---
title: "Musical Modes: Dorian, Mixolydian and More · Piakno"
description: "A mode is a scale made by playing a major scale’s seven notes from a different one of them. Starting on the second note gives Dorian, on the fifth Mixolydian, and each has its own color and its own home."
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# Modes

> A mode is a scale made by playing a major scale’s seven notes from a different one of them. Starting on the second note gives Dorian, on the fifth Mixolydian, and each has its own color and its own home.

Also called church modes or modal scales

## What are the seven modes?

Play the white keys from C to C and you hear C major. Play them from D to D and you hear something else: the same seven keys with a different home note. That is a mode. A major scale has seven notes, so it offers seven starting points, and each one has a name of its own.

*D Dorian: D E F G A B C D, all white keys. The notes are C major’s; the home is D.*

There are two ways to keep a mode in your head. By rotation, it is the white keys played from a different starting key. By comparison, it is a major scale on the same home note with a few notes lowered or raised: C Dorian is C major with the 3rd and 7th lowered. Musicians reach for the second view more often, because it tells you exactly what changes.

| Mode | White keys from | Against major, same tonic | 7th chord on C | What gives it color |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Ionian | C | Same as major | Cmaj7 | The plain major scale |
| Dorian | D | ♭3, ♭7 | Cm7 | A major 6th inside a minor sound |
| Phrygian | E | ♭2, ♭3, ♭6, ♭7 | Cm7 | The ♭2, a half step above home |
| Lydian | F | ♯4 | Cmaj7 | The raised 4th |
| Mixolydian | G | ♭7 | C7 | A lowered 7th in a major sound |
| Aeolian | A | ♭3, ♭6, ♭7 | Cm7 | The natural minor scale |
| Locrian | B | ♭2, ♭3, ♭5, ♭6, ♭7 | Cm7♭5 | The ♭5: no steady fifth to rest on |

## How do the modes sound different from each other?

Sort them by the third and you get two families. Ionian, Lydian and Mixolydian have a major 3rd and sound major. Dorian, Phrygian, Aeolian and Locrian have a minor 3rd and sound minor. Sort them from bright to dark and each step lowers exactly one note by a half step: Lydian, Ionian, Mixolydian, Dorian, Aeolian, Phrygian, Locrian.

*C Dorian: C major with E and B lowered to E♭ and B♭ (green). Minor, but with a bright A.*

*C Mixolydian: C major with only the 7th lowered to B♭ (green). Major, but that 7th does not lead home.*

## Where do modes show up in today’s music?

Two places matter to a keyboard player. The first is the vamp, a groove that stays on one or two chords. A minor 7th chord that visits the chord a fourth above it (Dm7, then G7) suggests Dorian; a dominant 7th that visits the chord a whole step below it (C7, then B♭) suggests Mixolydian. The second is the chord-scale, the scale that goes with one chord. Which scale depends on the chord’s place in the key: over a minor 7th, Dorian on ii7, Phrygian on iii7, Aeolian on vi7, and Dorian or Aeolian on a minor key’s own i7; Mixolydian over a plain dominant 7th; Ionian or Lydian over a major 7th; Locrian over a half-diminished 7th.

## What are the lydian dominant, altered and half-whole diminished scales?

The seven modes fit plain chords. A dominant seventh with a color named in its symbol takes one of three further scales. Lydian dominant is Mixolydian with a raised 4th (it is also the fourth mode of the melodic minor scale). Altered raises or lowers every note of a dominant that can move, the 9th, 5th and 13th (it is the seventh mode of the melodic minor). Half-whole diminished alternates half steps and whole steps, beginning with a half step, so it repeats every minor third. Here are the three on G, the dominant of C.

| Scale | Notes on G | Chord it goes over | What it gives the chord |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Lydian dominant | G A B C♯ D E F | G7♯11 | The raised 4th (the ♯11) replaces the plain 4th, which sits a half step above the chord’s 3rd |
| Altered | G A♭ B♭ B D♭ E♭ F | G7alt | Every alteration at once: A♭ (♭9), B♭ (♯9), D♭ (♭5) and E♭ (♭13), the tensest dominant |
| Half-whole diminished | G A♭ B♭ B D♭ D E F | G7♭9 | Both ninths (A♭ and B♭), the 13th (E) and the ♭5 (D♭), with the 5th (D) kept |

The chord decides which one. A 7♯11 takes lydian dominant, and so do two dominants that do not resolve down a fifth: the tritone substitute (D♭7 in C), which takes only that, and the backdoor dominant (B♭7 in C), where Mixolydian also works. A plain I7 or IV7, as in the blues, takes Mixolydian first. A 7alt takes altered. A 7♭9 takes half-whole diminished, though altered is a common answer too, since many players reach for it when the chord leads to a minor chord. A maj7♯11 takes Lydian, the major scale with its 4th raised. The chord symbol harmony practice asks for these chords at level 6.

> Do not memorize the seven names in white-key order. Learn the one note each mode moves against major: Lydian raises the 4th, Mixolydian lowers the 7th, and Dorian is a minor scale with a major 6th.

## Common questions

### What is the difference between Dorian and natural minor?

Dorian is natural minor with its 6th raised a half step. D Dorian has B where D natural minor has B♭, which is why it sounds minor but less sad.

### Is D Dorian just C major starting on D?

It uses the same seven notes, so it has no sharps or flats in its key signature, but the home note is D. It is Dorian when the melody and chords keep returning to D; if they settle on C, it is C major.

### Which modes should I learn first?

Dorian and Mixolydian. Each is a minor or major scale with a single note changed, they are the ones the improvisation practice asks for first, and a great deal of rock, funk and folk-flavored music lives in them.

## You can practice this in:

- [Improvise over a band · Level 3](https://piakno.com/improvise?level=3)

## Related entries

- [Minor scales](https://piakno.com/theory/minor-scale)
- [Whole steps and half steps](https://piakno.com/theory/whole-and-half-steps)
- [Pentatonic and blues scales](https://piakno.com/theory/pentatonic-and-blues-scales)
- [Chord symbols](https://piakno.com/theory/chord-symbols)

- [Theory reference](https://piakno.com/theory)