certain mode over a static bass note or a simple powerchord progression....this only seems to work to a certain degree.

As a play in metal band I tend not to use the major modes too much......but if I write a series of progressions its going to help me no end.

Daz

[EricV]

Check out the ptb I attached to this post... I have posted it before at the forums.
It contains a simple triad ( which I consider important: triads instead of "just" powerchords ) progression, taken from the key of Cmajor... G-F-C

The first 4 bars have a static C bassnote, try playing C major here.

Then, that part is repeated, with a F bassnote. Which gives it a "Lydian" sound, so try F Lydian ( F-G-A-B-C-D-E-F )

The next 4 bars are again those triads, played over a G bassnote... G mixolydian sound.
And ebventually, A bassnote... A minor

I´d recommend not to see this as "one" piece of music. Take only bars 5-8, and have the program plkay those bars back over and over. Try to play over that in F Lydian for a while. Take your time with it.
What I mean is, don´t listen to those 16 bars as "one piece of music". Approach each section by itself.
This by no means is rocket-science or anything, it´s a very basic progression and simply changing the bassnote is not anthing like sophisticated songwriting.
But I think it might help you to go into the right direction. Experiment with this. Try to come up with your own progressions. Try changing the bass notes, don´t just play the root of each chord or anything.
Hope this helps
Eric