A Lydian
The A Lydian mode — A B C# D# E F# G# — shown across the guitar neck.
Tap any note on the neck.
Swipe the neck sideways to see the higher frets.
A Lydian is the major scale with one note changed — the #4, D#. That single note is what gives the mode its sound: lean on it and the colour is obvious. Leave it out and the melody alone could pass for plain major — then it is the chords underneath that keep the mode.
What is A Lydian?
A Lydian is the seven notes A B C# D# E F# G# — the notes of E major started from its 4th degree, A. Same seven notes as the parent, but with A as home, so the intervals and the sound are different.
A Lydian vs A major
6 of the seven notes are the same. The difference is one note, and that is the whole character of the mode:
- #4 is D# in Lydian, where A major has 4, D.
Play A major and A Lydian back to back over a A chord and listen for D# — that is the note to lean on.
Chords in A Lydian
Stack the mode in thirds and each degree becomes a chord. The home chord is A; the rest are the chords of E major, since the notes are the same — what changes is which one the music rests on. Vamp between A and B and the mode is unmistakable.
A Lydian on the guitar neck
Because A Lydian is E major from its 4th note, its natural fingering is position 4 of the seven three-notes-per-string shapes of E major — the shape whose lowest note is A. Learn that shape with A as home — start and end on it, over a drone on A or the vamp above — and you have the mode under your fingers. Play the same shape with E as home and you hear E major instead. The other six positions are the fingerings for the other six modes of the same key.
How to practice A Lydian on guitar
- Loop position 4 of E major at 60 BPM, starting and ending on A so your ear hears A as home rather than E.
- Hold a A chord (or record one) and play the shape over it. Land on D# on the strong beats — that is the sound of Lydian.
- Hear it harmonized in 3rds on the Fretboard: press Play and every note sounds with its partner while the neck lights up.
The tool draws A Lydian from its own root: the orange dots are on A and the degrees count from it. The notes are its parent key's, E major; to hear Lydian, start and end on A.
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