Modes, scales, and fret positions!

In a previous article I wrote a little about the Circle of Fifths and Modes. When I was first learning guitar I learned one scale, the minor scale. Later I got a teacher who tried to teach me ALL THE MODES in just 3 months.

This was of course hard for me at the time, getting too much theory input in one go. But when hearing about the different modes and the relationship between them, over 20 years later. I recognized the names, and was able to start connecting the dots. Still not the ones on the fret board, but at least what the teacher tried to tell me.

Of course, I could move the minor scale to any fret position I needed. An adventage with guitar is that the notes have the same relationship to each other relative to finger position no matter where on the neck you are so fret positions doesn’t make much difference.

Each of the seven modes, Ionian, Dorian, Phrygian, Lydian, Mixolydian, Aeolian amd Locrian have their own distinct scales. I previous mentioned the minor scale, that is the Aeolian minor scale, so I knew the Aeolian scale all along.

A friend from the Rocksmith Guitar community online, RubberDave, posted a friendly tool on the Rocksmith Unity blog that comes handy. With a few simple sliders you can select the mode of desire, the key, and the neck position, and a toggle between pentatonic and diatonic scales, and you’ll get all the finger positions for the selected scale.

Play around with it to familiarize yourself with the modes. I certainly will. I might even screenshot the fret hand positions for future uses. And remember, practice guitar should be fun.