Jazz Modes Explained MUST SEE!!! 🎹😃 │ Jazz Piano Lesson │
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Hi! Today, I'll show you a trick that you can use when you're playing any jazz standard, especially when you play so called the 'modal jazz' such as the tune that you're hearing in the background. And this is a way of making our lives, as upcoming jazz pianists, so much easier. To be honest, when I found this pattern myself, I couldn't believe that nobody had ever shown me this little trick.
The trick I'll present for you today is about looking at things differently than how it usually is presented. Recently, we published another jazz piano lesson here on YouTube about 'funk jazz'. And here, I also revealed some of this trick by showing you how you can easily find the Phrygian scale anywhere by playing the diatonic scale also called the major scale and the Ionian scale.
Then, I got this request and this suggestion. The request was about showing how we can easily find other mode scales by using similar rules. Check! This is what I'll show you today, so stay tuned. And the suggestion was to present the scale as a normal minor scale where you lower the second note. And this would work.
But believe me, there is a much simpler way to look at the modes to know what scale you can play over the different kinds of chords. So let me now jump over to my piano and I'll show you exactly what I mean. So here, we have the seven scales--- the seven modes. They are all starting on the white keys.
You can use that as a reference. But of course, you can transpose them all across your piano. So, the idea now is that these scales... Once you know these scales, you can improvise over any jazz standard you'd like and it's a very good tool to have in your tool kit to improvise. That's the way I see it.
Let me just walk us through them because we have some scales that will fit whenever you're playing a major chord, some scales that will fit if you play a minor chord or minor with a b5, and then, the dom7. So, the first scale we should learn is the C scale. And this is the... this is the pattern of the C scale, right? Or the diatonic scale because we're gonna use C as reference, okay? Because of course, you can play this scale now, the C scale: straightforward.
You can play that - the same pattern anywhere. So the D scale is, you know... it includes the same steps: of course. And then, the next scale is the Dorian scale and this is a lot used when you're playing on minor chords. So the Dorian scale is B to D on the white keys: And that includes a sharp or raised 6th.
so 1, 2, 3, 4, 5: This would be the normal minor scale: But now you play this instead: Alright? And then, we have the Phrygian scale: which is also the same as the minor chord or minor scale: except now you flatten the second note like this: Then, you have the Lydian scale: which is also now... this is actually a major scale: but now you sharpen in the fourth: Play this instead: And then you have the Mixolydian scale which is also a major scale: But instead of playing this one, you now play: this one.
And then, you have the Aeolian scale which is the same as the normal minor scale: And then, we have the Locrian scale and the Locrian scale is also major scale: but now instead of playing all the black keys, you play a flat 2: and then a flat 3: and then the 4: and the flat 5: flat 6: and flat 7: And this one is used a lot when you play a minor 7 with a flat 5.
So there you have all of the modes. So this is the way the modes are presented normally. Again, the Ionian scale was the normal diatonic scale, and the Dorian scale is used for any minor chord. The Phrygian scale is usually used for minor chords if you want to get this kind of Arabic sound. And the Lydian scale is used for major chords now with a sharp 11.
Then, I got this request and this suggestion. The request was about showing how we can easily find other mode scales by using similar rules. Check! This is what I'll show you today, so stay tuned. And the suggestion was to present the scale as a normal minor scale where you lower the second note. And this would work.
But believe me, there is a much simpler way to look at the modes to know what scale you can play over the different kinds of chords. So let me now jump over to my piano and I'll show you exactly what I mean. So here, we have the seven scales--- the seven modes. They are all starting on the white keys.
You can use that as a reference. But of course, you can transpose them all across your piano. So, the idea now is that these scales... Once you know these scales, you can improvise over any jazz standard you'd like and it's a very good tool to have in your tool kit to improvise. That's the way I see it.
Let me just walk us through them because we have some scales that will fit whenever you're playing a major chord, some scales that will fit if you play a minor chord or minor with a b5, and then, the dom7. So, the first scale we should learn is the C scale. And this is the... this is the pattern of the C scale, right? Or the diatonic scale because we're gonna use C as reference, okay? Because of course, you can play this scale now, the C scale: straightforward.
