My Guitar Notes

A mixolydian scale

The fifth mode of the major scale: a major scale with a flattened seventh. It supplies the pitch set for a dominant seventh chord and its extensions.

Root
A
Scale
Mixolydian
Type
mode, mode 5 of seven
Notes
A B C# D E F# G
Notes in the scale
7
Degree formula
1 2 3 4 5 6 b7
Semitones from the root
0 2 4 5 7 9 10
Step pattern
W W H W W H W
Parent major scale
D major
Key signature of this root
A major / F# minor · F# C# G#
Written use
Named 1 2 3 4 5 6 b7. Its tonic triad is major and the chord on the flat seventh degree is major.

Notes and degrees

Each degree of the scale, its note name in this key, and its distance from the root in semitones.

DegreeNoteSemitonesInterval from the root
1A0Perfect unisontonic
2B2Major second
3C#4Major third
4D5Perfect fourth
5E7Perfect fifth
6F#9Major sixth
b7G10Minor seventh

Positions on the guitar

The five windows below are computed, not copied from a shape chart. The script locates the lowest occurrence of A on each of the five upper strings within the first twelve frets and takes a five-fret window centred on it. Because a scale repeats every twelve frets, these five windows cover the whole neck; the same sequence returns an octave higher. The positions are numbered from the lowest fret upwards, so position 1 is always the window nearest the nut and position 5 the window nearest the twelfth fret.

Position 1

Root on the 5th string A2 at fret 0. 12 notes of the scale inside this window.

String012
1st (highest) string E4EF#
2nd string B3BC#
3rd string G3GA
4th string D3DE
5th string A2AB
6th string E2EF#

Position 2

Root on the 3rd string G3 at fret 2. 18 notes of the scale inside this window.

String01234
1st (highest) string E4EF#G
2nd string B3BC#D
3rd string G3GAB
4th string D3DEF#
5th string A2ABC#
6th string E2EF#G

Position 3

Root on the 6th string E2 at fret 5. 18 notes of the scale inside this window.

String34567
1st (highest) string E4GAB
2nd string B3DEF#
3rd string G3BC#D
4th string D3F#GA
5th string A2C#DE
6th string E2GAB

Position 4

Root on the 4th string D3 at fret 7. 18 notes of the scale inside this window.

String56789
1st (highest) string E4ABC#
2nd string B3EF#G
3rd string G3C#DE
4th string D3GAB
5th string A2DEF#
6th string E2ABC#

Position 5

Root on the 2nd string B3 at fret 10. 18 notes of the scale inside this window.

String89101112
1st (highest) string E4C#DE
2nd string B3GAB
3rd string G3EF#G
4th string D3BC#D
5th string A2F#GA
6th string E2C#DE

Read the grid as a chord diagram: the top row is the first string. Degrees appear in the notes and degrees table above; a filled cell is a note of the scale, and the shaded cell is the tonic.

Related keys and modes

Related