Originally Posted by: ethanquarSo the take away here is, as a beginner, not to worry so much about the entirety of the mode, but trying to target the chord tones that make the chord you're playing over?[/quote]

Yes. And for most music that will result in the modes taking care of themselves.

Originally Posted by: ethanquarAlso when you said, think in terms of key, chords, and melodies, what do you mean when you say chords and keys?[/quote]

The key signature of a song (song section or piece of music) is the scale that all (or most) of the notes (melody & chords) of the song uses.

The chords used in a progression, the order of the chords, the length of use.

I mean to play melodies that use the notes of the scale that form the key signature ("key" for short) to rhythmically emphasize notes of each chord as it happens.

I cover this in detail in my improvisation tutorials.

[quote=ethanquar]The masterclass I watched talked about how different modes kind of are their own key, and have specific chord progressions within the main scale that corrospond with the mode?

That's what I meant about 2 ways to use or think about modes & why it can be confusing.

For example, you can say you are playing in the key of C major. You are using the C major scale, the chords it forms when harmonized & it's modes.

That makes this list of chords & modes:

C major (I) - ionian (natural major)

D minor (ii) - dorian

E minor (iii) - phrygian

F major (IV) - lydian

G major (V) - mixolydian

A minor (vi) - aeolian (natural minor)

B diminished (vii dim) - locrian

As long as you are thinking & playing those musical materials with C major as your tonic or (I) chord, then you are using the modes as ways to play in C major.

You could however think of the note D as your root note, but still use a progression using the C major scale as your key. This is where it gets a little tricky! This means that you are simply doing this:

D minor (ii) - dorian

E minor (iii) - phrygian

F major (IV) - lydian

G major (V) - mixolydian

A minor (vi) - aeolian (natural minor)

B diminished (vii dim) - locrian

C major (I) - ionian (natural major)

We've simply shifted the order. But if we are thinking of D as the root then we also need to shift the chord numbers while retaining the chord quality (major, minor or diminished).

D minor (i - still minor) - dorian

E minor (ii - still minor) - phrygian

F major (bIII still major) - lydian

G major (IV still major) - mixolydian

A minor (v still minor) - aeolian (natural minor)

B diminished (vi still dim) - locrian

C major (bVII still major) - ionian (natural major)

So, in a sense you now have a "key signature of D dorian". Notice it's still just the notes & chords of C major. But since we want D dorian as the root, everything shifts over & gets re-labeled.

This approach is done in some music. But it's a more advanced topic. Make sense?

[quote=ethanquar]There are really clearing things up for me, means the world

Good deal!