You can play that - the same pattern anywhere. So the D scale is, you know... it includes the same steps: of course. And then, the next scale is the Dorian scale and this is a lot used when you're playing on minor chords. So the Dorian scale is B to D on the white keys: And that includes a sharp or raised 6th.
so 1, 2, 3, 4, 5: This would be the normal minor scale: But now you play this instead: Alright? And then, we have the Phrygian scale: which is also the same as the minor chord or minor scale: except now you flatten the second note like this: Then, you have the Lydian scale: which is also now... this is actually a major scale: but now you sharpen in the fourth: Play this instead: And then you have the Mixolydian scale which is also a major scale: But instead of playing this one, you now play: this one.
And then, you have the Aeolian scale which is the same as the normal minor scale: And then, we have the Locrian scale and the Locrian scale is also major scale: but now instead of playing all the black keys, you play a flat 2: and then a flat 3: and then the 4: and the flat 5: flat 6: and flat 7: And this one is used a lot when you play a minor 7 with a flat 5.
So there you have all of the modes. So this is the way the modes are presented normally. Again, the Ionian scale was the normal diatonic scale, and the Dorian scale is used for any minor chord. The Phrygian scale is usually used for minor chords if you want to get this kind of Arabic sound. And the Lydian scale is used for major chords now with a sharp 11.
And then, you have the Mixolydian scale which you can use on dominant 7th chords. And then, the Aeolian scale is just like a normal minor scale that you can play over any minor chord as well. And then, the Locrian scale is mostly used for any minor chord with a flat 5. So, do you think this sounds easy to learn? No, me neither.
Actually, this was something that I found to be one of the most confusing things to learn when I started out as a jazz pianist, not to mention that I now had to learn all of the seven mode scales in 12 keys. That's 84 new things to learn altogether! A lot of work that will require a lot of time. But what if I told you that there is a better way that you can save a lot of time and effort? Let me show you now what I discovered.
That's Round Midnight and I'm going to show you this afterwards where we're gonna use my principles for improvising by tweaking the modes a little bit. You know, we're gonna play the same modes as before but now we're gonna see them differently. That's the whole goal for this little lesson. So, it started for me when I was a student at the jazz conservatory long back in the days.
An at that time, I was practicing all of the seven modes throughout all of the twelve keys. So that's seven scales times twelve. A lot of scales! And then, I soon discovered that this is not needed. You don't have to do this. It's a lot easier to see all of the scales as just major scales or diatonic scales.
Because if you know how to play a C scale: then you know how to play the rest of the modes. That makes sense. But I'm gonna show you the relationships here. So we all know when we're playing the Aeolian scale, from A to A: That's a minor scale, the normal minor scale: It's the same scale as the C scale: with a different starting point.
So, it's also the parallel key. So C, the key of C and the key of A minor are parallel keys because they got the same amounts of sharps which is zero and they got the same amounts of flats which is also zero. Now, we can see this as... we can use the same principles when we are playing all of the other modes as well.
and I'm gonna show you how. So now, the D minor: If you're gonna play a tune in D minor, you know that you can play Dorian scale. And Dorian scale is like this: The minor scale with a sharpened sixth. But I believe it's easier to see this as the C scale. And now, instead of thinking of it like this, because it's fairly easy to do this in.
..in... when you just have white keys, but it's a lot harder if you have black keys as well, especially if you're a beginner to jazz. So, I see it now as a major scale starting from down a whole step. Like in this case, it's gonna be the C scale: So if I want to play this tune: I think of it like I'm playing the C scale all the time.
Alright? And then, the next chord in this this tune 'So What' is Ebmi: And here, you use the same principle. So instead of thinking of the Eb as like an Eb Dorian: Now, I'm thinking of the DbMaj scale when I'm playing the D-- the Ebmi7 chord: So that gives me a great freedom to improvise by just using the major scales.
You know, if you want to study the Phrygian scale, it's got the same principle. I explained that just recently in my latest YouTube video, so you can check that out. So let's move on to the Lydian scale. So the Lydian scale is like this: This is something that you can use on any major chord. So if I want to play the C major: Now I can play the G scale.
