From Minor to Dorian

What are modes?

Even if you're unfamiliar with the ins-and-outs of modes, I'm sure that most of you are aware that there are many different types of modes out there. Most people will think of modes such as dorian, lydian and mixolydian - which are part of the Greek modes. Even the names alone can be intimidating! But please let this reassure you - the word 'mode' is just another word for scale, so if you're comfortable with the major and minor scale, you'll have no problem understanding modes as a whole!

This lesson is going to focus on the dorian mode - the second of the Greek modes. You might be asking at this point - 'what on earth does he mean, the second? - and that's a fantastic question! Let's look at the key of C major as it contains only natural notes (no accidentals). If we play the scale starting on the C, we get, no surprise, the C major scale. However, if we play the same notes, but start on the second degree of the scale, D, we get the dorian mode. If we continue on to the third degree, we get phrygian, then lydian on the fourth… but, I digress! We're focusing on dorian in this lesson. My point is that there is a very specific pattern that the modes follow (which is listed below). Please keep in mind that we're starting this pattern from the major (also known as the Ionian mode), therefore, if we start on a minor (aeolian mode), the pattern would start from the sixth degree.

How to transform the natural minor scale to dorian

Referring again to the key of C major, our chord values would follow the pattern listed in the diagram below. As we can see, the value of our second chord, D, is minor. Therefore, the dorian mode is a minor mode. This is crucial to remember, as it gives us the foundation we need to understand how the dorian mode is built, and the simple change we need to make from the minor scale.

As we've just learned, the notes in D dorian are D, E, F, G, A, B, and C. To be able to transform the minor into the dorian mode, we first need to understand the difference between them. If you're familiar with the Circle of Fifths, you'll know that D minor only has one note difference to C major - it has a Bb. In D minor, Bb is our 6th degree (don't forget to include the root note when you're counting intervals). We now need to determine how to transform Bb into B - and all we need to do is sharpen or raise it by one semi-tone. Therefore, we can conclude that in order to transform D minor into D dorian, all we need to do is sharpen the 6th degree. It's important to note that this works from any minor scale, not just D! So, if you're going to remember just one thing from this lesson, know that the dorian mode is a minor with a #6.

How to play A dorian

I've used A minor and A dorian for the licks in this lesson, as it's a scale and position many of you will already be comfortable with. Let's quickly look at differences between the two scales - A minor has the notes A, B, C, D, E, F and G in it. Therefore, all we need to do is sharpen our 6th degree, F, and make it F# to get the dorian mode!

So, how do we actually make this theory practical and translate it to our fretboards? The first step would be to simply find a position on the fretboard where you feel comfortable playing through the A minor scale. Starting with one octave, ascending and descending, alternate between playing the minor then the dorian. Not only will this help you visualise the difference between the two scales, it will also allow you to build muscle memory in playing them. Once you're comfortable with this, try extending to the second octave and repeat the task. See the diagram below for how I like to visualise the A minor and A dorian.

A dorian licks

Let's take the first lick from the video as an example - it's a pretty straight-forward blues lick in the key of A minor. Playing through the lick, we can identify that we play F (natural) on the 6th fret of the B-string. So, all we need to do to transform this lick into dorian is sharpen the F to F#, so play the 7th fret instead of the 6th fret. It's as simple as that! The process is exactly the same for the second and third lick - find the F, and raise it to F#.

I truly believe that this is a great way to recycle licks, as you don't lose any of your own style or phrasing, but it completely transforms the sound and feel! On top of that, this is an excellent exercise for becoming more familiar with your fretboard. I strongly encourage you to try this with your own licks, and see if you can inject that dorian goodness into some of your playing!

How to use the dorian mode effectively

An important side note before we wrap up this lesson - changing even one note in a scale means for some big changes in the harmony. For example, the VI chord in A minor is F major (F A C), but in A dorian it is F# diminished (F# A C). Another example is A minor's IV chord is D minor (D F A), whereas in A dorian, it's D major (D F# A). The reason why this is so important is because we need to be mindful of where we play the #6 note. If you're playing over an A minor backing track that has an F major chord as part of the progression, the F# is going to sound quite … interesting… over it. Therefore, either change back to A minor over the F chord by playing F natural, or omit the 6th degree altogether.

On the other side of things, if you're trying to write a progression in A dorian, you'll need to change all the chords that have F natural in them - B diminished to B minor, D minor to D major, and and F major to F# diminished.