Jazz Guitar Lesson #3 How to practice modes on the guitar

Here is an exercise for you guitarists who are trying to get better at playing modes.This post could have been titled "the problem of trying to learn scales on the guitar" or something like that. As I'm sure you have noticed there are some advantages as well as disadvantages with our instrument. We can learn one shape for a major scale and then we can move the exact same shape to play in another key. Think about any other (non string) instrument. Suppose they are playing a C major scale for example and want to move it a half-step up to Db major; they have to learn a whole new fingering! At first this might seem like a problem for them but in my opinion they are in a better position to learn the notes they are playing.

When I started to learn the modes and scales and all that I had a book that showed all the scales as fretboard diagrams. So I learned the scales and jammed along with jam-tracks and thought everything was great. The problem occurred later on when I tried to learn how to play over changes. To do that you need to know what notes you are playing. You should actually always know what notes you are playing even if you are just playing over a static chord situation. We guitar players have a tendency to mindlessly let our fingers move around the neck. A trumpet player for example has to think about the note and hear it in his head before he plays it. We should approach our instrument the same way. So learning the scales/modes on another instrument is a great idea.

So here is an exercise that hopefully will help you with this problem (if you don't have the time to learn how to play the trombone) :p

Play a C major scale starting on the sixth string. Play three notes per string and play two octaves.

Here is the trick: when you go to Db major, you should stay in the same position or area of the guitar neck. This way you don't move the shape but instead you have to think about what you are doing.

So play a Db major scale also starting on the sixth string but this time START WITH TWO NOTES on the sixth string. This was you get a different fingering, right?

By now you have probably figured it out; when it's time to play D major you start with one note on the sixth string. Very good Sherlock! :p

Now to keep going you play Eb major starting on the fifth string and you go through the same procedure. When you start on the fifth string you have to adjust the higher notes since you're gonna get more that three notes on the highest string. If this is confusing check my YouTube video how I solved this problem.

Now some of you say -wait a minute, we are only learning six keys?!  My answer: Start the exercise on any other note then C, then!

After you've done all this you start over this time with Dorian, then Phrygian etc etc. For the more advanced student: do the melodic minor scales and modes as well. Actually any seven note scale that you know. For scales with more or less than seven notes you have a modify the exercise a bit. Please let me know if any of you out there do that I would love to get feedback on this.

What happened to me when I started practicing this way was that I had to really think about the notes and the relationship between the notes and the scales. Do the exercise slowly and I recommend singing the notes with there actual note names. Good luck and let me know if this helped. :)

Practicing modes PDF