I was reading about the Mixolydian mode, and saw something that said...
"A blues in the key of A will mean you three chords, A7, D7 and E7 - and it's VERY important to realise that you have to change mode each time the hcords change, so over A7 play A Mixolydian and over D7 play D Mixolydian etc."
Now, Ive only got a basic understanding of modes, and I cant quite figure out what they are saying. If I play an A Mixolydian, that is based on the D major scale, correct?
So over the A7 chord I would play A B C# D E F# G
I guess my question is if I wanted to play an Mixolydian mode over an A chord, why would I not play an E Mixolydian, since E if the 5th note in the A scale?
... it's VERY important to realise that you have to change mode each time the chords change, so over A7 play A Mixolydian and over D7 play D Mixolydian etc....
In short - rubbish.
It's quite simple to play A Pentatonic/ A Blues over the whole sequence.
Now, the jazz-oriented members here might well change the notes they use when they change chord but it's because they've developed the skillset to know exactly what they want to change for the new chord; it's certainly not because they've got to do it.
And Noteboat Tom will have a pretty good answer about it; but I'm sure he won't come down on the side of "got to" either.
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... it's VERY important to realise that you have to change mode each time the chords change, so over A7 play A Mixolydian and over D7 play D Mixolydian etc....
In short - rubbish.
It's quite simple to play A Pentatonic/ A Blues over the whole sequence.
Been doing that for years, trying to branch out.
And I understand changing keys with the chord changes, my question had more to do with the modes.
I'm with Alan - it's rubbish. Maybe not completely, but pretty close.
The first thing to understand: music ain't a machine. You can't treat scales and chords like a bunch of gears that you slap together and the whole thing will sound brilliant if you just get the right combination. Music is essentially a language.
Like any language, you can form a set of general "rules" (a grammar, if you will) that leads to some coherence. A sentence should contain a noun and a verb, so "I'll go/" is a workable sentence. "Blue galoshes" is not. But you can add all sorts of adjectives and other elements - and how you do it is what makes some sentences timeless literature, and others pigeon English.
Like any other language, there are varying levels of sophistication. If your vocabulary is large, you might say "venture forth and carry out an assault on the adamantine mass before you". Or you might say "go pound rocks". Both mean pretty much the same thing; the difference is all in the delivery.
Any approach that says "you must do this" misses the point. There are lots of ways to get an idea across.
So let's keep that in mind, and I'll dissect your example. The chords are A7 (A-C#-E-G), D7 (D-F#-A-C) and E7 (E-G#-B-D). If you wanted one scale that contains all the chord tones, you'd have A-B-C-C#-D-E-F#-G-G#. That's not a common scale, and you'd have to be careful what 'flavor' of C or G you use - C will mesh with D7, but not with A7; G will go fine with A7 but not with E7.
The simplest approach might be to drop those two tones and use the scale A-B-D-E-F#. If you know your scales, you might spot that as a D pentatonic major or B pentatonic minor scale. That will certainly work - just like "I'll go" works as a sentence. Nothing will clash with any chord.
But using a limited vocabulary gets you limiting results. You want to create music like Hemmingway wrote fiction. Using just the safe tones might have you creating more like Dr. Seuss.
So you build an awareness of the other tones, and how they sound with each chord. C will be dissonant over A7. When you want dissonance, you use C... and when you want more resolution, you use C#. You do the same with the G and G#. Now you're in control. And that's actually something of a cliche in blues - changing the scale's third to fit the chord.
Notice that you're not thinking in terms of a scale here - instead, you're shading tones to suit your purpose. You're being musical about it.
Or you could decide that dissonance is a central quality of blues (and it is), so you might decide to use A mixolydian throughout. Will the G clash with E7? Sure! But that's the dominant chord, which naturally has a tension - you're just giving it a bit more. It's about choices. And there's a whole lot of them you COULD make over an A blues with all dominant chords. In the right hands each will sound just fine. In other hand, not so much.
Taking a mechanical approach to scales, a "use this over that" will only get you a mechanical sounding result. I'd advise you to experiment, and LISTEN. That's how we develop our own voices as musicians.
As far as what the writer was trying to say.... well, I'd guess he or she was saying that a dominant chord has a b7, and so does the mixolydian scale. So it will "work" in the slap-this-gear-into-your-music-machine approach to things. But so will other scales, like a Lydian b7 (A-B-C#-D#-E-F#-G over A7). What's best for the situation will be something that gives you the sound you want, not some rule that you apply.
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Don't know why my reply showed up twice, so I'm removing one.
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I agree . If you play the whole thing in A it will fit , but there is an opportunity to follow the chords too . There is a good guide on http://www.superrockguitar.com with different modes that you can follow and a simple guide to keys . Here is the link , the mixed scale is the 4th one down . http://superrockguitar.com/scales_index.php
You can just plan an A minor pentatonic or blues scale over the whole progression. Changing scales with each chord is more advanced and something you would see more in Jazz music.
