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The shortcut that makes modes playable. Each of the six modes you'll use is just a pentatonic scale with two notes added inside its minor-third gaps: the major modes (Lydian, Ionian, Mixolydian) add a 4th and 7th to the major pentatonic; the minor modes (Dorian, Aeolian, Phrygian) add a 2nd and 6th to the minor pentatonic. Those two extra notes are the mode's color — and since each sits just a semitone from a scale tone, they're also exactly where dissonance can lurk when you improvise.
What follows is this lesson’s section of the Course Guide — you can read it here or in the full guide →
The six most commonly used modes each contain a complete pentatonic scale. Since a pentatonic scale contains five notes and a mode contains seven, we can add two notes to a pentatonic scale to create a major scale mode.
The three major modes, Lydian, Ionian, and Mixolydian, all contain a major pentatonic scale. The two additional notes (the 4th and 7th scale degrees) fit inside the minor third intervals of the pentatonic scale:
The three minor modes, Dorian, Aeolian, and Phrygian, all contain a minor pentatonic scale. The two additional notes (the 2nd and 6th scale degrees) fit inside the minor third intervals of the pentatonic scale:
It is worth noting that each of the added notes is always one semitone away from a pentatonic scale note. Whenever you have two notes in a scale that are separated by one semitone, there’s a good chance that over any given chord, one of those notes will sound quite a bit more dissonant than the other.
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