Practice pack · everything floats over a C drone

Trippy
Lydian Drift

Outside scales, chords that don't want to resolve, riffs that climb forever, and a backing track to lose an evening to. The whole thing pivots on one trick: a static root and a sky full of upper structures. Tap a thing, hear a thing.

00The backing track

The MIDI file that came with this pack. Import it into Cubase and loop it — it's the launch pad for everything below.

trippy-jam-C-lydian-drone.mid

76 bpm · 4/4 · C pedal drone · 56 bars · spacey half-time

The bass sits on C the entire time while the pad drifts: mostly Cmaj7♯11 (Lydian), through a C7♯11, into two bars of C augmented, and a C7♯9 psych turn. Because the root never moves, almost everything below is "in."

Easiest entry: C Lydian over the maj7♯11 bars, C whole tone over the augmented bars, C altered / diminished over the 7♯9 turn. Or just play C Lydian the whole way and let the chords colour you.

01The cosmic tone

Spacey, swelling, drowned in ambience. Built from your rig.

The patch

Guitar Black Burst · neck humbucker · tone rolled back a touch
Dirt clean, or Venus barely on (Drive ~9:00) for a little hair
Badger Mk2 Gain 3 · Drive 6 · Power 8 · B5 / M5 / T5 (let the power tubes bloom)
Mobius Vibe · slow · Speed 2 · Depth 5 (the seasick drift)
TimeLine dTape · dotted-⅛ · Repeats high (near self-osc) · Mod on · Mix MAX
BigSky Shimmer or Cloud · Decay max · Pre 50ms · Mod on · Mix MAX
Mesa −3 dB (huge) · play whole notes, swell with the volume knob

02Outside scales

Pick a root (try C to match the track) and hear each one climb. Numbers are semitones from the root — the symmetrical ones repeat, which is why they sound like they never land.

03Floating chords

Tap to strum. None of them resolve, which is the point. Drop any over the C drone and let the BigSky carry it into the next county.

04Riffs that climb forever

Symmetrical runs and one chromatic slither home. Play them, then let them dissolve into the reverb.

05Four ways to go outside

How to leave the key on purpose and still sound like you meant it.