This is an excerpt from an original song called “Black Hole” that features the sound of LYDIAN DOMINANT naturally in it’s progression.
Lydian Dominant is a mode of jazz melodic minor, which is usually an unwieldy sound at first for most rock and metal players (myself included!). It took me quite a few years of focused listening and practice to really figure out how to apply sounds from the melodic minor modes naturally. Here is one context where this scale fits perfectly, and it’s relatively simple to employ.
Harmony-wise, the G#m is the i chord. The E7 is a bVI dominant 7th chord, and this is where E Lydian Dominant works. There’s also a D# or D#7 (V or V7 chord) which D# Phrygian Dominant works great over.
The key to using E Lydian Dominant over E7 here is TARGET NOTES. The two notes that sound the most like the scale are the b7 (D) and #11 (A#). I’ve identified these key notes as well as the roots (R) for each scale.
The A# is already in a G# natural minor scale, so it’s pretty simple to employ. To get the right sound over the E7 chord, play a G# blues scale, but get rid of the natural 5th (D#) and instead emphasize the b5 (D) and VOILA! You’re now utilizing the “Simpsons” Scale aka Lydian Dominant.
Here are the notes of both scales, notice that only one note needs to be changed.
G Natural Minor: G# A# B C# D# E F#
E Lydian Dominant: E F# G# A# B C# D
The E Lydian Dominant sound is only used over the E7 chord, but there’s enough time to get that flavor in before going back to tried and true blues and metal licks.
If G#m is too difficult of a key, try this in A minor. That progression would be Am to F7, so use F Lydian Dominant over the F7 (emphasizing the notes Eb and B). Here are the notes broken down so you can see that simple change. Simply change E to an Eb.
A Natural Minor: A B C D E F G
F Lydian Dominant: F G A B C D Eb
To find these scales, simply move the previously listed scales up a half step like so. Here is a progression to play it over and the scales that work well.
As always, let me know if you give it a try and what you come up with. Happy shredding and woodshedding!
\m/ \m/
