If you like music that offers a VERY unique sound - something rich, possibly strange - even creepy... then you've hit pay dirt! This post is definitely for you! Featured is a scale that has such an odd yet 'worldly' sound that it will literally, "Change Your World," upon you spending time learning to play and use it... 




The scale I'm talking about is called the, "Lydian Dominant," scale, but it is also commonly referred to as the, "Lydian b7," along with its other name, the "Acoustic Scale."

We’re going to focus on several areas of training within this lesson. We'll begin by first learning a few scale patterns on the neck, but we'll also explore the scales theory along with its harmony.

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CHANGE YOUR WORLD:
Lydian Dominant
I’m going to show you some great ways to introduce the sound of a very interesting scale into your guitar playing. The sound of this scale is very cool – very worldly and the scale’s name is the “Lydian Dominant.”

It’s sound comes from applying a non-standard major tonality effect, and it allows for a darker major color by way of the scales lowered 7th along with its tri-tone of a raised 4th.

As a bonus, by the end of this lesson - not only will you understand the unique sounds of the Lydian Dominant scale, but you’ll also learn a valuable scale practice technique that’ll help you get organized with applying any new scale with a lot more musical success.

Plus you’ll learn how to apply any new scale much easier. So, let’s get started by learning how to play through a couple of fret-board patterns for the Lydian Dominant scale.




LYDIAN DOMINANT - PATTERNS:
Here’s our first guitar neck pattern for Lydian Dominant. This pattern is based off of the 6th guitar string’s 8th fret “C” tone, giving us “C Lyd. Dom.” 

6th-String / 8th-Fret Layout (Tonic Note of "C")



Next, we’ll learn one more pattern for Lydian Dominant scale, but this time our new pattern will be based off of the 5th guitar string’s 3rd fret, “C” tone.

5th-String / 3rd-Fret Layout (Tonic Note of "C") 







HEARING / USING THE SOUND:
Often times guitar players who learn a new scale, (with a unique sound), will tend to have a problem with learning how to hear the sound of the scale musically. And then, use as well as, apply that knowledge to be able to make music from the new scale.

I’ve got something really cool that I want to teach you about when doing that kind of work, and it has to do with the creation of jam tracks that will lock down the color of any scale.

In our case we’ll focus on the “C” Lydian Dominant. And, in doing this, we’ll learn where it originates from and what chords are based off of it.

Lydian Dominant is the 4th mode of the Melodic Minor scale:

"C Melodic Minor"




If we took a “C Melodic Minor” scale and then raised the 3rd, raised the 4th and lowered the 7th, we get a, “C Lydian Dominant.”

"C Lydian Dominant"



If we harmonized the "C Lydian Dominant" scale into chords, we’d get two; Dom.7 chords, then two Mi7(b5) chords, a Maj/m7 next, then a minor 7, and finally a Maj7(#5).

Harmonized Lydian Dominant:



By, knowing this information, we can use the chord harmony of Lydian Dominant to create some jam-tracks for learning to perform melody lines.




CREATING THE BEST JAM-RIFFS:
The first two chords built from the first and second steps of the “C Lydian Dominant Scale” are both Dominant 7th’s… So, what we will do is create a Jam, that focuses on the chords of, “C7” and “D7.”

I’ll also take things a little further by adding an altered tone that relates to the “F#” (that is the raised 4th of Lydian Dominant), by playing a “C7(b5).”

Plus, I’m also going to create a chord voicing for the 2nd chord of “D7” that maintains the “C” in the bass and also maintains the “F#” on the top-end of the chord.

Chord Harmony Jam-Riff:

Jam-Riff 1).


I still have one more riff to go over with you, but I wanted to take a minute to let you know, that if you need more work on your keys, and you don’t understand your chords (well and good enough to implement the Lydian Dominant Scale), then I’m gonna make you a great offer.

With any donation over $5, or any T-shirt or merchandise purchase from either my Tee-Spring, or my Zazzle store, I’ll send you a free copy of THREE of my most popular digital handouts.

One is called, “Harmonized Arpeggio Drills” (it’ll train you on developing your diatonic arpeggios), another is my “Barre Chord” handout which includes a page showing all the key signatures along with a chord progression that applies barre chords.

Plus, you’ll get my Notation Pack! It has 8 pages of important guitar worksheets for notating anything related to; music charts, guitar chord diagrams, and TAB.

Just send me and email off of the contact page of CreativeGuitarStudio.com to let me know about your donation or your Merchandise purchase and I’ll email those digital handouts to you within 24 hrs.



Interval Based Jam-Riff:

Next, we will focus on the important notes that changed when we converted the, “C Melodic Minor” over to the, “C Lydian Dominant.”

If you’ll recall there was an “Eb” tone in “C Melodic Minor” that switched to an “E natural.” And, there was also the 4th tone of “F” that was raised up to “F#” within the Lydian Dominant.

