In our last post we covered how to add the Aeolian scale to your pentatonic to make for very easy learning and instant application of the new scales. The Aeolian scale is the natural minor scale. Minor scales and chords have a darker, sadder feel.

Now let’s just into the Dorian scale, which has a happier tone. Something you can use in a lot of funk, jazz, major based chord progressions. I love using this over a good jump blues jam, as well as adding some spice to some funk licks.

Remember you don’t have to abandon what you already know, use the licks and tricks you already know.

Stick to a pentatonic foundation, just use these new modes to add some flexibility and zing to your playing.

You can find the Dorian in use by listening to greats likes Santana – Black Magic Women, or one of the best examples of how to use this scale in rock is Tony Iommi’s – Planet Caravan.

So let’s go back to the to the key of A.

Here’s the A Minor pentatonic scale –

For the sake of keeping this post short, I’m just going to cover the D, G,B, and high E strings. The rest of the strings just work of the octaves of these notes.

E|——————————-5-8—————————–|
B|————————-5-8———————————–|
G|——————-5-7—————————————–|
D|————-5-7———————————————–|
A|—————————————————————-|
E|—————————————————————-|

Now let’s add in the Dorian scale.

All you’re going to do is add 3 additional notes to the pentatonic scale above.

E|———————————–5-(7)-8———————|
B|————————-5-(7)-8——————————-|
G|——————-5-7—————————————–|
D|———(4)-5-7———————————————-|
A|—————————————————————-|
E|—————————————————————-|
The notes in the brackets mark the added notes.

So if you add all the notes together you will get this scale:

E|——————————– -5-7-8———————–|
B|————————-5-7-8——————————–|
G|——————-5-7—————————————-|
D|———–4-5-7———————————————|
A|—————————————————————|
E|—————————————————————|

So solo the way you normally would, just add these new notes as passing tones, and now you are jamming with modes that again only took a minute to learn.