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UNPLANNED DOWNTIME: 12th Oct 23:45

Working out Modal Chord progressions from First Princinples

Axe_meisterAxe_meister Frets: 4451
in Theory
Looking at how to work out Modal Chord progressions from first principles. I'm Going to start with Dorian.
My thinking is as such.
Start with the Major scale on which the Mode is based. 
So C Major. You have the notes C D E F G A B C.
Harmonizing I get C Dm Em F G Am Bdim C
or I ii iii IV V vi viiDim I

So C Dorian is C D D# F G A A#  C
Chords being
Cm Dm D# F Gm Adim A# Cm
or i ii bIII IV v vidim bVII i

From this I can see two ways of building a chord sequence that really drags you towards Dorian. In western music our ears are conditioned to hear either Major or natural minor
When compared to the Ionian, You get i instead of I, bIII instead of iii and a v instead of V. ivDim instead of iv and bVII instead of VIIDim.
Compared to the natural minor the difference is
ii instead of iidim, IV instead of iv.

So to make this really sound dorian you are looking at Chord progressions with
i bIII v bVII (lets ignor the diminshed chords) compared to Ionian
i ii IV compared to the natural Minor (again ignoring the diminshed chords)

or I could create different variations

i ii bIII i
i ii IV v i
i IV v i
i v bVII i

So I can widdle away in C Dorian over these chord progressions.

Is my thinking correct before I start doing the same for further modes?

I do remember a short-cut from a Frank Gambale video where you take your Root of the mode your playing say C, find out which Key is the Parent key (A# here) and play the IV and Vs chord of that scale so in A# that would be D# F back to Cm (i III IV)  and you have a Dorian sequence and you can do the same with any other mode. So in C Lydian which is the 4th G, The Chords being C and D and you have a Lydian sequence. In Phrygian 3rd of G#, IV and V of G# being C# and D#, So I have a chord squece of Cm C# and D#.






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Comments

  • vizviz Frets: 10211
    edited September 2020
    You’re thinking is correct! 

    Though it’s FAR more useful to think about comparing Dorian to minor, than to major, because it’s so obvious that it’s minor to start with.

    So, yes, Dorian is minor with a IV. (the ii instead of ii(dim) is not so obvious). 

    I’ve written a few posts on this in recent threads. 
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  • vizviz Frets: 10211
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    Paul_C said: People never read the signature bit.
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