Musicians use modes to create melody and improvise. You may have played many of the modes without realizing it.

For simplicity let's look at the key of C major which contains no sharps or flats. The C Major scale is played cdefgab. The table below shows the modes for the key of C Major.

C Major
Ionian
Dorian
Phrygian
Lydian
Mixolydian
Aeolian
Locrian

Notes
cdefgab
defgabc
efgabcd
fgabcde
gabcdef
abcdefg
bcdefga

The first or Ionian Mode is actually the C Major Scale. You probably already know this scale. The Dorian Mode begins on the second step of the scale. The Phrygian Mode begins on the third step and so on. Notice that in each mode there are no sharps or flats, consistent with the key of C Major.

Have a look at this two octave C Major Scale. (CDEFGABCDEFGABC) We can see that a one octave version of all seven modes are present within the scale. Knowing this we could use the C Ionian, D Dorian, E Phrygian, F Lydian, G Mixolydian, A Aeolian, or B Locrian mode in the key of C Major.

We can use modes to improvise in any Major or Minor key. Have a look at the modes for A Major and A Harmonic Minor in the tables below. Notice that in A Major and A Minor the sharps remain the same from one mode to the next. The same would be true of keys containing flats.

A Major
Ionian
Dorian
Phrygian
Lydian
Mixolydian
Aeolian
Locrian

Notes
abc#def#g#
bc#def#g#a
c#def#g#ab
def#g#abc#
ef#g#abc#d
f#g#abc#de
g#abc#def#

A Minor
Ionian
Dorian
Phrygian
Lydian
Mixolydian
Aeolian
Locrian

Notes
abcdefg#
bcdefg#a
cdefg#ab
defg#abc
efg#abcd
fg#abcde
g#abcdef

TIP: To learn to play all seven Major Mode patterns check out Flash Modes