noticngthemistake: I think we may be getting closer LOL. I still strongly recommend the zentao site to EVERYBODY to check out (and make sure you read all of the sections beginning with the intoduction).

Click link to begin. http://www.zentao.com/guitar/modes/index.html

SLY's advice re: memorize keys & the cycles of 4th's & 5th's is essential. Learning how to harmonize the major scale (to start) and stacking 3rds to create chords and chord extensions would also be part of a thorough musical understanding. Trying to take shortcuts will only shortchange yourself in the future.


Maybe this will help (maybe not). When you go through the major scale "derived" modes (i.e. C Ionian, D Dorian etc.) what this does is give you a way of applying a familiar scale (C Ionian) as a SCALE for DIFFERENT keys. C Ionian is played over a Cmaj chord progression. D Dorian is played over a Dmin chord progression, Ephrygian is played over an Emin chord progression etc. - see "zentao" for the modes and some related chord progressions. It can't be stressed more strongly - it is the underlying CHORDS and the TONAL CENTER that determine the mode(s) that can apply.

I probably made some kind of error above - I told you modes are confusing !

P.S. E Ionian will start on the open E string (aka the root).