It has more note choices than the blues scale, and can be used to create a more authentic, informed jazz solo over a blues. You can easily play a minor 3rd over major chords, but it’s much more grating to play the major over minor. Here are four mixoblues scale guitar positions. The mixo-blues scale can be confusing because of its different names. So true about the lack of pure mixolydian songs without the V. Some of the greatest mixo songs are hybrids, like Fire and Rain (alternates the v and V from verse to verse). But if you think about switching between the three scales as you perform (start with Dorian, go to Blues, then to Mixolydian) you’ll have much more success. (Or if you’re listening any AC/DC song.) FIGURE 1 … If you’re looking to take your rock, blues, and even jazz playing to the next level, the mixolydian mode is an essential tool that you can use. Last time, we determined you can “Lift ’em up with the Lydian Mode.” In this post, I’ll break down Mixolydian and the hybrid scale you can use to improvise over it. Enter the Dorian mode. The mixolydian mode is very widely used scale in pop and jazz music being one of the key sounds of blues and jazz music. A strong way of navigating through those chord changes without “merely” jumping from one Mixolydian to the next, is to alternate between the minor pentatonic of the key (C min pent) and the Mixolydian scale of the moment (C, F or G Mixolydian). This influence from the scales used in lots of blues and rock playing makes the mixolydian mode a great option to give a different feeling to your playing when you solo over progressions where you might normally use the minor pentatonic or blues scales. If you try to play the MDB scale the way you do any other scale, you’ll soon get frustrated. Your email address will not be published. The Mixolydian blues scale is a nice choice for coloring basic Mixolydian lines. Even though Dorian is a minor mode, you can play it over the major chords found in Mixolydian. Mixo-blues scale - Guitar positions - One octave Shapes How to Play the Mixo-blues Scale on Guitar? (Although even this song isn’t “pure” mixo since it makes frequent use of the flat-VI chord.). Note: Even though the MDB incorporates the Dorian mode, it’s hard to play that major 3rd from the Mixolydian mode over Dorian chords. 10 Best Acoustic Guitar Under 200 Dollars, 8 Most Important Guitar Chords for Beginners, The 5 Pentatonic Scale Shapes You Must Know, Top 6 Best Guitar Amps for Practice and Small Gigs, The Brilliant Benefits of The Blues Scale, What is a Scale Formula and How to Use it For Guitar, Top 10 Best Electric Guitars s under 300 Dollars, 10 Ways to Play Beautiful Open Chord Shapes. Dorian is the same as Mixolydian, except it’s a minor mode, rather than major. Using augmented chords in your songs. So many artists will either ignore using a five chord altogether or they’ll fudge it and use a dominant V chord. In fact, it’s hard to find Mixolydian songs that use the v chord at all. The standard “Mixolydian progression” is I-bVII-IV-I (C-Bb-F-C) and can be found in numerous songs (think of the outro in “Hey Jude”). When the chord changes from C7 to F7 in our Blues progression, the Mixolydian scale of the moment would now change to F Mixolydian as well. Scott can be reached at storybookediting@gmail.com. One nice example is “This is a Low” by Blur. A nice example of a song that uses a combination of Mixolydian and Dorian is “Dear Mr. Fantasy” by Traffic. The Blues scale is similar to the pentatonic scale, except it also includes a flattened 5th. (You can hear that flat 3rd note in the song’s most famous lick.). The extra notes in the mixolydian mode, compared to the minor pentatonic and blues scales, is another big plus. Your email address will not be published. However, most “mixo” songs tend not to be 100% purely Mixolydian. Along with jazz you really start to see the Mixolydian and Dorian scales come into heavier use in the 1960s. The nice thing is, when improvising over Mixolydian chords, you don’t have to choose Blues or Dorian or Mixolydian, you can combine all three into one mammoth, nine-note scale: You’ll sometimes see this scale called simply the Mixolydian Blues scale, as you can create this scale with just the Blues and Mixolydian scales, but I prefer Mixo-Dorian Blues because it helps you think about how to approach using it. For example, the first measure would be an A7, if you were playing chords. The idea is to use it in combination with the more staple pentatonic scales. In pure Mixolydian, the five chord is minor instead of major. Improvising over Mixolydian chords can be a blast as you get to use one of the more interesting — if at first overwhelming — scales in music: the hybrid Mixo-Dorian Blues scale, which combines three great scales in one. And as you might know, the dom7 chord is the main ingredient for blues music. Although I personally like to challenge myself and avoid “easy way outs” when writing in a lesser used mode like mixolydian, I think the stark contrast from ionian verse to the mixo chorus in Angel from Montgomery brings out the color all the more. We’ve actually used three different Mixolydian scales here: the A Mixolydian, the D Mixolydian, and the E Mixolydian. Use the zesty Neapolitan chord in your songs A great Surprise ‘em with the major mediant chord Mixolydian is a great scale to experiment with in a major blues context. Using suspended chords in your songwriting A combination of the Mixolydian mode and the blues scale, the Mixolydian/blues hybrid scale reigns supreme as the chief source for carving those major/minor blues-based licks that sound so good over dominant 7th chords.