Play these notes starting on C and you're playing the C major scale (also known as the Ionian mode – the 'first' mode). Start on D and you're playing the second mode (D Dorian, as it happens). By the ...

The subject of modes crops up time and again among guitarists wishing to inject new flavours into their solos. The main challenge is learning a bunch of new scale shapes. However, this can be made ...

From their meaning to their history in Western music, here's an easy guide to modes. The word ‘mode’ comes from the Latin for ‘manner, or method’ but musical modes all originated in ancient Greece, so ...