Arpeggio quality

7♯11

The dominant seventh sharp eleventh is the lydian dominant sound: a dominant chord whose raised fourth adds lift instead of darkness. The tritone between the major third and the minor seventh still drives the resolution, but the sharp eleventh opens the top of the chord, which is why it is the standard choice over a dominant resolving down a half-step — the tritone-substitution sound. Jazz, fusion and film scores use it when a dominant needs to glow rather than snarl. The quality also fits the altered scale's brighter cousin, the lydian dominant scale. Listen for the sharp eleventh floating above the tritone.