Duration: 5:15 · 1080p Stream
Master video playlist mapped. Ready for batch offline download to media/videos/csf-5-4.mp4.
Take the modes on the move. The diagonal stack and rectangle pathways from Module 3 are the skeleton; add the two color notes and you've got a diagonal pathway through the full mode — nothing genuinely new. The color notes stay in the same upper/staggered/lower spot inside every shape along the path, so switching modes is just moving them, and switching from a stack pathway to a rectangle pathway keeps the same pentatonic skeleton. Play it in groups of three over a drone, stay aware of the chord tones underneath, and really hear the color notes that define each mode.
What follows is this lesson’s section of the Course Guide — you can read it here or in the full guide →
In the last lesson, we built modes in position. Now we move across the neck, and once again nothing new happens: the diagonal pathways from 3-5 are the skeleton, and the two color notes decorate them.
We'll start with stacks, since stack pathways are the ones most players already use without thinking about it. A stack spans a full octave, and the next stack starts exactly where the last one ends. Add the color notes (upper, staggered, or lower, exactly as they were in position), and they sit in the same place inside every stack along the pathway.
Rectangles work the same way, with the wrinkle we met in 3-5: a rectangle doesn't quite span an octave, so moving between rectangles means adding the connecting note — two frets above the top of the shape or two frets below the bottom. Slide into it, going up through the note above and coming down through the note below, and your hand arrives already in position for the next rectangle. Add the color notes, and you have a diagonal mode pathway built from rectangles, alternating strings of three and four notes.
Switching modes on either pathway just means moving the color notes. Staggered for Ionian, upper for Lydian, lower for Mixolydian, and the same three positions on a minor pentatonic pathway for Dorian, Aeolian, and Phrygian. Locrian still doesn't fit cleanly, but the usual trick works — start with the Phrygian color notes and flatten the fifth, and the geometry runs diagonally like everything else.
Exercise 5-3: Pick a tonal center and a mode, and set up the matching drone. Choose a diagonal pathway, rectangle or stack, and decorate it with the mode's color notes. Play it straight up and down, but also in groups of three, ascending and descending. It's the same idea as Module 3, just with two extra notes per shape. Once it's comfortable, change one variable: try the same pathway with a different mode, or the same mode on the other pathway. Stay aware of the root and the chord tones, and make sure you're hearing the color notes, not just playing them. They're what give the mode its character.
Triad drone for the decorated pathways — swap the quality when you swap the mode.
A2 · C3 ♭3 · E3 5
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