Active Melody

Learn to play blues guitar.

Dorian lick ideas to add to your solos (plus other modes). All from 1 position! Guitar Lesson EP477

Description

In this week’s guitar lesson, you’ll learn an easy way to connect Dorian mode (scale) to the minor pentatonic scale and several useful Dorian licks – plus several other mode ideas.

Part 1 - Free Guitar Lesson

Part 2 - For Premium Members

Only available to premium members.
Register for premium access

Slow Walkthrough

Only available to premium members.
Register for premium access

Video Tablature Breakdown

Only available to premium members.
Register for premium access
Curious about the benefits of
Premium Membership?
Try it for FREE!
arrow_downYou need to be logged in as a premium member to access the tab, MP3 jam tracks, and other assets. Learn More

Add to "My Favorites"

You need to login or register to bookmark/favorite this content.

Comments

    • Cal T says

      Great comment Gregory. I just wrote Brian a few days ago as I re-upped with Active Melody. I too flirted with some good resources like Creative Guitar and GuitarZoom and others too – and joined one of them for a few hours and then realized it ws a mistake. Active Melody with Soundslice and Brian’s practiced style made me realize that this is where I want to be – and tho I suck at it – this lesson epitomizes the focus of my practice and Brian’s offering is in top form IMO. I will try and focus on this as long as it takes as I introduce myself to the different neighborhoods and the Dorian scale. Cheers Gregory and Brian. The word ‘lush’ is soooooo apt. 🙂

  11. Biker13 says

    Another beautiful song. Amazing. I LOVE the steel bends being used outside of country songs. Please keep finding interesting uses for them. And the theory / modes part of the lesson was really interesting. I know you’ve covered modes previously but it really came together in this lesson – A Dorian / G Major / C Lydian.

    • Anthony I says

      I’ll not sure when you can play Dorian. In this case the A-minor Dorian is played over A-minor. And you said it’s related to G major. Can you play A Dorian ANYTIME you are plating A minor or only when there is a G ? I was told that Oye Como Va uses A Dorian, with the Aminor 7th and D 9, but is that because G is the key although never played? Simple put, WHEN can you play Dorian?

      • Brian says

        You can play A Dorian over and song in A minor – or any time an A minor chord lasts for a while in a song – you don’t have to even worry about the G major thing, I just mention it to try and help connect thing and show why it’s working. Most people soloing in A minor, wouldn’t even think about G major… BUT, those scale shapes are the key. Once you learn the major scale and can play it all over the neck… your fingers will just feel their way around the scale… you won’t even worry about what scale / mode you’re in – you’ll hear the intervals.

  13. Roland Fischer says

    Perfect timing Brian! I’m getting serious about modes right now and this week specifically dorian. So this lesson is just right. Big thank you for all your great work and help.

    Greetings from Switzerland.

    Roland

    • jimbostrat says

      I hail out of Luzern (Meggen specifically) as my dad was transferred to your lovely country by his pharmaceutical company (Schering-Plough) and we lived in your great country for years with the super view of the Swiss Alps and great skiing (and food!)!! Jim C.

  15. charjo says

    Very nice lesson, Brian, but your little noodling digression at the end of the second video was the light bulb moment for me. The licks around the 1, 4, 5 chord shapes combined with chromatic walk up and walk downs to chord tones, either in single notes or harmonized 3rds or 6ths, was really helpful.
    John

  18. David S says

    Your right e minor, the 4 chord of the 4 chord. Brian has been talking about this the last several months a lot and now I am finally getting it down, now if I just don’t forget the 5 chord of the 5 Chord I’ll be doing good. Brian is the best teacher I have seen or heard. Dave

  19. Jim M says

    Brian, just adding a few notes to the A minor Pentatonic scale creates the A minor Dorian mode. This is such a simple understandable tool. It opens up improvisation options to wonderful sounds.

  20. David G says

    Struggling with dorian although I must get to understand it because I love the sound it makes. As a solo acoustic player I wonder if it can be used without backing track accompaniment?

    Could this be a future lesson?

  24. Charles R says

    When I practice scales I play pentatonic, major and mixolydian in all 5 positions, two octaves each (for the major and mixolydian) starting at the lowest root. So I conceptualize mixolydian as major with a flatted 7th. I need to add dorian and aeolian to the mix. Conceptually, adding a flat from mixolydian and then a flat from dorian to get to the next scale in the sequence. I see the blues scale as pentatonic plus blue note so it doesn’t follow that pattern, but I have not gotten to that viewpoint for modes (pentatonic plus two notes), which is how you’ve introduced them in earlier lessons. An overview of how to about scales would be interesting. Like when you talk about the 2nd pentatonic position you just talk about the BB box and then slide down to the first position if you need the lower three strings, which is not at all the way I think of the 2nd position. I will try to add another comment somewhere of how Dorian strikes me when I get to that point.

  26. cloughie says

    Really enjoying playing and geeking out on this one.

    Trying to work out how Brian does it so well each week. Here’s what I got so far.

    G D Am Am – simply the triad chords then Am blues scale lick over 2nd Am
    G D Am Am – G major lick c shape, A dorian licks
    G D Am Am – Keith Richards G, D chord tones, A dorian licks
    G D Am Am – G major lick c shape, most complex A dorian lick over 2 x Am
    D G C C – Keith Richards rhythm over D & G, C major pentatonic Steel guitar lick
    D G C C – Keith Richards rhythm over D, licks G major & C Lydian
    D Em F C – rhythm over D & Em, chord shape licks over F C
    D G C C – D mixolydian harmonised 6th turnaround walk down on D, chromatic licks linking G to C

    All there is to it! 🙂

  28. James S says

    Suggestion – when you’re tempted to throw in curveball cord progressions in the second half of the lesson, would it be possible to offer a backing track that is just the main chord progression. In this case, it would have been most helpful to have a slow backing track of the main section to just really practice those a Dorian Lex without having to

  32. jimbostrat says

    I hail out of Luzern (Meggen specifically) as my dad was transferred to your lovely country by his pharmaceutical company (Schering-Plough) and we lived in your great country for years with the super view of the Swiss Alps and great skiing (and food!)!! Jim C.

