This video proved to be a hit on YouTube! Here Pete approaches what the modes are and how they work with each other in an easy to learn format!
Let's break it down!
One way to learn the modes of the major scale more quickly, is to break down all the information into small chunks. The first step is to divide the modes between major and minor.
The major scale (Ionian mode) contains 6 other modes that are built from each degree of the scale.
Here's the neat part: set aside Locrian (mode 7, the odd one out) and the remaining six split perfectly in half. You've heard the term 1, 4 and 5 before – those are your major modes (Ionian, Lydian, Mixolydian), the ones the primary chords are built on, with chord 5's pull back to chord 1 giving us the perfect cadence that so much Western harmony is built from. That leaves 2, 3 and 6 as your minor modes (Dorian, Phrygian, Aeolian). One decision – major or minor? – instantly halves what you have to remember.
Reduce further: every one of these modes shares a root, an octave and a perfect 5th. That's three of eight notes you already know before you've learned anything mode-specific.
It's as easy as 123 (4)
The major scale and all of its modes can be divided into just 4 shapes that contain just 4 notes.
These are called Tetrachords – Tetrachord is just another word for a 4-note scale (tetra = 4, chord = strings).
Split any mode at the octave's halfway point and it becomes two tetrachords – and across all seven modes there are only four distinct tetrachord shapes to learn. Learn four small shapes, learn which pairs make which mode, and the whole intimidating subject folds up into something your hands can actually remember. This chunking approach – using how your memory really works – is exactly the territory Pete explores with neuroscientist Dr Molly Gebrian in their interview series on practice.
And when you want the four shapes themselves – in notation, TAB and fretboard diagrams, plus the eight more that unlock harmonic minor, melodic minor and beyond – Pete has written the whole method up: The Complete Guide to Tetrachords, with two free printable PDFs.
Modes come in fives as well as sevens: the bass pentatonic scale has five modes of its own, and the same chunking trick – count the semitones, not the notes – makes those stick too. It's the scale you'll reach for most often, and one extra note turns it into the (minor) blues scale.
And when you want to see all seven — drawn across the whole bass neck, in any key, with every note playable out loud — open the Fretboard Modemap, our free interactive modes tool. Its same-notes view shows exactly what this lesson teaches: seven modes hiding in one set of notes, and only home moves.
Want the modes under your fingers, not just in your head? Book online bass lessons with Pete — or in person in South Wales.