So instead of thinking of it like a major scale with a sharpened fourth: I'm thinking of it like the G scale. So I'm thinking of playing the diatonic scale starting up a perfect fifth in this case: So let's try this in another key. So let's try now the Ab. If I want to play this now in Ab, all I need to do is to play the Eb scale: Because that's up a fifth from Ab: Or the D here: So if I want to play the B, now I should just play the F# scale: Makes it a lot easier.
But the one that we see makes it more easy than anything is if we want to play the Locrian scale because as I said, Locrian scale is B to B: on the white keys. And that's the scale that you can use when you play a mi7 with a b5. So for example, Bmi7 with b5 in a II-V-I to E-- Ami: Here, you can use this scale: So that's fairly easy to do when you are playing in the key of Ami because the second step in A minor is the Bmi7 with a b5.
But what if you are playing a Dmi7? Then, it's very hard to remember that the Locrian scale is the same as a D scale: except now you're flattening the two and you're flattening the 3 and 5, 6 and 7. That's a little hard to remember, I think. So instead, I see this as the major scale starting from up a semitone.
So in this case, Eb: And that gives me a lot of freedom to improvise over any mi7 with a b5 chord just by playing the major scale starting from up a semitone. Let's try another one. So let's try now... Let's try Ab: Now, Ab: b5: mi7 with a b5. Now, I can just play the A scale like this: Now the last thing I'm gonna show you today is this tune: That's Round Midnight by Thelonious Monk.
The reason for why I chose this tune is that there is no reason. This is just a randomly selected jazz standard that you may have heard before. So let's just go through the chords and now I'm gonna explain how I would think if I was improvising over a tune such as this one. So the first chord is an Ebmi.
And here, we can use... we can play two different major scales. We can now play the major scale starting from a Gb: which gives this Aeolian sound: Or you can play the Db scale. So the Dorian scale now starting... which is now the major scale starting from down a whole step: which I like better than just playing the Gb scale in this case.
So then I would use notes from this scale, from the Db scale and try to come up with some brilliant lines. And then, the next chord then continues now with a Cmi7 with a b5: And this is a Locrian mode that you can play over this one. So now, instead of playing... instead of thinking like we did in the old days, now I just need to play the major scale starting from up a semitone.
In this case, it's a Db again : And the next chord is an Fmi7 with a b5: You just use the same principle now. You can now play this Gb scale. So it's up a half-step and then you play the major scale starting from up a half-step: And then, we get to the Bb7: Here, you can use the Mixolydian scale. So the Mixolydian scale is the major scale starting from up a fourth: So up a fourth from Bb will be Eb: So Bmi7 to Emi7 to Bbmi7 to Ebmi7.
On all of these chords, you can play the same... use the same principles. So now, it's a Bmi7, and then we can play the Dorian mode which is the A scale: to E7: And here, you can use the same principle. Now, it's a mixolydian. So that will be up a fourth starting from E because that's the root, up a fourth.
And now, we can play the major scale starting from the fourth: So that's also an A scale or the A scale. So again, Bmi7: to E7 using the same scale. And here you can use the same principle for the next two chords but now it will be the Ab scale: So by the way, you can create some melody lines here: for example.
And then, you can go on throughout the whole tune by using these principles and you can use these principles over any jazz standard. So let me now take you from the start together with some bass. And then, I'll use these principles: While the music is playing, here is a summary. The different scales presented here today are just tools to improvise better over the chords of any jazz standard.
And the idea is that all of these scales presented here today are just in normal diatonic scales such as the C scale, the D scale, and G scale and so on and so forth. By thinking in this new way, I find it a lot easier than to think the old way. Now all you have to do is: 1. To practice all the twelve diatonic scales, and I bet you have already done this.
2. To connect the scales with a set of rules where you remember where to play the different major scales in order to get the sound we are looking for. And this is pretty easy. If you play over a minor chord, you can play the Aeolian scale or the Dorian scale. To get these scales, just play a major scale starting from up a minor third step from the root of the minor chord to get the Aeolian sound.
Or...then you can play the major scale starting from down a whole step from the root. And this is to get the Dorian sound. Or if you want to get the more exotic sound, you can play the Phrygian scale. And that's the major scale starting from down a major third step. And when you play a major seven chord, you can play the major scale starting from the root or you can play the major scale starting from up a fifth to get the Lydian sound.
