Guitar Modes: Mixolydian

The Mixolydian mode is almost exactly the same as the major scale, BUT the 7th note is lowered by one semitone (one fret).

So, instead of this (the A major scale):

A B C# D E F# G#

…we end up with this:

A B C# D E F# G

Notice how the “G” in the second example is natural instead of sharp? That makes the world of difference to the sound of this mode! Here is the guitar tab:


e -------------------------------------------------7--9--10--
B ---------------------------------------7--8--10------------
G -----------------------------6--7--9-----------------------
D --------------------5--7--9--------------------------------
A -----------5--7--9-----------------------------------------
E --5--7--9--------------------------------------------------


Of course, the “3 note per string” version isn’t always the easiest to use, so you might want to start by adding the minor 7th to the major pentatonic:


e ------------------------------(7)-8-10-
B -------------------------8-10----------
G ---------------------7-9---------------
D ------------7-(8)-10-------------------
A -------7-10----------------------------
E --8-10---------------------------------


…or moving the minor third in the minor pentatonic to a major one (up one fret):


e --------------------------5-(9)--
B ----------------------5-8--------
G ----------------(6)-7------------
D ------------5-7------------------
A --------5-7----------------------
E --5-(9)--------------------------

Both of these methods with give you the basic sound of the mixolydian scale. It’s a very jazzy sounding scale, and because of the flat 7th it works very well over dominant 7 chords (which also have a flat 7).

In the example, I’m playing the A mixolydian scale over an A7 vamp.

April 12, 2011 at 4:05 pm | Guitar Scales, How to, Music Theory | No comments