  33. jimbostrat says

    Hey Brian!! Eric Clapton called……He says he’d love to get his fine guitar back!! :>) Very cool Mark Knopfler style concepts here to liven up our soloing and make us stand out whilst sounding great!! Jim C.

  35. Thomas B says

    very nice lesson. this will help me improvise on a Dylan Song I play. Have you heard Dylan’s Slow Train Coming? It has a funky rhythm guitar, but i can’t figure it out. I think it is more of a piano driven song, but i’d like to be able to play it with just acoustic guitar and a bass. any tips or a lesson would be very appreciative.
    .

  36. Steven P says

    a simply superb lesson Brian – like others I absolutely hear Mark K in these jewel like phrases. Also weirdly been noodling around with heavens door trying to come up with a less obvious little solo bit…and….you just wrote it for me!!! Thanks for this and all the other gems you keep revealing to us – just excellent stuff!

  37. Tim C says

    I like the jerry and mark K influence in this lesson, very cool! can’t say enough about the excellent teaching Brian, very understandable and love the styles you teach.
    Still learning and always will as long as I live and want to keep playing. Excellent Site. Thanks for all you do!

  41. Darrell Arnold says

    Thanks for a great lesson. I love it. It also reminded me of Dire Straits. The half bends are easy for me to manage. The full binds are tough, though, at least when followed by a flurry of notes or picking with the pinky. I guess the trick is repetition. I worked on one of the full bends in this composition and, I believe, the lesson from last week for about 2-3 hours. It’s still quite a mess. This time when looking for more on bends I saw you had this older lesson, which has a useful exercise for some of the simpler bends: LEG032. I guess repeating the harder bends and following riffs again and again is probably about all there is to do.

  42. Mark H says

    Part 2 mega lightbulb moment for me, starting at 1:28:

    A Dorian is the G Major scale
    A Dorian played with a C under it is C Lydian, which is likewise the G Major scale
    A Dorian with a D under is D Mixolydian, which is likewise the G Major scale.

    This lesson opens so many doors and will change everything about the way I practice, the way I understand music and ultimately the way I play. Thank you! 🙏

  44. Doug H says

    Hi Brian, thanks for this lesson! I don’t understand why you call this Dorian mode over Am when you are just playing the Gmaj scale? This is a Gmaj progression and over the Am chord, you are playing a lick from the Gmaj CAGED D shape. Why not just call this a Gmaj lick? Why the confusion of saying this is Am pentatonic with added “Dorian” notes when this lick is straight out of the Gmaj CAGED scale shape?

    • Mark H says

      Surely we would want to know why it works, if for no other reason than sheer musical curiosity?

      Depending on the chord under it, it’s either the G Major-, the C Lydian-, or the D Mixolydian scale.

      For me that’s the major (bad pun, sorry) underlying theory aspect of the lesson and I’m here to learn as much theory (modes in this case) as I can get. If Brian hadn’t explained it so well I would have been left wondering exactly why it works. Instead, I have a new tool in my toolbox I can grab the next time I’m improvising over a similar chord layout.

      • Doug H says

        Hi Mark, yes I agree, I really do want to know why it works which is why I asked the question. I’m missing something, because I don’t understand the connection between Am pentatonic with “extra Dorian notes” and Gmaj scale. I’ll keep studying music theory as I’m determined to figure this out. I just don’t get it yet. Super frustrating!

        • Mark H says

          Gotcha. I see what you’re saying. There are others here who can explain it better than me but I’ll take a shot at it anyway. The quick explanation is that the Dorian mode root note is the second degree of the scale. So just play the G Major scale but start and end on an A root.

          What further muddies the water is using chromatic sequences which are ‘passing’ notes in this context. They usually occur quickly, maybe quarter-, 8th- or 16th notes, and are gone before they can establish any ‘off’ tonal centers in the mind of the listener. For anyone reading this who doesn’t know, here’s a definition of the 12 note chromatic scale used in western music: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chromatic_scale

          Also, there is the ‘blue note’ (flat V) which sneaks in there, as does the dominant VII. So all these factors may be in play.

          I’m sure you’ve worked with Brian’s lessons on modes. Might pay to go back over them, I sure will be doing that in this context.

        • Derek H says

          A Dorian IS G Major, started on the 2nd degree (A), played over an A bass note. So, you could just call it a G Major lick. Describing it as A Minor Pentatonic with “added Dorian notes” is just another way to describe it, presumably for the benefit of people who have learned pentatonics first/only. Lessons 374 & 375.

  48. Gale Y says

    Thanks for another great lesson Brian.

    i am wondering if you have any tips or specific practice drills to help in playing smoother.
    you sound so smooth even when you are picking a series of notes. any technical tips you can share?

    thanks!

    best regards,
    Gale

  50. Stephen K says

    I am very late to even comment on this lesson, but I missed this lesson when I was on vacation and just came back to learn it. As usual, it is a wonderful lesson that will inspire hours and hours of noodling and jamming. I have to say though, that the underlying chord changes remind me eerily of “Just Like Heaven” by The Cure. Great song, so this lesson also gives me the opportunity to learn that tune.

Leave a Reply

Recent Lessons

Contact

For all support questions email: support@activemelody.com
For all other inquires email: brian@activemelody.com