Help with Modes to use my TC Electronics Quintessence
I just got the Quintessence pedal because it looked like so much fun. I've always loved harmony guitar leads from bands like Thin Lizzy, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Allman Bros, Iron Maiden etc. The videos I watched looked awesome, I could play harmony leads live being the only guitarist. Once I got the pedal I realized that you need to know your modes to properly use this pedal and I've never done that.
I know I should learn the modes, it's on my to-do list. When I play lead my brain interconnects the major scale with the relative minor. So in the key of G I see a lot of the fretboard as EM, in C I see Am.
Just by ear I was able to figure out that I could play the G major and Em scale and get the right harmony intervals with the pedal set to B# Lydian. C & Am worked with E# Lydian. Can someone please explain why that works in a way that I can quickly change keys between songs in a live setting?
https://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/Quintessence--tc-electronic-quintessence-harmony-pedal
Posted Oct 17, 2019, 2:27 PM UTC
B# Lydian has the same pitches as G major, just different note names (apologies in advance for writing this out, it's going to look weird):
B# Cx Dx Ex Fx Gx Ax (B# lyd) =
C D E F# G A B (C lyd) =
G A B C D E F# (G maj) =
E F# G A B C D (E min)
=
Likewise with E# Lydian, C major, and A minor.
=
Looks like you can just set it directly to G or C major. I would recommend not touching that "mode" knob at all, it's completely superfluous.
Since modes are "rotations" of the diatonic scale, you can get exactly the same sets just by changing the "key" knob. For example, say you want "G Mixolydian", you'll get the same sound from "C major".
Perfect. Basically I figured it out but needed some validation. If I keep it on Lydian I play the major scale of the 5th. C Lydian plays G major.
That’s what I needed to know. Thank you.