MIXOLYDIAN: The Blues, Bagpipes, Rock & Roll, and Country Crossover.
How to use the standard dominant mode in unique ways.
WHAT IS MIXOLYDIAN?
Mixolydian is the fifth mode of the Melodic Major scale. This mode is very similar to Ionian, which has only natural degrees. Mixolydian uses scale degrees 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, and b7 (flat seventh). The natural seventh degree is called the Major Seventh as it is part of Maj7 chords. The b7 is called the Dominant Seventh as it creates a dominant major chord. This Dominant Seventh degree is also present in all three minor modes (Dorian, Aeolian, and Phrygian) as well as the half-diminished mode (Locrian). For this article we'll be focusing on the b7 in relation to a major chord or scale.
USING THE DOMINANT SEVEN CHORD
A dominant seven chord like D7 works great as the fifth of a major or minor chord. This means that if a G major or G minor is a chord that you want to feel like Tonic, then you can play a D7 before it to "Tonicize" (pronounced t-on-i-size) the note G.
What happens is Melodic Major sets us up with seven degrees of chords. Of those, the fifth-degree chord is naturally a dominant seventh and the first chord is the Tonic chord. All the notes in the fifth-degree dominant chord all lead down a fifth (three and a half steps) towards the Tonic if the Tonic chord uses the fifth degree note. So, D7 (D, F#, A, C) all lead to the notes G and D found in G major (G, B, D) and G minor (G, Bb, D) because both chords have G (which is a fifth below D) and D (which is the fifth degree of G). This does not work with diminished or augmented chords as the fifth degree is either flattened or sharpened as with G diminished (G, Bb, Db) and G augmented (G, B, D#).
Since the third-degree notes of our G major and G minor chords (B and Bb) are not needed to tonicize, we can also play D7 to either Gsus2 or Gsus4 (aka Gsus). This also applies to the relative natural minor. We can play D7 to Em, so D7 to Esus2 or Esus4 also works. Where you go from there is up to you. I’ll talk more about tonicization another time. For now, just know that the first chord in Mixolydian can be a dominant seventh chord that wants to move down a perfect fifth to a major chord or up a major second (whole step) to a minor chord.
WHEN TO AVOID THE DOMINANT SEVEN CHORD
In D Mixolydian from the key of G, we have the chords D7, Em7, F#m7b5, GMaj7, Am7, Bm7, and CMaj7. Having the D7 chord as our Tonic chord can create some movement issues. If we play a quick progression of D, Em, Cadd9, D then we are playing I, ii, bVII, I and it sounds like a simple Mixolydian progression that uses our chord build off the b7 degree to return to Tonic (Cadd9 to D).
However, if we opted to play D, Em, Cadd9, D7, then the D7 chord is leading us on to a chord rooted in G with D as its fifth degree. This could be G, Gm, Gsus2, Gsus4, or any other G chord with D in it. D Mixolydian has the chord G major, but by playing D, Em, Cadd9, D7, G we end up with a progression that is now G Ionian due to the V7/I (five dominant seven to major Tonic chord) relationship between D7 and G major. To stay in D Mixolydian, we can resolve to a D major chord, but resolving to D7 will leave some lingering tension rather than ending part of a song.
PROGRESSING TO A MIXOLYDIAN TONIC
Now it may sound counterintuitive to not play D7 in D Mixolydian, but by avoiding the dominant chord that gives us that Mixolydian sound we can focus on progressions that help our song feel Mixolydian. Sticking with D Mixolydian we can look at the notes that build a D7 chord, which are D, F#, A, C and are degrees 1, 3, 5, b7. These are the notes that we want to use as root notes to make our progressions sound Mixolydian.
To keep D as our Tonic note, I'll avoid the D7 chord and use a standard D major chord. The remaining chords are F#m7b5, Am7, and CMaj7. In practice you can drop the seventh-degree notes of each of these chords and just play triads of F#mb5, Am, and C major. I like to use chords that use the seventh-degree notes as they can help to give away the associated mode. In this example F#m7b5 comes from Locrian, Am7 comes from Dorian, and CMaj7 comes from Lydian.
To create a progression that sounds Mixolydian, we'll want to end on our Tonic chord of D major. How we get there is up to the composer. Our previous progression of D, Em, Cadd9, D By uses Cadd9 which use the note D as our 9th degree note. This lets the Cadd9 chord flow into D more naturally. This alone is enough to give a sense of Mixolydian because we are playing a major chord a whole step below our major tonic chord. None of the other major modes do this.
We can use the other chords as well and modify our progression. D, F#m7b5, Em, D also gives the Mixolydian sound because of the position of the F#m7b5 chord. This chord contains a TriTone interval of three whole steps, which causes the chord to move natural up a half-step to a major chord or down a whole step to a minor chord. Playing F#m7b5 down to Em works great. We can continue down and return to the start with our D major Tonic chord.
