Originally Posted by: light487What is the point of the different modes? I have looked at this puzzle for years and never really know why you have to call it something different just because you are starting the scale at a different point.. it's still the same scale... just that you started on the 3rd note of the scale (ie. Phrygian).. Mixolydian.. 5th note.. but still the same scale..

The root note is always going to sound like, to me at least, it is completing or starting the scale "properly". The scale itself is the defining thing for me.. whether I add a sharp or flat there and there, within the major scale.

Are modes just a complex way of saying: It's this scale but you start on the nth note.

???

When you start from a note other than the Root of the Major scale, the intervals change in the scale from the new start note. This can create a subtle variation (like the b7th interval in the Mixolydian mode). It can also change the Major to a minor expression, when applied with the proper progression (like the b3rd and b7th intervals in the Dorian mode).
It's much more than saying ; It's the same scale but you start, etc..........
What it really refers to is that it's a different scale that shares the same Key.
Hopefully that will help in defining where things fit in the puzzle.