Phrygian Scale

The Phrygian scale is a minor scale with a flat 2nd. That one note, a half step above the root, is what makes it sound dark, tense and a little exotic. You hear it in flamenco, in metal riffs, in film music that wants danger, and in jazz over minor chords that sit on the 3rd degree of a major key.

Everything in this chapter is in A Phrygian (A Bb C D E F G), the same notes as F major starting from A.

• Formula, patterns and sound (free): the formula, five positions plus a three-notes-per-string shape, where the scale is used and how to move it to any key.
• Exercises: the full position in sixteenths, a four-note sequence, diatonic 3rds and a line that links Positions 1 and 2.
• Soloing: the Am to Bb vamp that makes the scale come alive, and two licks that lean on the b2 and resolve it.

Keep the root in your ear the whole time. Phrygian only sounds like Phrygian when you hear that Bb rub against A.