1 - Just to make sure my understanding is correct: if I hear a chord progression in the key of C major and I want to sound "Lydian", what I would have to do is play the F Lydian scale, and that would be the only way to sound "Lydian", correct?No. It always depends on the chords and the notes you attack. I can be playing F Lydian shape and it would still be in C major. You have to understand the difference between the modes, not shapes. Lydian has a #4 compared to Ionian aka Major Scale, so the point is to attack that note to get the Lydian vibe. The more "limited" you make the chords, the better you can hear the sound, by that I mean, if you just play C F G triads, it's hard to hear the sound, since you can play any major scale on top of it and it would sound like something. Remember, they are the same notes, but the order of them changes, thus their sound.
2 - I find it extremely difficult not to think of the low E string to find out where the root notes are, and also not to think in terms of "positions" to find myself on the fretboard. For example if I wanted to play the F Lydian scale somewhere around the middle of the neck (around frets 5, 6 , 7, 8, 9...), I always need to look at the root note F on the first fret of the low E string and then calculate the intervals in my head from there, otherwise I d be lost 
) As a result, once I found out what notes to play in the middle of the neck, the chord progression is already long gone lol
(the only solution I found for this problem is to simply start all my F Lydian solos somewhere near the nut where the root note (F) on the low E string is
That means you either don't know all the major mode shapes or that you are boxed in. For example, If I know F Lydian is the IV degree of the C Major, than I can play the Lydian pattern in F, and the C Major pattern in C, and it will all be in the same key. That's more in less what you were thinking on the previous question, but the thing is, the shapes remain the same for every mode, so if you know all the shapes, you can play C D E F G A B C shapes all over the neck, but don't see them as modes, see them as shapes of the same mode, which is C Major in this example.
3 - Now thinking the other way around, when I play the notes of a major scale, let's say F Lydian, how can I find out what chords to play over that scale in order to sound Lydian? (even if I play the exact same notes, the name of the scale I m playing will change depending on the chords I play over it, right? But then how do I know which chords to use?)Ok, what you need to go study is the formulas for the scales and the intervals.
You need to learn how to harmonize the major scale, for example, if you have
C Major:
You get C Dm Em F G Am Bdim C
The intervals in the scale are 1 2 3 4 5 6 7, No sharps, no flats.
If we go to D Dorian:
The intervals will stay the same if we start from C, if we start from D it becomes
1 2 b3 4 5 6 b7
Dm Em F G Am Bdim C Dm
So, you see, if you wanted to play the typical I IV V progression, if you played C F G, and play the first shape, you can call it C Major, but if you play Dm G Am, you can call it D Dorian, but it would be a different shape.
Get it?
This is for triads, let me know if you understood everything and that I didn't confuse, and I'll explain 7th chords, unless you think that's already to much information
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This post has been edited by Rated Htr: Feb 11 2011, 10:06 PM
