I was working on a basic blues riff and realized it is in Mixolydian not in a pentatonic or blues scale. Is this common?
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Yes, dominant seventh chords are really common in blues:
The wiki article refers mostly to the IV and V chords, but you will find it quite often for the I chord as well.
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Mixolydian itself is more common than you might think (for the same reason, it just sounds good in many contexts)
Like, Hooky’s bassline makes it obvious here:
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Yes, like the others stated, it’s very common; both in many types of blues and in a lot of rock.
The (major) pentatonic scale is basically included in the mixolydian scale, and adding/using/emphasizing the blue note (#4 or b5) on top makes your solo more, well, bluesy (and perhaps less rock sounding).
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Not counting Ionian and Aeolian it’s probably the second most commonly used major mode that I ever notice (after Dorian).
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I know what you mean (dorian is one of the modes of the major scale), but I would rather call it a minor mode, because, well, dorian is a flavor of minor… 
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Yes absolutely
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He knows 
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No doubt.
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Just ask him
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That’s funny, right there! 
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