In Friday’s lessons, I talked about the “altered” scale (or super locrian mode) and how you can use it to solo over various altered chords.

Today, I want to talk about another mode you can use to solo or improvise over certain chords.

That mode is called “mixolydian.” (If you didn’t see my last post, it’ll really catch you up).

Basically, it’s when you play a major scale starting and ending on it’s fifth tone.

For example, take the C major scale:

C major scale

The fifth degree of the scale is G.

So if you wanted to play the mixolydian mode, just play these SAME exact notes starting and ending on G. Don’t change any notes. I repeat, keep the notes the same. Just change the starting and ending points.

G mixolydian

Notice that the mixolydian mode is just like a regular major scale with ONE change.

Compare it to the regular G major scale:

It’s the 7th tone. Yup, you guessed it.

Basically, the 7th tone is lowered a half step in the mixolydian mode. So instead of F#, you play F.

This works very well over dominant chords because if you think about the notes of the G dominant 7 chord (which falls on the fifth degree of the C major scale), its notes are:

See the lowered “F?”

That’s why the mixolydian mode works so well over dominant chords. In fact, not just dominant 7 chords either… you can use this same scale over 9th chords… 11th chords… 13th chords… even sus chords.

G9

So the next time you want to find something to do while you’re on the 5th degree of the scale, consider the mixolydian mode. You don’t have to learn anything “new” to employ it. Just think of it as your C major scale from “G” to “G” and you’ll be good to go! Skip notes, rearrange notes — just play around with those notes of the mode and see what you can come up with!

Until next time —

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Wow, the last 4 posts have been crazy!

On Thursday, I introduced you to the power chord’s little cousin, “tritone.”

Then on Friday, we talked about tritone substitutions with 2-5-1 chord progressions.

Just yesterday, we took it a step further and applied tritone substitutions to 6-2-5-1 chord progressions.

Today, I want to show you another way to use tritone substitutions.

Consider this simple 1-4 turnaround progression:

C major

C7 (1-chord) >>> F7 (4-chord) >>> C7 >>> F7

(Play this in rhythm. Just cycle from the 1 chord to the 4 chord).

For this progression, I prefer to play these voicings of the dominant chords:

C7
Bb + E + G on right /// C on left (instead of the regular “C + E + G + Bb”)

F7
Eb + A + C on right /// F on left (instead of the regular “F + A + C + Eb”)

Now, to spice this up, let’s figure out what a tritone up from C is. You should have mastered “tritone relationships” in prior lessons.

The good news is that if you’re moving in fourths, a tritone up from your current chord should always fall right next to the chord you’re progressing to. In other words, it will be a half step higher than the chord you’re moving to.

Let me explain…

A tritone up from C7 is Gb7. Gb7 is a half step higher than F7, the chord we’re ultimately trying to get to. It’s that simple.

So basically, similar to yesterday’s lesson, we just throw in this Gb7 chord (in the same voicing) to take us to our 4 chord. It adds much more flavor than just going directly there. See what I mean?

C7
Bb + E + G on right /// C on left

Gb7
Fb + Bb + Db on right /// Gb on left

*Note: “Fb” is basically “E.” Heck, you can call it “E” if you want. You won’t pass a music theory test though :)

F7
Eb + A + C on right /// F on left

So anytime you’re playing dominant chords and you’re progressing in fourths, you can always look for an opportunity to throw in a tritone “transition” chord.

Until next time —

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