Madman’s New Diary Chapter Seven - The Forgotten Mode (Lucifer's Locrian Lullaby)

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Really note sure who to blame here ?

Shane whacks out a wonderful mixo medley and Mr C name checks The Madman. Then along comes Roger and dissess poor old Locrian. That wonderfully weird odd man out in the world of modes, not one thing or the other. Neither Major or minor, just a bit odd and often neglected.

So just like when Mr C first posted his modal masterpiece on the old forum, someone needed to stick up for the poor soul and I made sure I had a little dalliance with the odd one. So with the mode-us operandi of this week, things just had to be repeated.

Well I say that as it was not really planned. Late yesterday evening I cranked up a couple of 10 minute mixo BTs, grabbed the Gretsch and had an unplugged noodle for about 30 minutes. Woke up this morning and saw the “only 6 modes” comment and thought “ok that sounds like a challenge”.

My go to BT channels did not have much in the way of Locrian, so post dog walk it was into YT and a quick search for something suitably dark to match the chill damp autumn morning. Dropped on a track from Six String Studies called Dark G Locrian, had a listen and thought that will do nicely.

Now as I have not been exploring the less used modes for a while, this started out more of an adventure of just relearning the the scale and moving around the neck a bit. But what I like about Locrian, is when you play it as a plain old up and down scale, it don’t sound like a scale, well to me anyway. So its ripe for a bit of abuse.

And I adopted my usual approach of making Clapton look like a shredder, its another laid back dawdle with not a lot going on technique wise but fun all the same. Enjoy. :wink:

The original was a near 6 minute BT, so was trimmed in Reaper to around 3:20, which kept me away from the thicker strings, which made it a little too dark !!

For those interested, this started out to be a day of experimenting with OBS and seeing if I could add a backing track as a media source and use that method for future Open Mics. It was also the first time I have recorded without headphones or IEDs, using the Soundbar Speakers that are hooked up to both AIs and sit above the PC monitor. Not sure if I would use the latter while singing but plan to experiment. But playing the BT in OBS worked a treat and means less clutter and cables on the floor, negating the use of the Trio or the JamMan as a live feed. All good fun !

Comments, feedback, questions welcome as usual.

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Very nice, Toby, a bit dark and mysterious, and sounding like a story. I also love the tone on your guitar.

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You invoked the “L” word - very brave of you! But seriously it does show that something can be done with it. You generated a slightly disturbing, dystopian mood. You could entitle your composition “The World of 2022”.

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That was ever so cool, Toby, The best I can claim when it comes to modes is that I think I may be able to name them all, maybe, not necessarily in the ‘right’ order.

This sounded great. I really liked the idea you kept exploring as you ascended in tone, moving to the thinner strings and then up to the dusty end. Nothing too tricky but it sounded great. Nailed the tone.

Plus a production experiment that worked and can simplify things.

So all round success.

Keep on rocking in the modal way (sorry NY)

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That sounded really dark and cool, Toby. Great tone and as Phil says it sounded really distopian.

I wasn’t sure whether you were calling Roger or Locrian a wonderfully weird, neglected odd man that’s neither major or minor :thinking:

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No clue about modes, sounded good, which is all that counts.

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Delayed responses as I needed to listen to some other folks post while I had a bit of time !

@Mari63 Thank you Mari, that was the objective. It doesn’t reflect my mood but it can be a cool emotion to play in and Locrian suits it well. As to tone it was one of the POD “factory” presets, boy there some good sounds in that box and a great investment.
Thanks for the listen. :sunglasses:

@twistor59 Phil not sure about brave but I do like messing with this one as it falls under the fingers really well (once I remind myself of the patterns!). Glad folks are picking up on the vibe. Love the title but if it was a composition I’d have to remember what I was planning to play ! Much prefer the improve approach based on a couple of phrases. I can make it up as I go along. :rofl:

@DavidP Thank you David. Another who captured the essence, this time of the movement around the neck, the scale shape really lends itself to that or at least if I remember where I can go next ! :rofl: As I said above, the POD provides a real tone feast. Dropping the BT into OBS as a media source worked really well and much quicker to pick up a file rather than copying it to the JamMan xd card and plumbing everything in. For the next OMs BTs I have an additional 5 second lead in that will allow me to set the track up in play moce and give me enough time to get back behind the mic for the count-in. That’s the theory and yet to be tested but should be enough. And I’ll certainly keep the modes rocking but not sure what will be next ! :sunglasses:

@Socio James thanks for the listen, see tone comments above. Guess I could have subconsciously labelled @roger_holland as the weird one but I am sure I meant the mode. :rofl:

@skinnyt Trevor I am sure you will discover the world of modes in good time, much fun to be had there! But if it sounded good to you, that is good enough for me. Thank you. :sunglasses:

