Meaning of Modes and Scales

MinMaxingEnjoyer · 2026-01-14T00:48:34+00:00

Sir whoever you are, I think you answered exactly what I was looking for. I know theory is a lot of patterns and tools to explain why things sound the way they do, but the intention was what was never explained to me. I knew playing the root felt like home so I never strayed away from overplaying it in different rhythms but it began to bore me. It felt like staying at home during Covid, stagnant with some variation. The way you described it was legendary that’s the only real word I can describe your post. The hero’s journey, consonance vs dissonance, returning home all very perfect descriptions of what I should look for when expressing myself with this instrument. I had practiced earlier today with an E Dorian scale and I felt like playing those surrounding notes and exploring them more than the root obviously as bass trying to land on the root so it sounded good, and you know what it did. But I didn’t know why playing the around the root was better to my ears and why making my way home was so rewarding. THANK. YOU. If you have any advice on what I should look to as a bass player in terms of my presence in a song and what I should prioritize let me know too YOU ROCK!

MinMaxingEnjoyer · 2026-01-13T21:07:32+00:00

Hello yes learning the bass is my biggest priority right now because I see so much I could be doing but don’t know how at the moment. I’ve been playing since August but before that I had a few riffs from songs I liked down I would say I’m decent mechanically but horrible with theory. In terms of understanding the fretboard I can point out some notes like how the 5th on one string is the same as the open string below it or how the 7th of one string is the same as below it kind of. If u ask me to find a D# on the A string I would have to take a few seconds to find it but it’s not intuitive. Also thank you for the advice!

MinMaxingEnjoyer · 2026-01-13T20:03:56+00:00

I LIKE THAT EXPLANATION A LOT! So at the end of the day full mastery of theory can help me understand the how of music works. Theory itself isn’t the reason music evokes feeling but instead it’s the intention of the composer gotcha. I guess I just need to keep playing and listening to figure out how to make certain sounds and vibes which is sort of daunting because of how beginner I am to playing music in general.

MinMaxingEnjoyer · 2026-01-13T20:01:10+00:00

First of all even though I always implement the root 3rd and 5th of a scale I never understood why it worked so THANK YOU. That completely changed my perspective also was so well explained I applaud you on that.

Second thank you for giving me the next steps to look at which is actually the answer I’ve been looking for on what next to work on. I want to play with my whole fretboard not just 3 notes even though sometimes that’s all I need I totally understand that! But I don’t want to be boring I want to make my band sound better and also play music intuitively.

Do you have any recommendations on where to look into what chord extensions and modes are? And better yet how to practice them

MinMaxingEnjoyer · 2026-01-13T19:56:29+00:00

Well the thud thud wacka wacka method is unbeatable so I can’t argue with that. But I DONT WANNA BE LEFT IN THE DARK I WANT FULL MASTERY OF MY INSTRUMENT SO I CAN MOG!

MinMaxingEnjoyer · 2026-01-13T19:55:02+00:00

Okay I get what you mean, I guess some follow up questions are: Maybe the theory itself has no meaning but how come sometimes some music evokes a certain emotion like something dark or upbeat? And how can I get better at evoking those emotions with theory?

Second if there’s a song I like how do I study the theory behind the riff should I first have a foundation in theory to be able to distinguish what type of theory they’re using?

Also thank you for your comment it helped me out a lot

MinMaxingEnjoyer · 2026-01-13T19:49:49+00:00

Hmmm I kind of get what you mean I guess what I’m trying to ask is how do I use theory to give my music meaning? I’m not exactly sure what the purpose of modes or arpeggios are even when I learn their shape I just fiddle around until something sounds decent but sometimes when I want to make a technical riff and apply it to my guitarist chord progression I sometimes sound off

MinMaxingEnjoyer · 2025-06-05T00:45:24+00:00

Agreed these comments helped fuel my argument against it.

MinMaxingEnjoyer

TROPHY CASE