We think of scales as being linear, but a scale exists within the boundary of an octave, at which point it just repeats. So in that sense you can think of them as circular. Itâs like a walk around the block.
It doesnât really matter which number we start on. A trip around the block is always going to be a trip around the scale. And thatâs the idea behind a mode.
We can start here on one. Or starting on one, two, three, four, five, six. The two modes I just showed you are also called Ionian, the Aeolian mode.
And thatâs really the beginning of the way that we abstract the idea of major and minor keys. The modes themselves can be useful and they can serve as a compass to help us understand the function of the chord that weâre playing, but that only works up to a point, particularly in the minor key. And thatâs where we get in discussions of the harmonic and the natural minor, and weâre going to save that for another day.
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