The seven modes, by rotation
Each mode starts the family on the next degree up. Names are the source’s; degrees, neighbour counts and mirrors are worked out here. | Mode | Name, as printed | Degrees | One degree away | Reflected |
| Mode 1 | Ionian | 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 | 6 | Phrygian |
| Mode 2 | Dorian | 1 2 b3 4 5 6 b7 | 6 | itself |
| Mode 3 | Phrygian | 1 b2 b3 4 5 b6 b7 | 6 | Ionian |
| Mode 4 | Lydian | 1 2 3 #4 5 6 7 | 6 | Locrian |
| Mode 5 | Mixolydian | 1 2 3 4 5 6 b7 | 6 | Aeolian |
| Mode 6 | Aeolian | 1 2 b3 4 5 b6 b7 | 6 | Mixolydian |
| Mode 7 | Locrian | 1 b2 b3 4 b5 b6 b7 | 6 | Lydian |
Names as printed in Mode (music), “Modern diatonic modes” (Wikipedia, read 2026-09-24).
Interval content
How many of the twenty-one pairs of notes in the family lie each distance apart, the shorter way round: the interval vector <2 5 4 3 6 1>. | Semitones apart | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 |
| Pairs | 2 | 5 | 4 | 3 | 6 | 1 |
Mirror and symmetry
Reflected around its root, every mode of the diatonic family lands on another mode of the same family, and Dorian lands on itself. No shift short of the octave maps the family onto itself: seven notes cannot divide twelve evenly.
One degree away
What the sources say about it
Every relation a source states that involves this family, tested against the atlas. | The claim | In the atlas | The source’s words |
| Ionian (diatonic, mode 1): raise the 4th, and it is Lydian (diatonic, mode 4). | Borne out: the two are one altered degree apart. | The single tone that differentiates this scale from the major scale (Ionian mode) is its fourth degree, which is an augmented fourth (A4) above the tonic (F), rather than a perfect fourth (P4). — Mode (music), “Analysis” (Wikipedia, read 2026-09-24) |
| Ionian (diatonic, mode 1): lower the 7th, and it is Mixolydian (diatonic, mode 5). | Borne out: the two are one altered degree apart. | The single tone that differentiates this scale from the major scale (Ionian mode) is its seventh degree, which is a minor seventh (m7) above the tonic (G), rather than a major seventh (M7). — Mode (music), “Analysis” (Wikipedia, read 2026-09-24) |
| Aeolian (diatonic, mode 6): raise the 6th, and it is Dorian (diatonic, mode 2). | Borne out: the two are one altered degree apart. | The only difference with respect to the natural minor scale is in the sixth scale degree, which is a major sixth (M6) above the tonic, rather than a minor sixth (m6). — Mode (music), “Analysis” (Wikipedia, read 2026-09-24) |
| Aeolian (diatonic, mode 6): lower the 2nd, and it is Phrygian (diatonic, mode 3). | Borne out: the two are one altered degree apart. | The only difference with respect to the natural minor scale is in the second scale degree, which is a minor second (m2) above the tonic, rather than a major second (M2). — Mode (music), “Analysis” (Wikipedia, read 2026-09-24) |
| Ionian (diatonic, mode 1): lower the 3rd, and it is Ascending melodic minor (melodic minor, mode 1). | Borne out: the two are one altered degree apart. | It may be derived from the major scale with a minor third — Jazz minor scale, “introduction” (Wikipedia, read 2026-09-24) |
| Dorian (diatonic, mode 2): raise the 7th, and it is Ascending melodic minor (melodic minor, mode 1). | Borne out: the two are one altered degree apart. | It can also be derived from the diatonic Dorian mode with a major instead of a minor seventh in it. — Jazz minor scale, “introduction” (Wikipedia, read 2026-09-24) |
| Aeolian (diatonic, mode 6): raise the 7th, and it is Harmonic minor (harmonic minor, mode 1). | Borne out: the two are one altered degree apart. | a musical scale derived from the natural minor scale, with the minor seventh degree raised by one semitone to a major seventh — Harmonic minor scale, “introduction” (Wikipedia, read 2026-09-24) |
