Lydian
2 - 2 - 2 - 1 - 2 - 2 - 1About Lydian
C lydian is C major with a raised fourth: C D E F♯ G A B. One sharp, and it is the F♯ — the note that removes the strongest downward pull in the major scale and leaves everything hovering. It is the fourth mode of G major and the easiest lydian to hear against a C chord.
The note that defines it
C D E F♯ G A B, then C. Compare with C major, which has F. The raised fourth is a tritone above the tonic, and normally that interval demands resolution — here it simply sits, because nothing in the harmony asks it to move.
Play a sustained C major chord and run this scale over it: the F♯ sounds bright rather than wrong, and that single experiment explains the mode better than any description.
On the fretboard
Eighth fret with the root on the low E string, or third fret with the root on the A. Open position also works, since only one note is altered from the natural set.
Because the scale is G major started from C, players who know G shapes already know this one — the work is in hearing where home is, not in learning fingerings.
Where it is used
Film and television scoring, where a major chord with a raised fourth is the standard sound of scale and wonder. Jazz uses it over a IV chord, and fusion uses it over almost everything.
In rock it appears whenever a progression alternates C and D major without a G in sight — the D contains the F♯, and that chord is usually the giveaway.
Related Scales from Diatonic
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