Songwriting in modal scales – Part II

Some years ago, I extended my songwriting skills by using other scales than major, minor and harmonic minor. I unintentionally wrote songs in dorian and lydian, that have a minor feel but use different notes. This year, I took it one step further and wrote songs in even weirder scales.

Disclaimer: When I write music, I do whatever feels right and don’t spend much time music theory. This website is not the right place for a profound understanding of music theory. This article is a follow-up of this post about modal scales. If you hear the word modal for the first time, you should check my previous article.

There are more modal scales

Everything happened when I composed a guitar riff for a song. It’s based on an A major chord, but has a very weird and melancholic feeling, because the song is NOT in A major but in D melodic minor starting with A. I figured out that I used a scale called A mixolydian b6. It’s one note away from natural minor and mixolydian.

I didn’t bother about the name, until I wrote another song called “Good Morning Blues”. I had serious trouble finding harmonies, because the scale was super weird. Talking to musicians, we figured out that my melody is based on the E lydian b7 scale. Another weird name I heard for the first time. So I started some research and wrote a summary about my results.

Modes of the harmonic minor scale

If you remember my blogpost about modal songwriting, you obtain the modes, when you do cyclic shifts on the natural minor (aeolian) scale. Starting with A, we do the same with the harmonic minor scale and get this:

A - B - C - D - E - F - G#  = A aeolian #7 (harmonic minor)
B - C - D - E - F - G# - A  = B locrian 6
C - D - E - F - G# - A - B  = C ionian #5
D - E - F - G# - A - B - C = D dorian #4
E - F - G# - A - B - C - D = E phrygian b3 (altered phrygian)
F - G# - A - B - C - D - E = F lydian #2
G# - A - B - C - D - E - F = G# super locrian b4 b7 (altered diminished)

Indeed, these scales have weird names for people who are not into music theory. The # and b say which tone of the scale has to be altered. For example, you get the aeolian #7 from the aeolian scale by shifting the 7th position up by one semitone. In case of A aeolian (A – B – C – D – E – F – G) the G goes to G# on the A aeolian #7 scale, that is also known as harmonic minor.

Modes of the melodic minor scale

Some people may know that the melodic minor scale plays differently upwards and downwards. The down direction is equal to natural minor (aeolian). You can find the modes in my previous blogpost. Thus, we only scare about the upward scale. Apply the same trick here and end up with the following modal scales:

A - B - C - D - E - F# - G# = A melodic minor
B - C - D - E - F# - G# - A = B dorian b2
C - D - E - F# - G# - A - B = C lydian #5 (lydian augmented)
D - E - F# - G# - A - B - C = D lydian b7 (lydian dominant)
E - F# - G# - A - B - C - D = E mixolydian b6 
F# - G# - A - B - C - D - E = F# locrian ♮2 (half diminished)
G# - A - B - C - D - E - F# = G# super locrian (altered)

This is where things are getting confusing. There are so many scales with a similar name, that you have to give the information about the alterations or use the aliases. On top of that, people may have different understandings of altered scales, so it’s best to include the notes of the scale you’re using. It may also help to talk to people who are not into music theory or jazz standards. Every musician knows the name of the notes, but not necessarily the name of the intervals or modes.

Are there more scales?

Indeed, there are many more scales. The ones I mentioned above are all you can get from playing around with major, natural minor, harmonic minor and melodic minor. If you start alternating other notes or change the amount of notes (like pentatonic, hexatonic blues or bebop scales), new horizons will open up. In different cultures, other tunings and temperaments (mathematical divisions within an octave) play a big role. You could also end up with microtonality; scales that include notes in between the notes. This world can be quite intimidating and confusing, so don’t try to learn everything at the same time.

Using modes and exotic scales adds interesting flavours to your songs. The uncommon and complex your progressions are, the less they will stick in people’s heads. It’s a nice toolbox, if you want to try something new or drift into jazz, fusion, art pop, world or experimental music. Implementing these into a catchy pop song is hard, but it works. Coldplay use lydian and dorian a lot – and Metallica love phrygian for a reason. Microtonal prog metal may be an extravaganza, but I heard some Arabic scales in trap music. I haven’t heard a pop song in superlocrian yet.

The trouble with harmonizing

Working with jazz scales and exotic scales is not easy, because harmonizing a major scale with triads doesn’t like expected. The scales of this article are not parallel to ANY major scale or natural minor. They use different intervals and have alterations that make it really hard to make standard chords like major, minor fit right in. You will end up in chords like diminished, augmented, alternate, 6/9 or 7b5 – Chords, types most pop or rock musicians haven’t heard of. If you really want to understand how to harmonize, you have to visit a course on jazz theory.

Understanding these scales as shifts of harmonic and melodic minor helps you to get some quick ideas, but you only get the modal feeling when you hit certain chords and notes that are charismatic. Here is a simple example: Are you able to write a song in A minor using mainly major chords? It will be very hard, because the most characteristic traits of A minor are the chords Am, Dm and Em. Otherwise, the song is mistaken for C major.

Where do you learn which chords and notes are charismatic for the scale you’re using? There are tables in jazz theory books that tell you that locrian has m7b5b9 and 11b13 inside, but what exactly does that mean? How would you harmonize a hexatonic scale with the tiny bit of theory you had in school and writing pop songs in major scales?! Trial and error?!

How can I use modal scales?

I have to admit: I am not able to write a song in arbitrary scales. Okay, except for a super obvious four chord song in major and minor. When I write songs, I don’t care about the cadences and notes. I just write, and it’s alright, when I end up in weird jazzy progressions in G super locrian same as a catchy four chord song in C major. When I jump around the scales or use borrow chords, that’s fine too.

I wrote this article to think outside the box. Stop thinking that an unusual chord progression is wrong! Start listening to songs that use borrow chords, modal scales, key changes and other extravaganza. Knowing modal scales is not a must, but it widens your horizon. You can write good music with complex chord changes or mess up the major scale in a way that it sounds good.

P.S. I am not into music theory. Please indulge me, if I use the wrong terms or comment. I’m ready to fix that blog entry for you. I do not receive any money, backlinks and products for naming other people, their works or websites. The reason I write is sharing information and knowledge.