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Hi Toby,
Who was spreading bad things about Locrian :face_with_peeking_eye:??? that must have been Shane :upside_down_face:,…yes absolutely, I love Locrian …always did :heart_eyes: :innocent:…

I’m sure now that a lot of my former hardrock and symphonic hardrock guitar players often played in Locrian, I really recognized something in this, :sunglasses: :clap:…so really great job man :sunglasses: :clap:…even the sound that came out of my bad/crapy boxes here let you sound pretty good to my ears…

So… I will never say anything bad about Modes 7 again :smile:
Greetings,…

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Hey Toby, this sounded really cool! I’m not able to give any technical feedback, as I’m still myself hardly able to use my acoustic guitar little amp :see_no_evil:. To my ear it sounded pretty much like the soundtrack of a movie where something unavoidable and misteryous has been happening and someone is there with a wide open mouth wondering…just my imagination :face_with_hand_over_mouth: Well done :blush::blush::blush:

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Wow Toby that was a proper doomsday impro, really different vibe to what my ears are used to. Now you need to learn to shred and you will become a full metal guitarist :grinning: well done and all the best!

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Nice modal/improv exercise! Well done. Cool menacing tone just in time for the “pumpkin spice everything” time of the year here in the US. Nothing more menacing than that. :slight_smile:

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Hey Toby,
Sounds good “hear” and nice you are getting so much out of OBS. I like the tone and your lead work is an in the park homer!

Keep up the good vibe,
LB

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Busy couple of days, so just dipping in now and then but thanks for the comments.

@roger_holland Roger to see you denying ownership ! And yes I am sure to the strange one features in those genres but for me it was the BT that became the inspiration ! :sunglasses:

@SILVIA Ha ha I must be getting drawn to something here, as there was another mention of a movie vibe for the previous Improv. The wide open mouth could be some one thinking what the heck is he up to ! :rofl: but I hear what you are saying and appreciate the connections. :sunglasses:

@adi_mrok Adi I like doomsday reference and yes it was a bit of a direction change. Maybe inspired by recent events but will leave that to folks imagination. The old cockney term Carsey could be a reference :rofl: Thanks for the listen. :sunglasses:

@CT Hi Clint thanks for that, yeah it would suit Halloween but it did not cross my mind. Maybe there may be time for something a little darker, once I put the OM to bed ! :sunglasses:

@LBro Thanks for the compliments on the tone and lead. It was another easy fit production wise, letting the BT and the POD Go deliver the goods and me just getting the balanced sorted. Enjoying these little excursions, while I work on other things in the background. Expect more :sunglasses:

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Dark, mysterious, menacing, doomsday. The words have all been used already Toby. Not a mode you’ll be breaking out at your next party perhaps but some interesting notes being used. Super tone from your guitar too.
Well done.

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Excellent stuff Toby, I’ve tried this one myself and the blues in me didn’t like the unresolved phrases required :joy::joy::joy:
You made a really good job of it, dark and forbidding sounding, loved it :+1::+1::+1: :metal:t2::metal:t2::metal:t2:

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@TheMadman_tobyjenner Hey, Toby, back for a third time. This track keeps dredging up memories of the days when we’d watch television with the sound off and playing a track like this on the stereo at levels that would vibrate your whole body - for hours at a time Hmmm. Don’t know if you ever did anything like that?? Really enjoyed this one. Well played. And thanks for those memories, I think.

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@sairfingers Thanks Gordon ! Yeah can’t see this type of experiment used to welcome in a New Year but you never know ! As to tones, loving the POD and finding more gems each week and now starting to dial in my own. Good piece of kit ! :sunglasses:

@DarrellW Darrell I am with you and much prefer a nice Blues noodle but I think you can also learn using other genres, if you could call it that. I just like sticking up for the odd guy in the corner now and then :rofl:

@oldhead49 Dave now that’s reminded me of something I had long forgotten about ! Yes we did that and normally with the lights out as well and the tele sound off and the music system volume maxed with some extra bass. Bands like Camel and Tangerine Dream figured at the time I recall. Maybe that inspired Bruce’s 57 Channels ? So thanks for the memory too, I might just whack the cans on and stroll back down memory lane ! :sunglasses:

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@TheMadman_tobyjenner Haha! Toby, too bad we didn’t know each other back in the day. We could have had a high time watching Bob Ross pull a squirrel out of his top pocket while painting a landscape, music blaring . I can picture you turning and saying “What the…” and then just breaking up laughing.
Ah, bygone days!
This is a great piece you’ve put together!!

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I’m thinking there was some extra recreational activities going on.

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Telepathy abounds!
Didn’t mean to sidetrack this thread, but it’s given me an up that was badly needed and for that I thank you Toby and Rick.

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