Breaking Chords - "The Mixolydian-Pentatonic Scale"

Here's the next episode of Breaking Chords with "The Mixolydian-Pentatonic Scale."
This lesson features a common but commonly misunderstood scale/arpeggio anomaly found in the playing style of countless guitarists.
You can easily trace this back to the intense playing found between guitar legend Jeff Beck and keyboardist Jan Hammer in the 1970s. and from there it extends into the playing of guitarists such as Eric Johnson, Joe Satriani, Nuno Bettencourt, Paul Gilbert, and countless other players.
This lesson features an unusual situation where the topic at hand could be viewed as five-note pentatonic scale variation or a D11 arpeggio - whichever you prefer.
In my mind, I like to refer to this concept as "Mixolydian Pentatonic" but in my head I view it more as an arpeggio.
This might sound odd, but the "Mixolydian Pentatonic" nickname I've given this idea helps me to remember what it is and how it's played.
If I thought of "modified pentatonic" or as an "11th arpeggio" I might not remember/view this information the correct way.
In other words, this nickname may not be the best for you, but it works for me and that's what I call this particular set of ideas.
Give this lesson a view, leave some comments and feedback, and please subscribe to Late Night Lessons - THANK YOU!
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[@ericweyman8068]

I've been playing guitar for just over 5 years now and everything that ive ever learned was from KZbin and theres never been a guitar channel quite like yours, I get more of a hang out vibe from your channel but yet still learning tons of great stuff and I love it!!!..keep up the videos

[@LateNightLessons]

Thank you so much and ROCK ON! : )

[@lefty5757]

@@LateNightLessons m,

[@surbas100]

Yes! Finally, someone showing off Mixo-Pentatonic! Great job David! String skipping licks work killer with this to.

[@LateNightLessons]

Thank you and indeed - good call on the string-skipping variation! There's a lot you can do with this concept and idea. : )

[@bigmojo13]

This scale/lick also used prominently in Rush's "The Camera Eye" solo. Great lesson as usual.

[@markmcmullan3351]

I love Marty Friedman's use of this on forclosure of a dream solo . Epic .

[@LateNightLessons]

Good call! : )

[@superzombie6024]

Excellent work sir, this was a great vid!!

[@jillianlynneswope]

Really got alot from that! Thank you! Just an easy change to such a familiar scale, and another flawless execution, and love the Pink Floyd record on the wall, keep it up!

[@drockny]

Really enjoyed this lesson. I like learning new licks "out of the box". Really like the examples you showed where other shredders have used that technique. More lessons like this please!

[@MichaelWilson-ri9pn]

Great job and very helpful lesson. I wish you would post 10 videos a day!

[@MatsDagerlind]

In my circles we used to call this mixolydian pentatonic already in the mid seventies, but as far as I'm concerned it started (in a rock guitar context) with Steve Hillage, who almost exlusively used this scale instead of the regular pentatonic on psychedelic albums like Fish Rising.

[@LateNightLessons]

Thank for this comment and good call! Wow - you never hear that name anymore and thanks for the reminder! Take care!

[@seanmiller7889]

Great lesson as always.

[@JohnnyGuitarRocks]

Guitarists' Tricks Revealed! Very cool lesson Dave 👊

[@wulfenii64]

As soon as you played it the first time I heard the Beck sound of that time. Cool.

[@kristijansudra3727]

Super lesson 😃

[@azertyuiop6918]

Great video as usual, please keep up the awesome videos. Very comprehensive view of pentatonic version of the mixolydian b6 scale, or hindu scale, 5th mode of melodic minor. Petrucci does love it !

[@wreckstate7778]

It works like harmonic minor over the V in a minor progression too but licks like pentatonic. Cool lesson!

[@gingerjam2192]

I discovered this scale 20 years ago as I was experimenting with minor pentatonic and major pentatonic interval series (1-3-4-5-7 and 1-2-3-5-6) transposed to every modes. My favorite « new » pentatonic scales were the Lydian pentatonic 1-3-4-5-7 and the mixolydian pentatonic 1-3-4-5-7. For me the Lydian = instant japan, the mixolydian = instant India 😉👍

[@tyson1ize]

fantastic !

