Lydian dominant scale

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The Lydian Dominant scale is a synthetic scale which is so named because it has resemblances to both the Lydian mode and a dominant 7th chord. If it is started on the note C, it runs C D E F♯ G A B♭ C; thus two notes (the augmented 4th and minor 7th) are different from the C major scale. The augmented 4th (F♯) is shared with the Lydian mode on C, and the minor 7th (B♭) is obviously found in a dominant 7th chord on C (C E G B♭) - hence the name.

This scale is sometimes regarded as related to the Lydian mode (which runs C D E F♯ G A B C when started on C), and does have all but one of its notes in common with it - hence its name. Even though its minor 7th (as against the Lydian mode's major 7th) is the only note that differs between the two scales, that note is very significant and defines the character of the two scales quite differently from each other.

A perceived kinship with the Lydian mode is illusory, because the scale also resembles the Mixolydian mode just as much as it does the Lydian mode (the only note that differs between them is the 4th: augmented for the Lydian dominant, and perfect for the Mixolydian mode - which runs C D E F G A B♭ C when started on C); and it is not in fact a part of the modal system of harmony, but rather an example of a synthetic scale. It would be more useful on the whole to see it as such, rather than trying to see it as somehow related to the modal system.

While the name "Lydian Dominant" may serve as a useful indication of what other scales or chords this scale has some resemblances to, it is misleading in implying that it is a kind of Lydian mode. The name "Lydian-Mixolydian scale" might similarly indicate its nature, but would perpetuate the impression that the scale is related to the modes.

What significantly marks the three scales in question (the Lydian mode, Mixolydian mode, and Lydian dominant scale) as fundamentally different in character is that, despite the fact that the Lydian dominant scale differs from both the Lydian and Mixolydian modes by just one note, that note is in both cases the particular note that defines the character of the two modes.

The scale is the 4th mode of the ascending melodic minor scale, and it has also been called the Overtone scale in Vincent Persichetti's Twentieth-Century Harmony. There are problems with this name, too: while the scale does resemble the harmonic series on C as conventionally notated (C C G C E G B♭ C D E F♯ G A B♭ B C, etc.), it ignores the fact that some of the notes of this series are actually a significant proportion of a semitone different from the same notes as found in equal temperament. (Synthetic scales are usually found in a context where equal temperament is assumed.) Thus the resemblance to the overtone series is very approximate, and so this name does not seem very satisfactory either.

Musical scales by	edit
# | pentatonic | hexatonic | heptatonic | octatonic | chromatic
Types | Altered | Bebop | Diatonic scale | Enharmonic | Jazz scale | Minor scale
Name | Acoustic | Blues | Bohlen-Pierce | Diatonic | Double harmonic | Half diminished | Harmonic major | Lydian dominant | Major | Major locrian | Pelog | Phrygian dominant scale | Slendro
"Ethnic" name | Arabic | Gypsy | Jewish

Modes of the diatonic scale	edit
Ionian (I) | Dorian (II) | Phrygian (III)
Lydian (IV) | Mixolydian (V) | Aeolian (VI) | Locrian (VII)

Modes of the melodic minor scale	edit
Melodic minor (I) | Dorian b2 (II) | Lydian Augmented (III)
Lydian Dominant (IV) | Mixolydian b13(V) | Locrian #2 (VI) | | Altered (VII)