How to Play the Mixolydian Mode on the Guitar

Welcome to guitarlessons.com I’m Nate Savage. In this lesson, we’re going to be learning a little bit about how the Mixolydian scale sounds and we’ll also learn a shape of the Mixolydian scale and what notes to emphasize out of that scale to give you this kind of a sound. Let’s learn the shape first, we’ll base it of with the A-major scale, this A-major scale right here.
[Demonstration]
So all the Mixolydian scale is a major scale and you’re going to take the 7th degree that scale on lowered a half of the step, one fret. So, if you’re going up in major scale, normally you have your 7 right here, and we’re going to flat that lower half a step one fret, and just finis h off the scale with another A.
So, I’ll teach you the 2nd octave scale now, so we have
[Demonstration]
Now you’re going to have your pinky on the 9th fret, that same string at D-string. Then jump over to the 6th fret of your G-string with your index finger, 7th fret with your middle finger, 9th fret with your pinky, up over two B-string on the 7th fret, 8th fret with your middle finger, 10th fret with your pinky, 7th fret on the high E-string with your index finger, 9th fret with your third finger, and finally the 10th fret with your pinky.
So the notes you want to emphasize out of the scale are the 3rd because it gives you the major sound in the 7th.
[Demonstration]
So play around with those notes in that scale and be aware of those that the notes that kind of giving you the Mixolydian sound and you can use this kind of scale in a lot of different context. You can do it over regular major groove, you can do it with a major to an A, and you can flat the 7th so you’d go to a G bar chord
[Demonstration]
And you can use it in that context too. You can also use it—it’s really good for just using on a blues vamp like an A7th chord
[Demonstration]
Because dominant chords like that have a flatted 7th and just like the Mixolydian scale. So the Mixolydian scale is almost just tailored made to play over dominant chords.


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