On the dominant 7th chords, you can play a major scale starting a fourth above the root. For example, if you play a C7, then you can just play the F scale. But in reality, on the dominant 7th chords, you would probably like to play a little bit more sophisticated scale with altered notes such as b9 or b13.
But that's another story for another lesson. And the last type of chord covered here today is the minor 7 with a b5. If you want to play this chord, then you can play the Locrian scale. And the Locrian scale is found by just playing the major scale up a semitone. So for example, if you play the Fmi7 with a b5, then you can simply play the F# scale.
Again, up a semitone. So that's about it! I've created a summary with some exercises for you that you can download for free by clicking on the link that you can find under this video. And if you liked this video, please hit like, leave a comment, subscribe and share. And whatever you do, take care of your music.
Actually, this was something that I found to be one of the most confusing things to learn when I started out as a jazz pianist, not to mention that I now had to learn all of the seven mode scales in 12 keys. That's 84 new things to learn altogether! A lot of work that will require a lot of time. But what if I told you that there is a better way that you can save a lot of time and effort? Let me show you now what I discovered.
That's Round Midnight and I'm going to show you this afterwards where we're gonna use my principles for improvising by tweaking the modes a little bit. You know, we're gonna play the same modes as before but now we're gonna see them differently. That's the whole goal for this little lesson. So, it started for me when I was a student at the jazz conservatory long back in the days.
An at that time, I was practicing all of the seven modes throughout all of the twelve keys. So that's seven scales times twelve. A lot of scales! And then, I soon discovered that this is not needed. You don't have to do this. It's a lot easier to see all of the scales as just major scales or diatonic scales.
Because if you know how to play a C scale: then you know how to play the rest of the modes. That makes sense. But I'm gonna show you the relationships here. So we all know when we're playing the Aeolian scale, from A to A: That's a minor scale, the normal minor scale: It's the same scale as the C scale: with a different starting point.
So, it's also the parallel key. So C, the key of C and the key of A minor are parallel keys because they got the same amounts of sharps which is zero and they got the same amounts of flats which is also zero. Now, we can see this as... we can use the same principles when we are playing all of the other modes as well.
and I'm gonna show you how. So now, the D minor: If you're gonna play a tune in D minor, you know that you can play Dorian scale. And Dorian scale is like this: The minor scale with a sharpened sixth. But I believe it's easier to see this as the C scale. And now, instead of thinking of it like this, because it's fairly easy to do this in.
..in... when you just have white keys, but it's a lot harder if you have black keys as well, especially if you're a beginner to jazz. So, I see it now as a major scale starting from down a whole step. Like in this case, it's gonna be the C scale: So if I want to play this tune: I think of it like I'm playing the C scale all the time.
Alright? And then, the next chord in this this tune 'So What' is Ebmi: And here, you use the same principle. So instead of thinking of the Eb as like an Eb Dorian: Now, I'm thinking of the DbMaj scale when I'm playing the D-- the Ebmi7 chord: So that gives me a great freedom to improvise by just using the major scales.
You know, if you want to study the Phrygian scale, it's got the same principle. I explained that just recently in my latest YouTube video, so you can check that out. So let's move on to the Lydian scale. So the Lydian scale is like this: This is something that you can use on any major chord. So if I want to play the C major: Now I can play the G scale.
So instead of thinking of it like a major scale with a sharpened fourth: I'm thinking of it like the G scale. So I'm thinking of playing the diatonic scale starting up a perfect fifth in this case: So let's try this in another key. So let's try now the Ab. If I want to play this now in Ab, all I need to do is to play the Eb scale: Because that's up a fifth from Ab: Or the D here: So if I want to play the B, now I should just play the F# scale: Makes it a lot easier.
But the one that we see makes it more easy than anything is if we want to play the Locrian scale because as I said, Locrian scale is B to B: on the white keys. And that's the scale that you can use when you play a mi7 with a b5. So for example, Bmi7 with b5 in a II-V-I to E-- Ami: Here, you can use this scale: So that's fairly easy to do when you are playing in the key of Ami because the second step in A minor is the Bmi7 with a b5.
