C Lydian — Double Bass

The C Lydian scale runs 7 notes per octave in the modes family. Below it sits on the Double Bass's EADG strings with every root marked, because a bassist reads a scale map as a set of targets around the root, not a row of dots.

Major with a raised 4th (#4) — dreamy, ethereal, and floating. Often called the brightest mode, with an otherworldly suspended quality.

Heard in: Film scores, progressive rock, jazz — Joe Satriani's "Flying in a Blue Dream", John Williams, Steve Vai.

The Double Bass has no frets to trust: the map marks positions on the fingerboard, and the audio is there to keep your intonation honest — match each note by ear, pizzicato first, then with the bow.

Walk it slowly against the audio, land each root on a downbeat, then take it to the progressions in C and let the scale turn into lines.