The Lydian Dominant Mode

The Lydian Dominant Mode

The Lydian Dominant mode is the fourth mode of the melodic minor scale and is used in jazz music mainly to play over dominant seven chords with a flat 5th note. The Lydian dominant mode can also be called the Lydian flat seven mode because it contains a sharp fourth and flattened seventh note.

If we look at the example below you will see that the Lydian Dominant scale is basically just a Lydian mode with a flattened seventh note.

C Lydian

C, D, E, F#, G, A, B

C Lydian Dominant

C, D, E, F#, G, A, Bb

The Lydian Dominant mode has a very modern, fusion type sound to it and it is a great scale to play over 7b5 chords.

Try playing this scale over the G7b5 chord in the following 2 5 1 sequence and see if you can really start to hear the modern sound of the Lydian Dominant scale.

Dm7 | G7b5 | Cmaj7 | Fmaj7

The Seven Flat Five Chord

The notes of the G7b5 chord are:

G, B, Db, F

The intervals of a G7b5 chord are:

1, 3, b5, b7

The notes of the G Lydian Dominant scale are:

G, A, B, C#, D, E, F

The intervals of the G Lydian Dominant scale are:

1, 2, 3, #4, 5, 6, b7

Try experimenting with the sounds of the Lydian Dominant scale and see if you can hear ways to use it in your own playing. The best way to really get to know the sound of this type of scale is to improvise with the scale over a static chord vamp. The Lydian dominant mode is a really useful jazz scale for playing over dominant seven chords with a flat five note.