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Scales › Lydian dominant (Mixolydian ♯11, 4th mode of melodic minor)

Lydian dominant (Mixolydian ♯11, 4th mode of melodic minor) scale

♯11 dominant

7 notes

guide tones (3rd & 7th — the heart of the sound) avoid (strong clash)

C · D · E · F# · G · A · Bb

What color?

Mixolydian with #11: major third, b7 and augmented fourth, a bright, floating dominant with no avoid note. The reflex on non-resolving dominants, V7#11 chords and colorful blues chords.

Origin & history

The fourth mode of the melodic minor, very close to the natural harmonic series — hence its other names, the "acoustic" or "overtone" scale. Bartók used it, and jazz applies it over ♯11 dominants.

Which chords to play it on?

The jazz consensus (Aebersold) recommends it on:

dominant seventh chord

Sibling modes

The Lydian dominant (Mixolydian ♯11, 4th mode of melodic minor) scale is one of the modes of the melodic minor : it shares exactly the same notes as the modes below, but built on a different degree of the parent scale (melodic minor).

melodic minor bright minor-major Dorian ♭2 (Phrygian ♮6) Dorian with a soft b9 Lydian augmented (Lydian ♯5) suspended Lydian ♯5 Mixolydian ♭6 (melodic major) major with a bittersweet ♭6 Locrian ♮2 (6th mode of melodic minor) half-diminished ♮9, more stable altered (super-Locrian, 7th mode of melodic minor) maximum altered tension

Try it in a real chart

Paste a chord chart into the tool: Pentania tells you, chord by chord, when this scale fits — and what other colors are open to you. Open the tool →