I've got a song in D (Dorian) - it has a Major focus, how do I convert it to a minor feel ?

[jancivil]

what you did was

I have Scaler plugin, and that determined for me that my song was in D Dorian. I do focus on the majors in that mode mostly, so thats why it has a major feel. I could look at using the relative minor.

I don’t have any confidence in your posts. Yes, it’s critical to point this out; it makes little sense for Dorian to have a major feel, and for argument’s sake telling us the reason is emphasis on some major chords in combination with needing a plugin to “determine” Dorian mode for you is a sign you don’t grok what Dorian tf is. You can kvetch on this like I’m just being mean, but in fact here I am devoting time to a problem I am not obliged to worry about at all.

If you’re too golden to see an indicator you are barking up the wrong tree, too bad/so sad. Dorian of a primarily major feel, well, no.
Threads like this tend to be a waste of time in the end, one is not prepared for a real world answer.
You def need better resources than you’ve found so far, and given that I learned this before there was any internet to trawl for this, I have no idea. Teh internet is fraught with bad answers and BS, and you don’t have the tools to tell what’s good or not. That little reality check doesn’t ‘negate’ anything, and we’ve all been here.
Take a real course. Consider that the possibility the people you’re inclined to agree with are wrong because you don’t know what you’re doing. Nothing harsh about not knowing, it’s true of everyone in one way or another.

You telling us this should be just provide you with resources kind of just gaslights us. No worries, it’s less stress to just ignore this kind of thing.

[excuse me please]

Well, just change some chords from major to minor. It will most certainly sound less major.

[deastman]

So you’re in D Dorian, but you’re sticking to the major triads? Okay, try this: list out the triads of D Dorian. Now list out the triads of C Major. Give that some thought.

[jancivil]

Yeah, chances seem high there is no Dorian. The major feel of I IV V (C, F, G) will belong to C major; while D Dorian has an unmistakable D tonic with the unmistakable minor third relationship with F. Dm to G is i to IV, character tone of the mode being B which belongs with IV, while the major feel of B to C is an unmistakable 7-8 in C major. B cannot feel like 7. “Scaler” may not know anything, built to identify the same white keys set as the other six with names of modes, and it has a guess.

[jancivil]

MasterTuner — never let somebody make you feel bad for asking a question. We are happy to help.

I won’t let you impugn my integrity for the sin of a realistic assessment, hon. That’s very shitty discourse and as your contribution to the thread let alone the knowledge base, again you’re in negative numbers.
What was this question?

[jancivil]

The only answerable thing in the OP was ‘give me websites’. And I suggested doing that isn’t good for the OP, waste of their and our time.

I was asking for an online resource that would help me learn how to do it myself actually. I don't want people to "sort" it out for me.

Yet it is necessary that the responsible reader must do (or ignore it).

’I use Scaler to determine this is Dorian on D’ and ‘learn how to do it myself’ are two statements which fundamentally disagree. You need someone with both the inclination to take the time to produce the resources on command AND the person who has the tools you lack to know the resource is good, and to tell you Scaler is not DIY. DIY, yeah, imagine a world with no internet and no Scaler... the OP is kind of a bigger ask than you seem to imagine.

There was another question regarding ‘parallel minor’ which needs sorting, as it’s non sequitur to D Dorian. Dorian isn’t major key. The OP needs sorting, there’s little sense to it. Nothing personal, but the total lack of preparation there makes more work for people you need help from just to get you to a reset point.

[claudedefaren]

MasterTuner — never let somebody make you feel bad for asking a question. We are happy to help.

I won’t let you impugn my integrity for the sin of a realistic assessment, hon. That’s very shitty discourse and as your contribution to the thread let alone the knowledge base, again you’re in negative numbers.
What was this question?

Do you meditate? I think it could really help.

[jancivil]

Yeah, chances seem high there is no Dorian. The major feel of I IV V (C, F, G) will belong to C major; while D Dorian has an unmistakable D tonic with the unmistakable minor third relationship with F. Dm to G is i to IV, character tone of the mode being B which belongs with IV, while the major feel of B to C is an unmistakable 7-8 in C major. B cannot feel like 7. “Scaler” may not know anything, built to identify the same white keys set as the other six with names of modes, and it has a guess.

Someone downvoted this factual post. Claude? Twit. What would help you to become a person who uses reason or who can actually comprehend what was written? The only music theory question was unanswerable as non sequitur. I don’t need help; I was critical regarding a wrong approach and finally why it isn’t working but your contribution is shame me or a motive which isn’t it. The real deal is now available to read, and you’re welcome.

Ok, I’m gone. My initial impulse was to ignore the numerous clusterfucks on here, that will have been the wiser move.

[Tompalazzi]

Study your harmonic progressions, see maybe where do you want it to sound more "minor" and tried those chords to replace with others (but stil maintaining the sense of the song)

[jamcat]

Flatten all your B's
Replace Gmaj with Gmin

Now you're in D minor, which is the saddest of all keys.

