does "western" music mostly consists of Major/Minor scales?

[Caine123]

hey guys, i just found a page named tunebat, i dunno how accurate the page is but i brwosed some music e.g. adele, migos etc. so some mainstream stuff which just came into my mind and it was only Minor and Major scales, no phrygian, lydian etc. so i wonder, is this really like that?

[shawshawraw]

No, I clearly remembered a Taylor Swift's tune in folklore featuring a Dorian section.

[jancivil]

Well, the other kind of music, Country does

[Hermetech Mastering]

Modes aren't scales in themselves, they are Modes of the Major scale and so yes, most Western music is based on the Major scale. There are loads of modern Pop tracks that use modal melodies, but some are more common than others.

[Farnaby]

Modes aren't scales in themselves, they are Modes of the Major scale and so yes, most Western music is based on the Major scale. There are loads of modern Pop tracks that use modal melodies, but some are more common than others.

They really are scales, and a mode isn't a 'mode of the major scale' either. The major scale is one of the modes in fact.

Most Western music (i.e. mainstream classical and its derivatives) is based on both major and minor scales, occasionally modes as well.

Apart from that I agree with your post

[Hermetech Mastering]

I may be wrong, just that I've heard it said a few times that Modes aren't scales.

[Farnaby]

You are wrong

[Danilo Villanova]

Yep, modes are scales and the major and minor scales are modes. What makes our music “tonal” instead of “modal” is the harmonic functions of the different degrees of the scale with an emphasis in tonic, dominant and subdominant chords that “lead” to and from a “home key” in a very particular way.

[Pashkuli]

Scales are not modes.
Some scales can represent the notes used in corresponding modes and this representation is always linear — either ascending or descending in pitch.

In some cases scales can be simply symmetrical structures: 12tone (a.k.a Western and European temperament), "wholetone" (or jump-scale), tritone scale (well it is only two notes, so a mode out if it is and would be a nonsense), diminished arpeggio\scale (not a mode really).
Pentatonic modes also can be represented as 5 or 6 (some blues\jazz) scales. Then some of the notes of those scales are grouped in so called melodic phrases, licks and cliches. When played over a chord (even so called "power cords" or boogie bass line), they are in a respective pentatonic mode.

Scales are not modes.
Scales are the underlying intervallic linear structure of modes, but not all scales.

[Farnaby]

nobody said scales are modes, but modes are scales

[Pashkuli]

nobody said scales are modes, but modes are scales

Nope. Modes are not scales. Modes are note linear. If you play the scale of the mode, you would play the linear intervallic structure of that mode.
Modes imply a harmonic structure as well (root and basic chord harmony). Scales do not.

A scale is just the measuring tool for the modes. Hence it is called a scale, like a ruler or ladder.

[Farnaby]

Modes are scales. In functional harmony, scales imply harmonic structure, but modes do not. You have it the wrong way round.

[Hermetech Mastering]

You are wrong

Wow, just wow... This place sometimes... More food for the Ignore button...

[Farnaby]

You said you might be wrong, so I was just confirming that you were

[shawshawraw]

You guys are abusing the word “are”