Music Key, chord & mode table

[Anonymous]

Are you looking for a reference table for sharps, flats and modes.

I constructed this table as a reference for when I’m transposing
music from concert (C) or tenor (Bb) to alto (Eb).

The table can be downloaded for free in PDF format from

http://tangram.co.za/grid.pdf

The major scales are in the first column and the minor in the sixth.
Use the second column for Tenor (Bb) and the sixth (Eb) for Alto.
The numbers are for chords Major top, minor bottom.

[Michael]

Thanks for sharing, it was very simple and straight forward to read.

[Anonymous]

Hi Michael

This took me quite a while to work out and nearly drove me ‘locrian’!

I’d bought a couple of books on jazz improvisation and they talk about music modes
like we discuss cars.

I watched many You-tube videos and studied the various diagrams until I realized
that it what just a different way of referring to the scales.

If you look at the chart.

At the top of the columns you have the names of the modes.
To look up sharps and flats for a specific music mode :-
1) Select the mode.
2) Go down the column for the key.
3) Use that row for the scale.

For example Gb Lydian has 5 flats – G# Aeolian (Minor) has 5 sharps.

I’m not sure how I will use this modal info, but now at least I know how it works!

The chart works great as a transposing reference tool whilst playing together with
other instruments of different key. I made stickers for my sax case and books.

Cheers
leigh

[Anonymous]

I’ve resorted the table to make it even easier to read

The table can be downloaded for free in PDF format from

Mode table

[Dazza]

Hey guys. Over the weekend I was trying to bed down some more blues scales and realized an interesting fact around the relationship between scales of various types. While trying to work out how I was going to memorize them all I read on a website somewhere in cyberspace the following….and many of you may already know this but it finally clicked with me and maybe helpful to some beginners that, like me, sometimes feel a bit overwhelmed by the theory!

As we all know the major scale contains the relevant five note pentatonic scale (that Johnny refers to often and is so useful) which quickly becomes the 6 note Major Blues by adding the flattened third.

Once you know that you know the relative Minor Blues scale for that scale by starting on the 6th note of the Major Blues scale…same notes!

I am sure there are other relationships that stand out as well that others may be able to highlight.

[Michael]

Very good Dazza–I’ve been in Johnny’s Killer Blues for over a year now (my goal is to start is new Major Scale Improvising course by March, pretty sure I’ll be ready for it). The kind of stuff you’re talking about is one of those things that, as we get better/more familiar with the various types of scales we use in blues improvising that we don’t even think about it anymore; it just becomes second nature. Would love to hear something from you on Johnny’s blog playing the Blues, good stuff to say the least 🙂 We’re making good progress with getting settled into our new home/setting up my Saxophone “exhibit” on my wall, etc.. As soon as we’re done I’ll start my uploads again, the first one I think I’m going to do is my Alto Saxophone Blues Improvisation tune over a Chicago Blues type of backing track. Hope you don’t mind the Altissimo in there LOL Sorry, but I can’t help myself from not throwing Altissimo when playing the Blues 🙂

[john]

Jeff that way of looking at modes is way to complicated unless you’re deep into jazz improv
This complicated way is just too mathematical and even after you understand it most will never know how to use them
There is a very simple way of using modes which I have shown in the “major Scale Improv Course”so chech that out if you really want to easily understand them and actually use them to improvise with

[Anonymous]

Hi Johnny

This table came about because of a book I bought called ‘Improvisation for Saxophone by Andy McGhee’. He describes the various music modes and I simply couldn’t understand where they came from or how they were derived. I spent a lot of time on You-Tube and reading various articles before I realised how they are produced (it bugged me that much!).

This is a lookup table and I have found it very useful as a quick reference for when transposing music.
It simply indicates a number of relationships between keys and modes, for instance note the circle of fifths down the 1st column. It’s also useful for looking up the major (top) and minor (bottom) chords by using these numbers.

I share this table because I find it so useful and thought other people interested in music might too.

[Anonymous]

Johnny, I can’t tell you how many times people have said to me, “Why do you have to get so technical?”
I guess that comes from being an Instrumentation Technician!

I can’t learn anything new when I have something bugging me mentally as those modes did.
Now I’ve worked it out, I can free up my limited RAM for learning something new 😉

I shall definitely check out your Major Scale Course, once I’ve studied the two courses I’ve already purchased.

[Michael]

Hi Jeff,
That’s cool to hear you’re looking into Johnny’s Major Scale course; I will be doing the same here around the Spring…that’s my personal goal because I’m so focused in learning to Improvise with Blues/Rock like Johnny teaches in Killer Blues. Here where I live in the south, the blues is where it’s at…if you can’t play the Blues then no one is interested in playing with you, it’s that big here LOL 90% of the bands here are blues bands.
There’s nothing complicated about modes on the Saxophone, very simple/straight forward stuff. On a side/friendly note, it may be best to get that technical stuff out of the head/mind and just keep it simple, which is what Johnny tells us to do all the time. All of the best Saxophone solos in the world are rhythmically simple and straight forward, and it sticks in the memory/leaves a much greater impression on the minds of those who listen to it much better than taking a complicated approach does. People usually want to hear the kind of playing on the saxophone that is “soulful” and not “intellectual” if you get my meaning.

[Author]

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