I remember when I first learned about “modes”, and being surprised that: C Major, C Ionian, D Dorian, E Phrygian, F Lydian, G Mixolydian, A Natural Minor, A Aeolian, and B Locrian all use the same notes (all the white keys, in those examples). The only difference being which note you’ve chosen for the tonic, which changes the whole mood (?) of a melody.
Thanks for that. My main experience is guitar, and I always have to pause and carefully count semitones in my head to translate from fret board to keyboard.
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This is essentially the most important thing to learn. A scale is only defined by the harmonic content of a song. What is the root note, where is my chord progression leading to?
Sadly you see a lot of modular patches, where someone is using the new hipster scale kamehameha-kabojusitschi - but uses bass-notes that put the scale into a totally different context, most often just minor without the 2nd, 4th or 7th…
It is so easy to check, if you are really in the scale / mode you think you are. You just use a harmonaig or the new squinkytronix harmony thingy and check if the rest of the song is supporting that scale, when you set the harmonic chord generator to the same scale and feed the base notes of your patch into it…
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