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Tuesday, April 12, 2011

Learn Guitar Scales For Soloing : The Exotic Phrygian Mode

By Nick Dillon


Why do you need to learn guitar scales? It's so that you can elevate your playing. If you're like many guitar players you know the "blues box" but that only takes you so far. And if you just learn music by ear, you lack the depth of understanding that music theory brings you-and when you learn guitar scales, you're learning music theory. When you learn guitar scales you also want to learn modes. One of the modes that you should learn is the Phrygian Mode.

Phrygian Mode is played by taking the notes of a particular key and, when playing your solo, making the first note as well as the final note played the third note of that key's scale. In other words, if you wanted to play a solo in the Phrygian Mode while performing a song in the key of D, you would begin and end your solo with the F note. The F note that you start and end with may be in two different octaves. What matters is that it's F.

When you become more highly developed with your guitar playing, you'll be able to play solos based upon the Phrygian Scale's intervals. Understanding these intervals gives you a more profound understanding of the notes that actually construct the Phrygian Mode. This enables you to become yet more creative.

These intervals go like this Root, flatted 2nd , flatted 3rd ,4th ,5th , flatted 6th , flatted 7th . So to play F Phrygian you would use F-G-A-B-C-D-E-F. Observe that F Phrygian Mode is in reality the key of D. You're just playing the D major scale in such a way that the F feeling is emphasized and, since you're not really playing the key of F, this creates quite a unique feel.

If you want an exotic sound that often gets called "Arabian" or "Persian" when you solo, the Phrygian Mode is a perfect choice for you. The many flatted notes of this mode lend themselves to creating such an exotic sound and feel.

If you were doing some progressive rock or metal music the lyrics were about something mystical or even "demonic", then soloing with the Phrygian Mode could be a great idea. It could be especially expressive if you incorporated the vocals' melody line into the solo.

Learn guitar scales to take your guitar playing to a whole new dimension. Add even more dimensions by learning modes like the Phrygian Mode.




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