Mode Ring

This song might seem a little tricky at first, but hopefully its structure will make sense after reading. “Mode Ring”, like a mood ring, changes. There are three distinct sections in the composition, but they are able to blend into each other.

The introduction is an unaccompanied solo that can be played on a bass (I wrote it on my bass) or guitar, or whichever instrument you like. The first “small theory” we find in this song is a scale I constructed. I wanted to modify the notes of a scale, so I took a key, that of Ab major, and changed a few notes. The Ab remains as the “root”. Next is the Bb, as would be found in a “normal” Ab major scale, and continues with a C natural. The first alteration we encounter is a D natural, which would normally be a Db as the fourth in this key. Eb as a root note is a constant, but the F is raised to an F#, whose enharmonic is Gb. The remaining note, then, is a G natural. It may strike you as strange that there is both a Gb and a G natural in the same key; or, if the Gb is indicated as an F#, can that really be in the same key as a Bb, an Eb and a Gb, with no other “sharp” notes? The naming, as you see, becomes difficult, so we should ignore this problem and use the notes as they appear on a piano, or any other instrument, rather than in writing alone. For the sake of consistency, I will use F# here to better distinguish it from the G. To demonstrate this scale's novelty, using these notes, Ab, Bb, C, D, Eb, F# and G, some of the simpler chords that can be constructed are:


Abmaj7 = Ab + C + Eb + G
Bb7#5 = Bb + D + F# + Ab
Cm7 = C + Eb + G + Bb
D7b5 = D + F# + Ab + C
Ebmaj7 = Eb + G + Bb + D
F#b5 = F# + Bb + C
Gm(maj7) = G + Bb + D + F#


Because of the unusual choice of notes, several other chords can be made. For example, an Ebmaj7 is closer to the Eb7 that would normally occur in the key of Ab, but if we keep the Eb in the root and choose other notes to go with it, we may find: Eb + F# + Bb + C = Ebm6. An Ebm6 chord sounds quite different from an Ebmaj7. Also, the F#b5, the least conventional chord in this case, may also be an F#(#5). It may be a worthwhile exercise to come up with other possible combinations. Compare these to those that would more normally be found in the key of Ab:

Abmaj7 Bbm7 Cm7 Dbmaj7 Eb7 Fm7 Gm7b5

I tend to play this intro in a similar manner each time, but it can certainly be improvised using this new “scale”. This is a lot of discussion for just an introduction, and a loosely defined one at that.

To look at the A and B sections, we will use the lead sheet pictured below. I did not have any useable handwritten transcriptions for this piece, so this computerized copy will have to suffice for now. The introduction is not transcribed; it took me long enough to come up with a way just to visualize the A and B sections.

The end of the introduction, also not pictured here, takes this new Ab scale and starts to shift the piece into the A section. The chord progression of Am7 – Cmaj7 – Bm7 – D9 is directly preceded with the same four bars, though a half step lower (Abm7 – Cbmaj7 – Bbm7 – Db9). The pick-up notes at the end of the first line here mark the start of the real melody of the song. At this point we are now in the key of A minor, or C major. This melody can be repeated as many times as desired, with or without stacked harmonies. The last time the melody itself is played in the A section, the last note should be an A, not the E quarter note depicted here. The following repetition of the Am7 – Cmaj7 – Bm7 – D9 progression can be used for improvisation, or can simply be a segue into the B section. The feel of this A section is more rock, almost funk. If a bass is present, slap style fits well, in my opinion. What we have usually done is to play, as quarter notes, an A, another A an octave higher, a C followed by its octave, a B and its octave, and then a D and its fifth, the same A that is the octave of the first A. Alternatively, the octave of D can be played in place of this last A. Whichever notes the bass player decides on can fill the following two bars of a D9 (or D7) chord.

Eventually, the next part of the melody enters, at the end of the line third from the bottom. One person can play the four bars that follow, minus the top two eighth notes at the end of the second-to-last line; this riff can then be repeated. After the first repetition, a second player can then play the remaining melody notes as another riff, while the first player continues. After these two riffs have been played together for the first time, the bass notes change to a groove that fits the chord changes. Up to this point, the bass line is the same as in the A section. One possible bass line for the B section uses passing tones to approach the Em7 from below and the A7 from above.

Once everyone has joined in the B section, the most appropriate key, perhaps, is that of D major, where Em7 is the 2 chord and A7 is the 5. Our friend Stevie Wonder has made a good example of a 2-5 groove in “I Wish” (by the way, check out his song “Send One Your Love” for a chord progression slightly similar to that of “Mode Ring”'s intro). The B section is a fun place to take solos, which can last until the song's end. We have enjoyed locking into a groove after the solo(s) and then ending the piece on a tremolo'd A7.

Here is a video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QA_5K2Jljew