Modes With One Sharp

Below you will find the diagram of the fretboard with all the notes in the key of G Major and five of it's relative modes. These notes get a lot of play in some of Zappa's best solos. Famously used for "Willy the Pimp" on the Hot Rats album, which is one long and excellent solo in A Dorian.

The real eye opener for me though was the Lydian mode. The solo on "Inca Roads" uses these notes, the C Lydian mode. Solos from "Inca Roads" found their way onto Shut Up and Play Yer Guitar, Shut Up and Play Yer Guitar Some More, and Return of the Son of Shut Up and Play Yer Guitar as the title tracks. These solos are really different from anything anybody else plays, and I feel like the hardcore Lydian thing is like a Zappa trademark.

Some solos that Zappa plays with one sharp are:

• Soup and Old Clothes, in D Dorian
• Ship Ahoy, in D Dorian
• Winos Do Not March, in D Dorian
• Pinocchio's Furniture, in G Mixolydian
• Chunga's Revenge, in D Dorian