In my last column, in the August/September issue, I discussed “Voicings for Mallets,” where I described briefly how to construct triadic chord voicings. In this article, I’ll discuss the connection between chords and their chord scales. A brief review of the modes is necessary to understand chord scales. There are seven different modes, each with different Greek names. There are, to be sure, more than just seven modes that are used as chord scales, but we will concentrate first on these seven modes. Each mode, or scale, is a series of whole and half steps. Each scale has two half steps and five whole steps. Take for example the first mode—the Ionian mode (or major scale). This scale has half steps between scale degrees 3-4 and 7-8 (each of the other scale degrees is a whole step apart). Knowing the whole and half step formula for each mode enables you […]

December 1982 Issue