We also have the Am7 chord that is built off D Mixolydian's fifth degree. Modifying our original progression to become D, Am7, Cadd9, D lets us stay within the confines of our main Mixolydian degrees of 1, 3, 5, b7 for a strong yet gentle lift from and to our Tonic chord.
GETTING A FEEL FOR MIXOLYDIAN’S SUPER AND SUB TONICS
You may have noticed that I am not using CMaj7 and instead used a Cadd9. This is because D is the second and ninth degree note relative to C. By placing the D note of Cadd9 (C, E, G, D) in the second octave it becomes the ninth degree. The reason for using this chord before D major is so that we already have D as part of our chord structure and we easily lead into a chord rooted in D.
There are many ways to voice lead, but we're going to focus on leading to a D major chord for these Mixolydian examples. We've already used a chord that contains our target note of D (Cadd9) so that we arrive at our target note early. This time I'll use notes that are close to Tonic, which gives us two options. D Mixolydian's second degree note E is the Super-Tonic and is a whole step above D. The b7 note is C which is the Sub-Tonic and is a whole step below D. These terms, "Super" and "Sub", simply mean "Above" and "Below". The important thing to notice is that both notes are a whole step away from D, so they have similar tendencies to pull us toward the Tonic note.
All notes in our progressions and melodies like to move as little as possible in most standard situations. In music theory there are plenty of ways to bend or break the rules. With the notes C and E moving the same distance of a whole step toward D, we can treat them similarly for melodic purposes. Let's use two similar progressions so you can get a sense of this pull toward Tonic.
In both examples the Sub-Tonic note C and Super-Tonic note E are used as the root notes of our chords that go between our D chords. In the first progression we move away from Tonic to our Super-Tonic and then to our Sub-Tonic before returning to Tonic. Then we reverse the order in the second progression. These two progressions have different sounds but have similar pulls toward Tonic. Ending Mixolydian progressions with ii, bVII, I or bVII, ii, I can give the listener the sense of landing gently into Tonic. The other part of these progression that help lead toward the Tonic note of D, is that the note D is used in each chord for these examples. Try using the Super Tonic and Sub-Tonic in your chords or parts of melodies that move to a Mixolydian Tonic.
USING A HALF-DIMINISHED MOVEMENT
The Mixolydian mode is a dominant mode and contains two standard Dominant chords. In D Mixolydian the seven-chord versions are D7 and F#m7b5. Dominant chords lead us back to a Tonic chord so playing D7 as our Tonic may not make much sense to our listener as previously stated. Opting for a D major triad or suspended chord may be a better option depending on your progression.
The F#m7b5 is our third degree mediant chord, so playing a dominant here can feel out of place. Instead of using a trick or hack, let's embrace this half-diminished chord and let it lead us indirectly to Tonic. We could go a half-step up to a G major chord, or a whole step down to an E minor chord, and then move on to D. This will sound fine, but G starts Ionian and E starts Aeolian. This means that F#m7b5 could make G sound like a Major Key Tonic or make E sound like a Minor Key Tonic.
Take a listen to F#m7b5 going to G and then Em. Next, listen to those pairs of chords sandwiched between two D chords so that it has a D Mixolydian flavor. The F#m7b5 does not tonicize G or Em but does move well to either chord.
USING A SECONDARY DOMINANT
There are quite a few ways to redirect the feeling of Tonic back to D for our listener. One simple way is to use a Secondary Dominant. The dominant fifth degree chord is notated as V7. Mixolydian does not have a dominant chord built from the fifth degree, so the dominant fifth degree chord of the major first-degree chord is notated as V7/I. In D Mixolydian the V7/I is A7. This is our “secondary” dominant chord because D Mixolydian has a D7 as the diatonic (naturally occurring) dominant chord. Any other chord used in D Mixolydian would be “secondary”.
A dominant or secondary dominant chord leading to Tonic will always help resolve any part of a song. We can also use these dominant structures to give strength to our Tonic. In the next example I’ll play D and Cadd9 back and forth a few times so you can hear that we are going to and from D as our tonal center. It’s only two chords but playing two major chords a whole step apart is all we need to establish that the D chord is rooted in Mixolydian. I’ll end this example with A7 leading to D. This way we already have D as our Tonic and use the V7/I chord of A7 to give extra emphasis to the D chord.
Try using the chords in D Mixolydian (D, Em, F#m7b5, G, Am, Bm, and C) and use A7 to lead back to D in your own progression.
