I ask Frank Gambale about how he teaches Modes

You did a modal course at first, you did a video course on pits, and you're one of the first guitarists I heard who actually talked about

modes

. I talk a lot about

modes

on my channel. I want you to talk about your concept with that and why people should learn modes oh god you know I wouldn't be able to play anything if I didn't understand modes and the problem is there are so many gray areas when it comes to what a mode is you know i made a video years ago called monster lick no no no that one is called modes no more mystery and I wanted to clear it up because I found a way to demonstrate it which I thought was a breakthrough because it used to work with my students so look we have A specialization. scale, everyone knows the major scale, but if you practiced all the modes in one key, if you took E major, then you took Dorian's f sharp, everything still sounds like that, so the first thing I did was throw that idea away because you're never I'm going to listen to the difference because it would make students ask me all the time, Frank, why do we have to learn seven modes when they're all the same?

Well, okay, my first response to that is great. I'm glad you thought about that, but you're wrong and the reason is that you would call a major scale the same as a minor scale and the answer has to be no; otherwise, leave and come back when you learn something. No, look at each scale if they all start with the same note, that's where you really hear the difference, so that's the first thing, major and major and major, you have to get into the major vibe. I think it was a bad translation. These should have been called moods. moods, not modes, major is incredibly happy, every happy song you hear is major and major is the foundation of all music theory, it's the scale that all scales are compared to, so if you want Dorian, instead of starting on F sharp, start on E, then it would be the second degree, then it would be the same as the D major notes starting on E, so do this now, we're starting to hear a difference, it's minor for one side , has a flat third, four, five, six and a flat seven. vibrates totally different that's all dorian and learn where the triads are because they are in a different place than where they are with major and etc etc you do the same with the third mode it would be the third mode of e it would be g sharp phrygian but I want e frigin so would be the same notes as C major starting on E this is a bit frigid Spanish, you see how they are very different from each other when you compare them and then, well, that's the sound of friction, so you get that get the intervals it's all about of intervals and where they are found major one two three four five six seven dorian one two flat three four five six flat seven Phrygian one flat two flat three four five flat Lydian would be next would sound like this beautiful sound each ship has its own mood , so I went a step further and thought you know, okay, it's one thing to know the intervals and the next thing is to know how to make a chord progression based on that mode, so I always like the one four five triads of major and even just four and five those two triads you know are one step apart, so they must be four or five of e major a and b would be four or five of e, so if I wanted to practice a major scale, I would practice, that would be a nice little progression because those two triads, four and five, a base go to that that's how I would base my progression, so the next way would be dorian the four and five of good e. dorian is D major four and five is g and a so I would play this is where I made my way to a lot of people people were chasing me in the street I understood it my students were going yes I understood it I thought you know be a year later but who cares , it doesn't matter when the ball drops, as long as you get it and that's where your Phrygian, where your F and your G come in instead of Phrygian, that's what happens when you get to the melodic minor modes, although the same thing uses a four and five mm-hmm because one is minor on the four and five is major so that's enough to isolate a good melodic minor establishment would be four is major five is major that would be my melodic minor practice progression or just take a nasty one chord find a little vampire where that third moves in A minor minor nine major seven that's the sound it's the james bond spy movie chord yeah so that's the melodic minor one and every once in a while you get a master a stevie wonder man he writes the hipaa not many people write a melodic minor hit and it's c minor two dominant seven chords four five melodic minor so wow you know it's out there people use this stuff if they're smart it can really help you to sound different, you know, for me, Artists are an advance, those who are doing something different, there are a lot of people who follow them, but I want to be at the forefront and do something interesting because I think you know that we should not underestimate the public and what they will accept from Stevie.

I always wrote the most modern songs, the same with steely dan and fagin just and sting, I mean, I remember hearing a police song in the past and I thought: wow, you know we can write songs with 145 as many as you want, right? what are you going to highlight? Probably not really. but if you have something like these chords, but look at the chords, people you don't have to do nonsense, you can put together some cool chords. You know, people will accept anything as long as it has a strong beat and a strong melody that you can stretch. come out harmoniously why not