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What is DADGAD?
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(What do I mean by ‘work’? See the page on which keys work in DADGAD. If you’re not familiar with modes, you’d probably be better served reading some more thorough explanation elsewhere. I’ll just cover the gist here.)
Ignoring accessible bass notes: All the modes of D, G, C, F and Bb major and of D, G and A melodic minor.
Taking D, G and A as tonal centres with accessible low bass notes:
| Tonic centre | Modes of the major scale | Modes of the melodic minor scale |
|---|---|---|
| D |
D Ionian (major) D Dorian D Phrygian D Mixolydian D Aeolian (minor) |
D melodic minor D Dorian b2 / Phrygian #6 D Mixolydian b6 |
| G |
G Ionian (major) G Dorian G Lydian G Mixolydian G Aeolian (minor) |
G melodic minor G Lydian b7 / Lydian dominant G Mixolydian b6 |
| A |
A Dorian A Phrygian A Mixolydian A Aeolian (minor) A Locrian |
A Dorian b2 / Phrygian #6 A Mixolydian b6 A Aeolian b5 / Locrian #2 |
You can think of modes as scales or keys. I will talk only about scales below, but the same applies to keys (i.e. “C major” means both the C major scale and the key of C major).
Here are two ways you can think of modes:
C major contains the notes C, D, E, F, G, A and B.
The relative minor of C major is A minor.
This means that C major and A minor contain exactly the same notes, they just treat a different note/chord as the tonal centre.
If you treat G as the tonal centre, you get G Mixolydian (G, A, B, C, D, E, F).
Note that these are the same notes, but with G as the start of the scale or the ‘centre’ of the tonality.
If you treat E as the tonal centre, you get E Phrygian (E, F, G, A, B, C, D).
As before, these are the same notes, just with E as the tonic.
In other words, G Mixolydian and E Phrygian are modes of C major (the 5th and 3rd modes, respectively).
Likewise, D major contains the notes D, E, F#, G, A, B and C#.
The relative minor is B minor (B, C#, D, E, F#, G, A).
If you treat A as the tonic, you get A Mixolydian (A, B, C#, D, E, F#, G).
With F# as the tonic, you get F# Phrygian (F#, G, A, B, C#, D, E).
| Mode | Built on major scale degree |
Modes of C major | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mode | Notes | ||
| Ionian | 1st | C Ionian | C D E F G A B |
| Dorian | 2nd | D Dorian | D E F G A B C |
| Phrygian | 3rd | E Phrygian | E F G A B C D E |
| Lydian | 4th | F Phrygian | F G A B C D E |
| Mixolydian | 5th | G Mixolydian | G A B C D E F |
| Aeolian | 6th | A Aeolian | A B C D E F G |
| Locrian | 7th | B Locrian | B C D E F G A |
C major contains the notes C, D, E, F, G, A and B.
C Mixolydian contains the notes C, D, E, F, G, A and Bb. This is the major scale with a lowered seventh (i.e. Bb instead of B).
C Phrygian contains the notes C, Db, Eb, F, G, Ab and Bb. This is the major scale with a lowered second, third, sixth and seventh (i.e. Db, Eb, Ab and Bb instead of D, E, A and B).
Each mode can be derived from the major scale by altering specific scale degrees.
| Mode | Pattern of altered scale degrees |
Examples in C | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mode | Notes | ‘Parent’ major key | ||
| Lydian | #4 | C Lydian | C D E F# G A B | G major |
| Ionian | - | C Ionian | C D E F G A B | C major |
| Mixolydian | b7 | C Mixolydian | C D E F G A Bb | F major |
| Dorian | b7 b3 | C Dorian | C D Eb F G A Bb | Bb major |
| Aeolian | b7 b3 b6 | C Aeolian | C D Eb F G Ab Bb | Eb major |
| Phrygian | b7 b3 b6 b2 | C Phrygian | C Db Eb F G Ab Bb | Ab major |
| Locrian | b7 b3 b6 b2 b5 | C Locrian | C Db Eb F Gb Ab Bb | Db major |
We can start with the major keys that are compatible with DADGAD.
These keys are D, G, C, F and Bb major.
The standard modes of these keys are shown in the table below.
Modes with tonic D, G and A are highlighted in green.
These highlighted modes work with the open strings of DADGAD (just like their parent major keys) and have accessible tonic bass notes.
| Parent key | Relative mode | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| D major | D Ionian | E Dorian | F# Phrygian | G Lydian | A Mixolydian | B Aeolian | C# Locrian |
| G major | G Ionian | A Dorian | B Phrygian | C Lydian | D Mixolydian | E Aeolian | F# Locrian |
| C major | C Ionian | D Dorian | E Phrygian | F Lydian | G Mixolydian | A Aeolian | B Locrian |
| F major | F Ionian | G Dorian | A Phrygian | Bb Lydian | C Mixolydian | D Aeolian | E Locrian |
| Bb major | Bb Ionian | C Dorian | D Phrygian | Eb Lydian | F Mixolydian | G Aeolian | A Locrian |
| Mode | Tonic | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Lydian | G | ||
| Ionian | G | D | |
| Mixolydian | G | D | A |
| Dorian | G | D | A |
| Aeolian | G | D | A |
| Phrygian | D | A | |
| Locrian | A | ||
The melodic minor scale has two forms (ascending and descending).
