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