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Learn to play blues guitar.

Mixolydian Scale and dancing with your fingers! Guitar Lesson – EP589

Description

In this week’s guitar lesson, you’ll learn how to use the Mixolydian scale to play over a 2 chord vamp. I’ll show you how to play up and down that scale quickly by “dancing with your fingers”.

Part 1 - Free Guitar Lesson

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Comments

  4. Garry says

    Can’t wait to break this one down to learn (listen, analyse and play) how you’ve created this masterpiece Brian. Very timely too as I’ve been wanting to play a blues with a tremolo featured. All the best! 😎🎸😎

  8. Harry B says

    This is great stuff, Brian. It explains things that I have heard and sensed in a life-time of playing guitar but didn’t fully understand. Getting into the theory and more technical aspects of music is especially helpful. It is lessons like this that keep me looking forward to your lessons every week so don’t even think about leaving that part of your lessons out.. Thanks so much!

  11. klox says

    Another thoughtful lesson & tune to play – thanks Brian.

    I like to print the notation & tab from Soundslice. This is working fine but for the last 3 weeks the lesson titles have been missing. Can you please restore these in the Advanced Settings ?

    Many thanks !

  13. Doug H says

    I used to think it was easier to just “flat the 7” for than training myself to ask what the undelying chord is the Five Chord of and then play that chord’s major scale.

    I WAS WRONG! It actually becomes VERY ESSY and FAST. Just pretend the underlying chord IS the 5 chord of some other key. Switch fingers to the new 1 chord and play its major scale. Our fingers and minds are pretty good at going from 5 chords back to 1 chords.

    If I want B mixolydian, I pretent B is the 5 chord and switch to any E chord and play E major scale stuff since B is the five chord of E major. It all happens in the imagination with only a little practice once the process of “I’m a five chord now so play the new one chord’s major scale” becomes automatic. You can play this trick with the other modes as well. Dorian mode? “I’m a two chord, now switch to the one”. Etc.

    Thanks Brian! You taught me this a ling time ago. I use it a lot – especially for Mixolydian . 🙏

  16. Lyn C says

    Hi Brian.. great lesson as usual! And good advice about learning the major scales in all positions.. I have been struggling to learn major and minor pentatonics in all positions, so will focus more on major scales first.

    PS.. also having the same problem with Sound Slice for the last 3 weeks- no titles. Is it something to do with my older laptop, or is it a setting at your end?

  17. Paul N says

    When Brian says you can “skip to the ## minute mark” if you just want to learn the song and not hear me talk” – I suggest don’t skip a thing! The first 14 were very helpful Brian. Thanks!

  18. mritalian says

    Hi Brian, Hope all is well for you and your family and friends after watching what’s going on back east. I went back this week and reviewed lesson 374 I thought I knew enough, but I just had a light bulb moment and as I was playing the scales I would take the time to engage my brain and see were the intervals are. What worked for me is taking a little melody that I hear in my head like when the Saints Go Marching In and then hear were the major 3rd, second 5ths etc. This helped me to really understand the neck better and were everything is at in the CAGED positions. Thank you for all you do again, I enjoy your lessons every week, these modes that you have been teaching are really helping to cement things together. Take care Ron T

  19. Mark G says

    That 6th chord voicing you play at 24:40 is a chord that Paul McCartney used in the intro Mother Natures son (in the key of D though). I can play the song but I never thought of that as a D6. Thanks for clarifying.

  20. James S says

    This is a real eye opener for me. It opens up all the modes. Dorian? Use the major scale that starts on the second scale degree of the key. Lydian? Use the 4th scale degree. I’ve been looking for a real to learn the major scale shapes, and this is it. I’m going back to EP 374, which I breezed over before. Thanks Brian.

  22. Daniel H says

    I’m still hooked on just attaching scale patterns to chord shapes whether I am playing in the key or playing the changes. I just pick the mode that fits the moment in the song and then stay aware of what chord comes next … until I get lost in the song lol.

  23. Mark says

    Hope you are OK from the storm. Definitely one of my favorite lessons! Thank you for doing such a good job of explaining how to put all of the pieces together. This will keep me busy for weeks dissecting it and trying in other keys. Thank you!

    -Mark

  24. rickwallenbrock says

    Just to clarify for me, the Mixolydian scale fits because it sounds right whereas the A major scale has that off note. But the A pentatonic scale fits , correct. I played it and it sound good. I guess because the pentatonic leaves out the seventh which sounds off?
    Great lesson Brian
    Rick

  25. Nick Ll says

    Brian,

    Great lesson as usual but I have one question.
    How, without playing the major scale and hearing which notes sound right etc., would someone in an ‘on stage jam’, with an audience watching and listening, work out which mode to use? Your lesson deals with the example of mixolydian, but other than this and aeolian there are five more possibilities aren’t there? A guitarist on stage isn’t going to want to be heard playing bum notes surely, so there must be more to it than that, no?