[jancivil]

For the sort of knowledge base here, for the people that want to know, anyway: “Dorian mode” is not a key. Most of the suggestions now are red herrings for the person that actually wants “Dorian mode”. D Dorian has 0 flats and 0 sharps; if you write a key signature for it, it’s absolutely the same as C major or A minor. Yet it cannot be either: the center or ‘tonic’ of D Dorian is D; the tonic of A minor or Aeolian is A; C major’s tonic is C.

One may want to say, eg., “D Dorian in the key of C“ but it cannot be both these things at the same time. It’s not a variant of D minor per se either. We can go back and forth or do whatever, but Dorian goes way back to antiquity (albeit originally known as Phrygian) while ‘minor’, ie., *key* is relatively novel.
NB: the term “mode” following the mode name is meaningful; OTOH <dorian scale> is not burdened by history or practice, particularly.

‘Lower its sixth degree‘, now we’re talking about something else, suggesting the key of D minor. This is not really a solution to ‘why does my Dorian feel major‘, as the minor aspect belongs to the third degree, not obviated by the major sixth. The good answers advise looking at C major which would explain that aspect. (The Original Post appears as though the term Dorian comes from this plugin Scaler to begin with.)

There is no major or minor involved. “there are exceptions” to the rule <major to minor you'd add 3 flats; from minor to major add 3 sharps>; well, no, that covers it for keys; there are exactly two types, major and minor. The ‘exceptions’ are not keys.

EG: So-called Lydian Dominant, more objectively the 4th mode of melodic minor, hasn’t a key. IE: C minor has the tonic C; 4th mode of C mel. minor has the tonic F (F G A B C D Eb). No synthetic scale has a key, this has moved beyond the major/minor paradigm.

[fmr]

I think the OP has several problems, and they cannot be solved with Internet or sites (which are usually of that rubbish "Dorian in the key of ..." thing.

First, there are no modes in any key - you just have scales that in themselves, mean nothing. Those "modes in the key of..." are just mnemonics to help musicians to know which "scales" they can play over a certain chord. They are not modes. If you harmonize them, you can be doing one of two things:
1. Tonicizing a passage, which later will return to the main key - it will not have any mode, because modes are NOT tonalities.
2. Modulating, in which case you are transporting the music to another tonality - again, there are no modes involved. The new tonality will be either Major or minor.

You have to start by understanding one VERY IMPORTANT thing: Modes are entities in themselves. Major and minor are themselves modes - the two modes that remained when western music trasitioned from modality to functional harmony, between the XVI and XVII century.

So now, if we want to work with "chords" and "chord progressions" (functional harmony), we are constricted to those two modes - that's all that was left. But if you get out of the ties of functional harmony, you can use modes by what they are and still use chords. That's what Debussy did, still in the XIX century, and many after after him. But those chords no longer have functions attached, which means that there will not be those V-I, ii-V-I, etc. "progressions" you are probably used to. Those would actually need to be avoided.

If you have a melody in the mode of D (Dorian), then you have to give the major importance to two notes, which are the pillar notes of that mode: D and A. Don't harmonize anything else, or if you do, don't use chords that cause "atraction", like chords over C, or over G. Those notes are NOT IMPORTANT in the mode of D. They have to be treated as passing notes. Also, anything that has B and F simultaneously in the chord has to be avoided, because it would immediately "call" for C Major.

So, start by using "JUST" D minor and A minor chords. See if those two are enough. If the melody is in D Dorian, they probably will be. This is a very rudimentary explanation for something that is an entire universe, at least as vast as harmony itself.

[fmr]

Now you're in D minor, which is the saddest of all keys.

Really? Why is that? In what way is it different from any other minor key? Minor is always the same mode - it's just transposed.

Just listen how sad this sounds: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0G01FkX ... RuevjQO7Kc

[jancivil]

I would def say to begin with no chords at all if what you really want is the feel of a mode, just a firm 1 and 5, maybe just the tonic chord. It’s essentially a melodic m.o., get the sense of the mode as a thing-in-itself.

I don’t agree to avoid IV or VII, except to indicate that i to IV7 of eg., Dorian on D is ii - V7 of C major.
The Carlos Santana Secret Chord Progression is i - IV, IV reinforcing the ^6 of Dorian; this effect, he did all the time is unmistakably Dorian mode.

I personally don’t approach this harmonically or deal in concepts such as “passing” which are hard to divorce from harmonic music, but maybe with a two chord vamp, very elemental and unobtrusive chords. Dm - G - C - Dm, nothing here carries attraction to C major in itself. For me it’s too much movement that adds little and may redirect focus...

[jancivil]

G to C there looks on paper like it should, but rock music practice shows otherwise. Establishing the firm center ‘D’ is essential.

“D minor, which is the saddest of all keys“ is a reference to a bit in the movie This Is Spinal Tap, a joke.