Quick question about the Dorian mode!!(I'm stuck)

[Trotters]

Hey guys!

Just been trying to get out of a pentatonic rut by branching out into the modes.  I've been learning and memorising quite a few of the modes and it has been fine and dandy until now.

When I was jamming to a blues track in D minor, I wondered why D dorian sounded so great on top?  Shouldn't G dorian sound better as the piece is theoretically in the key of F major?

HELP!!

Trotters

[Bluesberry]

Well  Trotters, yes you are right.  Technically, playing in the key of Dminor is the natural minor key of F Major.  You can even think of the key of Dminor as a mode of F Major, it can be thought of as D Aoelian mode (of the key of F Major).  In theory the absolute best scale to play with a Dm blues progression is D Aeolian (which is the same as D natural minor scale).  The difference between D Aeolian and D Dorian is very small, the 6th interval.  In D Aeolian the 6th interval is flat, in D Dorian the 6th is not flat, but every other note is exactly the same.  So that is why D Dorian scale works over D minor progression, the only "wrong" note is the 6th.  But it hardly gets noticed.  That is a very common scale to play over minor blues, the Dorian scale, very blues sounding, Peter Green, Santanna, Eric Clapton, etc.  even though D Dorian really is a mode of the key of C.  So if you play a progression: ii, V, I in the key of C (Dm, G, C), and then you play D Dorian over this you would be correct and it would sound kind of Jazzy.  But you can play D Dorian over Dm, Gm, Am and it would sound good (bluesy) and be also correct, just watch you don't hit the 6th interval of the scale too often as that is technically the wrong note and doesn't belong.  To be technically correct you would play D Aeolian scale over this progression and it also would sound bluesy.  This is a very popular scale with David Gilmour, think about the Comfortably numb solo, thats Aeolian scale he is doing there, bluesy but refined in a jazzy kind of way, not like SRV kind of blues.

For your last question, you wouldn't play G Dorian because the progression of Dm is favoring or centering on the D tonality, so you have to play a D mode, either D Aeolian, or D Dorian.

[Bluesberry]

Here is my favorite video lesson on the modes.  I really like the way this guy explains it:


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JKbPIGnqt80

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8uhN5h1o7ww

And I really like this guy.  The way this guy describes it is how I try to view modes:


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n09kVlV9mo4

And then to blow your mind here is Satriani giving his views on modes, a little harder to follow, but just to hear him effortlessly shift from one mode to the next is really something, and you can really hear the difference in feeling each modes produces.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jE0qLKHnflo

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ci2h5hgBgCM

[Trotters]

You sir, are an absolute hero. Thank you very much indeed.

[Trotters]

Oh one final question since you seem to know your stuff inside out - Could i also play in the phrygian or locrian mode as these are minor sounding? eg A Phrygian. Or would this clash with the root (D) to much?

[Ferryman]

Bloomin heck, I learned more about modes in a few minutes from those vids than all the times I have tried to read about them. Brilliant Dave.