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Scales › Lydian

Lydian scale

♯11 brilliance

7 notes

guide tones (3rd & 7th — the heart of the sound) avoid (strong clash)

C · D · E · F# · G · A · B

What color?

A major whose augmented fourth (#11) opens up a floating, airy brilliance, without the Ionian's avoid note. The improviser's reflex when you want a major that soars, more colorful and modern than plain major.

Origin & history

A medieval church mode recognizable by its augmented fourth. In the 20th century, George Russell made it the heart of his Lydian Chromatic Concept (1953), the first major theory to emerge from jazz, which would influence Miles Davis and modal jazz.

Listen

Which chords to play it on?

The jazz consensus (Aebersold) recommends it on:

major seventh chord

Sibling modes

The Lydian scale is one of the modes of the major scale : it shares exactly the same notes as the modes below, but built on a different degree of the parent scale (major (Ionian)).

major (Ionian) reference major color Dorian bright minor, major thirteenth Phrygian dark minor, Spanish b9 Mixolydian natural dominant Aeolian (natural minor) melancholic natural minor Locrian unstable half-diminished

Try it in a real chart

Paste a chord chart into the tool: Pentania tells you, chord by chord, when this scale fits — and what other colors are open to you. Open the tool →