Well, this one is sure to ruffle a few feathers… in fact, it might even make me downright unpopular – scorned even – in some circles. But yeah, I’ll come out and say it:
The modal system is unnecessary for guitar players.
Now before you leave some comment and tell me how off my rocker you think I am, hang in there for a jiffy and finish reading.
First off – what are the modes? Well, without diving into a lot of theory here, imagine the scale written as a series of 7 numbers: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7. Once you hit 8, you repeat again (that’s the octave).
Well, we can write that same scale starting from each of the numbers, like this:
1 2 3 4 5 6 7
2 3 4 5 6 7 1
3 4 5 6 7 1 2
4 5 6 7 1 2 3
5 6 7 1 2 3 4
6 7 1 2 3 4 5
7 1 2 3 4 5 6
Look like a Sudoku puzzle gone wrong? Just about 🙂
As you can see, all the same numbers are used each time, we’re just starting over from a new point. In the modal system for guitar, every one of those starting points has a name…
And most guitar teachers will make you learn each one.
Furthermore, most teachers will tell you that you if you want to be a good guitar player, you need to learn a unique scale pattern (and sometimes multiple patterns) for each position.
That can add up to dozens of scale patterns, all just so that you have the tools so you can solo. THEN, you still have to learn how to actually solo!
Now I don’t deny there are some cool things you can do with this sort of approach, but that’s not my point. My point is that the average player simply does not need this level of complexity!!!
When you realize that all the modes are just recycling the exact same notes, then you should understand how you can get by with a lot less.
In fact, the way I teach it in my Guitar Scale Patterns course, you only need three scale patterns to cover the entire fretboard quite handily when it comes time to solo.
That’s a far cry from dozens!
If you want to learn all the guitar modes and all their myriad related scale patterns, then by all means, fill your boots! There’s no law on it, one way or another, and I’m not going to stop you.
But if you prefer the simplest, quickest, clearest way to learn all the notes on your fretboard and be able to use them in a solo, then head on over to this link, and I’ll show you how. Checkout Guitar Scale Patterns today.