Well, if you live near me, I can recommend a phenomenal teacher.

http://www.loumusic.com/louubriaco/index.html

Lou has been my teacher "on & off" for the last 24+ yrs. He's a good friend, and a freakin' wizard on guitar. Never met a man as versatile as him. He can go from Vai, Yngwie, DiMeola, SRV...you name it...all at the drop of a hat.

BUT..........This is only good if you happen to live in Westchester County, NY....otherwise.... forget it. hehe :D

Chris

That's a bit of a commute from the NW 'burbs of Chicago, my friend.

pfft! I made Chicago in under 12hrs! :)

Chris

BTW, found a good teacher. Quirky little dude, but I think he's going to be good. We're working on modes. He has me plaing around in G major/A dorain/B phrygian.

GREAT! Hopefully he works out for ya'! :)

Actually, both my wife and I are taking lessons from him. She goes in at 12:30, and I go in at 1. (Typical half-hour each.) She's a capable rhythm player but wants to improve her technique, and also learn to be able to solo with me. Cool stuff.

Cool. Keep it going dude. If you can start singing the modes, you will be able to use it anywhere you want and in any key.

I'm hoping so. I'm really digging both of the modes, and have practiced soloing in them already. Somewhere I have some backing tracks that I'll have to dig up. I can try working with them.

If you can learn the relationships between all seven within the diatonic major scale, then you will be set. Start to compare the differences between each mode and there use. This way if you are just vamping over a static chord, you change the feel of it by moving one or two notes in the structure.

Finally - there are three minor modes, three major modes and one half dimished. Of the three major, the mixolydian mode is primarily used over dominant chords.

Good Luck with your newly found friends!

Well, I know that mixolydian is used a lot in heavy metal over minor progressions. That should be fun to play with. Isn't dorain considered minor? What about phrygian? I know that one is played over a minor chord.

Mixo over a minor progression, usually on the V chord if the song has one.

Mixolydian is made up of 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, b7

The triad 1, 3, 5 is major.

The minor modes are

Dorian - 1, 2, b3, 4, 5, 6, b7
Phyrgian - 1, b2, b3, 4, 5, b6, b7
Aeolian (natural minor) - 1, 2, b3, 4, 5, b6, b7

You can play all of them over a minor chord. The positioning of a mode really depends on the harmonic structure of the chord in the progression.

The guy was showing me a run in which he changed modes throughout. I think it will take some time for that kind of mastery, but I'm hoping!

You gotta hear what the mode sounds like though. Outside of that, it will be just dominoes falling.