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I’m really enjoying this lesson, but I do have some questions. The chords suggest to me that this in in the key of D. It looks as if the scale over the A chord is A Mixoljydian and over the the Do chord the same notes would be D major. This makes sense to me as the A chord would be the 5 chord. But how does A Mixolydian work over the G chord – which it clearly does? I am afraid my music theory is fairly basic, so I may be getting this all wrong.
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Hi Terence, your observations are correct.
“A” mixolydian is one of the major modes of D major, meaning it has all the same notes and chords but the tonal center or home resolution is around the A(7) chord. A mixolydian is formed from the D major scale by starting on the fifth note “A’. The chords that are formed are the same as in D major but their function is now changed, ie. A(7) is the I and G is the bVII.
All modes have some characteristic intervals that distinguish them, for mixolydian it’s a flat 7 interval and a major 3rd, sort of a “bluesy” major scale.
The defining chords of A mixolydian, are the I and b7, ie. A and G. In fact, seeing thes two major chords a whole tone apart tells you they can only come from the parent key of D major.
So, the G chord is an integral part of the A mixolydian sound and notes of A mixolydian(D major) will sound corrrect with chord tones of the G major chord as target notes during that chord.
John -
Thanks John,
That is very clear explanation. I did suspect that the A 7 chord could be the tonal centre, but I didn’t know how everything followed from that. Like many people, I have been stuck on the pentatonic scale since I started playing the guitar, but I am really enjoying these modal lessons.-
You know more than you give yourself credit for, Terrence. A little music theory goes a long way. Harmonising the major scale to form the chords of the key and attention to intervals have been critical concepts for me.
Triads are another key component to getting out of the pentatonic boxes, especially for target notes over the chord changes.
John
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