    • Brian says

      You want to do all of your woodshedding at home and be able to quickly identify the key of a song (maybe a good lesson actually). Also, there really are no bum notes.. honestly! A good player knows how to make a bad note good…. it’s not the note you start with, it’s the one that it leads to! I’ll work this into a video. But the idea is, you can always correct it by making it resolve to a “right” note, then it’s part of the story… kind of like chromatic notes are technically “wrong” – if you single them out.. but if you finish telling the story, you’ll see that they were leading somewhere.

      • Nick Ll says

        I see, so the most adept, versatile guitarists when thrown into a live situation with a tune they’ve never heard before and they are expected to improvise over, would, if necessary, simply hit the note that doesn’t sound quite right, then quickly mask this by using some technique (e.g. bending, sliding) to a neighbouring note that sounds right?
        I get this although I would imagine you have to have reached a good level of competence and self confidence to be able to seamlessly carry this off.

  26. Matthew N says

    great lesson..why is not referred to as the ‘mixolydian scale’ is the same as the 4th of G (C) ..rather than ‘what is the G the 5th of? (C) …just curious

    the groove reminded me of Bowie ‘golden years’

    • Barry H says

      I’m curious about that too, since it feels much simpler in the moment to think upwards to the IV of the current chord (by sharpening its third interval) than downwards to the chord of which the current chord is the V.

      Can anyone suggest why the second approach might be preferable?

    • Brian says

      Mixolydian is the 5th mode – and is made to play over the 5 chord… that’s why I do it that way. I would get so confused thinking about it as the 4 chord. The modes follow an order – Mixolydian is always the 5th.

  27. michael f says

    Great lesson. I love the way the sound, er tonal center changes in part 1 to part 2 without changing keys. All chords in key of D except for that E7 which I guess you
    could think of that as a secondary dominant to A. “Part 1” with those 2 mixo licks sounds bluesy; “part 2” sounds major and all the sweeter with that change.

  29. Brian D says

    Great Lesson and love linking everything back to the 5 major scale patterns wish someone told me that a looong time ago.

    I find it easiest to link the E shape and the A shape to find the Mixolydian scale.

    To to find G mixo scale start with G Major chord using E shape – go the four chord which is the C chord using the A shape (within the same area as the G Major chord) and play the major scale linked to the A shape(what I call Major Scale Pattern 4) and presto I’m play G mixo 🙂

    I think this works but please correct me if I have got this wrong.

  33. Larry B says

    Brian, I only joined recently, but want to thank you for another amazing lesson.

    I am an amateur guitarist and I love playing. There are two points in my guitar playing history that have made a huge difference in why I enjoy playing.

    First I was fortunate enough to take a class in beginning guitar from the great flamenco guitarist Juan Serrano when he was teaching at CSU Fresno. He was a patient instructor who taught me to play for myself, not an audience.

    Second was finding your website. With each lesson, you inspire me, as much as Dr. Serrano, did to be a better player for myself.

    Thank you for being a teacher.

  34. Richard C says

    Pretty cool! First I’ve thought of this. I’m not thinking “what is this the 5th of” as much as I’m thinking “play the major scale of the 4th of this,” which is easier for me to picture on the fretboard. Great lesson!

  35. Steve says

    Great lesson, loved joining in the chromatic runs and that sweet part where it resolves to Ionic over D. Trying hard to let my fingers find their place without always looking at the fretboard or sliding if I am a note out.

  36. daniel M says

    I’ve been away from California for the last 4 weeks in Florida,Lido Beach, Sarasota so I’ve been off line this time. My first time back on tonight Thank you ,Thank you for this lesson informative as always but really soothing to my soul tonight. Folks please keep those who have suffered absolute devastation in your thoughts and prayers.

  39. Scott S says

    Hey Brian, great lesson! I’m wondering if you’d consider a specific lesson on Althea? Either on here, or privately? I want to practice the chord shapes, chord tones and an effective soloing strategy over those chords. Thanks, Scott.

  42. Chuck M says

    Thank you for this lesson and explanation. I was working with a mode system where if, the key was A and I wanted to play Mixolydian, I would add 5 (2 1/2 frets) and now be playing the D major scale. I was never sure if the resolve should be A or D in this case.

    I thought I was missing something that it is still the major scale but played with a different root or source note.

    Your explanation cleared it up for me.

    • Chuck M says

      Delete the 2 1/2 fret part. That’s wrong. The idea is add 2 1/2 steps for Mixolydian; add 1 1/2 steps for Aeolian; minus 2 1/2 steps for Lydian.

      This explanation probably makes it worse. I’ll leave the explaining to you.

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