Domenick Ginex is a guitarist living in Tampa, Florida. He has played in several groups in the Tampa Bay area for over 25 years. His website, located at http://GuitarLessonsPro.com, offers guitar instructional material for beginner to intermediate level guitarists.

In the last lesson we looked at using the pentatonic and blues scales for soloing over the blues progression (Click Here for Blues Lesson 4).

In this lesson we are going to look at using the mixolydian mode for blues soloing.

I am not going to go into great details about the theory behind modes in this lesson. If you want to learn more about modes and their applications then check out the Guitar Lessons Pro Intermediate eBook. This lesson is going to provide a high level overview on how to use the mixolydian mode when soloing over the blues progression.

So what is the mixolydian mode and how can you use it? Basically the mixolydian mode is a scale that you will apply to each chord in the blues progression. So for example you will play the G mixolydian mode against the G7 chord, the C mixolydian mode against the C7 chord and the D mixolydian mode against the D7 chord. The mixolydian mode contains the notes of the major scale of each chord with one exception...the major 7th note is replaced with the dominant 7th note. So you can see why it fits with the dominant 7th chords. Let's look at some examples...

The notes of the G major scale are G, A, B, C, D, E, F#. So F# is the 7th note of the G major scale, or the major 7th note. If we replace F# with the dominant 7th note, namely F, then we have the mixolydian mode.

Similarly, the notes of the C major scale are C, D, E, F, G, A, B. Replace B with Bb and you have C mixolydian.
The notes of the D major scale are D, E, F#, G, A, B, C#. Replace C# with C and you have D mixolydian.

You might be thinking that it would get a little difficult to learn these new scales. Maybe, but luckily there is an easier way to learn to apply the mixolydian (and any other) mode. Here is all you need to remember...

Start with your root note, go to the fourth note of the major scale, then play the major scale of that note. That is the mixolydian mode.
So for example, C is the fourth note of the G major scale. Play the C major scale, that is G mixolydian! F is the fourth note of the C major scale. Play the F major scale, that is C mixolydian. G is the fourth note of the D major scale. Play the G major scale, that is D mixolydian. Now all you have to know is the major scale for any and all keys (which you should learn anyway) and you don't really have to learn new scales.

Now let's look at the mixolydian mode applied against the fretboard. I am not going to show all possible ways to play each scale on the entire fretboard. That is an exercise for the reader and you can learn more about that in the Guitar Lessons Pro Intermediate eBook. For now I am going to show 3 examples of the G, C and D mixolydian modes in the 3rd fret area of the fretboard (as mentioned previously you should learn the major scale for any and all keys and learn to play each all along and up and down the fretboard).



Try playing these scales against the basic blues in G example that we have been using. Listen to the sound of each scale against each chord. Try to pick out the dominant 7th note and hear the effect.

Now you need to figure out the mixolydian modes for all keys and practice them. Have a friend play blues rhythm progressions in all keys and you try to solo using the mixolydian mode.

Now combine the pentatonic and blues scales with the mixolydian mode as well as some blues licks and riffs and you will have a solid foundation for soloing against the blues.

In the next and final lesson in this blues series we are going to look at minor blues.