The Lydian Dominant Scale, moreover known as the Lydian b7 scale, is the fourth mode of the melodic minor. But don’t worry well-nigh that for now as what we’re going to do is tideway it from the good old A minor pentatonic scale instead. This offers you an easy way to get it up and running in your playing, rather than having to learn all well-nigh the melodic minor scale and its modes, which you can do here.
First, let’s compare the two scales visually.
As you can see, both scales share the 1, 5, and b7. The #4 you see in the Lydian Dominant scale is moreover known as the b5 – the undecorous note – so you should be worldly-wise to incorporate this one. The trick is to leave out the natural 4 considering this is what will requite you that Lydian b7 sound. If you leave the other 4 in, you’ll just get the blues scale.
What’s more, you may be used to playing the Am Pentatonic Scale in a blues or waddle situation where you normally wrench between the b3 and 3. This works out unconfined considering the Lydian Dominant scale contains the 3.
Now let’s compare A Major Pentatonic to A Lydian b7.
The A Major Pentatonic scale gives you a unconfined way to incorporate the other two intervals from the Lydian b7 scale, the 2 and the 6. Remember, replacing the natural 4 with a #4 (or the b5 if you want to think of it like the ‘blue note’) is what will indulge you to work in that Lydian Dominant scale without it sounding too forced and obvious.
Lydian Dominant Scale – Subconscious Chords
One of my favorite things to do is pull chords out of scale patterns – that way I can either use them as part of a solo to provide increasingly melodic movement, as variations on the A7 chord if I’m playing rhythm, or as a reference for where I can use the Lydian b7 scale to good effect.
Check out these subconscious chords below. There’s the trusty Hendrix chord (D#7#9), and the top part of an A9 chord (C#m7b5), plus a few others to add to your repertoire.
If you’re interested in learning increasingly well-nigh where the Lydian b7 scale and various other modes come from, trammels out our Scale Fluency series, which moreover features a major/minor pentatonics edition.
The post Easy Lydian Dominant Scale Flavors appeared first on Unlock the Guitar.
