I decided I would take the theory plunge because I sound like a bit of a dummy around these parts as I haven't got a clue what anyone is talking about (crazy things like Phrygian, raised 5th, diminished what not etc). So I enrolled in Rusty Cooley's online course on modes - pretty cool as I get to interact with him and get his advice on playing in general.

But, as far as I can see this whole business of modes is made overly complicated by using weird names like Dorian and Lochrian etc. Looking at the course material I've just realised that when I learnt the fretboard using C major as a starting point I unwittingly learnt all of the modes my own way. If I had started and had to learn all of this jargon and strange names such as A7 then I probably would have quit years ago!

Is it just me or is it a bit weird having to learn each mode separately rather than using your ear and looking at the fretboard as one complete grid from 'Day 1'? I reckon if I started learning modes separately like this I would have been stumped and would have ended up playing the same old patterns rather than using my ear to go up and down strings and in and out of modes which is what I do.

When I was 12 I quit playing piano at grade 5 because Mozart and Bach bored me silly - it was also pretty uncool as a kid, kind of hard to impress the ladies with banging tunes such as 'Fur Elise'! I never learnt anything on the piano other than how to site read Beethoven & Co. and how to play major and minor scales. Nothing about modes or chord structures.

The guitar is more difficult to site read on because there are no black keys for flats and sharps like on the piano but once you understand where all of the C's are and where the 5ths, 3rds and surrounding harmonies are then you know the entire fretboard (without the actual note names) because the patterns are the same from 0 - 12. To me that is a far easier way of learning the fretboard - kind of a Dummy's Guide to Modes.

To me most people spend far too much time agonizing over theory and terminology and too little time training their ears and playing/composing original material. If I have to think about music then it all goes out the window and gets boring and pointless in a hurry. It seems like 99% of guitarist I have ever played with knew their theory backwards but couldn't really play anything interesting.

Am I alone on this?? Does anyone actually enjoy music in terms of modes and key signatures?