Using Modes As Harmonic Framework

[AngelCityOutlaw]

This is a concept that, I kinda have a grasp on but am not sure I fully understand and I'm sure I make a bigger deal out of than need be.

To speak in a rock music context:

If I were to play some sort of "riff" in the rhythm section in which all the notes were from the Phrygian Mode (let's say E Phrygian) as so often heard in metal music, and all my notes and power-chords pull back to that E, but then I changed what mode I was focusing on (say to A aeolian) is that "modal" in the modern sense of the word?

Doing what I just described is different from the idea of simple chord progressions in which every chord serves a specific purpose is it not? You know like, i - VI - VII - i played in that order, one chord per measure kinda deal.

Can some one who really knows their stuff when it comes to what I'm trying to talk about both elaborate and simplify this for me?

[dannthr]

I don't quite understand what you're asking.

This is what I think you're asking:

"I've got a phrase where I'm in E-Phrygian at the start and A-Aeolian at the end, is that MUTATION?"

The short answer is yes, the long answer is: Are you sure you're in E-Phrygian and not just creating the first half of a double period or something where you end the first period with a weak cadence?

Because it sounds like you're just in A-minor and you're just flirting around with E for the first while because it's the DOMINANT.

[AngelCityOutlaw]

What I was talking about was actually just shifting notes in a phrase to intervals of a different mode within the scale and how that more or less implies a chord progression I guess.

I'm just thinking way too deep into it like usual.

[dannthr]

The chord progression is what is in front of you, that's what you have, that's the music.

The scale/mode you're using is an organization of interval relationships and a tonal center.

You're not mutating to a new mode unless you're actually changing your tonal center without changing your key.

The tonal center can be implied, but it should be clear to you as it will be the center-point of the strongest resolution. You're only changing your mode if you've changed where we feel that resolution (without changing the key).

[AngelCityOutlaw]

The chord progression is what is in front of you, that's what you have, that's the music.

The scale/mode you're using is an organization of interval relationships and a tonal center.

You're not mutating to a new mode unless you're actually changing your tonal center without changing your key.

The tonal center can be implied, but it should be clear to you as it will be the center-point of the strongest resolution. You're only changing your mode if you've changed where we feel that resolution (without changing the key).

Great explanation! Thanks.

[dannthr]

Yeah man, no problem.

Regarding your TOPIC title:

Scales and modes were created exactly for that purpose--to organize pitches into a harmonic framework. That's what they're for, that's why we use them.