A La Mode

Every once in a while I purchase a bass guitar magazine to read an article about a musician I admire, or just to catch up on what's going on. I realise that the purpose of these magazines is to sell overpriced equipment to people who can't afford it, won't know how to use it, and don't really need it, under the pretence that it will give them the ability to play and sound like their heroes. I was once in a band with a drummer who was convinced that the reason he wasn't very good was that he didn't have enough drums - but we've all been sucked in like this at some point, haven't we?

Occasionally the magazine will include a tutorial that claims to de-mystify the modes. Unfortunately, for me all the Latin words just tend to confuse the situation further. I have long regarded understanding the modes as being a 'holy grail' since hearing Billy Sheehan say that this was pivotal to his development as a musician. My understanding of the modes is currently as follows:
- If you play the notes of a major scale but start on different notes, you are playing different scales that have either a major or minor tonality. This can help with fretboard familiarisation. For example, being able to play the notes of a C major scale at any position on the neck.
- Most chords contain a root note, a third and a fifth. If you play the different modes when soloing or improvisiong it will give a slightly different 'feel' to what you are doing. Unfortunately I don't get much opportunity to try this out (see earlier post about guitarists).

Please let me know if I am missing something. But please, no Latin.

Victor Wooten says that you are never more than a half-step away from a right note. This is great advice. The secret to successful public speaking is conviction - and the same goes for the language of music.

As much as I would like to be able to play like Victor or Billy, I think that it would probably be more satisfying to be U2 or Coldplay's bass player. Very different approaches - who do you think has got it right?