Understanding Modes Part 7: Connecting Shapes Video Lecture | The Ultimate Guitar Course: From Beginner to Advanced - Class 6

oK we've learned the Moe's now maybe
it's time to take a break
congratulate ourselves and just relax a
little bit know you've celebrated
prematurely learning the modes is only
half the battle
we still need to know how to put them
together and how to play modally so
right now we're going to do a couple
exercises that'll help us take what
we've learned and connect them together
as shapes okay so I want to focus on the
first octave of three different modes
and show you how they stack on top of
each other so we're going to start with
G mixolydian alright if you remember the
shape its middle pinky index middle
pinky index middle okay so we're gonna
stack that right on top of a minor
Aeolian index ring pinky index ring
pinky index string I'm going to stack
that right on top of C major C Ionian
middle pinky index middle pinky index
ring pinky
so you can practice all these like it
once like just through like which is
great and it's a great way to kind of
really get that hand shape ingrained in
your muscle memory but it's not the most
musical way to do it so we're going to
start linking these shapes together and
playing through the shapes okay so we're
gonna start again in G mixolydian and at
the end of it we're gonna slide into a
minor okay so right at first we're just
gonna play through the scale one octave
G ABCD efg slide into the end of a mine
right so there's the end now whichever
finger you use for this is not too
important because I want you to see this
in your mind's eye as you're
transitioning through shapes so I can
here's that first one climbing through
the scale into minor and then coming
back out of it right now you can make a
circular pattern here what I mean by
that is if you just go up them through
and then backwards through a and then
back to G right
now again that's not the most musical
way to do anything but you're really
training your hands on the intervals the
distances between these shapes okay now
what I think is even more valuable once
you can kind of see that in your mind's
eye is to skip an entire shape maybe
even two shapes so we're going to take G
mixolydian now we're going to slide all
the way into C major so we're going to
the same thing where we slide into the
eighth note of it from the eighth note
of G alright so one two three four five
six seven eight now that eighth note and
C is right here on the tenth fret of the
D string
so we're maintaining the integrity of
our hand position now the most important
thing as long as you realize where you
are so up through G backwards through C
and then if you want you can stop in a
minor on the way back to G right so it's
all about just making little adjustments
through these scale shapes okay and
again now we can start making it a
little more musical by maybe not just
playing in order all the way up let's
kind of make a little bit of a riff the
thing that helps me out a lot is taking
a central point to expand and come back
to so let me demonstrate that let's take
something in a minor alright let's make
a little riff out of that let's go okay
so I'm kind of sliding into the fifth
note 1 2 3 4 5 which is 7 a into the 5th
fret on the D string into the 8th note
in a minor right into the 3rd note of a
minor into the first note right so
number wise would be 5 7 8 3 1 now I'm
really gonna solidify that in my mind
but I can get there from anywhere I
don't have to hand a hit I don't have to
have the hand shape to tell me where
that is I'm just hitting that spot and
knowing I'm an a minor right so let's
keep that in our mind but still go to G
mixolydian alright so I'm gonna make a
little riff in G and it can be anything
like let's just take the the top of the
shape
back in G notice how I'm kind of jumping
in one shape going back to what I'm kind
of considering my home base in the a
minor shape and I'm able to get there no
matter where my fingers are because I'm
seeing this shape in my mind's eye and
really just be creative with this ga
there's no way if you're hitting the
right notes there's no way you can make
this sound bad as long as you're getting
your shapes right so you can swing the
stuff you can kind of make chords out of
it like I can make a G power chord into
that regular G to one of the three I can
jump in to see it again and see why it
what I did there so right there that's
in five to six five to four so so I'm
kind of taking parts of a scale riffing
them I guess it's like a solo really if
you want to think of it that way and I'm
making a home base to always go through
so I never get too lost even if I'm
experimenting maybe I'm not totally sure
maybe you want to work in another shape
I want to work in D Dorian which again
is minor with the sharp six maybe I want
to get to that sharp six down here
alright I can be the same thing and
really just take one riff did you come
up with could be that one it could be
some like a really well-known one from a
song they're all hidden in these shapes
and learn to jump into a different mode
shape and then get back to your base now
another really good one that is more of
a drill more of an exercise but it is
really really helpful in distinguishing
the differences between these shapes is
taking one root note and playing all the
modes on that one note we're just going
to go one octave through right so I'm
gonna start on an a now remember the
first mode is major so the major scale
pinky index middle pinky right so
there's as I kind of talked about far
there's three major class modes where
I'm routing my middle finger and then
altering that remember this so the first
mode is the major scale the fourth mode
is the major scale with a 1 2 3 sharp 4
and the fifth mode is the major scale
with a 1 2 3 4 5 6 flat 7 right so maybe
playing all those major modes in a row
and this kind of thing is going to help
when we start to play modally in the
next in the next video so if you want to
do all the major scale or all the major
class modes in a row would be major
Lydian mixolydian and we do the same
thing for the minor ones but we're going
to do now is play all seven modes rooted
on an a one octave through in order okay
so we're all going to relate these to
you major scale or minor scale so the
first one is a straight up major scale
in a the notes don't even matter just
the hand position matters right you go
forward and backwards if you want but
really just to get it in your mind let's
do the major scale first then the second
mode which is Dorian so now I'm rooting
with my pointer finger which is the
minor scale to sharp six the third mode
which is Phrygian it which is minor
scale with a flat to right
the fourth mode Lydian major scale sharp
for the fifth mode mixolydian major
scale flat seven the six mode is the
minor scale the seventh mode is La
Coruna which has the flat two and a flat
five so again all seven in a row on one
root note major Dorian Phrygian Lydian
mixolydian
minor la créme back to major so it's a
good challenge to kind of see how fast
you don't have to shred it do it as slow
as you want your speed is not important
at all right here we're just training
your mind to see these shapes behind a
root note
so yeah just it's a really great
challenge to just kind of see how you
can do it at any speed where you can
play it in a steady tempo I don't want
you this like major doreen Phrygian
right that's not really training your
rhythm at the same time I want you to be
able to try to think in real time no
matter how long that takes
to play all seven of them individually
off of one root note and this isn't
necessarily going to help you in staying
in one key because this is going to be a
bunch of different keys that's not
important it's really just taking that
shape and burning it into your memory