Heres a lesson on Diatonic Scales I have from another forum. If you guys like, tell me and I'll add more.
Lets start at the beginning. Scales. All music is based of off the Major scale so, obviously, it's important to know all about it. The Major Scale follows a pattern of Whole Steps, or Tones, which are 2 frets, and Half Steps, or Semi-tones, which is 1 fret. All Major scales follow the pattern:
Tone, Tone, Semi-Tone, Tone, Tone, Tone, Semi-Tone.
Or, more simply, 2-2-1-2-2-2-1.
Lets look quickly at C Major (Since it's the only Major scale with no sharps or flats.)
C-D-E-F-G-A-B-C
2 2 1 2 2 2 1
See how it works? Lets look at one other.
G-A-B-C-D-E-F#-G
2 2 1 2 2 2 1
Still with me? Yes? Alright, lets move on another step. Each note has a name depending on where it is in the scale. Once again, lets look at C Major.
I. C. Tonic (Root)
II. D Supertonic
III. E Mediant
IV. F Sub dominant
V. G Dominant
VI. A sub mediant (or relative minor)
VII. B Leading Tone, or Seventh.
VIII.C Tonic (Octave)
Now, you're probably thinking, 'Why is this important?'. Well it'll come in handy with construction of Chord progressions, but thats all in good time.
MODES
Now, lets look at Modes Of Major Scales. First, definition of Mode. A Mode is the different scales that are started from the different notes in a scale. So lets look at the Modes from the Parental scale of, you guessed it, C Major.
C - Ionian (another name for the Major scale)
D - Dorian (another name for the Melodic Minor scale)
E - Phrygian
F - Lydian
G - Mixolydian
A - Aeolian (another name for the Natural Minor Scale)
B - Locrian
Now, I'll show you the pattern for each of these Modes.
Ionian - 2 2 1 2 2 2 1
Dorian - 2 1 2 2 2 2 1
Phrygian - 1 2 2 2 1 2 2
Lydian - 2 2 2 1 2 2 1
Mixolydian - 2 2 1 2 2 1 2
Aeolian - 2 1 2 2 1 2 2
Locrian - 1 2 2 1 2 2 2
Now, it's important to remember that even though these are in the parental key of C, the mode isn't IN C. For example, the D Dorian is the same as a D Melodic Minor (Melodic Minor started from the 5th fret on the A string) The modes are separated into three groups. These groups are
Major: Ionian, Lydian, and Mixolydian.
Minor: Aeolian, Dorian and Phrygian.
Diminished: Locrian.
You may be wondering, What makes the Lydian Major and not Minor? Why is Locrain Diminished? Why is Phrygian Minor? What is the distinguishing classification feature? Well, lets take a look.
First, lets talk briefly about what it means to raise (Sharpen) or lower (flatten) something. if I play a C Major with a raised fourth, that would mean I take the fourth note of the scale and raise it one Semi-Tone.
With that being said, lets look at the Modes again.
Ionian. This ones pretty obvious, it IS the Major scale, so it's in the Major category.
Lydian. The only difference between the Ionian and Lydian Mode is that a Lydian has a raised fourth.
Mixolydian. The mixolydian is the same as a Ionian, except it has a lowered 7th.
MINOR GROUP.
The Aeolian scale is in the Minor group because it's the Natural Minor scale. Yes, indeed.
Dorian, or Melodic Minor. Now, you may have already thought by now, "The Melodic Minor scale is just the Ionian with a flattened 3rd." If so, congratulations. Now, why is it still considered Minor? Because that note (flattened 3rd) is known as a MINOR 3rd. THAT is why it is still a Minor.
Phrygian. This is just a Natural Minor with a lowered 2nd. (but still has the Minor 3rd in it).
DIMINISHED. Locrian is the only Mode in this group because it's the only Mode with a diminished 5th. Yeah, I'm not to sure about what that means, but thats OK because this scale was only suppose to exist in Theory, but Jazz and Blues guitarists didn't know that.
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Subject: Diatonic Scales 
Mon Dec 29, 2008 6:05 pm
