Are Modes A Waste Of Time?

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[dizzydad]

We're always playing in some sort of mode. It doesn't matter if i know which one or not, somebody will be sure to tell me. I just like keeping inside the key signature.

[lancelotlink]

I understand and agree. What made the mode idea clear to me was that I learned what a major and minor scale is. If you are using those notes you now know the Ionian and Aeolian. Then you add the flat 7 to the major and you're in Mixolydian. Add the major 6th to the minor and you are playing Dorian. The other modes don't really come up. Will knowing that make you a better player? Probably not. But I do like to know what the relative major or minor is of any key/song. That does help me. I also want to know the chords (basically what Guthrie is saying). That also helps me- so I can play the chord tones.

[TheMewzak]

Kind of misleading logic. Just because you havent found an application for it in the music you play, does not mean it doesnt have merit elsewhere.
Try playing with Per Nilsson

[nachyomoney]

Modes are not a waste if time. Recently, I have learned that I had been using modes in my improvisation for years without knowing. I play a lot of blues and classic rock. Once I learned a few modes like the dorian, myxolydian, and aeolian and what and why they exist, it unlocked more colors and ideas in my improvisation skills. I hope to keep learning and incorporating new scales and modes. I would like to learn more about jazz and how to not just stay in pentatonic scales and various modes, but to move through the chord changes more efficiently and with a more exact understanding of what I am doing.

[DanRussellGuitar]

Gets you to the same destination, doesn't matter what you call it. Dominant 7 scale / mixolydian, same thing, how you study and learn them is up to to you at the end of the day, if you're having fun and its working then it's working. I have learned a lot from Rick Beato & Matt Schofield, they mention modes all the time, are they wrong?

[rodrigomoreno]

Modes are useful when composing, it can lead to interesting key changes, or simply understanding the mood that you want to give the song and the chords that are going to be most important in the composition.

But for a musician that is mainly focused on just playing music, modes are pretty useless, they're more focused on knowing the progression they're playing if they're going to improvise, they play it and they'll naturally be in that mode that the song was composed on.

[guitarfriendtim]

A-fricken-men. And by that I mean Aeolian-fricken-men.

[gregoryguitars]

I've been trying to explain this exact thing, to a friend of mine that is convinced that he needs to learn all modes in all keys, just to play leads on Dead tunes.

[timwhite]

I hear modes discussed all the time, but it's always in relation to Metal. I don't really hear it from players in other genres.

[Positivedistractions]

Man I studied modes and realized at the end of it that modes were more of a classification for the tonic of a given key… very interesting take I loved it!

[sharpermirror]

It doesn't matter if someone mentions modes or not. They're damn well using them. They may not know it, or care, but they are.

Guitarists... Stop. Telling. People. Not. To. Learn. Theory.

[jonstephenson]

Yeah. I mean. I agree. For some people it makes them happy to have a label for things. If you aren’t happy saying “it’s a minor sound with a major 6”, then maybe you say “Dorian”. It’s absolutely not necessary for understanding the theory that you actually need. Plus, the way the books teach modes is so stupid and confusing. “Start on the second degree of the major scale and you have Dorian🤦🏻‍♂️. Get outta here with that crap. That explanation never helped anyone out in the history of learning the guitar.

[alexpoteetguitar]

1) I’m a lifelong GT fan firstly
2) modes are scales and GT talks about scales all the time
3) Jack Ruch talks about modes all the time
4) You don’t hear people who are fluent in English talk about adjectives, pronouns, sentence structuring, etc. They just speak. Same with modes.
5) What GT says about chord tones > modes is still is 100 percent right
6) Can we please quit shitting on modes

[Colburnbeat]

Only guitar players talk about modes and idk why. I also play Keys and produce music, we never use modes lol you just play in key and play whatever notes in the accommodating scales

[jasper_north]

You just talked about it after 24 years!!!

[joshgilliam]

Leave it to Guthrie to drop hard truths

[Shadows_Inc]

I'm sorry, I'm classically trained. What the hell is a "mode" exactly? Is it like an electric instrument filter?