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