Scales and modes tend to get explained like they require a PhD in math or Greek history, but they’re just ways of describing note choices. Some fancy-pants just gave the modes a bunch of funny names.

If you’ve played around with major and minor keys a bit, maybe dabbled in relative and parallel minors, then you’re already halfway there.

a scale of what?

A scale is simply a collection of notes that sound good together, arranged in order. You move up and down scales by steps (or intervals) of one semitone (half-step) or two semitones (whole step). Most of us first learn the major and minor (diatonic) scales.

Major Scale (diatonic)

The Major Scale (diatonic) is the most familiar example of a scale. It sounds bright, almost happy.

• Interval pattern (from the root):

  • Steps: Whole – Whole – Half – Whole – Whole – Whole – Half

  • Semitones: (root) - 2 - 2 - 1 - 2 - 2 - 2 - 1

  • Example - G major: (G) - A - B - C - D - E - F# - G

  • The major scale has a major 3rd above the root.

  • The leading tone (7th note) sits a half step below the root, creating a strong pull back to home.

Minor Scale (diatonic)

The Minor scale (diatonic) sounds darker, sadder, more introspective.

• Interval pattern (from the root):

  • Steps: Whole – Half – Whole – Whole – Half – Whole – Whole

  • Semitones: (root) - 2 - 1 - 2 - 2 - 1 - 2 - 2

  • Example - G minor: (G) - A - B♭ - C - D - E♭ - F - G

  • The minor scale has a minor third above the root; this darkens the sound.

  • Compared to the major, three steps are lowered: ♭3 (minor third), ♭6, and ♭7

  • The ♭7 removes the strong leading-tone pull back to the root. This makes it feel less resolved, more tense, more open-ended.

Almost everything else you will encounter is a variation on the above two ideas.

I know I put “moods” in the title of this page, but… Scales are not moods. They are raw materials.

What a mode actually is

A mode is not a new set of notes. You just start from a new spot. A new root.

A mode is what happens when you take an existing set of notes and decide that a different note is home.

That change of home note changes the emotional centre. Same notes, different feeling.

ONE thing to rule the modes

To use any mode, the process is always the same:

1. Pick a home note first.

2. Borrow the notes from a nearby major scale.

3. Make one specific note impossible to ignore.

If you do not emphasise the note that makes the mode different, it will just sound like a normal key.

seven for the mode-lords in their halls of tone

There are seven modes, and you already know one of them:

1. Ionian (1st mode): The Major Scale (see, I told you)

2. Dorian (2nd mode): minor-type scale, starting on the 2nd note

3. Phrygian (3rd mode): minor-type scale, starting on the 3rd note

4. Lydian (4th mode): major-type scale, starting on the 4th note

5. Mixolydian (5th mode): major-type scale, starting on the 5th note

6. Aeolian (6th mode): Natural minor scale, starting on the 6th note

7. Locrian (7th mode): Diminished-type scale, starting on the 7th note

Ionian (major)

Ionian is simply the major scale.

Use the major scale that starts on your home note and resolve cleanly.
It feels stable, open, and finished.
If something sounds “normal” or familiar, this is usually why.

Aeolian (natural minor)

Aeolian is the natural minor scale.

Pick a home note and borrow notes from the major scale a minor third above it.
Resolve normally and lean into seriousness or sadness.
This is the sound most people mean when they say “minor”.

Dorian (minor, but lighter)

Dorian is minor with one important difference.

Pick a home note and borrow notes from the major scale a whole step below it.
The defining note is the natural sixth, which would normally be flat in minor.

To make Dorian mode obvious, feature that raised sixth and avoid leaning too hard into sadness.
It feels thoughtful, restrained, and quietly hopeful.

Phrygian (dark and tense)

Phrygian is minor with immediate tension.

Pick a home note and borrow notes from the major scale a minor third above it.

The defining note is the flat second.

To make Phrygian obvious, sit on the clash between the root and that flat second.

Do not resolve comfortably; if it feels ominous or unsettled, it is working.

Lydian (bright, floating)

Lydian is major, but slightly unreal.

Pick a home note and borrow notes from the major scale a perfect fifth above it.

The defining note is the sharp fourth.

Feature that raised fourth and avoid the usual “this feels finished” pull of major.

Lydian sounds open, dreamy, and weightless.

Mixolydian (major, but relaxed)

Mixolydian is major without the urgency to resolve.

Pick a home note and borrow notes from the major scale a perfect fourth above it.

The defining note is the flat seventh.

Lean on that flat seventh and avoid strong leading-tone resolutions.

It feels confident, loose, and grounded in groove rather than tension.

Locrian (unstable by design)

Locrian exists, but it does not want to settle.

Pick a home note and borrow notes from the major scale a tritone above it.

The defining notes are the flat second and flat fifth.

Avoid resolution and accept instability; this mode is about tension, not comfort.

The pattern underneath all of this

You do not need to memorise seven systems.

Most modes are simply:

• Major with one note changed

• Minor with one note changed

That single note reshapes the emotional centre; if you know which note is doing the emotional work, the mode becomes audible.

How to practise this without overthinking

1. Start small.

2. Use two or three notes.

3. End phrases on your home note.

4. Deliberately feature the defining note.

Modes are not about fast scale runs. They are about where the music wants to fall.

If something feels unexpectedly bright, tense, or unstable, you are hearing a mode doing its job.

parting words

Scales are note collections. Modes are emotional perspectives.

You already use them, even if you do not name them.

This is not a test or a checklist; it is a palette.

As always, follow your ears… and feel the shift.