The Mode De-coder – guitar modes chord and solo wheel / practice aid

Skills needed: to play the minor pentatonic scale (position 1 only); play a bar chord major and a bar chord minor.

A ground-breaking yet simple musical reference tool for any guitarist of any level – and great fun to use. Easily compose your own music and play along to your favourite track – all without the need to learn numerous scales and chords. Think of it as a chord book and scale library compressed into one handy ready-reckoner wheel, with no music theory or scales to learn. You can get up and running almost immediately, and in no time will find that you can turn on the radio and pick up your guitar and be strumming and soloing along to whichever song is playing. Use it to jam with friends or solo to any YouTube backing tracks. Most songs are written in the Major key (AKA Ionian mode) or the Minor key (AKA the Aeolian mode), but the The Mode Decoder will also show you how to play in all of the 7 guitar modes: Ionian, Dorian, Phrygian, Lydian, Mixolydian, Aolian and Locrian!

How it works: Turn and set the wheel to your key or mode and read off the chords and notes which all sound great together and which have the characteristic sound of your chosen mode. It’s colour coding, and clear display windows allow guitarists to see, at a glance, 31 chords that can be played in harmony, for any mode, in any key.

Turn the wheel over and the Mode Decoder will reveal 3 locations on the guitar where every note in the minor pentatonic shape is also in harmony. So once you know the pentatonic shape, you can play in up to six locations on the guitar neck, in 84 scales, and always be able to find the best notes. Perfect for soloing over a backing track or jamming with friends!