From: moffitt@chopin.udel.edu (Curtis Moffitt)
Subject: The Grateful Dead and the Mixolydian Mode...
Organization: University of Delaware
Date: Thu, 13 Aug 1992 16:35:36 GMT


This is a very long post.  It is a detailed description of the concept
of modes, and modal playing.  It also discusses the prevalence of the 
mixolydian mode in the grateful dead's music and why they use it so much.

I wrote:
>> variety of sounds you can get from it.  Basically, a modal jam is a freeform
>> jam given a chord (or maybe two chords) and a key (or mode) to work in.  
>> For example, the modal jam in Birdsong is primarily E7 in an E mixolydian
>> mode.  It is an excercise in hearing what the rest of the band is doing,

and then 
<ken@helix.nih.gov Tue Aug 11 17:43:48 1992 (Ken Weeks) writes me E-mail:>
>I had *SOME* vague ideas about what Jerry does and "modal jams", but...
>Now, for lesson 2...what's "mixolydian"?????
>ken@helix.nih.gov

Well, I've had a couple of people ask about mixolydian so I'll give a blurb
here on what modes are all about:

  There are basically 2 ways to think of modes in music:
1) A mode is a particular position of a major scale, or
2) A mode is a series of whole and half steps that is related to a major scale.

For 1) I mean that, taking a particular scale, say C major, we can take any
one of seven different positions in that scale.  The first position of the
scale of course is C, the second D, etc.   Like:

    C   D   E   F   G   A   B   
    1   2   3   4   5   6   7

Now, the corresponding modes for any scale are named by position of the
starting note in the scale:

1 = Ionian       2 = Dorian    3 = Phrygian    4 = Lydian
5 = Mixolydian   6 = Aolean    7 = Locrian

So, if I play C Ionian, then I am starting on the pitch C with that pitch 
in the Ionian (1st) position of a major scale.... What major scale has C
as it's first pitch?  Why C of course.  So we get:  C D E F G A B C

If I play C Dorian, then I am starting on the pitch C with that pitch in the
second position of the major scale... What major scale has C as it's second
pitch?  Why Bb of course.  So we get:  C D Eb F G A Bb C

Etc. until we get to C Locrian which would be: C Db Eb F Gb Ab Bb C
Since C is the seventh note in the Db scale...
Notice how we preserve the whole and half step pattern of the major scale
but we start that scale on the pitch given in the mode name...

Now, let's alter the starting pitch and see what happens...
Say we have D Ionian now.  So, we will play a scale starting on the pitch D
where D is the first note in the scale.... Well that's the D scale of course
so we get: D E F# G A B C# D

So now let's see D Dorian.  We need to play the scale starting on D that has
D as it's second note.  Well, that's the C scale so we get: D E F G A B C D

Etc. until we get D Lorcian which would be: D Eb F G Ab Bb C D
Notice that the pitch given (D) is the first note in the scale, and the 
mode name is the position of that note in a major scale.  With this 
terminology you can name ANY scale starting on ANY pitch with two words.
Quite a powerful naming tool.

For 2) We can look at modes as each having it's own whole and half-step
pattern.  From what I have explained above, we can see that there are
clearly defined whole and half step patterns dictated for each mode:

Ionian     =  w w h w w w h  (Major scale pattern)
Dorian     =  w h w w w h w
Phyrgian   =  h w w w h w w
Lydian     =  w w w h w w h
Mixolydian =  w w h w w h w
Aolean     =  w h w w h w w  (Natural Minor scale pattern)
Locrian    =  h w w h w w w

Notice that the natural minor scale is just a mode of the relative major
scale.  So if you play a minor scale, you're just playing the Aolean mode
of the relative major scale.   Like C major and A minor are the same,
A minor is simply A Aolean from C's perspective.

Each mode and it's pattern has it's own distinct sound when played alone,
but it is related back to major scales using the mode names.  Notice that,
as we go down we are really just shifting the major scale one position to
the left and we get a new set of unique whole and half-step patterns.
Each mode is really a viable scale on it's own and each has it's own
characteristic sound but we use the mode terminology so we can relate
each back to the major scale (with which we are familiar).  This reduces our
job to learing one scale instead of seven.

Modal playing is quite exotic and we can get some very interesting sounds
by using different modes.  The Greatful Dead are characterized heavily by
the mixolydian mode.  This is where the chord (or note) that is the tonic
or the predominant pitch is not the first position of the scale, it is the
fifth position in the scale - thus we have mixolydian.

Some examples will help understand:

Birdsong - the jam in this song is predominantly E7 in E mixolydian.
  What this means basically is that the main chord to which the jam is
"centered around" is E7 (with most emphasis in the E triad: E G# B and some
emphasis on the dom7: D).  The mode is mixolydian (E is the fifth position)
so the predominant scale is A major (A B C# D E F# G A  - note E is in the 5th
position).  Thus we get E mixolydian (E F# G A B C# D E).  So, those who
can play an instrument, go home, toss on Birdsong, skip to the jam and
play an A scale starting on E - sounds great right!  It "fits".

China->Rider segue - this jam is also a mixolydian jam.  It is D7 in 
D mixolydian.  The chord they jam to is the D major (with some addition of
the dom7: C).  Since it is mixolydian, the appropriate scale we use is the
G scale starting on D (note D is the 5th note in the G scale).  So, go
home, pop in China->Rider, skip to the segue and play a G scale starting
on D - sounds great right!  This "fits" too.

The mixolydian mode is SO prevalent in the dead's music that I could give
examples upon examples of it's use.  One more: In China Cat after the second
verse they have a small solo.  The order of the chords are, with no
particular bar lengths given (cause I can't remember off the top of my head
and you can hear the changes):  G D E B
When Jerry solos over each of these chords he plays mixolydian against the
chord.  This means on G he plays a C scale, on D he plays a G scale,
on E he plays an A scale, and on B he plays an E scale.  Mixolydian out the
kazoo.

The dead's heavy use of the mixolydian mode is quite easy to understand I
think.  It is the only mode/position that has the dom7.  The dom7 is the
main component to "blues" felling.  Ever notice how alot of dead tunes sound
"kinda bluesy but aren't really".  This is a major blues feeling (or major 
penatonic with the added dom7).   Also, dom7 chords enjoy the most felixibilty
as to what you can do to them (scales you can play, tensions you can
add) more so than other chords.  It all kinda fits and makes sense since 
the V - I cadence (or dom7 to tonic move) is THE most prevalent move in
music.  I could go on and on and on but I will stop now.  I think this post
is long winded enough.... sorry for blabbering forever but I hope this will
help people who are trying to get a better grasp of music.

Comments?  Points?  Suggestions?  Elaborations?  Please POST THE RESPONSES
to the NET so we can keep a discussion going....  Thanks and later, Curt


Newsgroups: rec.music.gdead