A Ionian
The A Ionian mode — A B C# D E F# G# — shown across the guitar neck.
Tap any note on the neck.
Swipe the neck sideways to see the higher frets.
A Ionian is the major scale — same seven notes, same order. The mode name describes which chord you treat as home, not a different set of notes.
What is A Ionian?
A Ionian is the seven notes A B C# D E F# G# — the notes of A major started from its 1st degree, A. Same seven notes as the parent, but with A as home, so the intervals and the sound are different.
A Ionian vs A major
They are the same seven notes in the same order. “Ionian” is the mode name for the major scale — it says which chord you treat as home, not that any note changed.
Chords in A Ionian
Stack the mode in thirds and each degree becomes a chord. The home chord is A; the rest are the chords of A major, since the notes are the same — what changes is which one the music rests on. Vamp between A and D and the mode is unmistakable.
A Ionian on the guitar neck
Because A Ionian is A major from its 1st note, its natural fingering is position 1 of the seven three-notes-per-string shapes of A major — the shape whose lowest note is A. Learn that shape with A as home — start and end on it, over a drone on A or the vamp above — and you have the mode under your fingers. The other six positions are the fingerings for the other six modes of the same key.
How to practice A Ionian on guitar
- Loop position 1 of A major at 60 BPM, starting and ending on A so your ear hears A as home rather than A.
- Hold a A chord (or record one) and play the shape over it. Listen for the chord tones landing on the beat.
- Hear it harmonized in 3rds on the Fretboard: press Play and every note sounds with its partner while the neck lights up.
Ionian is the major scale: the tool draws A Ionian, the same notes as A major.
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