Jack here, Jbf music and guitar lessons, here we’re looking at the Lydian Dominant Pentatonic;
3 licks in ascending difficulty which show just a few ways in which you can use it.
Derived from Lydian Dominant- the 4th mode of the Melodic Minor. But, here being a pentatonic
uses only using 5 notes. I’m going for C Lydian Dominant Pentatonic; which has the
notes: C, E, F#, G, Bb, C: Root, 3rd, #4th, 5th, b7th, Root. Basically a Dom 7th arpeggio:
Root, 3rd, 5th, ,b7th, but with and added sharp 4th. There’s also a C7 #11 vamp in
this video, if you want to try the licks out; timestamps as usual in the description and
pinned comment.
A fairly unusual sound, for Rock music; you could argue Nirvana’s Big Long Now is built
on the #4th, so that might not be too bad a point of reference to get a rough feel of
one of the sounds you can get from this scale. It’s and it’s parent scale, so as to speak;
Lydian Domiannt; are more common jazz; which there a fair number of videos on already,
so here we’ll have more of a focus on a more exotic, rock-based approach. Queens of
the stone age’s Josh Homme is quite partial to this scale, for a bit more on how he approaches
it, check out that tutorial. But before the Licks, here’s the full scale shape:
The combination of the #4; 9th fret A string and 11th fret G string and b7th: 8th fret
D string, 11th fret B string; are what give this interesting scale is unique character;
great to throw in when soloing over an lengthy and static Dom7 chord, or if you want to sneak
less common textures into a blues jam; provided you don’t go overboard, it should just add
a little sprinkle of spicy goodness! If you know the Hirajoshi scale you might notice
there is only 1 note difference; that aforementioned b7th. So, playing it over a Dominant 7, Dom7
#11; #11 being the #4 an octave higher; or even a major chord; if the dom 7 is implied
it will sound a bit more coherent. Ok, that’s it in a nutshell, on with the licks!
Alright, breaking this down, we’ve got; 3rd, Root, 5th,,b7th, 3rd, Root, 5th, 3rd,
Root, b7th; moving out of position briefly; then #4th, with some vibrato then being bent
up a semi tone to resolve the lick to
the 5th. This lick might give you that dreamy, time travel, sort of flash back vibe often
used in film or TV scores; the backing music to set moods or provoke an emotional response
in the viewer ; arguably maybe more in the 60s-80s than now. It’s really quite close
to the whole tone scale; which is just what it sounds like; a series of whole tones: Root,
2nd, 3rd, #4th, #5th, b7th, Root; since the notes are equidistant, any of them could be
the Root, the lack of clarity or tonal centre. But yeah, because our Lydian Dominant Pentatonic
is similar it can get that type of sound. Which is probably a bit easier to tap in to
on piano, than guitar, just by the nature of the instrument. And if you want a breakdown
of this scale all over the fretboard like these videos , just let me know in the comments.
Ok, going for a more exotic sound here, maybe leaning in to a slightly psychedelic vibe?
The 3rd is being bent up to the #4th; a full tone, down to the Root, hopping over the A
string to the b7th, and Root. #4th,then Going up
the major arpeggio next; 5th, Root, hammering the 3rd, b7th pulled off to the 5th. Then
some tone bends; which will sound pretty cool as microtonal ones as well; b7th to root,
return to pitch, 5th, b7th, 5th. 3rd bent to #4th , Root, #4th, b7th. A wide vibrato
on that last note will hint at the Root, if you want a bit more stability, a subtle vibrato
will give you that mellow, slightly uneasy b7th resolution. If you’re enjoying this
approach of taking a concept at a base level, then developing it and fancy getting that
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Channelling some vaguely Marty Friedman vibes for this one here! This is a repeating pattern,
split evenly in to half bar chunks- I always find these sorts of lick are really good for
locking the scale in to memory. We’re going up through it: Root, 3rd, #4th, 5th, #4th,
5th, #4th, 3rd, #4th. Then taking that sequence on to the next string set: #4th, 5th, b7th,
Root, b7th, Root, b7th, 5th, b7th. On to bar 2: b7th, Root, 3rd, #4th, 3rd, 4th, 3rd, Root,
3rd. 3rd, #4th 5th, b7th, 5th, b7th, 5th, #4th, 5th. Bar 3- 5th, b7th, Root, 3rd, Root,
3rd, Root, b7th, Root, sliding up to the 3rd, #4th, with some vibrato and tapping the b7th,
then bending it up a tone to the Root for a really strong resolution. So next up the
the vamp, I’d suggest playing each note from the scale and
listening to safe or tense if feels in relation to the backing; generally the Root, 3rd, 5th
will feel secure, the b7th a bit less and the #4th will add that edge!
That was the Lydian dominant pentatonic, for more underused pentatonic scales check out
these videos, for some exotic playing ideas click there, but yeah; if you’ve enjoyed
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