Ab Lydian
The Ab Lydian mode (also written G#) — Ab Bb C D Eb F G — shown across the guitar neck.
Also written G# Lydian. G# and Ab are the same pitch, though spelling it from G# would need double accidentals (G# A# B# C## D# E# F##), which is why Ab is the name in use.
Tap any note on the neck.
Swipe the neck sideways to see the higher frets.
Ab 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 Ab Lydian?
Ab Lydian is the seven notes Ab Bb C D Eb F G — the notes of Eb major started from its 4th degree, Ab. Same seven notes as the parent, but with Ab as home, so the intervals and the sound are different.
Ab Lydian vs Ab 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 Ab major has 4, Db.
Play Ab major and Ab Lydian back to back over a Ab chord and listen for D — that is the note to lean on.
Chords in Ab Lydian
Stack the mode in thirds and each degree becomes a chord. The home chord is Ab; the rest are the chords of Eb major, since the notes are the same — what changes is which one the music rests on. Vamp between Ab and Bb and the mode is unmistakable.
Ab Lydian on the guitar neck
Because Ab Lydian is Eb major from its 4th note, its natural fingering is position 4 of the seven three-notes-per-string shapes of Eb major — the shape whose lowest note is Ab. Learn that shape with Ab as home — start and end on it, over a drone on Ab or the vamp above — and you have the mode under your fingers. Play the same shape with Eb as home and you hear Eb major instead. The other six positions are the fingerings for the other six modes of the same key.
How to practice Ab Lydian on guitar
- Loop position 4 of Eb major at 60 BPM, starting and ending on Ab so your ear hears Ab as home rather than Eb.
- Hold a Ab 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 Ab Lydian from its own root: the orange dots are on Ab and the degrees count from it. The notes are its parent key's, Eb major; to hear Lydian, start and end on Ab.
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