THE IRISH FOLK SONG
I could probably do several articles on Irish music. For the sake this article I’ll talk about one progression that uses aspects of Mixolydian that we’ve discusses so far. A great use of Mixolydian is to focus on the major chords. In the key of G they are D, C, and G. I’ll play a progression several times that uses these three chords, but with the Cadd9. This way we have the note D in all three chords which can be treated as a pedal tone so that D continues to shine through. The “Irish” flavor in Mixolydian will start to come through when we switch to minor chords and then return to our set of major chords.
The minor chords I’ll use are Em and Am. The note E is the fifth of A and the note A is the fifth of D. By playing in fifths, I can make the minor section of this next example move naturally towards D. Am to D works but using our secondary dominant chord of A7 will help us land on D with a stronger resolution. A7 is also boosted by playing Em, which is our minor chord that is from the second degree of our Mixolydian set.
By playing the minor-two chord and then a dominant-five chord we are using a jazzy move called “twoing the five.” All it means is playing ii to V7 followed by another chord, which is usually the I or vi. The purpose is that the two-chord is a fifth from the five-chord, which in turn is a fifth from the one-chord or Tonic.
Check out my version of an up-beat Irish song. I think I’ll call it, “A Sailor Missed His Misses At The Bar.” I tossed in some lead guitar over it that uses a combination of D Mixolydian and D Major Blues Scale over the major chords. I used E Minor Blues Scale over the minor chords.
THE MAJOR BLUES SCALE
Mixolydian is the natural sound of the Blues, and the Major Blues scale works great with it. Now the Major Blues scale also works over Ionian and Lydian but overlapping "Blues" styles can create some unique sounds. The Major Blues scale uses degrees 1, 2, 3, 5, and 6. This omits Mixolydian's fourth and dominant seventh degrees, which help to give us that distinct Mixolydian sound. But all our Mixolydian sound is not lost. We can easily play a little Major Blues melody and then purposefully sustain the fourth degree note to "suspend" the melody just like with a sus4 chord. The fourth-degree note is what I used in the previous example’s melody. We can still play the b7 for that Mixolydian tension, but by sticking to this major pentatonic format of degrees 1, 2, 3, 5, and 6 we gain the ability to play over any major chord that also uses these degrees.
Try out D Major Blues, which is D, E, F#, A, and B, over the previous example’s major chords. You may find it difficult or impossible to find a note that doesn’t work.
MIXING IN MIX b2, MIX b6, AND LYDIAN DOMINANT
Since we’re getting into the realm of the Blues, I thought it would be fun try out some of the more exotic scales. I’m going to skip a bit of the theory of the parent scales of these modes, which are Harmonic Major and Melodic Minor, just to save time and get to the good stuff.
Mixolydian is the fifth mode of the Melodic Major scale. Harmonic Major's fifth mode is Mixolydian b2 and Melodic Minor's fifth mode is Mixolydian b6. Both the b2 and b6 degrees can be found in Phrygian, which is the relative minor to Mixolydian. These alternate scales provide two degrees that add tension to Mixolydian without sounding minor for two reasons. First, we are not adding the b3 degree, which is required for any minor structure. If we did this, then we would turn the Mixolydian mode into the Dorian mode. We are also keeping Mixolydian the way it is and are simply adding the b2 and b6 degree notes as we please.
Melodic Minor also gives us Lydian Dominant, which is the Lydian mode with a b7. The difference between Mixolydian and Lydian Dominant is the fourth or sharpened fourth degree. Just like the b2 and b6, we can borrow a #4 to make our melodies more interesting.
This gives us some "blue notes", which are non-diatonic notes that we hear in the blues for added tension. Now there are all kinds of "blue" notes. What the b2, #4, and b6 do is let us directly borrow sounds from Harmonic Major and Melodic Minor.
Try playing a D Major Blues pentatonic melody using the notes D, E, F#, A, and B. Then add in G and/or C to make part of the melody sound Mixolydian. Next, add in Eb to borrow the sound of Harmonic Major. This will give it a Phrygian or Middle Eastern flair. Follow this this up with Bb to give it a jazzy Melodic Minor feel. You can then add in G# to gain some bright Lydian tension. Doing so will create a Decatonic, or ten note, scale. Check out the diagram below for what I’ll use in the next example. I’ve highlighted the accent notes so that you can see which scales/modes they come from. I’ll also include the example’s backing track so you can try your hand at playing some wild stuff on your own.
Here’s the backing track. Thanks for reading and enjoy!
THANK YOU!
Thanks for reading. I really hope that my work helps you to find your own musical path. I'd love to hear from you and find out what has helped you. If there are any other topics or questions you would like me to cover, then please let me know in the comments. I also have a “Coming Soon” page to let everyone know what topics will be talked about and when they get posted as well as an my Music Theory for Everyone Instagram page.