The IV Chord Lydian Major
At the end of lesson one the Major Ionian mode had been introduced and practiced at the 5th fret (key of A major). Practicing a mode and improvising only on one chord needs to be done to gain familiarity with the fingering of the mode but can become somewhat musically boring. Today we will discuss improvising over a chord change.
The Ionian Major mode root 6/4.
The IV chord
A rather large percentage of music has only a three chord structure. For instance in the key of E major the other two chords would be A major and B7th. If we count from E to A starting with the E as one, F would be two, G would be three, A would be four and B would be five. Therefore we would call the A major chord the IV chord and the B7th chord the V chord. (Note chord annotation utilizes Roman numerals). Countless songs use this structure. On the guitar the key of E major is frequently used so that the song starts in E major, moves to A major for a while then back to E major then to B7th and then back to E major again.
The Scale Degrees
The following below indicates the scale degrees for the ionian (major) mode.
This scale is built on the scheme below:
1st degree or tonic (key) ... Ionian
whole step (2 frets)
2nd degree ... Dorian minor mode
whole step (2 frets)
3rd degree ... Phyrgian mode
half step (1 fret)
4th degree ... Lydian mode
whole step (2 frets)
5th degree ... Mixolydian
whole step (2 frets)
6th degree ... Aeolian
whole step (2 frets)
7th degree ... Locrian
half step (1 fret)
1st (8th) degree
Thus we have the following:
whole whole half whole whole whole half
This is the construction of a major scale.
What does this have to do with improvising?
Back to our last lesson improvising with the Major (Ionian) mode starting at the fifth fret (Key of A). Now our song changes to the IV chord of the key of A which is D major. If we continue to play in the same position some of the notes in the scale will not sound right for the D chord. By looking at the scale degrees we can see that the 4th degree corresponding to the IV chord is the 5th string at the 5th fret for the key of A that we started in.
Major Ionian mode root 5/3
All we now have to do to improvise over this chord change is to start using the root 5/3 major mode at the 5th fret on the 5th string. This would then be a D major Ionian mode pattern since the 5th string fretted at the 5th fret is D. This requires learning another mode. However, you could use the same Ionian Major mode used in lesson one by moving up the neck of the guitar to the 10th fret 6th string which is also D. As an aside this is a good demonstration of what makes the guitar in some ways easy but in other ways very difficult. There is more than one location for any given note (frequency) as opposed to a trumpet or saxophone where there is only one key configuration for any note (frequency).
Try using the Lydian (major scale with a +4) mode for a different sound
The Lydian mode is built by simply starting the scale on the 4th degree. Remember the "mathmatical" relationship demostrated at the beginning of this lesson.
whole whole half whole whole whole half
This is pure math. No matter what scale or mode you are playing these relationships are present. The "modes" are actually just starting any scale or series of notes on any of the degrees of the scale. The Lydian mode is built on the 4th degree of the scale. In the key of A, that would be D. Follow the construction of this mode.
A whole B whole C# half D whole E whole F# whole G# half A
The A major scale. Now let's build a scale from the 4th degree of the A major scale.
D whole E whole F# whole G# half A whole B whole C# half D
Starting on the 4th degree or D we go whole, whole, whole, half, whole, whole, half. Why will this scale sound different that the A major scale? Play them both and listen.
Stay tuned for the answer to this question and Lesson 3 which will discuss the next chord change to the dominant 7th chord (the V chord) which in the key of A will be E7. We will also look at the Mixolydian mode which is built on the 5th degree of the scale.
Thanks for your attention and happy guitar playing.
Copyright © John Mericle 2000-2009 All Rights Reserved
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The Meeting of the Spirits
Valentine's day 1979, the original trio (Larry Coryell, John McLaughlin and Paco de Lucia) performed one of the most memorable concerts ever at the Royal Albert Hall in London. This unprecedented meeting of guitar virtuosos from very different musical backgrounds came together as one of the ultimate improvisational studies in history, second only to Miles Davis's Bitches Brew. The DVD of this concert "The Meeting of the Spirits" is available from Netflicks.