B Lydian Minor Guitar Scale
Guitar scale in Double Drop D tuning — fretboard diagram
B Lydian Minor in Double Drop D — Notes and Intervals
The B Lydian Minor scale is a unique scale that blends Lydian brightness with a layer of minor-key melancholy. On Guitar, the notes are B, C#, D#, F, F#, G, A. It provides a sophisticated, bittersweet color that is perfect for modern film scores and emotive jazz solos. Commonly used in Film Scores, Jazz, Progressive. Notable players include Danny Elfman, Brad Mehldau. Use over m7#11 chords. A specialized color for emotive jazz and cinematic passages that need emotional complexity.
Notes: B, C#, D#, F, F#, G, A
Intervals: 1P, 2M, 3M, 4A, 5P, 6m, 7m
Degrees: 1 2 3 #4 5 b6 b7
Formula: W-W-W-H-H-W-W
Number of notes: 7
Tuning: Double Drop D (D-A-D-G-B-D)
About Double Drop D Tuning
Double Drop D tuning (D-A-D-G-B-D) lowers both the 6th and 1st strings from E to D, creating a symmetrical frame of D notes around the standard middle four strings. This gives a distinctly resonant, jangly character that has been beloved in folk-rock and acoustic music since the late 1960s.
Neil Young used Double Drop D extensively — 'Cinnamon Girl' features its distinctive droning riff, and 'The Needle and the Damage Done' showcases its intimate fingerpicking potential. Jimmy Page used it on Led Zeppelin's 'Going to California'. Fleetwood Mac's 'The Chain' also employs this tuning. Because only two strings change (both by just one whole step), Double Drop D is one of the easiest alternate tunings to learn — most standard chord shapes on the inner four strings remain unchanged.
Notable artists: Neil Young, Jimmy Page (Led Zeppelin), Fleetwood Mac, Crosby Stills Nash & Young
Best for: Folk-rock songwriting, D-centric acoustic arrangements, droning fingerpicking patterns, and any song that benefits from rich D-string resonance on both outer strings
Musical Character
Lydian brightness (#4) meets minor melancholy (b3, b7) — a sophisticated contradiction. Sounds like hope filtered through sadness.
Explore This Scale in Other Tunings
- B Lydian Minor in Standard Tuning
- B Lydian Minor in Drop D
- B Lydian Minor in DADGAD
- B Lydian Minor in Open G
- B Lydian Minor in Baritone (B Standard)
- B Lydian Minor in 7-string
- B Lydian Minor in 8-string
- B Lydian Minor in Drop C
- B Lydian Minor in Drop B
- B Lydian Minor in Open D
- B Lydian Minor in Half Step Down
- B Lydian Minor in Open E
- B Lydian Minor in Open A
- B Lydian Minor in Open C