Jazz for the Rest of Us (9)- Lydian and Mixolydian Modes

This is the ninth video in my series called "Jazz for the Rest of Us." In this series I'll be explaining musical concepts typically associated with jazz music and jazz music theory and showing you how to utilize the concepts in your non-jazz music.

In this video I expand on the concept of modal playing that we learned in the last video and explain the lydian and mixolydian modes. If you've ever seen phrases like dorian, lydian, locrian and the like and been absolutely terrified, you should probably watch this video.

I said in the video that I would explain why we interpret major 7th chords as the IV of something rather than the I (one chord) of something. So here we go: A major 7th chord consists of a root, 3rd, 5th, and a major seventh. (For example, CM7: C E G B). If we think about a CM7 as the one chord of something, that means we will be using the C major scale to solo over it. The C major scale consists of C, D, E, F, G, A, and B. If we're going to be playing these notes on top of a CM7 chord then we have to think about how each of the notes is related to the chord. C is the root, D is a 9, E is the 3, F is the 11, G is the 5, A is the 13, and B is the 7. (If you don't understand that, watch my video on extended chords:    • Jazz for the Rest of Us (1) - Extended Chords  ) All of these notes sound pretty good except for the 11 (F). Playing and 11 (F) on top of a 3 (E, which is a part of the chord) doesn't sound very good. If we think about the CM7 not as a I (one chord) but rather as a IV (four chord), then we will be using the G major scale to solo on top of it, which contains the notes G, A, B, C, D, E, and F#. These are all the same notes as the C major scale except that now instead of an F we have an F#, which functions as a #11 in relation to the chord. Playing a #11 (F#) on top of a 3 (E) sounds a lot better, so that's what we typically do. We think about the major 7th chord as the IV chord.

About me: My name is Zack Wing, and as I type these word I've been playing guitar for about 14 years and teaching guitar for about nine. I dabble with other instruments like bass guitar, drums and piano. I also love song writing and composition, recording and production. I have a BS in Music Business that I got solely because it was free.

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