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Friday, April 20, 2012

The Phrygian Mode

OK...

The next exciting set of lines, dots and numbers on our little tour of the harmonic and melodic options on the guitar neck is the PHRYGIAN MODE.

It is the third mode of the Major Scale and is made up of the intervals: 1,b2,b3,4,5,b6,b7. 

It has a distinctive eerie, mysterious sound. It's probably the easiest of the modes to recognise, of at least wrestles with Lydian for the honour.

There are loads of examples I can think of to illustrate this, but since I don't own the rights to any off those, here's me playing with an old band PISTOL KIXX. \This tune, "Shit's going down" uses Phrygian and Minor Pentatonic in the solo. (The solo kicks in at about 4 minutes 20 seconds if you can't sit through all the drunken shambling!)

OK, enough self indulgent "Musical examples,"
...on with the dots!