guitarchords

Scale degree map

Every chord in a key has a job: it feels like home, it moves away, or it builds tension that wants to resolve. Tap a chord to hear it and see where it wants to go.

C Mixolydian, major with a ♭7. Loose and bluesy. No note pulls up into home, so it swaggers instead of settling. Same notes as F major.

The seven chords of C Mixolydian

tap to hear
CMixolydian
strongest
common
strongest
where I goes · thicker = stronger pullchords that lead into I

Tonic

C major

Home — feels stable, wide, sunlit

All C voicings

The gravitational center, but looser than major. Home here feels open — more like a wide field than a locked door.

Where it wants to go

Heard in

  • AC/DC — "Highway to Hell"
  • Lynyrd Skynyrd — "Sweet Home Alabama"

Play C major on guitar

Start with the plain chord, then colour it.
EADGBe32112345
  • CRoot
  • E3
  • G5

Colour it

dashed = needs a note from outside C Mixolydian
Base
Colour
Richness
Suspension
CClean, simple, openIn C Mixolydian

Go further in C Mixolydian

How phrases end: the moves that create (or deny) resolution.

  • ♭VIIB♭IC
    Mixolydian Cadence♭VII→I — the defining move of the mode. No leading tone, no tension-release snap — just momentum. The rock and folk cadence.
  • IVFIC
    Plagal CadenceIV→I — the "Amen" cadence, but in Mixolydian it feels like a sigh of relief rather than a church ending. Very natural here.
  • vGmIC
    Soft Resolutionv→I — minor five to tonic. No snap, no drama. The resolution drifts in rather than lands. Circular and unhurried.
  • IVF♭VIIB♭IC
    Loop CadenceIV→♭VII→I — three chords, no borrowed tones needed. The complete Mixolydian statement. Opens, drops, returns.