Comments on: Keith’s Crash Course on Modes For Self-Taught Musicians

By: Keith

Keith — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 23:59:53 +0000

@Dan- not sure if I understand your question, so I’ll just give you as much information as I can. You can play an F Lydian scale over any chord in the C major progression because they contain the same notes. Your ear may not recognize it as Lydian though, unless it’s over an F major chord.

Lydian is considered a “mostly major” mode because it has only a one-note difference from the major (Ionian) mode: the major mode has a perfect 4th while Lydian uses a tritone. For example the only difference between C major and C Lydian is F versus F#, respectively. You could technically play C Lydian over a C major progression if you only use the chords which do not contain F natural, but if you’re doing that, you technically wouldn’t call it C major anymore, you’d call it a “modal mixture”–the song has temporarily moved from C major to C Lydian. Hope this helps.

By: Dan

Dan — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 23:41:22 +0000

Hey Keith, love the article, found it explained it really well. Just have a quick question..
If you’re in C Major and you’re playing the Lydian Mode, what chords do you play that over..?
If for example I played it over say F,Am,C,G (or any chord sequence in the key of C) it kinda sounds just like a C major scale..??
Cheers, Dan

By: FixYourMix

FixYourMix — Sat, 27 Jun 2009 09:45:39 +0000

The short answer is that the root chord of a Locrian song is a diminished triad, which is considered too unstable to sound like “home” because of its tritone interval.

Here’s the long answer:

http://blog.fixyourmix.com/2009/tritones-why-locrian-mode-doesnt-exist/

By: FixYourMix

FixYourMix — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 05:31:26 +0000

@Erlend: I am working on a post to answer your question.

By: Erlend

Erlend — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 10:12:09 +0000

I like to think of all music as modal, because it helps me to think root notes, and different possibilities for chord extentions in composition. I basically think of any dominant/ bidominant chord as some version of mix or alterated chord instead of a sign of major/ minor tonality. But that’s me.

I was just curious: Why can’t we hear in locrian?

And haha @ “play dorian over everything and people will think you’re hip.”