Again, my post is about, hopefully, some interesting and helpful connections etc re modes, and about finding a mode, in your head, quickly and accurately. Its not about using pen and paper, or moving your fingers in a pattern on the guitar.
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Shane if it works for you thatās great, for me itās too slow and long winded, I see no value in it but if you do thatās all good too, as I say different people can think in different ways, thereās no right and wrong just differing opinions to reach the same goal. Personally I learn theory to get the notes and intervals under my fingers so when Iām playing Iām not thinking about theory at all I just know where to go and Iām comfortable with that. YMMV.
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Again, Im not talking about an exclusive method. Im talking about another tool/ perspective, with some good theory behind it. If you dont see any value in it, thatās a pity. If you dont get it, dont use it.
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omg i am loving this so much, thank you Richard, never thought i will come across this. THANK YOU JUSTIN for THIS, i jst discovered this in 2025!
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@fadeintoyou Hello Chew and welcome to the JustinGuitar Community.
Thank you for your positive comment to my posts. 
10 / 10 on the major ones. Iām not sure I was entirely honest though. I listened to the Ionian / Lydian / Ionian / Mixolydian a few times (as suggested). Then I did the test. But on the 1st run through I had a fair idea I wasnāt quite getting it (indeed on look back I only got 4 of them right). So I then went back and listened to Ionian / Lydian / Ionian / Mixolydian again; then the test again (without taking it); then Ionian / Lydian / Ionian / Mixolydian again. Then I took the test. Then I revealed the answers.
But I think I can recognise them better now:
Ionian doesnāt sound like there is anything unusual about it (which there shouldnāt be!), other than maybe when you go back to the root from a much higher degree of the scale (Iām not sure why and it also applies to the other 2 modes).
Lydian: the sharp 4th when you go lower than the starting root sounds flat to me - so I guess I hear a flat 5th. But when you go high it sounds sharp (so a sharp 4th). This feels like a distinctive characteristic that I may be able to grab hold of
Mixolydian sounds flatter than the other 2, (which it is 
). Whether I would pick it out without hearing Ionian as well, Iām not sure.
Iām happy with the result though, and that I picked up (for me) a defining characteristic for the Lydian mode.
For info: Iām currently following a Modes Mastery course for bass. There is slightly different teaching from @Richard_close2u and James Eager (the bass teacher at eBassGuitar / Bass Lab Plus). But the 2 combined are working well for me.
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By flattening one note at a time as we move through the modes in parallel from Lydian to Locrian, the scales sound ādarkerā.
But hereās a thingā¦ā¦
By moving through the modes weāve flattened 6 of the 7 notes. If we flatten the remaining note (the root) will it become even darker?
Well, if we flatten the root we move into a different ākeyā and A Locrian moves to Ab Lydian - the brightest mode.
Soā¦ā¦does Ab Lydian sound brighter or darker than A Locrianā¦?
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@BurnsRhythm
David. You made me smile.
Have you stumbled upon the mobius strip of modes?
Hi Richard, in parallel, I go through the Practical Music Theory and tried to visualise how modes behave with the intervals (maybe I do the wrong approach), what just grasped my eyes is the Myxolydian Mode with its Min7, so actually the Dominant 7 mode, the blues mode. Is this a good visualisation, or shall I erase this reply, because I am far from understanding (I am fairly honest, I played around and this is what came out).
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@Spantik7000 Good work Emmanuel. You have mapped the notes of each mode / scale using a 3-note-per-string system. Are you familiar with it (as opposed to CAGED)?
https://www.justinguitar.com/modules/major-scale-3nps
https://www.justinguitar.com/guitar-lessons/caged-vs-3-notes-per-string-3nps-scale-systems-sc-987
I have taken the liberty of editing your diagram. I have rearranged the order.
Lydian far left (the only mode with a sharpened note compared to the major scale).
All other modees moving right gain one additional flattened note. I have highlighted these changes with a yellow box around the notes concerned. This supplements your colour coding system which is already good.
Mixolydian is allied with dominant chords due to it being major in charcter and having a b7. It isnāt called the dominant 7 mode though using that name might be clear to people familiar with the nature of modesā¦
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Wow, thanks Richard, this is what I observed, the sequential shift (flattening) of the notes, and your order makes it clear what happens.
I very like 3 notes per strings for two reason, compared to the CAGED-system, because for warming up, this give some good work for the fingers 
and visually I get a broader bandwidth on the fretboard to use, I like to play wandering through the neck and this helps me a lot.
Thanks again, also for these lessons on mode, very visual and colourful, the best way to me for learning.
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