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  • Hello, this is Mike Hayes and we're talking about musical scales: and on this video we'll

  • be looking at two scales in particular the G blues scale and the G Mixo-Lydian scale.

  • Now, some of you will be familiar with both of these musical scales; I'm sure most of

  • you will be familiar with the G blues scale; so what I want to do here is to start this

  • video off by presenting the idea of musical contrast; the equivalent to a musical "sweet

  • and sour" if you will, with the G blues scale providing the 'sour' , and the G Mixo-lydian

  • providing the contrasting 'sweet' effect. Now, of course as most of us know we can just

  • about play the blues scale over any chord, ah, what I want to do here is play the notes

  • straight, no slides, no bends, no guitar effects; I want you to have a listen to how the notes

  • in the blues scale sound when played against a G7th chord; I'm going to play the notes

  • very slowly and when I do this you'll will notice that two notes in particular, that's

  • the B flat and the D flat note; you'll hear when we play these two notes against the G7th

  • background it will create a musical dissonance and this can be a great effect because it

  • creates a musical tension that, provided that we can resolve that tension will sound very

  • cool in a solo. Whereas, when we hear the G Mixo-Lydian mode

  • played against the G7th chord you will hear that all these notes in the Mixo-Lydian mode

  • fit very nicely over the G7th chord. So, let's go and have a listen to how these

  • two musical scales sound when there are played against the exact same G 7th background.

  • In this next example I'll be playing a G7th chord as a background and we'll be comparing

  • the sound of a G blues scale, the sound of the notes in the G blues scale when there

  • are played slowly over this G7th chord, we'll be comparing the sound of each of the notes

  • in the blues scale to that of the notes in a G Mixo-Lydian mode; so here's the background

  • and we'll have a listen to firstly the G blues scale: one, two, three, four ...

  • Ok, let's use exactly the same G7th background only this time we'll play a G mixo-Lydian

  • mode over the G7th chord: one, two, three, four ...

  • Up to this point in the video we've been comparing the sound of the blues scale with that of

  • the mixo-Lydian mode, and now I'd like to dig a little bit further and go deeper into

  • our discussion on musical scales. The next concept I'd like to present is that

  • each musical scale creates it's own harmonic environment, it has it's own unique sound

  • and creates it's own atmosphere; and when I'm doing musical theory I like to make the

  • subject come alive. So far we've had a look at the notes that

  • go to make up the Mixo-Lydian mode, we've had a look at the underlying structure and

  • we've discussed how the Mixo-Lydian mode relates to the dominant seventh chord; and while all

  • this information is very important, what we really need to know is how does the Mixo-Lydian

  • mode 'sound' ... how do we 'feel' when we hear the mixo-Lydian mode.

  • Now, essentially when I hear the Mixo-Lydian mode I immediately think of a 'swamp " sound;

  • now, of course, trying to describe musical sound is like trying to describe color to

  • somebody everyone is going to hear slightly and use their own words to describe what they

  • are hearing or seeing. So even though we've said that the Mixo-lydian

  • mode to produce a 'blues' effect, I would take it a little bit further; in my mind it

  • creates a 'swamp' effect ah so it's a little bit different from the blues ah but to me

  • there's a slightly different feeling you get when you play the mixo-Lydian mode.

  • So, to help convey this 'swamp' feel ah, so you can make up your own mind how the Mixo-Lydian

  • mode sounds, I'm going to use a song called "Born On The Bayou" it's by Creedence Clearwater

  • Revival and the guitar solo is by John Fogerty. And I'm using this song because over 90% of

  • this tune is based on a E7th vamp; and there's very few songs that have this unique sound

  • and ah, the same type of intensity and atmosphere that this song conveys; you actually feel

  • like you're in the middle of a swamp down in the deep south and ah, that's the type

  • of sound I'm thinking of when I'm ah, thinking of the Mixo-Lydian mode.

  • So, let's just see what's going on here: E7th is chord five in the key of A; my scale of

  • choice to play over the E7th chord is E Mixo-Lydian mode and we can see that we have the same

  • Mixo-Lydian structure; the underlying structure of tone, tone, semi-tone, tone, tone, semi-tone,

  • tone, that's the same underlying structure that e saw when we were looking at the G Mixo-Lydian

  • mode. An interesting point about the guitar solo

  • is that even though John Fogerty could have used an E blues scale or an E minor pentatonic

  • scale over the E7th chord, he choose to use an E Mixo-Lydian mode to help convey the mood

  • that he wanted to create. Take particular note of how he begins his

  • guitar solo on the note "A", and he moves between "A" and "G#" at the beginning of his

  • guitar solo, this of course is where the semi-tone occurs in the Mixo-Lydian mode and it helps

  • create extra tension and intensity in his solo; ah, the "A" note is actually what we

  • call a 'color tone', and we'll be discussing color tones and hybrid scales and that in

  • the next video; don't forget to have a listen to "Born On The Bayou" , that will give you

  • an idea of the sound and feel of the mixo-Lydian mode and I hope you have enjoyed this video

  • and got something out of it, I'll see you on the next one.

Hello, this is Mike Hayes and we're talking about musical scales: and on this video we'll

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