[@MercutioUK2006]

Chris Poland approved? ;-) Nice coverage

[@joerobinson2538]

Thanks David- I’ve always played this scale (raising the minor 3rd-especially at the ending of songs🤣)--but I never made the Mixolydian connection. You da man!

[@jayartz8562]

Jan Hammer/Jeff Beck live probably my favourite album, love how it's mixed with Jeff Beck on one speaker and Jan Hammer on the other. My playing really took off after absorbing that album.

[@crompton5751]

killer lesson

[@davidsmith-jj4iq]

Ihave the Jeff Beck ,Jan Hammer record"shes a woman",etc with them both playing up a storm,I think he made an album with Neal Schon.

[@tomrechsteiner4715]

awesome

[@wadecooler7496]

Awesome

[@patrickkish6662]

This is some serious spice to have on the shelf when you're cooking with rock

[@LateNightLessons]

You got that right! I like this comment too - lmao! : )

[@paulrevere4749]

You sir, rule! Shout out from your buddy in Vincennes!

[@probtub]

What a great old school Start Wars poster!

[@htunguitar]

love your channel, just found out today :)

[@HubLocationSound]

Thanks for the video. I wrote a song based around this scale (didn’t know it had a name at the time) where my bass line hovered on the root and IV, but would turn around on the minor 3rd, which worked well if my melody never hit that major 3rd at that same moment, but it definitely confused me as to why/how both maj and minor 3rd could exist within the same part.

[@plexibreath]

I've used that scale for years, and I got it from Jeff Beck, I've also always called it the "Mixolydian Pentatonic" scale. I also play a version of it where I add the major 6th, but avoid the 2nd, that I call the "Hollow Mixolydian", because without that fat 2 weighing everything down it sounds etherial. Thanks!

[@ganazby]

Hi David. ‘Eternity’s Breath’ by the Mahavishnu Orchestra uses this scale extensively (after the intro riff). Although, they also mix in the minor third occasionally. Would love to hear you break down some John McLaughlin’s licks. Love your channel. Thanks, and keep ‘em comin’!

[@thebrokenstringspete]

You sir are a one take master.

[@khalilhabib9607]

Excellent lesson, as always. Any chance you could do a profile on Jeff beck?

[@TMoody]

Wow... mind wrecked.

[@sixstringswl]

I always play the dom 7 arpeggio with both thirds as if mixing major and minor and it kind of reminds me of this. However, if it weren’t for that, I’d say phrygian dominant. Another good one! Digging what you doing here.

[@LateNightLessons]

Oh yeah - "hybrid" blues scales are awesome! I like that min/maj third movement and I also like flirting with the min/maj seventh degrees too! Great stuff and it opens plenty of new doors and ideas. : )

[@fingerstyling]

Another useful take on it is that the scale consists of a seventh chord with an added 4.

[@zabelius1]

The Mixolydian Pentatonic is also known as the "Jan-Hammer-Scale"

[@shawnclark1576]

Great fucking lesson man!!!

[@JeffJE44]

Thanks David! This is awesome content. Also sounds similar to some of Reb's runs he uses in solos. Are you going to upload the PDF to your Patreon site?

[@LateNightLessons]

It's coming ASAP and thanks for watching! : )

[@guittarwizzrd]

I first learned of this scale through one of peter fschers books

[@em-dashman4404]

If you can find it, check out a track called Lethal Blow, by John Themis. It will sound strangely familiar 😉

[@houstom1138]

In the Light by Zeppelin (keyboard noodle) is this in A.

[@rikshredder]

Mixopenta! That should be the name. Now...back to practice...

[@scottclaremont4164]

what happens to the other 4 positions if you decide to venture out of position 1 ? or does it only apply to the first position ?

[@Sodacake]

What amp is that in the corner? Kinda reminds me of a Peavey Vypyr from the control layout but definitely not one of those cos it sounds good.

[@patrickkish6662]

David breaks down his gear here m.kzbin.info/www/bejne/sIeViGuMeqtsb5I

[@LateNightLessons]

Hahaha! Be sure to check out the "Guitar Tone & Amps" episode from the Brewster's Millions of Rants series on this channel to learn more about the amp I use in these videos. Thanks for watching and ROCK ON!

[@roberts1346]

4:22 instant Paul Gilbert Nice

[@ElrondHubbard_1]

I accidentally found this scale a year or so ago. Sounds like Steve Hillage to me.

