Ab Ionian

What is Ab Ionian?

Ab Ionian is the seven notes Ab Bb C Db Eb F G — the notes of Ab major started from its 1st degree, Ab. Same seven notes as the parent, but with Ab as home, so the intervals and the sound are different.

Ab Ionian vs Ab 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 Ab Ionian

Stack the mode in thirds and each degree becomes a chord. The home chord is Ab; the rest are the chords of Ab major, since the notes are the same — what changes is which one the music rests on. Vamp between Ab and Db and the mode is unmistakable.

All the chords in Ab major, with shapes and numerals →

Ab Ionian on the guitar neck

Because Ab Ionian is Ab major from its 1st note, its natural fingering is position 1 of the seven three-notes-per-string shapes of Ab major — the shape whose lowest note is Ab. Learn that shape with Ab as home — start and end on it, over a drone on Ab 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.

• The seven positions of Ab major — the Ionian shape is position 1 →
• See every Ab Ionian note across the whole neck →

How to practice Ab Ionian on guitar

1. Loop position 1 of Ab major at 60 BPM, starting and ending on Ab so your ear hears Ab as home rather than Ab.
2. Hold a Ab chord (or record one) and play the shape over it. Listen for the chord tones landing on the beat.
3. Hear it harmonized in 3rds on the Fretboard: press Play and every note sounds with its partner while the neck lights up.