As many of you know, the Dorian mode is played over a minor chord, or the relative bass note and contains the fundamental characteristic of a Major 6th. Its formula is 1 2 b3 4 5 6 b7. The only note that is not suitable to play over the Dorian mode other than the notes of the mode is the minor 6th. This is because the fundamental characteristic of the mode is lost when it is played.
That leaves the notes of #1, b2, Maj 3, #4, #5, Maj 7. I avoid using any modes with more than seven notes as this confuses matters, at least for me. So with each of these altered notes we will be introducing an alternative mode with one or more altered notes into the Dorian sound.
Modes that work well over an A Dorian chord or vamp that have only one altered note are:
A Melodic minor (A B C D E F# G#)
A# Alt bb37 (Mode VII of B Neapolitan minor) (A# B C D E F# G)
A Dorian #4 (Mode IV of E Harmonic minor) (A B C D# E F# G)
A Dorian + (Mode III of F# Locrian nat7) (A B C D E# F# G)
A Melodic has the Major 7th, and is an essential scale to know well as it is indispensable in so many musical situations. Also, once you know all the modal positions, you can play the mode II of the Melodic scale over the chord chord too, getting that real sci-fi Dorian b2 sound.
A# Alt bb37 occurs when the root of the Dorian mode is raised, being mode VII of B Neapolitan minor. Its a great sound, postponing the resolution and move to the ‘home’ note of the tonic.
A Dorian #4 has a nice Lydian effect which is really useful, especially if you want to throw in a brief Hungarian minor lick or two.
A Dorian + has a real expansive sound that most modes which a #5 get plus you get the chromaticism of the #5, 6, b7 thrown in.
As with any outside notes, use it sparingly and resolve quickly, until you at least get the hang of using it well. The longer it is held or the more frequently it is played the more outside it will sound. Too much and you lose the listener.
I recommend learning all seven modes of the above scales and placing them over the modes of the Major scale so the A Melodic aligns with A Dorian, B Dorian b5 with B Phrygian etc.
The next step is combining modes with single alterations which I'll look at next time.
To hear some alternative scales over Dorian backing see my post below
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