lydian mode

Lydian Mode Ideas
I like to get as much out of my practise sessions as possible when I sit down to play. One way I achieve this is by combining various aspects of guitar playing together. As an example, many teachers tell you to warm up for 10 minutes, then 10 minutes of alternate picking, speed picking, 10 minutes of scales, hammer-on's, pull-off's, etc. Instead of making those separate issues, I just put them all together and work on some aspect of music I need to improve upon. Lets say I am going through my 'Lydian' period at the moment and want to get it under my fingers in all sorts of different ways. So lets pick a chord to work with:
D MAJOR CHORD - A MAJOR FORM


To get the Lydian sound with the D Major chord, we need to apply all of the notes from the A Major Scale - as D Lydian is the fourth mode of the A Major Scale.
D MAJOR LYDIAN SCALE - A MAJOR FORM

Lets take only the notes from the G and the B strings and play a legato pattern running up to the next position on the neck and back down again. This simple little exercise will develop my hammer-on's, pull off's, legato technique, strength in my fingers and give me further inspiration and ideas about the Lydian Mode. Just start slowly and practise upto your desired speed.



Try it in various positions:



And another:



The above is just one example out of an infinite array of possibilities. Take the same D Major chord and try the same exercise with a different scale over the top:

Lets try the F# Pentatonic scale
F# PENTATONIC SCALE - PATTERN 2

F# PENTATONIC SCALE - PATTERN 3


Play a hammer on, hammer off combination from one position to the next. There are no rules or regulations here about what is right and wrong, just enjoy it and see what you can develop. Again, I have used the G and the B strings for this example.



Then you can try putting them altogether to make one big exercise. This could end up also being a part of one of your solos that you have developed.




For all the scales and possibilities available over a D Major Chord to create Lydian sounding ideas - look inside Guitar Scales Version 2 Doing scale exercises this way, you will also feel more confident in your playing and improvising by breaking down all the right information into small chunks that can be pieced together. If you have more confidence in your playing, your guitaring will be stronger, I use the Visual Blueprint as a reference point whenever Im practising. I would also suggest you print it out and leave it open somewhere, you could glance through it while making a coffee or something, believe me, all sorts of ideas will pop in to your head!

Lydian Mode Ideas