Hi there Robert, this is a really good short explanation of Dorian/Aeolian on top of Am. Here is what I think I learned, and I have to say, your short lessons always seem to have a great aha moment. 5 minutes, aha, and then months of guitar fun exploration opened up. 

Here is my take-away. The difference is the 6th, flat in Aeolian and regular in Dorian. One can use this to help set intent of direction in a chord progression. So if what I am playing has Am->F, maybe Aeolian better sets the intent because of the flat 6th (F), while if what I am playing has Am-> G, Dorian sets the intent better because of F#. 

I have been studying Samba Pa Ti by Carlos Santana, which is for the most part Am->G after the early parts that go between Am, Bm (D), Em (G), and watching you play this lesson and listening to the sounds and the explanation was certainly part of the aha. 

Thats why MGA is so awesome. 

Best wishes as always. 

You are almost 100 percent right. However, G does not have a F# in it... unless you play Gmaj7. A chord progression like Am | G is fine to use either Dorian or Aeolian.

So a few example chords I would think of would be - D major, D7, Bm, Em9, because these have F# in them

Thank you, Robert! I will try a few of these chord progressions to see how it goes. I was thinking G as in major scale, but I am also thinking that the 7th degree is another one of these variable positions that one has to come to grips with. 

I finally sprung for a Focusrite Scarlett based on Clayton's recommendation, and will send you some recordings in the near future. 

Best as always. 

I'm not a mode person by any means, nor do I play one on tv, but the thought occurred to me that perhaps maybe Am might also possibly be iii phrygian with a natural F and a flatted B [Bb].

Is that a reasonable thought...?

Yes, that is reasonable. However, this lesson was not meant to be exhaustive in regards to all the scale options you can use over this chord.

The Phrygrian sounds kind of "wrong" over a static minor chord, although it isn't. 

Other options would be:

• melodic minor
• harmonic minor
• diminished
• minor blues scale
• minor pentatonic

Then there are of course triads and arpeggios... but all those is for another lesson!

Perhaps I should do more of this. Would you guys be interested in a video each of how I use those scales? Or one longer video covering them all?

Bluffy, congrats on the Scarlett purchase, that recording interface should give you years of fun and growth.

Posted by: blufly

I have been studying Samba Pa Ti by Carlos Santana, which is for the most part Am->G after the early parts that go between Am, Bm (D), Em (G), and watching you play this lesson and listening to the sounds and the explanation was certainly part of the aha.

I finally sprung for a Focusrite Scarlett based on Clayton's recommendation, and will send you some recordings in the near future. 

Best as always. 

blufly, first off, anyone that is studying Santana is a good guy in my book!  I just picked "Guitar Signature Licks Best of Carlos Santana" up recently.  Actually Santa brought it to me.  And I have a hard disk full of Santana backing tracks.  If there is any one you are struggling to find let me know.

Secondly, I also have the Focusrite Scarlett (I have the 2i2) and it does everything that I could possibly need.  You'll enjoy it.

Hi Clayton, I'm excited to get it and try some things out. Thanks for the advice. 

Hi Matonanjin, thanks for the tip on the Santana book, and the thumbs up on the Scarlett. I am excited to get it and try it out. 

Robert, I find your short lessons very useful, even if it takes years to sink in. Longer lessons are also great, but a bit difficult for me to sit still that long. If the video were indexed with chapter-points, that might make a long lesson more navigable. 

Humbly submitted. 

The aeolian-vs-dorian video was great and made some puzzle pieces fall into place! Thanks for doing it. I think I'm liking your ideas about further scale and mode lessons... though I am still trying to master ionian / major scales.! Sounds like there will be lots of great material coming up! Thanks

Posted by: robert

Yes, that is reasonable. However, this lesson was not meant to be exhaustive in regards to all the scale options you can use over this chord.

The Phrygrian sounds kind of "wrong" over a static minor chord, although it isn't. 

Other options would be:

• melodic minor
• harmonic minor
• diminished
• minor blues scale
• minor pentatonic

Then there are of course triads and arpeggios... but all those is for another lesson!

Perhaps I should do more of this. Would you guys be interested in a video each of how I use those scales? Or one longer video covering them all?

Thanks... just checking my thinking. Certainly not trying to imply the lesson was incomplete. As you pointed out there are many numerous options to play over a chord. Interesting topics. 

I also suspect there would be issues using the A phyrigian mode over that Am as the Bb might be a bit troublesome over the Am.