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There are some issues here... Though I understand (mostly) the chart, it doesn't really have anything to do with modes. The word "mode" comes from Greek, and means, roughly "mood". That is, a feeling. The modes in music that we use were developed by Greeks and have Greek names (Ionian, Dorian, Mixolydian, etc.)

Your chart shows how a 7th chord would be spelled based on the 1st through 7th notes of a major scale, transposed to the original root. But modes and chords don't really mix. A mode (for example, Ionian - equivalent to the major scale) is seven notes. So it's not correct to just list the 1st, 3rd, 5th and 7th notes, you are leaving out the 2nd, 4th and 6th.

Remember that a mode is a type of scale. The music for which the concept of mode was developed, Greek music many thousands of years ago, had no chords. It was like Indian music today, it was all in the same key, but the notes of the scale were selected to match the mood (mode) of the piece being played. There might have been a drone note (the root), but no chords.

In modern music, modes are used more loosely - for instance, in modal jazz, people often use Dorian or Mixolydian modes. The harmonies played beneath the melodies are often built using 4th intervals, or quartal harmony. Or, people just play the root chord and suggest various harmonic movements with other chords from the same mode.

You asked about a progression - I - VI - II. I would play a major scale on this progression, emphasizing the notes that fit over the chord. In the key of C, for instance, these chords are C - Am7 - Dm7. I would just play in C major over these, emphasizing the C E G and A for the first two chords, and emphasizing D F A C for the last.

Note that this has nothing to do with modes. It's not even like mixing apples and oranges, it's like mixing grapefruits and po'boys.
 

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I'm with Steve on this, though I must admit I don't actually understand the charts at all. It seems like a nice way to make music more complicated than it really is (an trust me, it's complicated enough already)

Still I'm fascinated so I'd love an explanation. I understand of course (for example) that in the third line of chart I, you have a Cm7 chord that is chord III of Ab. But I don't know how that related to modes.

If it is to do with an C Phrygian (of which chord I is Cm7) then apart from the fact that it has the same notes as Ab, I would view it as a scale in its own right with its own root of C, not Ab, and with its own harmony (whereby for instance Db major is chord II)

If you keep relating back to major scales, you miss the point of modes (moods! I like that)
 

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· Distinguished SOTW Member, Forum Contributor 2011
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Qu'est-ce que c'est?
 

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Making nonsense of all the replies. Don't you hate it when people do that?
I was like: "What the f*?"
And now, I'm like "F*, yeah."
:>
Seriously: I hate it, too. I mean, I even put an "edit:" before every addition to a post of mine, because so many conversations on the internet get basically destroyed because someone edits or deletes their post that others have answered and re-answered to.
Guess it's like in the old days when the phone was still new and people didn't know how to use it properly.
 
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