Improvising With The Dorian Mode

Once you've learned about what Modes are, and how they function - let's put that knowledge to good use!

We're going to use the chord progression from Wicked Game here. This is a good example of a Dorian progression, because it highlights the altered 6th Scale Degree (relative to the Minor Scale).

This is a i-VII-IV (1-7-4) progression, which "hides" the 6th scale degree until we reach E and hit a surprising Major Chord. I think it has an intriguing wistful yet hopeful feeling.

Feel free to stick the with strumming pattern of the song, or mix it up.

Now let's improvise over it!

We can still use our Minor Pentatonic Scale here from our B root, because the 6th Scale Degree is omitted from the Pentatonic.

You can also use your 3 Note Per String Forms here for all 7 notes of the mode.

Another powerful option though, is to modify our Pentatonic to incorporate the 6th, as seen below:

This doesn't require a lot of new thinking to work out, we just add the Major 6th where appropriate to our Penta Forms, and you'll find a fresh new sound out of the familiar shapes!

Can you work out where the 6th can be added in to the other forms?

It's worth noting that since the 12 Bar Blues (in it's simplest form) doesn't use the 6th either, we can always add a little Dorian flair to our improvisation there without issue.