Establishing the sound of a mode

Writing something in a mode has less to do with chord progressions, than it does with just establishing a color, a mood....a mode.

In order to establish the sound of a mode you will need to.

 

a) Emphasize the root of the scale, make that note feel like home.
b) Emphasize the 3rd degree of the scale, this will give the mode it's major or minor quality.

c) Emphasize the characteristic note, this is the note that gives a particular mode it's flavor in relationship to the other modes in it's category.

 

Modal harmony is not usually as active as harmony in a standard major or minor key.  In the simplest sense you just play a few chord that give the color of that mode.  This means the root chord, and the chords that contain the characteristic note.  Other chords can be used, but the main thing is not to make your chord progression sound like any other mode.  Since all of the relative modes contain the same notes and chords, you need to be very careful about this.  If you stray too far from the root chord and the characteristic chords, you may get sucked into the sound of another mode.

 

Here are the basic chords in the key of C major (you will not use diminished chords or dominant 7th chords in a modal context.  These chords will drag your ear back into the parent major key and away from the modal sound.