I was musing about how the A Dorian #11, which I recently talked about in terms of its nomenclature, serves as an epicenter around a lot I do. The reason may be that it is so close to the B Phrygian Dominant which is my favorite.
Speaking of Phrygian, it is a proud moment. My wife was derisively mentioning something I had been playing. I didn't recall which thing she was referring to. And she said it was some Phrygian thing. She can hear and name modes now.
Anyway, regardless of why the A Dorian #11 is important. It is worth noting some of its aspects. In re-entrant tuning the A Dorian #11 is embedded in the linear E Aiolian #7. Therefore there's a lot of options when playing it up yonder around the tenth fret.
However the Linear-tuned A Dorian #11 is unique insofar as it doesn't have another shape embedded within it. That's not necessarily a negative thing. It means we have to do a little bit of hopping around. Here's one possible tack to take:
1. Play the A, B, and C on the G string
2. On the C string, the notes in the mode are D# and E. We can either continue with this linear shape or morph into one of three re-entrant shapes. We can either use the D# as part of the C Lydian #2, or we can use it as part of the D# Super Lokrian bb7, or we can use the E to start in on the E Aiolian #7.
3. If we play the linear shape, the notes on the E string are F#, G, and A. Now if we want to move on towards the A string there are a few options. The notes within easy reach are A, B, C, and D# which are the notes from the C Lydian #2 (or the G Ionian #5 if you use the linear tuning) and the D# Super Lokrian bb7 (or the B Phrygian Dominant in linear).
So there is a ton of stuff to do down there in the low frets.
But I don't like to remain in the low frets; all the good stuff goes on up high. So I was thinking about the top of the D# Super Lokrian bb7. It is the 11th fret and it has those three notes all in a row. And of course when you barre them (if you have a radius fret board) and fret the A on the 12th fret, you get the B7 rooted on the C string. So I was building some progressions that employed B7 and using the convenience of that barre chord as a spring board to any of several modal possibilities such as E Aiolian #7, F# Lokrian 13, or again the A Dorian #11. Lots of options.