The Lydian mode is a frequently used pattern by guitarists with styles ranging from jazz to shred. It is based on the major scale pattern, only the 4th note is raised one half step. This sharp four helps to lend this mode a floating dreamy passage. Among other popular tunes, the whole space between the 3 and 4 is heard in the theme song to the Simpsons. Remember that a mode's attributes are all relative to the chord they are played over. For instance, E Lydian are the exact same notes as B Major, but over an E chord they sound Lydian, and over a B they sound Major, over an F# they sound Mixolydian and over a C# they sound Dorian. So it's all relative. For the confines of this lesson, let's try to contruct a lead that utilizes the Lydian mode and observe it's mutations over chord progressons.
Let's use E (because I like it and it goes well with Pianos).
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This is just a real basic ascending riff in E Lydian. There are two reasons I say this is in E Lydian instead of any other mode.
A. The phrase begins and ends on E, it also emphasizes the A#, which is the mark of the Lydian scale.
B. We already said we're working in Lydian.
In the best case scenario, you're playing this riff over an E chord. Notice the dreamy quality this mode has to it.
This sort of thing works great over the Root chord, but what do you do when the chord changes? Well, you can either continue to play the same notes while the feel of them changes. The dreamy Vai-esque riff you were playing over E sound like Santana over a C# chord. So you can either be conscious of this and switch over to something more conventional, such as a major scale, or you can play C# Lydian (C#, D#, E#, F##, G#, A#, B#, C#) over C# and B, but be careful as it does not sound very pretty over E
Most of all just be conscious of what the progression is going to do to the tone of your phrases and adapt to the current tonality. If you're going for a bluesy or plaintive sound, playing the notes from E Lydian over E-G#-C#, this should be fine since it sound Minor over G# and Dorian over C#. However, if you don't like it over F#, flat the G# to G and you'll find Aeolian more helpful than Mixolydian. Keep working, practice practice practice.
