 Hello everyone and welcome to Blackstar Potential, my name is Lee Fuge and I'm here today with MusicTeacher.com and in this video we're going to talk about the third part of learning the modes for the guitar and this video we're going to focus on the major modes and how to link those to a major pentatonic scale shape. Before you start watching this video I would highly suggest checking out parts one and two of this video series as they will set you up with all the relevant theory and knowledge to get through this video as well. All the tones you're going to be hearing in this video are coming from the Blackstar HD20 Mark II that you can see over my shoulder there which is currently running on the drive channel. So in this video we're going to be taking the three major modes and linking them to a major pentatonic scale. In part two we took the three minor modes and linked those to a minor pentatonic scale now we're doing the opposite. So in part one of the video I talked about the major and minor scales. The major scale which is the Ionian mode and the natural minor scale which is the Aeolian mode. Those two scales are our bouncing point for all of these modal exercises. So we talked about how to convert those to pentatonics. So first of all let's just recap on the major scale. So I'm doing this in the key of A major so we're going to be playing this scale. So there are some playing that up A, B, C sharp D, E, F sharp, G sharp, A. In terms of intervals which is a number we assigned to each note that's 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7. So there's no flats at this stage. The major scale is just all the natural. It involves 1 through 7. Now in the first video we talked about how we can restructure this in line with the fifth shape of a major pentatonic scale which is this shape. We did also say we could land on this F sharp note here even though that's not the root of the scale the root is this fifth fret note here. We can use that extra note that's lower down just to keep that scale shape comfortable for us. So the intervals of the major pentatonic scale are going to be 1 which is the A, 2 which is the B and 3 which is the C sharp, then we're going to add 5 which is E and 6 which is F sharp. 1, 2, 3, 5, 6 and again repeat through the octave and finally 1 or if we play the major scale in this position that's going to be 1, 2, 3 which is A, B, C sharp, 4 which is the D, 5 which is the E, 6 which is the F sharp, 7 which is the G sharp and we're back at the octave so 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 1. So you can see that that version of playing the A major scale links very closely to the fifth shape of the A major pentatonic scale. Now again like with the minor and the natural minor scale the reason this is useful is if I'm playing in that position over a major chord progression I can be playing all my usual minor-ish pentatonic but in the major key and with those extra notes I can add that modal flavor so that Ionian flavor the major scale so if I'm just playing major pentatonic like this I can add those extra notes and I can get some fully modal sounds so if my intervals for my major pentatonic are 1, 2, 3, 5, 6 that means I'm adding a 4 which in this case is a D note and the 7 which is the G sharp so wherever I'm playing that A major pentatonic shape I just need to add a D note and a G sharp anywhere I wish and there I have my Ionian mode my major scale linked to a major pentatonic you may also remember from the first video that that scale shape is exactly the same as the natural minor scale shape so I showed you a little hack for this the three minor modes and the three major modes all share the same three shapes the only difference is where we pivot them in relation to the root note so if I start my natural minor shape from an A note I have A minor but if I make the A note the third note on the low E string and play that same scale shape so I'm starting from an F sharp note that's actually A major that's actually the Ionian mode so we're actually stacking the intervals from the A note even though I did play that low F sharp and G sharp note that is my six and seven intervals from the scale so you could think of it as like a mirror image so if your minor note starts here that same shape you can mirror the other side and it's the major equivalent so if that is true for the Ionian and Aonian modes the same must be true for the other modes so if I take my Dorian mode that we learned in part two of this and then I position that so that the A is where my little finger is we actually now end up with the Lydian mode so the Dorian mode and the Lydian mode are mirrored shapes there so the intervals of the Lydian mode are one two three but instead of going to this four on the D I'm sharpening the four to D sharp but it makes more sense for me to play that on the first fret of the D string the five and six are the same as is the seven and then I'm repeating one two three sharpening the four five six seven one and in a practical sense we can do exactly the same thing I can add that sharp four now to my major pentatonic lex and then I get that Lydian flavor Lydian is great for jazz and fusion sort of stuff it's very airy sounding it's an interesting sounding note that sharp fourth it's quite tricky to use at times but over the right chord can be a great note and we can also mirror the Phrygian mode which was the natural minus scale with the flat two that we talked about if we flip that to the side of the A we get a mode known as the Mixer Lydian mode interval wise the Mixer Lydian mode is exactly the same makeup as the major scale but with a flattened seven so the flat seven in this case is a G note so we've got A B C sharp which is one two three got the D which is our four E and F sharp which is five and six and then usually we'd go to the seven which is G sharp but we're flattening that now to a G then we're back on the one there's the other flat seven in a major context the Mixer Lydian mode works kind of like a Dorian does in minor so if you're playing a Dorian over minor you get that natural six which kind of gives it a slight major feel the same as true of Mixer Lydian because it's major scale with a flat seven you get that kind of minorish flavor that flat seven will sort of act as if it's like pulling you towards minor even though it technically still is in the major tonality so over a major chord progression if you're just playing some pentatonic licks you can add that flat seven like so while just adding the flat seven doesn't make the mode go entirely minor because obviously it's still got the major third in there it gives you a little pull or a little hint towards it being slightly minor it's a very interesting mode especially if you're playing over like a dominant seventh chord progression because the dominant seventh chord is essentially a major chord with a flat seven added so just to recap those now we've got the major pentatonic fifth shape which we're rooting from this A note here we can turn that into a major scale or an Ionian mode by adding a four and a seven which is a D note and a G sharp if we sharpen that four we get a Lydian mode which is exactly the same shape as the Dorian mode but just mirrored the other side of the A root and if we take the major scale and we flatten the seven we get the Mixolydian mode which is a mirrored version of the Phrygian mode that's great for those dominant seventh chords and sort of pulling your major ideas slightly towards a minor tonality so there you go there are three major modes linked to a major pentatonic scale now you have three minor modes and three major modes that you can easily integrate with your pentatonic lex whether you're playing major or minor you can essentially use three shapes so the major scale the Ionian mode and the natural minor scale the Aeolian mode are the same shape they're just mirrored either side of the root note the Phrygian and the Mixolydian so Phrygian being the minor Mixolydian being the major and then you've got the Dorian being the minor and the Lydian being the major so those shapes are all common shapes you basically just need to learn three shapes there to play six modes three major three minor let me know down below in the comments how you've gotten on with learning the modes this far and how you're applying that to your own pentatonic playing let's also know if there are any questions you have around modes or there's any topics you'd like to see us cover or dig deeper on with these scales don't forget to check out black star amplification on youtube for more videos just like this and if you're looking for a guitar teacher in your local area please check out the music teacher database over at musicteacher.com there's a great network of teachers all around the country waiting to help you guys out thanks so much for watching and i'll see you soon