How To Learn Modes (By The Guy Who Hates Modes)

Now way, modes are just shapes, inversions of the major scale. You don't need note names, you don't need intervallic structures, you just need to play the major scale starting from each note of the major scale... or, just learn the shapes. Learn to connect those shapes and concentrate on moving between different positions on the neck in your respective major scale.

Start using the key of Gmaj and when you comfortably know where to find the notes you played at the 8th fret down at the 2nd fret or up at the 10th, then learn the same stuff in Bbmaj (though the positions will change).

While you're only getting these 2 keys under your fingers there may be a bit of a gap but you should be able to play the radio and guess around finding the patterns that fit best at what ever position you happen to be and then working the system by trying to move around... sometimes you'll guess wrong and it'll sound like crap but that's important ear training as well. Eventually you'll have a pretty good grip on identifying Keys by ear, which is important... because by now that should start to translate to knowing how to move around the entire neck in those keys, and even identifying and covering key changes.

Eventually you can get into stuff like the intervallic structures and notce that using the ii-V-I chord progression the modes are Dorian (a maj scale w/ 2 flats - b3 and b7), Mixolydian (maj scale w/ one flat - b7) and Ionian (Maj scale, no #'s or b's)... does this impress you right now? Does it mean anything? If not, ignore it, learn those shapes, move them around. Get GREAT in G and you'll find E and A are neighbors, Bb is close to C and D... and all of that's pretty close to everything else. Also, o0nce you've got this far you should be able to find every E, G, A, Bb, C, and D on the fret board and that's half the notes and a solid road map.

/r/guitarlessons Thread