Characteristic Notes for Modes of the Major Scale (With Root Note E)

Every mode has a distinct sound, but how can you tell what sets them apart? Characteristic notes are the notes that give modes (and songs that use them) their unique sound and personality. They make one mode sound different from the others. When you emphasize the "right" (characteristic) notes in the "right" modal context you will sound less common, less predictable, and on the other side, more unique and hence easier recognizable. This chart shows you the exact notes you should emphasize in your playing to bring out the color of the mode. Think of it as a tool which gives more options for self-expression.

Features to get the most of these charts

Parallel roots. When you try playing different modes back to back it really helps to hear the difference more distinctly when they all start with the same root note, e.g. E-Dorian, E-Phrygian, E-Lydian and so on. This way you have the same fundamental pitch that your ears get anchored to as a reference and then all sudden alterations in patterns of whole and half steps become very prominent.

So I've incorporated this simple but very effective idea into the charts—all modes start with the same root note E. And in this case we say that modes are "parallel" one to another.

2 flavors. Reference comes in two flavors: with guidance and without. The version with the guide explains to you the concept behind characteristic notes and gives an example of how they are identified for each mode. The version without guidance is for those who just want a clean reference of the color tones for extra focus.

The clean version comes in 2 flavors as well: in 7 columns (one for every note of the mode) and in 12 (one for every chromatic note found within a single octave).

Note in common. So the advantage of the 12-column version is that if you look at a single column (vertically) you can get an instant visual feedback of how many modes have that particular note in common. For example, look at the last rightmost column (major 7th scale degree)—thanks to the blank placeholders we instantly see that only 2 modes have that note in common: Ionian and Lydian. Since there's no blank placeholders in the 7-column version, that's not as obvious there.

Scale landmarks. The numbers 1 through 7 above the chart serve as visual landmarks which correspond to scale degrees. This is particularly beneficial in the 12-column version as they match both scale degrees and intervals of the Major scale which helps you to see visually that anything which is not strictly below the number is something which has been altered in relation to the Major scale. In other words they provide context.

Unique pairs. In the 12-column version, you can visually match unique pairs, e.g. we see that Ionian is the only mode with the 4th and 7th, Dorian is the only mode with b3 and 6, Phrygian is the only mode with b2 and 5, Mixolydian is the only mode with a 3 and b7, Aeolian is the only mode with 2 and b6, and Locrian is the only mode with b2 and b5. If you don't know what a b2 or b7 means, check out numeric formulas for scales and modes.

Whole and half steps. In the 12-column version, you can see intervals between scale degrees, i.e. when there's no blank placeholder between adjacent scale degrees then it's a half step, and when there is a blank placeholder in between then it's a whole step, and thus you see intervallic formula. E.g. for the Major scale we see the following pattern: Whole-Whole-half-Whole-Whole-Whole-half (or in short: W-W-h-W-W-W-h). Note: there's an implicit half-step for each mode going from the 7th scale degree into the 1st (meaning octave where the pattern repeats itself).

In any case, both the 7-column and 12-column versions give extra visual aid. The essence is the highlighted notes. So we could have just 7 lines with names of the modes and their characteristic notes separated by commas, and that would still be all you need to take away from this reference. But the point I'm after with my mission is not only to give you raw info, but to show music concepts in a way that will make it "click" for you by utilizing all sorts of visual enhancements.

Concept explained

Major and Minor tonalities (scales) are so common that our ears have been "trained" how they sound inside and out. However, a song that is written entirely (or partially) in a mode other than Ionian (a.k.a. Major scale) or Aeolian (a.k.a. Minor scale) will sound different to our ears. That is because the modes modify the intervallic structure of the Major and Minor scales, and we are able to clearly hear these alterations in a song.

This is exactly what's behind the concept of "characteristic notes"—every mode is compared either to Major scale or Minor scale and the resulting difference is your color note(s) which you should put emphasis on in your composition. Modes where the 1st chord is major are compared to the Major scale and modes where 1st chord is minor (or diminished) are compared to the Minor scale. The table in this reference highlights these differences.

Example: Dorian's 1st chord is minor, so it classifies the entire mode as minor, and so it's compared to the Minor scale (Aeolian mode).

    Minor scale formula   : 1-2-b3-4-5-b6-b7
    Dorian's mode formula : 1-2-b3-4-5- 6-b7
                                        ^
    

We see that they differ in the 6th degree. So Dorian's characteristic note is natural 6. And so on with the rest of the modes.