Home sick, getting in a little extra practice time. Specifically, the Mixolydian mode because I have a student asking about it.
Not going to get into the theory behind WHAT Mixolydian is because you can Google that info a million different ways. Just wanted to throw out a few things I found helpful. For starters, this cool jam track…
Modes can be a pain in the butt to finesse. If your chord progressions get too elaborate your leads will end up sounding more like the parent key (say, A major/Ionian when you’re trying to play E Mixolydian). But who wants to jam on a single dominant 7th chord for an entire song or even a solo section? Then again, compelling melodies and harmonies can be that simple, so you might as well start there.
Got a handle on your diatonic harmony/major & minor chord scales? Here’s the chord scale for Mixolydian:
I-ii-iiidim-IV-v-vi-bVII
I like to make the I chord a dominant 7th much of the time. Or you could go jazz and make anything a 7th chord…more theory for another time. I find emphasizing the I chord and sneaking in nearby chords gives you cool Mixolydian harmony.
For most of my college years I’d fit minor pentatonic into anything and everything. Now if I have a simple power chord groove that drops down a step here and there I think, “Oh yeah–I to bVII…Mixolydian. Or switch between that and pentatonic because if the power chord is just the root and 5th then the lead gets to choose whether you’re hearing a major or minor third–Mixo/minor, that is.
Here’s a cool progression that I think sounds cool with C Mixolydian:
C7 Dm7 Bb Or with a bit C9 Dm7 Dm9 Bbsus2
//// // // of spice… //// / / //
So we’re talkin’ I7-ii-bVII. You could explore the usual I-IV-V progression, but in this case the V chord is minor so you’d get I-IV-v.
Anyway, these are a few ideas. I’m sure there are guitar scholars who could school me on this stuff many lifetimes over. Maybe they’ll stop by and add something cool in the comment section.
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