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It's true that most guitarists ignore the theory side of things, and The Dark Knight Curse no surprise - the majority of sites and books out there don't exactly make it look..."fun".

OK, so it can never really be fun, but for those guitarists who actually care about progressing, it's essential to know theory. A good place to start is by learning the 7 modes on your guitar. This lesson article will introduce them. You can then use the free resource that follows if you wish.

The best way to think of modes are as scales. These scales, like the pentatonic or major scale can be mapped out on the fretboard. Think of the modes as "flavours" of the major and natural minor scales.

The 7 modes are, in order:

1. Ionian - this is just the "major scale", but it's also the first and most important mode in western music.

2. Dorian - a flavour of the natural minor scale

3. Phrygian - a flavour of the natural minor scale with a Spanish flamenco feel

4. Lydian - a flavour of the major/Ionian scale

5. Mixolydian - a flavour of the major/Ionian scale built around dominant 7th chords.

6. Aeolian - the natural minor scale the other minor modes are based around

7. Locrian - the odd one out. Diminished scale.

Now, the reason we have a particular order for these modes/scales is because when you put them together in that sequence using the intervals of the major/Ionian scale, you get one big scale. Let me explain...

Say you wanted to solo over the E major chord. You could just select the first mode, Ionian, because it's a major mode. You need to find the root note of the E major chord (E) and start whatever mode you want to solo over it from that root note (of course, you don't have to START the solo on the root note, just make sure you start on a note that's within that scale - the SCALE starts on the root note).

Because we've chosen Ionian, the intervals of that scale are as follows...

1 W 2 W 3 H 4 W 5 W 6 W 7 H 1

W= Whole step (2 fret interval) H= Half step (1 fret interval)

What's interesting is you can use the note intervals of WHATEVER mode you're playing and use each note as a starting point for the next mode in sequence - e.g....

If you were playing Dorian over a minor chord, the next mode is Phrygian - because it's the next mode, it starts on the 2nd note of Dorian!

If you were playing Lydian over a major chord, the next mode is Mixolydian, so because it's the next mode, it starts on the 2nd note of Lydian.

So What Does This Mean?!

It means once you know which "flavour"/mode you want to solo over a chord, you can follow the sequence of intervals in that mode and suddenly, all the other modes in sequence at those intervals become part of that same flavour and scale!

E.g.

- Play "A Dorian" over the A minor chord

- The 2nd note in A Dorian is a whole step higher, so it's B

- The mode after Dorian is Phrygian

- Therefore, you can play B Phrygian over A minor and it will sound like Dorian!!!

This is the relationship between the modes and their intervals that many guitarists fail to see, they just learn the boxed mode shapes and don't realise how they all tie in together.

It's all about the intervals...

- Learn the intervals of each mode (e.g. we looked at 1st mode Ionian's intervals above)

- Learn the order of modes, so you'll know which mode applies to each note in each mode (this does take some time)

e.g. picking a random one out the air... What mode starts (has its root note on) on the 4th note of Phrygian?...

- Phrygian is the 3rd mode

- the 2nd note of Phrygian is the root of the next mode, Lydian

- follow the order of modes to the 4th note...

The answer is: Aeolian

I know, I know, it's kind of obvious why a lot of guitarists just cannot be bothered, but I promise you, learning the modes is so so beneficial because not only will you learn to add "flavour" to the same old major/minor lead guitar, but knowing this also leads onto being able to write songs at the snap of your fingers and have a visual map of each mode scale all up the fretboard - no more box playing!

So do invest some time into learning the modes and how they work. You'll only understand how important they are once you learn them! It's weird that way!

Mike Beatham runs a free easy to follow fretjam.comguitar lessons site. For clear mode diagrams and audio plus other guitar theory lessons, visit fretjam.com/guitar-theory-lessons.htmlfretjam.com/guitar-theory-lessons.html.

DIE HARD (1988), DIE HARD 2 (1990), and DIE HARD: WITH A VENGEANCE (1995) constitute one of my favorite trilogies like Cheers GODFATHER series. For the sake of brevity, in this collective review I'll refer to them as DH1, DH2, and DH3.

The main thread that runs all throughout the three Die Hards is the loose cannon of a New York City cop John Viagra Canada (Bruce Willis) who finds himself pitted against world-class villains Hans Gruber (DH1), Col. Stuart (DH2) and Simon Gruber (DH3, brother of Hans Gruber). That conflict between good and bad is the central classic plot in all three DHs and it works much better in DH1 and DH3 than in DH2 for reasons I'll explain later.

