Understanding Modes Part 4 Lydian Video Lecture - The Ultimate Guitar Course

congratulations you made it to the
fourth video and the burning question
that has been on your mind this entire
time is Shawn what is your favorite mode
I'm happy to say that we finally arrived
to my personal favorite mode the fourth
mode the Lydian mode so again we're
doing it in the key of C so cdef this is
going to be f s-- mode in the key of C
so then those are going to be f g a b c
d e f all right and here's how we play
it so we're going to start with this F
now it's really easy if you just learn
Phrygian which we just did we wanna EF G
a B C alright we're just starting on the
Aten so f g a b c d e f okay so we're
just going one step further right so if
we go it through two octaves in the open
position it's gonna look like this e f g
a b c d e f g a b c d e now you might be
asking why am i leading with my middle
finger on the first fret here instead of
just maybe what might be more
comfortable is going f g a b c d e f g
because I want to keep the integrity of
this shape now again kind of like with
Phrygian the open strings are helping us
when we play right here but if we were
to move this as a movable shape down to
like the a string which the F is going
to be on the eighth fret here you're
going to want to lead with your middle
finger because the shape looks like this
which is an alteration of the major
scale so you can think of Lydian as the
major scale with a sharp four so that's
what makes the special has a sharp four
so here's the Neptuna F major would be
middle pinky index middle pinky index
ring pinky F Lydian is middle pinky
index ring pinky index ring so one two
three that four is a sharp four so if
you just do the first octave a little
pinky index ring pinky next ring pinky
you'll notice the symmetry along these
two lines right here now this is another
great example of seeing one shape inside
of another so it rests right inside of
the C major the C Ionian shape that we
learned early in the first or in the
second video which starts on the C right
middle pinky index middle pinky index
ring pinky index ring pinky middle pinky
now if we start cdef if we start F there
is that Lydian shape inside of the C
major shape okay now I want to
arpeggiate this just like we did the
other ones into a triad so if we take
the first the third and the fifth we get
an F major chord
which is the fourth chord the fourth
triad in the key of C if we were to go
one further with that we would get a one
three five and a major seven one three
five seven so that's going to give us a
major seven chord which is a great great
chord to use as the four in any chord
progression right and we're going to
demonstrate this in just a second but
first let's do the voicing that I just
use here on the a string right so it's
kind of like it starts out as a power
chord with the 1 and the 5 we're adding
this major 7 and then the third is going
to be on the top right there okay so we
still haven't really talked about what
makes this special as compared the other
ones and that's that sharp 4 now the
interesting thing about this 4 so let's
take a look at use of F G a B right now
if you stop there if you just go 1 2 3 4
that sounds so wrong right because this
is the distinction between a sharp 4 and
a flat 5 now you may know this you may
not but another word for flat 5 is
diminished right one of the nastiest
sounds we can make in music is adding a
root note and a flattened 5 right so
again like diminished minor 7 flat 5
chords have that sound and again it just
works out that it's an unpleasing sound
for the most part now the beautiful
thing about Lydian why I like it so much
is because it has that but it's not a
flat 5 it's a sharp 4 which for literal
purposes is the same thing it still ends
up being this B note F G a B but because
we end up going to the C and app so f G
a B we don't stop there we go to the 5
so the sound of the 5 there kind of
resolves it and makes it okay so that's
the difference between a sharp 4 and a
flat 5 because this is the 4th no
and the fifth note is still there now
there is a mode in which there is just a
flat five Locrian mode we'll get you a
little bit and that doesn't have the
five to kind of round it out so to kind
of give you an example of how you can
use this what this I don't really want
to say dissonance it sounds more of like
a suspension to me right so if we firmly
entrench ourselves in the key of C
because if we do this to starting on F
it'll sound like we're in the key of F
major so if we firmly entrench ourselves
in the key of C just with playing C
major and the C major scale we can kind
of get the sound F Lydian and the four
chord gives us right an after major
right you don't hear the resolution so
much with an F chord when you're
thinking and see when you've developed
an atmosphere of C major right that F
chord by itself isn't the most obvious
place to resolve anything to C is where
you kind of get that finality of a key
that tone that's just the resolution as
we call it right so again I don't know
if suspension is the right word but
using the four chord a lot which is
something I personally enjoy doing in my
own writing composition playing and
stuff like that kind of add something
that is close to resolution but not
really a-- and i'm gonna try to
demonstrate this by doing a major seven
arpeggio run with an F in a C and then
working v invent so what I'm gonna do
I'm just going to take a regular major
seven arpeggio rooted on an app which is
the eighth fret of the a string one
three five seven right
so Lydian we have one two three sharp
four five six seven eight big first
third fifth and seventh notes to make an
arpeggio and I'm going to kind of swing
it a little bit like now that same
arpeggio exists in C major C Ionian one
two three four five six seven eight one
three five seven is the exact same thing
the exact same intervals will give you a
C major seven so I'm going to swing that
exact same way on the ciock
so back and forth from F to see you now
I'm going to work in that interval that
forth the Lydian fourth one two three
four which is a sharp four which would
wear which would be where a flat five
would normally be but we have our fifth
and Lydian here this is our four right
so as soon as I introduce that I'm going
to do the same thing on the C and just
kind of listen to how it sounds so first
I'm going to run through the major seven
arpeggio once each and then I'm going to
switch it to the sharp four in the flat
five so f c c
now as soon as I hit that flat five and
see it kind of goes off the rails a
little bit there's too much dissonance
and it doesn't sound good when I did it
on the F it's fine it's acceptable but
then when I do it on C this is wrong and
that's kind of the difference between
what you can do in Lydian and what you
can do in Ionian or major so there you
have it the Lydian mode my favorite mode
the major scale with a sharp four which
is representative of a major seven chord
which always feel free to try to include
that in your compositions and playing