D Mixolydian
The D Mixolydian 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 Mixolydian is the major scale with one note changed — the b7, C. 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 Mixolydian?
D Mixolydian is the seven notes D E F# G A B C — the notes of G major started from its 5th degree, D. Same seven notes as the parent, but with D as home, so the intervals and the sound are different.
D Mixolydian 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:
- b7 is C in Mixolydian, where D major has 7, C#.
Play D major and D Mixolydian back to back over a D chord and listen for C — that is the note to lean on.
Chords in D Mixolydian
Stack the mode in thirds and each degree becomes a chord. The home chord is D; the rest are the chords of G major, since the notes are the same — what changes is which one the music rests on. Vamp between D and C and the mode is unmistakable.
D Mixolydian on the guitar neck
Because D Mixolydian is G major from its 5th note, its natural fingering is position 5 of the seven three-notes-per-string shapes of G 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 G as home and you hear G major instead. The other six positions are the fingerings for the other six modes of the same key.
How to practice D Mixolydian on guitar
- Loop position 5 of G major at 60 BPM, starting and ending on D so your ear hears D as home rather than G.
- Hold a D chord (or record one) and play the shape over it. Land on C 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 D Mixolydian from its own root: the orange dots are on D and the degrees count from it. The notes are its parent key's, G major; to hear Mixolydian, start and end on D.
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