McClane's wife Holly Gennero McClane (played by lovely Bonnie Bedelia) who found herself a new career in Los hosted call center is the "love interest" subplot that threads through all three DHs despite her physical absence in DH3.

Police Sergeant Al Powell (played by Reginald Vel Johnson) has a prominent role in DH1 and a minor one in DH2 as a narrative device to knit links between these separate films.

There are specific references to DH1 by the characters in DH2 and DH3, as for example when they greet McClane as that guy who was at the Nakatomi Towers when that thing had happened.

There are also visual clues that establish cross-references like the liberal amount of glass shattered and sprayed all the over the place in DH2 which pays clear homage to that unforgettable naked-feet-on-glass scene in DH1.

The self-important TV reporter Richard-Did You Get That?-Thornburg (played by William Atherton) is another link between DH1 and DH2.

That's why you must watch this trilogy by starting with DH1; otherwise certain scenes in DH2 and DH3 do not make any sense.

Stories in a nutshell:

DH1: McClane takes on a group of hi-tech terrorists who have taken home mortgages with bad credit wife and others hostage at Nakatomi Towers in Los Angeles. Their idea is to steal the $600 million in the corporation's vaults in a precision-timed operation but McClane interrupts rudely with the manic energy of a cop-cowboy on steroids.

DH2: A band of mercenaries take over and shut down the Washington Dulles Airport to kidnap a drug baron extradited from Latin America. They threaten to kill anyone if their plan is resisted and illustrate what they can do. But McClane's wife Holly is a passenger in one of the 18 passenger aircrafts circling over Dulles at night and running out of fuel. McClane has no option but kick some serious ass.

DH3: The brother of the terrorist whom McClane killed at the Nakatomi Towers in DH1 is back with a vengeance, blowing department stores in Manhattan, threatening to blow away schools, while robbing New York Federal Reserve Bank with his German mercenaries. This time McClane is a personal target but he pays them back in spades and saves the NYC.

In all three DHs Bruce Willis's hormone-pumped delivery of a cop who almost is amused by his own frequent brushes with death and destruction is central to the success of this franchise.

His wide-eyed hyperventilating chase scenes and his signature yippee kay yee mother f****r! victory hoop is already a part of the action-thriller movie lore against which the success of many characters of the same genre will be measured. Mel Gibson of the LETHAL WEAPON franchise is a name that measures up to Willis's portrayal of McClane. But there still aren't too many actors and characters out there to match that perfect fusion between Willis and his character McClane.

What differentiates these three DHs, though, is not the way Willis plays McClane but the VILLAINS he faces.

That's why I think the DH1 and DH3 succeed where DH2 fails us. Hans and Simon Gruber (played by the gravel-voiced aristocrat Jeremy Irons) are truly scary characters unlike anything we encounter in real life.

Col. Stuart of DH2, on the other hand, starts out as a true psycho but ends up just another terrorist with an above-usual ease with hi-tech gadgets.

When Hans Gruber spirals down to his demise from the Nakatomi Tower in DH1 we are almost sorry for his destruction the way we might feel sorry for the death of the world's largest white shark. When Col. Stuart dies, however, we are happy that the world is rid of a common pest. There is nothing mythical about him.

DH1 is special because, with perhaps the exception of the TOWERING INFERNO, we have not seen anything like it before. It is original and fresh and keeps us at the edge of our seats until the end.

DH3, on the other hand, is equally fascinating for two additional reasons. The great Samuel Jackson, who plays a pawnshop owner in Harlem who inadvertently gets sucked into the whole mess with Willis, does justice to the racial-tension subplot that adds another dimension to the story.

But another reason why I've watched DH3 with mixed feelings in my heart is because the movie was shot in 1995 and in some scenes you can clearly see the World Trade Center towers in the background. It's such a burden as a movie fan to know what really happened in the Big Apple in 2001. We are certainly living in a different world now and probably it's going to be very hard in the future to shoot another action-terror movie with big explosions in the heart of Manhattan. Suddenly certain scenes are not just for entertainment anymore. Suddenly our hearts no more tolerate that kind of dramatic license with reality.

DH1 and DH3 both rate an 8 out 10 in my book. I'm pegging DH2 a bit lower at 6 out of 10.

And if there's going to be a DH4, dear producers, would you pretty please bring Bonnie Bedelia back. Thank you.

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Ugur Akinci, Ph.D. is a Creative Copywriter, Editor, an experienced and award-winning Technical Communicator specializing in fundraising packages, direct sales copy, web content, press releases and hi-tech documentation.

He has worked as a Technical Writer for Fortune 100 companies for the last 7 years.

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