I read banjotom's post on modes, and I need to study it and think about it. But, I don't really know what modes are, to be honest. I need to study more. It seems like some modes, like dorian, just sound good and weird in a wonderful way. It seems like you can play anywhere in a modal tuning in the key and it is cool. I don't quite understand this.
If there are some threads here that have already beat this horse, I just need to find them. Searching brought so many hits and none of them seemed like quite what I need.