It is derived from the major scale by lowering the third (ascending) or by lowering the 3rd, 6th and 7th (descending).
I will only consider the ascending form here because the descending form is identical to the natural minor scale (Aeolian mode).
C melodic minor (ascending) contains the notes C, D, Eb, F, G, A and B.
Not all melodic minor scales work well on DADGAD in the same way that not all keys work well in DADGAD.
The only melodic minor scales compatible with the open strings of DADGAD are:
Melodic minor modes are analogous to the major scale modes discussed above, but they are based on the melodic minor scale instead of the major scale.
“Modes of melodic minor” refers to modes of the ascending form because the descending form is identical with the natural minor scale (i.e. Aeolian mode).
There is no widely accepted system for naming the modes of melodic minor so there are many alternate names for each mode.
The table below shows the modes of C melodic minor.
| Melodic minor mode | Built on scale degree |
Modes of C melodic minor | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Melodic minor / Ionian b3 | 1 | C melodic minor | C D Eb F G A B |
| Dorian b2 / Phyrian #6 | 2 | D Dorian b2 | D Eb F G A B C |
| Lydian #5 / Lydian augmented | b3 | Eb Lydian #5 | Eb F G A B C D |
| Lydian b7 / Lydian dominant | 4 | F Lydian b7 | F G A B C D Eb |
| Mixolydian b6 | 5 | G Mixolydian b6 | G A B C D Eb F |
| Aeolian b5 / Locrian ♮2 | 6 | A Aeolian b5 | A B C D Eb F G |
| Altered dominant | 7 | B Altered dominant | B C D Eb F G A |
The table below shows the parallel melodic minor modes of C (as a pattern of flats and sharps).
| Mode | Pattern of altered scale degrees | Examples in C | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mode | Notes | ‘Parent’ melodic minor | ||
| Lydian b7 | b7 + #4 | C Lydian b7 | C D E F# G A Bb | G melodic minor |
| Ionian b3 | b3 | C Ionian b3 | C D Eb F G A B | C melodic minor |
| Mixolydian b6 | b6 + b7 | C Mixolydian b6 | C D E F G Ab Bb | F melodic minor |
| Dorian b2 | b2 + b7 b3 | C Dorian b2 | C Db Eb F G A Bb | Bb melodic minor |
| Aeolian b5 | b5 + b7 b3 b6 | C Aeolian b5 | C D Eb F Gb Ab Bb | Eb melodic minor |
| Phrygian b1 | b1 + b7 b3 b6 b2 | C Lydian #5* | C Db Eb F G# Ab Bb | Ab melodic minor |
| Locrian b4 | b4 + b7 b3 b6 b2 b5 | C Locrian b4 | C Db Eb Fb Gb Ab Bb | Db melodic minor |
| (*The Lydian #5 is listed here as Phrygian b1 for purely formal reasons. The latter name preserves the sequence of mode names organised in fifths.) | ||||
We saw above that the melodic minor scales that are compatible with the open strings of DADGAD are C, G and D melodic minor.
Each of these has seven modes, though only those with tonic D, G and A have an accessible low-pitch tonic bass note.
Those with tonic D, G and A are highlighted in the table below.
| Parent scale | Mode | D melodic minor | D Ionian b3 | E Dorian b2 | F Lydian #5 | G Lydian b7 | A Mixolydian b6 | B Aeolian b5 | C# Locrian b4 | G melodic minor | G Ionian b3 | A Dorian b2 | Bb Lydian #5 | C Lydian b7 | D Mixolydian b6 | E Aeolian b5 | F# Locrian b4 | C melodic minor | C Ionian b3 | D Dorian b2 | Eb Lydian #5 | F Lydian b7 | G Mixolydian b6 | A Aeolian b5 | B Locrian b4 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Filtering the modes of DADGAD-compatible D, G and C melodic minor for accessible bass notes leaves:
| Tonic centre | Mode | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| D | D melodic minor | D E F G A B# C# |
| D Dorian b2 / Phrygian b6 | D Eb F G A B C | |
| D Mixolydian b6 | D E F# G A Bb C | |
| G | G melodic minor | G A Bb C D E F# |
| G Lydian b7 / Lydian dominant | G A B C# D E F | |
| G Mixolydian b6 | G A B C D Eb F | |
| A | A Dorian b2 / Phrygian #6 | A Bb C D E F# G |
| A Mixolydian b6 | A B C# D E F G | |
| A Aeolian b5 / Locrian b2 | A B C D Eb F G |