| Ionian (diatonic, mode 1): lower the 3rd and lower the 6th, and it is Harmonic minor (harmonic minor, mode 1). | Borne out in two altered degrees, stopping at Ascending melodic minor (melodic minor, mode 1) and Harmonic major (harmonic major, mode 1) on the way. | A harmonic minor scale can be built by lowering the 3rd and 6th degrees of the parallel major scale by one semitone. — Harmonic minor scale, “introduction” (Wikipedia, read 2026-09-24) |
| Ionian (diatonic, mode 1): lower the 6th, and it is Harmonic major (harmonic major, mode 1). | Borne out: the two are one altered degree apart. | The scale is simply a major scale with a lowered sixth. — Harmonic major scale, “Construction” (Wikipedia, read 2026-09-24) |
| Ionian (diatonic, mode 1): lower the 2nd and lower the 6th, and it is Double harmonic (double harmonic, mode 1). | Borne out in two altered degrees, stopping at Harmonic major (harmonic major, mode 1) on the way. | lowering both the second and sixth of the Ionian mode by a semitone. — Double harmonic scale, “Details” (Wikipedia, read 2026-09-24) |
| Phrygian (diatonic, mode 3): raise the 3rd, and it is Phrygian Dominant (harmonic minor, mode 5). | Borne out: the two are one altered degree apart. | The Phrygian dominant in turn is produced by raising the third of the diatonic Phrygian mode (a mode of the major scale) by a semitone. — Double harmonic scale, “Details” (Wikipedia, read 2026-09-24) |
| Dorian (diatonic, mode 2) reflected around its root is itself. | Borne out: the reflection lands there. | In comparison, among the modes of the major scale, the Dorian mode is a palindrome. — Double harmonic scale, “Symmetry and balance” (Wikipedia, read 2026-09-24) |
| Ionian (diatonic, mode 1) reflected around its root is Phrygian (diatonic, mode 3). | Borne out: the reflection lands there. | However, the major scale itself (Ionian mode), in contrast to the double harmonic major, is not a palindrome; its reflection around its root gives rise to a Phrygian mode. — Double harmonic scale, “Symmetry and balance” (Wikipedia, read 2026-09-24) |
The family itself is read from Mode (music), “Modern diatonic modes” (Wikipedia, read 2026-09-24): Modern Western modes use the same set of notes as the major scale, in the same order, but starting from one of its seven degrees in turn as a tonic
.
Seven starting points
The diatonic family is one set of seven notes, the major scale’s, started on each of its degrees in turn. Starting on the first gives Ionian, 1 2 3 4 5 6 7; starting on the second gives Dorian, 1 2 b3 4 5 6 b7; and so on to Locrian on the seventh. The names are the ones the source prints; the degrees are worked out here, each measured from the mode’s own root.
A chain inside the family
This is the one family whose modes are neighbours of each other. Lower the fourth of Lydian and it becomes Ionian; lower Ionian’s seventh and it becomes Mixolydian; then the third gives Dorian, the sixth Aeolian, the second Phrygian and the fifth Locrian. Each link changes a single degree by a semitone, so the whole family hangs on one chain, with Lydian at one end and Locrian at the other.
Where it touches the other families
Every diatonic mode sits one altered degree from a mode of the melodic minor family: lower Ionian’s third, or raise Dorian’s seventh, and the ascending melodic minor appears. The harmonic minor is one raised seventh from Aeolian, the harmonic major one lowered sixth from Ionian, and the Neapolitan minor one raised seventh from Phrygian. The neighbour table lists every such step, from every mode.
Mirror
Reflected around its root, a diatonic mode is still a diatonic mode: Ionian turns into Phrygian, Lydian into Locrian, Mixolydian into Aeolian, and Dorian into itself. Dorian is the family’s one palindrome, and the source’s claims about Ionian and Dorian are both tested in the table of claims.