Watch the Half-Step Down: Lydian Sound online guitar lesson by Kenny Wessel from Shades of Jazz

Now that we know our pentatonic minor/blues scales around the fretboard, let's start to open up some new applications and expand our harmonic palette. Using the same blues scales we've been playing since we first picked up our axe way back when. Lets first explore getting a Lydian sound from our pentatonic scale.

We can use a minor pentatonic scale built a half step down from the root of a Major 7th chord to give us a Lydian sound. For example if we play a G Maj 7 chord, we can play an F# minor pentatonic scale. This will generate a Lydian sound! The pitches of this scale are F#, A, B, C#, and E (or 1, b3, 4, 5, b7 as they relate to the key of F#). But superimposed over the new tonality of G major, this same scale gives us 7, 9, 3, #11, and 13 - as the notes relate to the key of G. In addition to the major family notes, 3 and 7, we get some hip extensions - 9, #11 (for the Lydian vibe) and 13. In this video, I will demonstrate the sound of this F# blues scale used over the GMaj7 chord.

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