annyj Thanks for the interest....modes changed my 'musical life'. if you know your major scales, you can play in all the modes. Here is an example of possibly my favorite mode, Lydian:  it has so much positive energy and beauty. Lydian can almost move me to tears, it is sooo beautiful. I love to listen and play in this mode.

This guitar player is playing in E Lydian, which means every note he hits is contained in the B Major scale. not the greatest key for violin, better violin keys would be F Lydian (C maj scale) or C Lydian (G maj scale). Once it 'clicks in' I can't think of anything easier. Just a matter of putting the emphasis in different places of the modal major scale.

If one is serious about playing the modes, it is almost essential to get backing tracks. You can buy these on line and they don't cost that much. The backing tracks have chord progressions that go with the modes. This allows you to hear the mode within the major scale. I wrote a haiku about Lydian:

I have found you now

hiding there in the raised fourth

Come Lydian; dance 

...or I - Don't - Particularly - Like - Modes ... but I can't remember the words for the A & L

maybe stating the obvious, but I think a stumbling block for people trying to get there head around them, is that they think they can only play from C to C or D to D etc.

Christian Howe says you should practice ANY scale from the lowest note on the G string to the pinky note on the E string, regardless of what key the scale is in.

so whatever mode yer in, and whatever key, you can play that modal major scale over all 4 strings. Other wise it would be pretty limited....maybe stating the obvious.

that's it.... A Lot !

re: aeolean being the natural minor.... little anecdote....when I first started playing and learning where the notes were and major and minor. I realized that dorian (at that time I had no clue what dorian was) also sounded like a minor, and this had me a bit confused. this would be about 40 years ago, but I still remember practicing an an E aeolian scale and going back and forth between the C note and the C#, which is of course, the difference between E aeolian and E dorian. 

@AnnyJ: you are entering dangerous territory when asking serious questions about the modes of the major scale. I luv the unique sound of each of them and could talk about them all day. I'll try and keep this short.

When you refer to keys as 3 sharps or 5 flats, you've lost me. I never larned them that way. I just think of the major scale that applies to any given mode in any given key. some examples:

 E aeolian (natural minor) = Gmaj scale. C note makes it aeolian

E dorian (minor) = Dmaj scale. Db note makes it Dorian  

A mixolydian = D maj scale. G note makes it mixolydian

I use modes when jamming all the time, mostly these three with the people I jam with. E aeolian would go over an Emin chord. E dorian over an Emin7 chord. A mixolydian over an A7 chord. But the same mode can be played over a chord progression involving several chords, and Yes, there can be more than one mode in one song, depending on the chord changes of the song.

when doing a blues in E, normally you would use E dorian (Dmaj sc) @Fiddlerman demos this (I think) in one of his blues vids, although he does not demo the E blues scale which goes along with E dorian.

I've learned other tricks with the modes as per the OP ie: Locrian and Maj7 arpeggios that can be played over any mode. They sound COOL!

Perhaps my favorite modes are Lydian and Phrygian, but they require ...ummm...different chord progressions.

are you maxed out on modes yet? Anyways, I think it's a very easy way to improvise with all sorts of genres... blues, folk, country, Pop, Rock

...Thanks for listening 

....or, here's another method to play any mode in any key.

Ionian 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 > octave

Dorian 1 2 b3 4 5 6 b7

Phrygian 1 b2 b3 4 5 b6 b7

Lydian 1 2 3 #4 5 6 7

Mixolydian 1 2 3 4 5 6 b7

Aeolian 1 2 b3 4 5 b6 b7

Locrian 1 b2 b3 4 b5 b6 b7 

I don't think them out like this... I more or less hear the mode and find the applicable major scale within a few notes.

...anything you can do with a major scale ie: ascending/descending patterns in 3rds, triads, 4ths, interval patterns etc. etc. you can play any major scale pattern to the applicable mode.