The Lydian Scale on Guitar

Lydian is the major scale with one note raised: the 4th goes up a half step. In A, that’s A B C# D# E F# G#. The D# doesn’t pull anywhere, so a plain major chord starts to float. It’s the bright, slightly strange sound of film scores and instrumental rock, and it comes with its own chord.

Most lessons tell you A Lydian is the E major scale starting on A. That’s true, and it’s no use with a guitar in your hands. It tells you the notes. It doesn’t tell you what Lydian sounds like, which chord brings it in, or why it sounds like a film score over one chord and plain wrong over the next. This page does.

Hear it first

Let the open A string ring. Play this up the G string slowly and let each note hang over it.

One fret is the only difference. The D at the 7th fret sits a half step above the C# and leans down onto it. It wants to go somewhere. That’s the major scale. The D# at the 8th fret doesn’t pull. Over the drone it just hangs there, bright and slightly unreal. That’s Lydian: a major scale that’s stopped trying to resolve.

Four patterns, root to root

You’ll find plenty of five-box Lydian charts elsewhere. I don’t use them. A six-string box hides the root somewhere in the middle of a grid of dots. A one-octave pattern that runs from A to A keeps home at the bottom and the top, so you always know which note you’re on.

It also makes the D# easy to find. In every pattern below, it’s the first note on the second string. All four share the same layout: three notes, three notes, two notes.

That’s all the fingering you need to start using Lydian. Find any A, play the pattern that starts there, and cross to the next string for the D#.

Lydian in every key

The Lydian note is always the 4th, raised a half step. The chord that brings it in is the major chord a whole step above the root. The patterns above move to any key: put the root on the key note.

When to use Lydian, and when not to

You don’t need theory to know when Lydian fits. You need one note and a look at the chords. In A, the note is D# for Lydian and D for the major scale. In another key, check the table above.

• If any chord has a D# in it, Lydian is your major scale.
• If any chord has a D in it, Lydian clashes. Use the major scale over that chord.
• If none of the chords has either, it’s your choice.

That test only works for A. In A, the chords that bring the D# are B, B7, G#m and Emaj7. The ones that rule Lydian out are D, Bm and E7. These are the progressions where you’ll hear Lydian most:

The chord it lives on

Play an open A chord. Keep the open A string ringing and move the three fretted notes up two frets. That’s B over A (x0444x).

The note on the B string, 4th fret, is D#. It’s the 3rd of the B chord, and it’s why the move sounds like Lydian. Try A to D/A (x00232) for comparison. That’s the major scale: warm and settled. A to B/A sounds like the camera pulling back to show you something big. In the plain major scale the chord on the 2nd is minor. Make it major and the D# comes with it.

Triads over an open string

The film-score Lydian sound is mostly one trick: small chords moving over a bass that doesn’t move. On guitar, the open A string gives you the bass for free.

That’s A, B, C#m, B on the top three strings. The B triad carries the D# on the G string, 8th fret. Let everything ring into everything else.

The Lydian chord in one shape

If you want the whole sound in a single chord, it’s Amaj7#11. Start from Amaj7 (x02120) and drop the note on the D string one fret, from E to D#: x01120. That one fret turns a ballad chord into a film chord. End a major-key song on it instead of A and the song doesn’t stop. It hangs.

Where the D# goes

The D# means something different over every chord. That’s what keeps Lydian from sounding like one trick repeated.

• Over A, it’s the sharp 4th. Hold it. It floats and doesn’t need to resolve.
• Over B, it’s the 3rd. Land on it.
• Over Emaj7, it’s the major 7th. Sweet. Let it rise to E or hang.
• Over E7, it clashes with the D in the chord. Avoid it.

Common questions