But what if you are playing a Dmi7? Then, it's very hard to remember that the Locrian scale is the same as a D scale: except now you're flattening the two and you're flattening the 3 and 5, 6 and 7. That's a little hard to remember, I think. So instead, I see this as the major scale starting from up a semitone.
So in this case, Eb: And that gives me a lot of freedom to improvise over any mi7 with a b5 chord just by playing the major scale starting from up a semitone. Let's try another one. So let's try now... Let's try Ab: Now, Ab: b5: mi7 with a b5. Now, I can just play the A scale like this: Now the last thing I'm gonna show you today is this tune: That's Round Midnight by Thelonious Monk.
The reason for why I chose this tune is that there is no reason. This is just a randomly selected jazz standard that you may have heard before. So let's just go through the chords and now I'm gonna explain how I would think if I was improvising over a tune such as this one. So the first chord is an Ebmi.
And here, we can use... we can play two different major scales. We can now play the major scale starting from a Gb: which gives this Aeolian sound: Or you can play the Db scale. So the Dorian scale now starting... which is now the major scale starting from down a whole step: which I like better than just playing the Gb scale in this case.
So then I would use notes from this scale, from the Db scale and try to come up with some brilliant lines. And then, the next chord then continues now with a Cmi7 with a b5: And this is a Locrian mode that you can play over this one. So now, instead of playing... instead of thinking like we did in the old days, now I just need to play the major scale starting from up a semitone.
In this case, it's a Db again : And the next chord is an Fmi7 with a b5: You just use the same principle now. You can now play this Gb scale. So it's up a half-step and then you play the major scale starting from up a half-step: And then, we get to the Bb7: Here, you can use the Mixolydian scale. So the Mixolydian scale is the major scale starting from up a fourth: So up a fourth from Bb will be Eb: So Bmi7 to Emi7 to Bbmi7 to Ebmi7.
On all of these chords, you can play the same... use the same principles. So now, it's a Bmi7, and then we can play the Dorian mode which is the A scale: to E7: And here, you can use the same principle. Now, it's a mixolydian. So that will be up a fourth starting from E because that's the root, up a fourth.
And now, we can play the major scale starting from the fourth: So that's also an A scale or the A scale. So again, Bmi7: to E7 using the same scale. And here you can use the same principle for the next two chords but now it will be the Ab scale: So by the way, you can create some melody lines here: for example.
And then, you can go on throughout the whole tune by using these principles and you can use these principles over any jazz standard. So let me now take you from the start together with some bass. And then, I'll use these principles: While the music is playing, here is a summary. The different scales presented here today are just tools to improvise better over the chords of any jazz standard.
And the idea is that all of these scales presented here today are just in normal diatonic scales such as the C scale, the D scale, and G scale and so on and so forth. By thinking in this new way, I find it a lot easier than to think the old way. Now all you have to do is: 1. To practice all the twelve diatonic scales, and I bet you have already done this.
2. To connect the scales with a set of rules where you remember where to play the different major scales in order to get the sound we are looking for. And this is pretty easy. If you play over a minor chord, you can play the Aeolian scale or the Dorian scale. To get these scales, just play a major scale starting from up a minor third step from the root of the minor chord to get the Aeolian sound.
Or...then you can play the major scale starting from down a whole step from the root. And this is to get the Dorian sound. Or if you want to get the more exotic sound, you can play the Phrygian scale. And that's the major scale starting from down a major third step. And when you play a major seven chord, you can play the major scale starting from the root or you can play the major scale starting from up a fifth to get the Lydian sound.
On the dominant 7th chords, you can play a major scale starting a fourth above the root. For example, if you play a C7, then you can just play the F scale. But in reality, on the dominant 7th chords, you would probably like to play a little bit more sophisticated scale with altered notes such as b9 or b13.
But that's another story for another lesson. And the last type of chord covered here today is the minor 7 with a b5. If you want to play this chord, then you can play the Locrian scale. And the Locrian scale is found by just playing the major scale up a semitone. So for example, if you play the Fmi7 with a b5, then you can simply play the F# scale.
Again, up a semitone. So that's about it! I've created a summary with some exercises for you that you can download for free by clicking on the link that you can find under this video. And if you liked this video, please hit like, leave a comment, subscribe and share. And whatever you do, take care of your music.
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