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Reference

Modes

Seven scales share one set of notes; each starts on a different degree, so each puts the half steps somewhere new. Every row below plays its scale over the same tonic drone, so the only thing that changes is the color. Ordered brightest to darkest: each step down flattens exactly one more note.

Notes & ScalesIntervalsChordsModesRhythms

The seven modes, one tonic

Pick the tonic. The drone holds it while the scale walks, so your ear measures every note against home.

Tonic
bright · ♯4 · major with a raised 4 · The Simpsons theme · dream sequencesbright · no changes · the major scale itself · nearly every pop chorusbright · ♭7 · major with a flat 7 · Sweet Home Alabama · Norwegian Wooddark · ♯6 · natural minor with a raised 6 · Scarborough Fair · So What · Mad Worlddark · no changes · natural minor itself · half the radio (Unit 9!)dark · ♭2 · natural minor with a flat 2 · flamenco & metal riffsdark · ♭2 ♭5 · natural minor with flat 2 and flat 5 · almost nowhere: that absence is the lesson

Ionian is the major scale; Aeolian is the natural minor. The other five sit between and beyond them.

The two ends of the spectrum

Lydian raises one note above major; Locrian flattens five below it. Back to back on the same drone, the whole range is audible: