Play only the white keys, but start and end on a different note each time, and you get seven different scales. These are the diatonic modes. Two of them you already know: the major scale is the Ionian mode and the natural minor is the Aeolian.
Seven modes on the white keys
Each mode is defined by its starting note, or tonic, and so by where its two semitones fall.
| Mode | White keys | Character in short |
|---|---|---|
| Ionian | C to C | The major scale |
| Dorian | D to D | Minor, with a raised sixth against natural minor |
| Phrygian | E to E | Minor, with a semitone straight above the tonic |
| Lydian | F to F | Major, with a raised fourth |
| Mixolydian | G to G | Major, with a lowered seventh |
| Aeolian | A to A | The natural minor scale |
| Locrian | B to B | Its fifth is diminished: B up to F is six semitones, not seven |
To play a mode on another tonic, keep its step pattern. D Dorian moved to C becomes C, D, E♭, F, G, A, B♭, C.
Where the names came from
The names are Greek: Dorians were a group of Greeks, Locris a small region of central Greece, and Lydia and Phrygia lands in Anatolia whose peoples were in close contact with the Greeks. The church modes took the names over, and in 1547 the Swiss theorist Glarean, in his treatise the Dodecachordon, added four more modes, including the Aeolian and the Ionian.
Why producers use them
A mode changes the colour of a key while keeping almost all of it: one note different from major or minor is enough to make a riff sound modal. Hold a drone on the tonic and play the scale over it, and the one changed note will stand out.
Sources
Every date, name, tempo and origin on this page comes from these pages, read on 2026-10-24.