Hi, I'm Luke McIntosh, creator of becomeabassist.com, and in this bass lesson, you'll be learning
when to use which kind of minor scales on bass.
There are so many!
But in this lesson, we'll be cutting through the confusion and you'll come away knowing
exactly what's going to make you sound the best in any situation.
[Video Intro]
Today we have a question from an email subscriber named Gregg who writes:
Hello Luke.
I am new to bass - I've been playing for just over a year so there are many things
for me to learn.
At the moment, modes are my struggle.
My question is: When do I use the Dorian mode as a minor scale and/or when do you use the
Aeolian mode as a minor scale?
Or do I have it all wrong?
Thanks,
Gregg
Oh my goodness - I don't know about you, but this is definitely something I can relate
to.
When you start going down the rabbit hole of scales and modes, it can get super confusing
super quickly - especially when it comes to minor scales.
You've got the Dorian, the Aeolian, the Phrygian, the Locrian, the harmonic minor,
the melodic minor - and that's before we get into the really exotic scales.
The list never seems to end!
How the hell are you supposed to know when to use which one?!?!
Well let's clear it up right now!
The 2 big minor scales that get used the lion's share of the time - the majority of the time
- are the Dorian mode and the Aeolian mode - and the Aeolian by the way is sometimes
just called the 'natural' minor scale and there are some general guidelines about
when to use which one - whether you use the Dorian or the Aeolian.
In general - not all the time - but in general, if someone says a song is in the key of 'whatever
minor', the Aeolian scale is what you usually use.
For example, if someone says we're in the key of Bb minor, they're talking about using
the notes from the Bb Aeolian scale.
If they say G minor, you use the G Aeolian scale.
C# minor - C# Aeolian.
I'm sure you get the picture.
This will work for a lot of regular old sad-sounding songs.
For example, the Adele song Rolling In The Deep - it's in the key of C minor so C Aeolian
will work great over it.
Here's our C Aeolian here *** If you play that scale over the song, you'll hear everything
works.
***[could have had it all] Haha!
Forgive my singing!!
But you'll notice everything sounds good here - nothing is out of place.
You can actually hear all of the notes of C Aeolian during the song - it's a great
Aeolian example.
You could also check out the verses to the Pink Floyd song Comfortably Numb.
They are in B minor, so the B Aeolian mode is going to sound good there.
Try playing these modes over these songs and you'll hear that they work really well.
I've put links for them underneath this video, so be sure to go and check them out
and play some Aeolian over them.
So that's the Aeolian mode, but what about the Dorian mode?
What are the guidelines for that?
Well, the Dorian mode, in general, gets used over the 2-chord (ii-chord) in a major key.
For example, in the key of C major, the ii-chord, the second chord of that key is a D minor
chord, so you'd use a D Dorian mode over that chord.
This is something I talk a ton about in the Ultimate Guide to The Modes For Bass which
you can get for free by clicking the link in the description of this video.
If you're a bit lost in this video right now, that guide will clear things right up
for you so go ahead and download it.
For some examples of Dorian getting used over a ii-chord, check out Taylor Swift's Shake
It Off.
It's in the key of G and the chord progression is Am-C-G.
*** Sounds just like that.
That means it's a 2-4-1 progression *** and we can play our A Dorian scale over that A
minor chord - the first chord in the progression and the 2-chord in the key of G. Have a listen.
*** [go on too many daaaates ***] Hear how that Dorian mode just sounds right?
There's no notes that sound funny or out of place.
That's the Dorian mode in action when it's used properly like this.
Another really quick example of the Dorian being used over a 2-chord is Maroon 5's
Sunday Morning.
It's in the key of C and the chord progression is Dm-G7-C. That's a 2-5-1 in the key of
C major.
That means the D minor chord is the 2 chord in this key, so you can play D Dorian over
that chord and it's going to sound great.
Now these general guidelines are a great place to get you started.
Aeolian mode as your regular minor scale and Dorian over the 2-chord in a major key.
Simple enough.
However, sometimes these guidelines just don't work!
Sometimes someone will say let's play some song in A minor, but they really mean to use
the A Dorian mode - not the Aeolian.
For example, if you listen to Carlos Santana's Oye Como Va, it's in the key of A minor, but
it uses the Dorian mode NOT the Aeolian mode.
You can tell this because of the sounds that get used around that A minor.
If you listen to the chords, you'll hear that it's mostly A minor and D7 *** [groove].
Now that D7 there - that uses an F# *** - not an F ***. If we were using A Aeolian, then
we'd expect to hear an F there because that is what's in A Aeolian.
Here it is *** [Aeolian].
But instead in this song we get this F# ***, which makes it an A Dorian mode ***. In fact, that
one notes is the only difference between Dorian and Aeolian.
Flat 6 for the Aeolian *** or natural 6 for the Dorian ***
You can call this Santana song 'modal'.
That is - it doesn't use standard 'functional' regular harmony like all the other examples
we've talked so far.
It uses 'modal' harmony where the 'home' chord isn't in a regular major or minor place.
In these cases, where the song doesn't easily fit into 'regular' harmony, the chances are
that you'll use Dorian instead of Aeolian.
For some more examples of songs that use Dorian as the 'home base' check out the Miles Davis
Song 'So What'.
It uses D Dorian in the A-sections and then an Eb Dorian in the bridge.
For something a little more modern, check out the Daft Punk song Get Lucky.
You could say that song's 'home base' is centred around B Dorian.
Check it out!
Finally, the melody to the folk song Scarborough Fair is all drawn from the Dorian mode.
Now if all this talk about modes and scales and everything like that is over your head
and confusing, once again, I feel your pain!
If you don't understand how it works, it sounds like people are speaking a foreign
language - it's endlessly frustrating.
That's exactly why I created the Ultimate Guide to The Modes For Bass.
I want to take away all of the confusion and frustration and jargon out of learning the
modes for you so you can know exactly what to play, when to play it and why it sounds
good.
These are the key to sounding good all the time and you'll learn exactly how to do
it with the guide.
To get started with it, just click the link in the description and I'll send it straight
to your inbox - totally free.
In the end though, the absolute best thing I can tell you is that it's up to you and
your ears.
Get used to using your them - they're a great asset to you.
And if the Dorian sounds better than the Aeolian to you in some song, then it IS better.
Trust your ears and they will almost always take care of you.
Thanks so much for watching - I really appreciate it.
Be sure to subscribe to get all the new videos from Become A Bassist and of course be sure
to sign up for the Ultimate Guide To The Modes if you haven't done it already.
I'm Luke McIntosh, creator of becomeabassist.com Good luck and happy playing!
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