[@AMSOfficial79]

Does Warren Dimartini play in this scale? First thing I was reminded of when you busted out that scale.

[@JuddOakes]

Check out the Warren d licks Dave did a few months ago

[@AMSOfficial79]

@@JuddOakes Oooh, headed there now!

[@LateNightLessons]

Thanks again Judd - damn, you are on the ball! : ) And to answer your original question - YES, Warren loves using this pentatonic alteration and it became rather popular in the 1980s. By the early 1990s (and enter Dream Theater/John Petrucci) it became even more popular and has been around for a little while, but there's a certain level of mystery and mystique surrounding it. I dig it and think it sounds great when used at the right time and in the right place. Take care and thanks for watching!

[@SEILLC]

@@LateNightLessons Dude, I subscribed and have been watching you for a few months now. You are a phenomenal guitar player/musician. I wish I lived near you so you could give me lessons. I've been playing 30+ years, and am a pretty decent "hack" guitarist. People tell me I'm good, and while my fingers are strong and dexterous, I have no idea what I'm doing. I want to become a musician, not just a guitarist. And we obviously grew up listening to the same music. Every guitarist you cover, are all my favorites.

[@nesseq]

Jan Hammer? The same who played in the Mahavishnu Orchestra?

[@Dirtydrock001]

I am begging you please do more eric gales stuff hes my fab player and its so hard to find anything on him maybe even with tabs lol ok maybe im asking too much"

[@LateNightLessons]

Thanks for watching and I'll see what I can do! Just so you know, I do make custom PDF notation/tab files for most of these lessons and make them available to Patreon supporters for this channel. It's only $5 a month if you're interested and the recent Eric Gales PDF was posted/shared on Patreon. : )

[@JuddOakes]

I like the 4th in this kind of sus kind of sound even though you have the major 3

[@LateNightLessons]

Me too! It just a slight modification, but it's such a great sound! : )

[@ivonsmith3095]

Jeff Beck I think picked up the MixoPent scale (also called the Indian Pentatonic) from John Mclaughlins use of Indian sounds: kzbin.info/www/bejne/rGWuYomug8xseMU But even before Mahavishnu ORchestrA The Beatles used this scale on Within You Without You - inspired by Ravi Shankar! kzbin.info/www/bejne/fqTJl6t9rr5nmc0

[@tack9571]

Indian? I always thought it sounded much more Irish than anything else

[@nicktrierweiler3690]

Revenge of the nerds talent show at the end of the movie. The keyboard section

[@tonelocrian]

He forgets to mention John McLaughlin & Mahavishnu Orchestra as the major influence here.

[@anthonybernard3689]

Just curious where you're from that you say ar-pay-gio

[@LateNightLessons]

I'm from Chicago and have a degree in music, am a published Hal Leonard author, and write for Guitar Player Magazine. So how do YOU pronounce arpeggio?

[@anthonybernard3689]

@@LateNightLessons I didn't mean to offend, it's just that I've always heard it pronounced like ar-pedge-io,like hedge

[@uncleremus5046]

Your teachings & approach make me realize a lot of wasted $ on some instructors.

[@ThrashRebel]

Jan Hammer tried to emulate guitar on his keyboard. Chris Poland tries to emulate Jan Hammer’s keyboard playing. So, Poland is emulating, on guitar, Hammer emulating guitar on keyboard. 😁

[@seanschweska856]

So if was E Major/ C#minor I would just add a D like E f# G# B D E

[@paulrevere4749]

Your pal in Vincennes again! I made a video you will appreciate. It's a video of my custom guitar. It's called "driskill diablo video for progmium". Check it out. We ever meet up I'll let you rip on it. I would be honored honestly.

[@rocker8692]

I like doo wop

[@brendanmoore5456]

Is it me or do you have huge hands?

[@meowwoem6372]

one down vote. for real?

[@gingataff]

Beck got it from Hammer, who got it from McLaughlin.

[@LateNightLessons]

~ BINGO ~ : ) It's true!

[@gingataff]

Late Night Lessons It’s after Hammer left the band, but Eternity’s Breath from Mahavishnu’s Visions of the emerald beyond is pretty much this scale. Ok so maybe a bit more than that but you get the idea!