Plus, there was a “B” note from “C Melodic Minor” that had switched to a “Bb” in the “C Lydian Dominant.”

For the next example, we’ll focus on the “E” as well as on the “F#” to make a two note riff that will work as a nice format to play some “C” Lydian Dominant melody lines over.

Jam Riff 2).

If you have been searching for the greatest chord tricks that work to do more with guitar chords, you would welcome an easy way to find the coolest ones! In this video, I’m going to show you 5 chord tricks that attack the most common guitar chording flaws to give you nice, smooth, groovin' chord jams sooner than you think... 




In this post I’m going to show you 5 tricks for chords that work on how to modify the bass and internal intervals, add arppegiated lines, include high register chords, layer chords, phrase melodic passing lines, and build thicker sound with adding in substitutes.

When you apply the tricks shown here you will start to play better rhythm guitar jams almost instantly and these ideas will work towards permanently fixing your boring rhythm guitar sound with a killer sound!

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Chord Tricks that you can start using in your guitar playing - immediately. 

We all know that Chords are incredibly important on guitar, (after all, the guitar is primarily a rhythm instrument), and that makes the skill that you develop for playing chords an obvious priority.

In this lesson, I’m going to cover 5 chord tricks to make your rhythm guitar not just sound better, but it will give you a formula to apply - to all of the other ways that you’re implementing chords - in every rhythm guitar situation that you will use chords in.

So, let’s get started with the first idea - of five ideas, (and just a quick heads up, you’ll really like number five – so stick around till the end), but the first chord trick is actually quite easy, and it’s all about learning to pay more attention to how you arrange chord-tones when you’re performing chords from a song section.






CHORD VOICES and VOICE LEADING: 1).
Song sections (like verses and chorus’) need to flow smoothly and have a strong connection from one chord to another.

But, when most guitar players are given a group of chords to perform they generally revert to the chords that they know best.

For example; let’s say that you were asked to play this progression... you'd probably play a lot of really basic chords like these...




Now, notice the difference that comes out of altering the bass and upper tones...








ARPEGGIATED CHORDS: 2).
Another Interesting trick can be based upon adding broken tones through arpeggiated ideas. Let’s say we had a progression that was pretty thin, like if we only had two chords…


By simply arpeggiating each chord we end up with a strong and very positive boost to the overall impact of the chord changes...





LAYERING WITH HIGHER CHORDS: 3).
Something popular that works as a great trick in the recording studio is layering upper register chords, so they can punch through in a brighter way.

Below is an example of the "Em to D" progression from our previous study. However, below the chord harmony is applied with upper register chord punches.




We still have a couple more chord tricks left, but I wanted to take a minute out to let you know that, if you don’t know your keys, and you don’t understand your chords (well and good enough to implement all of these chord tricks), then I’m gonna make you a great offer.

With any donation over $5, or any T-shirt or merchandise purchase from either my Tee-Spring, or my Zazzle store, I’ll send you a free copy of THREE of my digital handouts.

One is called, “Harmonized Arpeggio Drills” (it’ll train you on developing your diatonic arpeggios), another is my Barre Chord handout which includes a page showing all the key signatures and a chord progression that applies Major and Minor barre chords.

Plus, you’ll get my Notation Pack! It has 8 pages of important guitar worksheets for notating anything related to; music charts, guitar diagrams, or TAB.

Just send me and email off of the contact page of CreativeGuitarStudio.com to let me know about your donation or your Merchandise purchase and I’ll email those digital handouts to you within 24 hrs.



PASSING LINES: 4).
When scale phrases are applied around the chords in a piece we get a popular trick that’s known of as “Passing Lines.”

These are scale passages that offer up a melodic statement between the chord changes.

Look over the example below. These three chords are background chords that sustain and operate to fill the harmonic backdrop.


 Now, check out how the line can be expanded by using passing line phrases.









LAYERING WITH SUBSTITUTES: 5).
I’ve essentially saved the best for last with trick number five. This one is another trick that involves layering, except we’ll approach the layer with diatonic substitutes. Here’s how it works…

The progression consists of two chords, a "G" Major and an "F#" Minor.





Over these chords we can layer diatonic substitute chords.

Play "Bm" and "Em" over the "G Major" chord...



Play "C#m" and "A Major" over the "F# Minor" chord...







CONCLUSION:
Performing songs in most of the top 40 hits on guitar from styles like; Pop, Country, Blues, Folk music, Rock, Soul and Funk music – will definitely require that you get good at learning MORE than just playing a lot of basic chords.

To really stand out (and especially to get hired playing in all kinds of different bands), you’ll want to have the skill to take chord progressions and be able to use some tricks on them like the ones I’ve gone over here.

Being able to alter the bass notes and control the internal voice leading, or arpeggiate chords, or knowing how to layer your chords in different ways will be extremely helpful.

And, if you compose your own music, you’ll find that your original pieces will sound more sophisticated and your recordings will do better on the different music sites where you post them.

