Somewhat frustrated

[sksac]

Just plugged in to jam out with my older neighbor. The guy doesnt play much knew some chords that I thought would be fun to solo over.

I figured I'd rip some Minor, Dorian and Mixolydian positions. Instead, I was stuck in the same old Minor Pentatonic. I practice modes etc for several hours a day. But I almost drew a blank. So frustrating.

 

[berklee]

I think the path past that wall is a tough one for everybody, since there's usually only one answer that works for you specifically.

For me, I started by intentionally beginning each of my leads with a non-pentatonic note, like the 2nd note of the scale.

Skip forward to the 4:00 mark or so...

(obligatory excuse to go with the performance - I consider myself a bass player, not a guitarist or singer)

Here's an example from a jam night. This song's changes were C# / E / F# / E, so I made a point of starting with the A# very deliberately, and then using my ear to lead me out of it. I do this a fair bit, until I start to get the context of the note against the backdrop of the song.

Just another approach for you to play with if you're not doing it already.

 

[bognerluv]

Just plugged in to jam out with my older neighbor. The guy doesnt play much knew some chords that I thought would be fun to solo over.

I figured I'd rip some Minor, Dorian and Mixolydian positions. Instead, I was stuck in the same old Minor Pentatonic. I practice modes etc for several hours a day. But I almost drew a blank. So frustrating.

Something that helped me was to relate the minor and major pentatonics to minor and major flavored scales. For the minor flavor simply take the basic minor pentatonic box add and vary the 2 and the 6. For example:

Dorian = Add the 2 and the 6
Phrygian = Add the b2 and b6
Aeolian = Add the 2 and b6

The same can be done with the major pentatonics by adding and varying the 4 and the 7:

Ionian = Add the 4 and 7
Lydian = Add the #4 and 7
Mixolydian = Add the 4 and b7

Looking at things in this way really helped me to clearly see the various relationships between the various scales and see that the pentatonics are really found in the diatonic scales. The other benefit is you are never far away from "home".

 

[dgaemc2]

sksac:

It could just be that you froze up (all of us do that from time to time).....or it could be that you don't fully understand how to apply the "modal patterns that you have been learning". I feel this is the hardest thing for all guitar players (and musicians in general) to understand when trying to play "the modes" over a given chord progression / song. It certainly was for me.

The most important thing to know prior to delving into the modal scales are a solid understanding of key signatures. Like it or not, without that fundamental basic knowledge "the modal patterns" that one learns will not be able to be applied correctly.

Playing a solo in each of the modes during a particular song is truly just an alteration of the Major scale of the KEY that the song is being played in, but ALL modes within that given key contain the exact same notes as the major scale in that given key....they just start and stop on the appropriate note of whichever mode you wish to play. The "modal patterns" are simply the "best" way to finger the variations on the guitar of the particular Major scale of the key the song is being played in to achieve that particular mode.

Sounds confusing....I know and that is not my intent, but the bottom line is.....understanding how to apply the modes is really the hard part, and it is nearly impossible to do without some fundemental knowledge of key signatures and the basic diatonic structure of all Major keys....Maj, min, min, Maj, Maj, min, diminished. You may already know all of this...I don't know.

If all else fails, just jam a solo during your session by playing other notes...scales...and use your ears to what sounds good to you!! Who cares what mode is being played as long as it sounds good to you....right?

I hope this wasn't TMI, and best of luck.