B Dorian — Chicago Tuning Banjo

B Dorian is 7 notes to the octave (modes family), drawn here across the Chicago Tuning Banjo's DGBE strings with every B marked, so home stays visible from anywhere in the pattern.

Minor with a raised 6th (natural 6) — soulful, smooth, and less dark than natural minor. The quintessential jazz-minor and blues mode.

Heard in: "So What" (Miles Davis), "Oye Como Va" (Santana), "Eleanor Rigby" (Beatles) — rock, blues, funk, jazz.

Because these four strings are the guitar's top four, patterns a guitarist already owns land here unchanged. The work is rhythmic rather than geographical: making the pick articulate every note the head refuses to sustain.

Run it against a click at a tempo where every note gets the same weight. On a banjo an uneven scale is audible immediately — the instrument gives you no sustain to hide behind.