Can anyone...

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Musician78

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Give a few examples of well known guitar solos in each of the modes?

I’m now, after 25 or so years, learning and beginning to understand modes. If anyone could list off different solos in each of the modes I would owe you my life!
 
One of my favorites is the first solo in La Villa Strangiato by Rush. Over the A bass note, Alex is playing plain ole Aminor (Aeolian mode). Then over the F bass note he keeps playing the same scale/notes but now it is F lydian.
 
This one goes a bit outside standard modes but worth mentioning imo. Check out this Viking Kong video that Paul Gilbert did solo at an Ibanez promo.



Over the A note he plays A harmonic minor and then over the E note he plays the exact same scale/notes but it is now E phrygian dominant. Sounds awesome.
 
SpiderWars":pwvd352c said:
Over the A bass note, Alex is playing plain ole Aminor (Aeolian mode). Then over the F bass note he keeps playing the same scale/notes but now it is F lydian.
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SpiderWars":pwvd352c said:
Over the A note he plays A harmonic minor and then over the E note he plays the exact same scale/notes but it is now E phrygian dominant. Sounds awesome.
Click to expand...

Both of these explanations are a complicated way to look at both of these songs. The simpler explanation is that the melody is still in A minor (using either Aeolian for Rush or harmonic minor for Gilbert) the entire time. There was no mode change in either song. There was just a chord change and the melody emphasized appropriate notes to stay pleasant with the harmony.

Guitarists tend to think vertically and complicate music far to often when it comes to chords. If you try to think of harmony as independent voices, both of these melodies do not require modal changes at all. Taking a bar or two in isolation and convincing yourself that the mode change from A Aeolian to F Lydian missing the bigger picture and expressing the music in a more complicated manner to other musicians when a simpler description makes more sense.
 
Musician78":a7w8k3n3 said:
Give a few examples of well known guitar solos in each of the modes?

I’m now, after 25 or so years, learning and beginning to understand modes. If anyone could list off different solos in each of the modes I would owe you my life!
Click to expand...

You can easily search for examples of modes on the internet. No one ever uses Locrian because the perfect 5th is the strongest harmonic after the octave, it is very hard to resolve the music because even if you don't play this note, you can hear it.

Off the top of my head, the songs I think of that make it obvious which note is pulling the key towards a certain mode.

Mixolydian- Satch: Summer Song main melody
The bend from F#->G->F# is emphasized and brings out the Mixolydian flavor compared to a parallel major key that would have a G#.

Phrygian- Metallica: Wherever I May Roam main riff
That F is repeatedly hammered instead of a F#, which would be in the parallel natural minor. This note choice makes the riff very Phrygian. Also think of any stereotypical flamenco style music.

Lydian- Satch (again:) Flying in a Blue Dream main melody
The 2nd note is a #4 (The F# in the key of C), and it is emphasized throughout the melody to give it the Lydian feel.

Dorian- Michael Jackson: Thriller chorus
The 4th note (the 2nd "er") is a #6 in C# minor, given that part a very heavy Dorian feel. The rest of the chorus vocal melody avoids either the 6 or the #6, so the only time it has a feel is that opening descending line. The rest of it just sounds minor.
 
The key is to find out what the key of the chord progression really is. You might assume it's B based on the first chord you are playing, but if you make that a Bminor chord, then the key of your chord progression is D! D is the root, A is the fifth, G is the fourth and Bm is the relative minor of D. Now, the notes of the D major scale will fit over all these chords. If you are going for a happy tune, jam on D ionian over this, which is just D major.. if you want a Space-y mysterious dreamy tune, try G lydian which has the raised 4th of C# (3rd of the D major scale). B aeolian (minor) should work if you going for a sad pensive tune. You can use the other modes available in the same fashion.
 
The “Feel Like We Do” solo is what helped me understand/hear/“get’” the Dorian tonality.
 
I realized another really good Dorian example is the first riff from Castlevania's Vampire Killer... and holycrap that is super similar to the Michael Jackson chorus.
 
By the way, do you think that to come up with cool solos you should just train your motor skills and hum melodies often or repeat someone else's solos 100 times?
 
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