So, learn how to apply all of these chord tricks, because once you get good at them, they really will start to change everything that you do!

If you want to build your knowledge of the guitar fret-board and see real long-term results, then you have to train hard enough with intervals, scales, arpeggios. And, you'll need to train with practical (musical) ideas along with technical drills for a better understanding of the neck... 




The problem that many guitar players face is that they do not know (and simply have no way to know), if they are learning the guitar fret-board correctly.

Most guitar players do not even understand how they could be learning the guitar fret-board to the best of their ability.

In this post, I break down how to tell if you are training hard enough to see results from your fret-board practice. 

The answer may not be exactly what you want to hear, but I can promise you that it is the answer that you need to hear if you are ever going to make gains with your knowledge of the fret-board.

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FRET-BOARD EXERCISE:
I’m going to help you answer some of the most important questions that you can ask yourself when it comes to seeing results from your study of the fret-board.

It’s a mistake to ignore these areas. But, only you can address these questions.

The questions are;

• Have you mapped out and memorized all of the octaves and unisons across the fret-board? 
• Have you spent time working out your note locations with both scales and arpeggios within at least 5 to 7 fret lengths all over the fret-board?
• Are you practicing each new riff or lick that you learn so that you can play those ideas in at least three different locations of the fret-board? 

Those are the questions, let’s take them and break down a study routine for getting as good as you can at each one of those, so that if you feel like you might need work on any of these, you’ll be able to begin the practice into them right away.

For a lot of guitar students one of the big mistakes made is to ignore Octaves and Unisons. So let’s start with this topic first…





OCTAVES and UNISONS:
Often times, in my own private lessons, I’ll begin by selecting a note and then map it out all over the neck.

For this lesson, let’s select the note of, “G.” First, you’ll want to start by mapping out all of the notes of “G,” like this…



Then, you’ll want to understand which notes are moving laterally producing octaves, such as this open 3rd-string “G,” moving up at its octave here at the 1st-string / third fret “G.”



Then, you’ll want to become familiar with how unisons are relocating laterally as well. For our example; the 1st-string / third fret “G” is in unison with the 2nd-string eighth fret “G,” as well as, with the 3rd-string twelfth fret “G.”






SCALE and ARPEGGIO LOCATIONS:
Another mistake I’ve noticed over the years is that a lot of students haven’t spent the time building their knowledge of scale and arpeggio patterns in multiple locations of the fret-board.

This leads to a poor level of knowledge (for not only the scale and arpeggio shapes, but also for the note and interval locations around the neck).

Here’s an example of how to take a one-octave, 5th-string root “C” Major Scale, as well as, a “C” Maj.7 Arpeggio, and then re-locate them to other areas of the guitar fret-board…


2nd Position Scale:

Here’s a “C” Major scale built off of, “C” note at 5th-string third fret.




7th Position Scale:

Here is the scale again up 5 frets higher on the 8th-fret of the sixth string…




Next, let’s map this same idea over to an arpeggio built off of, “C” maj.7

2nd Position Arpeggio:

Here’s a “C” Major 7 arpeggio built off of, “C” note at 5th-string third fret.





7th Position Arpeggio:

Here is the arpeggio again up 5 frets higher on the 8th-fret of the sixth string…



It’s really important to know your keys and your harmony, so be sure to study them every day to build your skill with keys, harmony and their application…

If you don’t know your keys, and you don’t understand your chords, I’m gonna make you a great offer. 

With any donation over $5, or any t-shirt purchase from either my Tee-Spring or my Zazzle store, I’ll send you a free copy of two of my digital handouts.

One is called, “Harmonized Arpeggio Drills” (it’ll train you on developing your diatonic arpeggios), and the other digital handout is my Barre Chord handout which includes a page showing the key signatures and a chord progression on applying Major and Minor barre chords.

Just let me know about your donation or t-shirt purchase and I’ll email those handouts to you within 24 hrs.





RIFFS and LICKS:
Another fret-board mistake that students will often do is that once a guitar riff or a lick is learned - that riff or lick is far too often left in the exact same place on the neck that the guitar player had first discovered or composed it...

Let me demonstrate a far more effective way for a guitar player to learn licks and riffs that will not only everyone learn more about the fret-board – but also develop every new riff or lick at a much higher level of skill…

Let’s say that you learned a new guitar riff in the mid-neck area.
And, the riff went like this…

Riff Example 1: Mid Frets Region




You could play that riff in another area and develop a higher level of awareness for how notes re-locate elsewhere on the fret-board. Here’s the same riff, but now relocated into the open position…


Riff Example 2: Open Strings Region



The riff comes across as sounding different in another fingerboard region doesn’t it. And, this sound can be applied musically in unique ways.

Now, most riffs can also be slightly altered to be performed in other areas of the fret-board as well. Here’s that same riff again, but this time played slightly different in order to function up in the higher fret-board register…


Riff Example 3: Upper Frets Region