Leadfoot
Very cool thread... I'm gonna go home and dig up my music theory notebooks I made in college.

Ya, man. Do eet!
 
Some of the stuff mentioned today has me itching to post some more nerdiness but I think I may be typed out for the eve.
 
I also just spent the past few hours fervently hunting around my apartment for, initially, an extra guitar strap for my acoustic and then trying to find where in the heck I hid all my extra boot laces so I could actually use the strap I did find.
 
Bootlaces are still missing in action but I got ticked off and forced the issue by fashioning a headstock harness out of hair elastics.
 
TAKE THAT YOU FICKLE HIDEY BOOTLACES!!! BEEPSTER DON'T NEED YOU!!!
 
jk... please come home bootlaces because this hair elastic remedy is silly and stopgap

Kamikaze
The Transpose Midi FX in Sonar lets you change the mode of your midi. You can compare the vibe of each mode on music you already have in midi form 

IIRC the seldom used Fretboard View (or whatever it's called) in SONAR also has a scale/mode picker dropdown. I've never bothered with that thing though.

I dn't know that option on the fretbard view, I know about changing string tunings, but I don't use that view either.
 
The Midi Transpse effect allws you to pay C Ionian on the keyboard, but tell it to create an output of E Dorian or what ever. handy if you are a guitarist and want to cheat on the keys. 
 
I always find D Ionian the most comfortable mode on the Sax/Flute. D Ionian n my Soprano is actually  C Ionian, and on my Alto flute it's A Ionian. So Midi Transpose cane be useful for changing the output of my Midi Sax to accompany which ever real instrument I'm focused on.

Ok so I was messing with an old song I wrote that has me puzzled now in terms of theory. It's the verse part.

It's Am (yay!), and while holding that chord open, fret the low G, then to F#, repeat a couple times, then switch to Bm, and same business, strum that while fretting the low G, but then to F, repeat a couple times. It just goes back and forth. That Bm while hitting the low G and then F is the part that has me scratching my head. It sounds sinister, sure, and maybe a bit ugly to some, but I like the darkness in that bit.

So, the Am part would seem to be Dorian mode, key of G. Easy enough. But the Bm part...I don't know. I seem to be able to solo over it nicely in Lydian position key of C. But that seems odd too, because there's no F# in that scale, yet F# is the 5th of B, and part of its triad.

If I understand correctly...Bm can only be in 3 possible keys, one of 3 possible modes..and it does not appear to be in mode 2,3 or 6..so I have no idea what's going on here.

I've probably worded all this wrong, but what in the hell is this Bm thing?

Just to give a quick/brief and timely answer (I'm guessing you have your axe in your hands right now... I'm doing some editing so won't drone on).
 
The simple answer is... you are breaking the key/modal pattern when you switch to the Bm (again at a very quick glance). Ain't nothing wrong with that and it's why your Bm sounds kind of simister as you described it. This is often referred to as the "chord by chord" approach to playing.
 
Essentially your chord progression breaks the overall key so every time it does you readjust your modal/fretboard map to compensate.
 
I'm gonna get back to my editing but will be back to nail down the keys/modes but in the meantime try "solving" the keys/modes of the Amin and Bmin chords in your song (taking into account those notes you are riding against them on the E string).
 
So again... this is an example of "breaking" the diatonic modal sequence for effect. You "recalculate" everything over again for the new chord. This can happen over several bars or just for a single beat chord change. That's how those jazz freaks seem to just dance all over the craziest chord progressions. They are constantly readjusting to the current chord.
 
Cheers.

I guess this would be a good time to say that sometimes you don't want to overanalyze things too much because there is no need to.
 
The album thingie I'm working on now breaks the key almost every bar (and often multiple times) but it is straight up riff metal written before I even knew any of this crap. I COULD technically analyze every damned section and nail down exactly what is happening on a "chord by chord" basis but it would take forever and serve no practical purpose (aside from nerding out which is fun but... just nerding out just to nerd out).
 
What I WILL be doing is a full analysis of the sections where my solos appear (and I had not already written a solo that works). Then I know all my options and can do the most damage.
 
As I said earlier... it's frustrating learning all these rules just to see how they are constantly broken in practice but understanding them is extremely useful. Especially when it comes time to break the rules.

Voda... I misinterpreted the chords and progression in play. It's still essentially the same situation I mentioned but I grokked it all wrong because I wasn't paying attention.
 
There may even be some harm/mel modal stuff going on there.
 
I'll get back to you when I'm less derped/distracted.

No worries Beepster.  It's not a burner or anything, just kind of like "uh..what just happened?".  I'm having fun with it, and I love the lydian mode!  

Okay, took another look. I get what you are doing now.
 
Your Amin chord is definitely A Dorian (and the relative Major G Ionian). So you got that "solved" (I keep using that word for a reason because it is literally "solving" a math problem) which is awesome.
 
My initial premise about the Amin/Bmin was more correct (I got confused thinking an F Maj chord was getting tossed in... which it is... kind of) so I guess ignore and/or glean something from my own logical error.
 
Your Bmin chord IS actually breaking the key but ONLY when you fret that natural F on the low E (or wherever). By doing that you are making your Bmin into a Bdim (diminished 5th) chord at that moment making it the root chord of the B Locrian mode (relative Major is C Major... one step above B).
 
There is also the possibility it can be viewed through the melodic and/or harmonic minor modes and how they shift and morph with the natural modes but then I really would have to take out some charts. lol
 
Hopefully all that made sense. Back to boring arse edits.
 
Cheers!

BTW... if you tried to played the usually occurring "Perfect" 5th of your Bmin chord while adding that natural F note you will hear a very serious clashing.