G Mixolydian Mode Guitar Scale Patterns- 5 Position Chart
by Jay SkylerGuitar Lesson Summary & Chart Explanation
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Mixolydian is really the Dominant 7th Scale. It is the 5th mode of the Major Scale and the 7th mode of the Minor Scale (built on the flatted seventh scale degree). Calling it Mixolydian in no way makes you "sexy", but guitarists like to sound smart so Mixolydian is now more commonly used by guitarists rather than Dominant 7th Scale.
Jazz guitarists will find this scale indispensible, and, along with Dorian Mode and Lydian Mode, it should be one of the first scales you attempt to master. This is will work over most plain vanilla unaltered dominant chords.
If you are a fan of the Grateful Dead, Phish, or other jam bands you will find this extremely useful, as many or their songs and jams are written specifically to allow the soloist to use Mixolydian the entire time.
Rock, Blues, and Metal players who prefer a somewhat heavier sound won't find this quite as useful and should really master Blues, Natural Minor, Spanish Minor, Dorian Minor, Major Pentatonic, and Harmonic Minor first.
All 5 notes of the Pentatonic Major scale are contained in the Mixolydian, so if you can play Mixolydian you can also use Pentatonic Major. The reverse is not always true. Just because you can play Pentatonic Major does not mean you can always use Mixolydian (although you sometimes can).