Bb Mixolydian
The Bb Mixolydian mode (also written A#) — Bb C D Eb F G Ab — shown across the guitar neck.
Also written A# Mixolydian. A# and Bb are the same pitch, though spelling it from A# would need double accidentals (A# B# C## D# E# F## G#), which is why Bb is the name in use.
Tap any note on the neck.
Swipe the neck sideways to see the higher frets.
Bb Mixolydian is the major scale with one note changed — the b7, Ab. 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 Bb Mixolydian?
Bb Mixolydian is the seven notes Bb C D Eb F G Ab — the notes of Eb major started from its 5th degree, Bb. Same seven notes as the parent, but with Bb as home, so the intervals and the sound are different.
Bb Mixolydian vs Bb major
6 of the seven notes are the same. The difference is one note, and that is the whole character of the mode:
- b7 is Ab in Mixolydian, where Bb major has 7, A.
Play Bb major and Bb Mixolydian back to back over a Bb chord and listen for Ab — that is the note to lean on.
Chords in Bb Mixolydian
Stack the mode in thirds and each degree becomes a chord. The home chord is Bb; 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 Bb and Ab and the mode is unmistakable.
Bb Mixolydian on the guitar neck
Because Bb Mixolydian is Eb major from its 5th note, its natural fingering is position 5 of the seven three-notes-per-string shapes of Eb major — the shape whose lowest note is Bb. Learn that shape with Bb as home — start and end on it, over a drone on Bb 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 Bb Mixolydian on guitar
- Loop position 5 of Eb major at 60 BPM, starting and ending on Bb so your ear hears Bb as home rather than Eb.
- Hold a Bb chord (or record one) and play the shape over it. Land on Ab on the strong beats — that is the sound of Mixolydian.
- 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 Bb Mixolydian from its own root: the orange dots are on Bb and the degrees count from it. The notes are its parent key's, Eb major; to hear Mixolydian, start and end on Bb.
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