In part one I covered good modal substitutes for the Dorian mode. Just in case some of you misunderstand, I do not mean the Dorian position on the guitar, but the mode itself. This includes all seven positions of the Major scale on the neck, but the focus is over a Dorian vamp or chord, say A minor - B minor for example.
The modes covered in part one were Altered (Melodic), Alt bb37 (Neapolitan minor), Dorian #4 (Harmonic minor) and Dorian + (Locrian natural 7). These gave us the notes of M7, #1, #4 and #5 respectively. Hopefully, you can jump in and out of the modal patterns (which I listed last time) but which we shall focus on for this post.
In A Dorian, the outside notes are G# (A Melodic), A# (B Neapolitan minor), D# (E Harmonic minor) and E# (F# Locrian natural 7). That gives us a total of 11 notes to play with over the Dorian vamp or chord/bass note.
Now, some of these outside notes work best with certain others, all work well when mixed up together, but they have to be used carefully. An outside note cannot be the end of a phrase or held for too long. If it is held in a phrase then it must resolve to the note above. For example, G# (A Melodic) must resolve to A. This is just for starters, obviously an altered note can be followed by another note from the scale that isn't altered, or one that is altered, but this will help to get you started playing outside.
Below is an example of what I mean, it is not exactly what I use as I prefer not to use licks but it gives you the general idea. The notes in red are outside of the Dorian mode. First up is D# from E Harmonic minor but as it is played over an A bass or A Dorian vamp, it has the modal sound of A Dorian #4 (mode IV).
That is then cancelled out with the D natural and followed by the E#, giving us the F# Locrian nat7 scale, A Dorian + (mode III). The D# and E natural take us back into A Dorian #4 then bar 3 is back to Dorian for a bit of release.
Now we have a G#, and as we know G Ionian (+1) = G# Alt (Melodic mode VII) so we’re in A Melodic and the A# means B Neapolitan minor (technically, the A# combined with the G# means A Neapolitan Major, but I’ll get to that in the next instalment).
E# is from F# Locrian nat 7 once more, then G# from A Melodic ascending only to resolve to G natural when descending. Now, take a look at the accidentals when ascending as compared to descending. The sharpening of notes brings the listener up and then the leading tone effect needs to be resolved on the way back down.
It is a fact in music that playing outside is done far more often in ascending phrases than it is in descending phrases, between us, that is one of the secrets to playing outside, from Baroque to Jazz, the same thing happens.
Next we shall look at scales that have more than one altered note in them over a Dorian progression.
My book is available at https://www.bedwellmusic.co.uk/general-7
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