Exploring Lydian - Everything You Need To Know (and possibly more) 

What took you so long?

make a circle of fifth you can physically use, made wonders to my life

I think of it as the Satriani mode, so...yeah...pretty much.

I like to call it the Fire Garden scale. I don't know why, I attribute that sound most to that album.

Thank you sir for your time with this.

Your English is fine dude 👍

It's true it does lose its quality a bit when you're playing it away from the tonic (such as the examples shown from 3:28). But Lydian can also help to melodically "blend" maj7 movements away from the tonic. Depending on how quick the chord changes are, you might not pick up on that #4 quality. But it does give us a reliable bunch of tones to cover those more rebellious maj7 chords.

fretjam Interesting because he meant the scale in with nothing else while you were thinking over another chord than the root during a progression. In what way are you meaning rebellious?

@@dougcameron6609 Sorry I may have misunderstood Michael's comment. I was thinking more about playing Lydian in the tonic position of a progression vs away from the tonic and how that effects its sound. Something I was thinking about a lot when making this video. By rebellious I mean maj7 chords that aren't strictly a part of a "natural" key and can often throw us. For example bII, bIII, bVI and bVII in major keys. If a maj7 occurs on these degrees, Lydian (on the same root as the chord) is a reliable way of playing through them.

@@dougcameron6609 You can apply my statement over a scale or over another chord besides the root in the progression. I'm sorry for not making that more clearer there, doug

Yes that diagram was an example of some common maj7 lydian chords occuring away from an Amaj tonic. It would be the key of A assuming the progression resolves on A.

Are you more comfortable with reading English text? My northern accent can be a bit unclear! It's all transcribed on the lesson page.

Yeah I am more comfortable with English and text.

reading*

This was an example of how Lydian can be played over maj7 chords that lie outside the parent scale of the key. The progression still resolves to A major, but Gmaj7 is like an "outside" chord that can be covered by G Lydian.

Sure you could see it as borrowed from the natural A minor key. Lydian will give it a slightly different feel.

fretjam thank you! I get it now - this is awesome!! You are awesome ..

What would you like to know about them?

@@fretjamdotcom Well I particularly like the AM7-C#m7-CM7-Esus progression, and the color the CM7 adds to the progression. However I don't really understand how this CM7 'works' in the progression. I would say you're playing a 1-3-b3-5 progression relative to the A major key, but I don't get why this b3 can be a M7 chord. I understand you can play Lydian over these chords, but in terms of songwriting I don't understand the M7 chords in between the chords of the major diatonic harmony. Is there some lesson or topic I should cover to get a hold of this?

I think the concept I was looking for was 'borrowed chords'? On which you have a great lesson by the way! ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-jJPeNYK6iGk.html

@@ArnaudEvens I picked up this comment very late but if you haven't seen it yet, I have a lesson that might help with this - ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-PwSmzE3EFuA.html

I guess @10:35 ? me too.

You can use basic major/minor tracks to explore each mode, but the best way to hear the difference is to play them in parallel. So that means, for example, over a Cmaj track (no other chords), you can try C Ionian, C Lydian, C Mixolydian. Over an Am track try A Aeolian, A Dorian, A Phrygian. Interchange between them as you wish. As you play through the modes on the same root, over the same chord (even just a power chord or bass note will do), you'll start to pick up on (and train your ear to) their subtle differences and which tones create that difference. There are also tracks specifically written for each mode, so once you can hear the parallel difference between modes, you can then look at developing them individually and take more time with the harmonic/chordal indicators for each mode. For example, in this lesson I show you a typical chord movement that implies Lydian. I also have a lesson on modal ear training that will help with this. To get you started with phrasing around a mode, think about chord tones and arpeggios first. This is like the skeleton of your licks. So that would be Cmaj and Am respectively. Then start to add in three or four note phrases from the mode of your choice around those chord tones, a bit like connect the dots. There are also runs you can learn such as the examples I gave in this lesson (three notes per string and rootless variations), which are like a more drawn out way of connecting these dots. But through all this, think about target notes that will give your runs and phrases a clear destination based around the chord you're playing over. To move beyond playing anything that sounds too linear or "scale like" (though this can often sound good), try techniques such as string skipping and more "vertical" concepts such as pedal notes. Again, feeding arpeggios into your licks will help with this. And of course, bends and slides are two ways of breaking up and punctuating your scale movements. So think about bending and sliding to strong target notes (the #4 is a good one for Lydian for example). Lots to think about! But take it in small steps. Start with basic, short phrases that build on and interject the arpeggio of the chord you're playing over. Then you can embellish those ideas gradually.

@@fretjamdotcom Wow, thanks for this comprehensive answer :) I've already spotted some 'powerful' notes under bending or slides, and most probably its related with all of this. I could also hear sometimes that playing simple A eolian doesn't match very good some A minor progressions, maybe because they were designed for a specific mode. Many thanks!