Use of mixolydian in blues?

I'm no expert, but it goes something like this. Take a typical blues in A: A7, D7 and E7 are the basic chords. Since they are major, you wouldn't readily think to use minor scales over them, but thats exactly what the blues are: minor melody over major harmony. It sounds good to us because its become so common place over the years; technically, an A7 chord isn't "right," since a G# is part of the A major scale, not G. But they obviously work!

That's where things start to get modal. The mixolydian mode is nothing but a major scale w/ a b7. Which will work quite nicely over our three dominant 7 chords present in a blues. So, one approach aside from minor pents would be to use major scales or major pents, and play the b7. Since there are three chords, you need to shift scales accordingly. So, D mixo over D7, E mixo over E7, ect.

Like I said, I haven't ventured into that sort of thing too much myself, but that's the theory behind it. Pick up the latest issue of Guitar Techniques w/Gary Moore on the cover, there is a big section on different blues approaches. Worth its weight in gold.

You brits have all the good resources. :wink:

Many thanks for the post! I'm really hungry to learn all of the blues that I can master, and I'll try to find that copy of Guitar Techniques.

Amistad
'gimme the blues, and lots of 'em!'

I've always loved the Mixolydian scale and pentatonic scale, which are both enhanced with blue notes. One thing I do is combine a Mixolydian and finish with a pentatonic. Which can be used to create some great melodic and flowing runs over a blues progression. The Mixolydian fits well with blues because of the flatted seventh and can give a nice effect.

Joe

hmm...I can get something really melodic out of mixolydian, but its too "major scalish" - I cant seem to get it sounding bluesy. Anyone have any advice on how to approach it?

How about using whatever scale to play whats in your head instead of playing whatever melody using a specific scale?

what about those of us whose heads are as hollow as a gourd?

Well, those people might need to train their musical creativity instead of learning a billion different scales. A scale isn't really anthing at all, playing the blues by sticking to a certain scale isn't really what music is about. Everyone can learn to hear melodies in their head and translate that to either guitar or instantly write it down on paper. That has nothing to do with talent, it's a musical skill that can be trained in a structured and organized fashion.

And it doesn't matter if you ask Hendrix, Beethoven or Joe about it, no matter what kind of education the greatest musicians have had, they all learned how to connect their head, fingers and guitar together. That's the one and only skill all great musicians have in common. Learning a scale is no substitute whatsoever.

[quote="Pick up the latest issue of Guitar Techniques w/Gary Moore on the cover, there is a big section on different blues approaches. Worth its weight in gold.

Thanks again. I picked up a copy of the April 2006 magazine today. I've been trying to access the blues stuff on the CD, but to no avail. There is no menu on the CD to access such material, and when I look at a file listing of what's on the CD, I see none of such files. Grrrr! I feel like a moron. I guess I could possibly have a defective CD, though I would think that this is not likely.

Anyway, I'll have a session of reading the magazine and see what develops...

Amistad
'hungry to crank out some blues...'

If you open the CD in media player you can see all the tracks.
The video part opens automatically so you can't see the songs.

^^Yeah, if you have windows media player, click the downward arrow near the top right-hand corner of "video," then click play > CD> viola! It works in a standard CD player as well.

Thank you for the replies. I see how it works now. I'm jammin'! :D

Amistad

Well, those people might need to train their musical creativity instead of learning a billion different scales. A scale isn't really anthing at all, playing the blues by sticking to a certain scale isn't really what music is about. Everyone can learn to hear melodies in their head and translate that to either guitar or instantly write it down on paper. That has nothing to do with talent, it's a musical skill that can be trained in a structured and organized fashion.

And it doesn't matter if you ask Hendrix, Beethoven or Joe about it, no matter what kind of education the greatest musicians have had, they all learned how to connect their head, fingers and guitar together. That's the one and only skill all great musicians have in common. Learning a scale is no substitute whatsoever.

Well yeah, I do many many things using chromatic notes or not even playing in a scale at all...But I mean, why not both? Im not just gonna give up n go "Oh well its better musical skill if I play wats in my head rather than sticking to a scale" - If I learn to play some blues using mixilydian it'll force to me to create new ideas n lick etc and give me another tool to draw upon.
Also in defence of scales - When I first learnt the harmonic minor scale it was like blasting open a huge door of new musical possiblities. I simply hadnt thought about those kinda sounds before - yet (without trying to boast here or anything) im not someone who has any lack musical talent.
Put it this way - How can expanding your theoretical knowledge do anything but better you as a player, provided to dont confine yourself to it?