Low E string: F, Gb, Ab, Bb, Cb, Db, Eb at frets 1, 2, 4, 6, 7, 9, 11
A string: Bb, Cb, Db, Eb, F, Gb, Ab at frets 1, 2, 4, 6, 8, 9, 11
D string: Eb, F, Gb, Ab, Bb, Cb, Db at frets 1, 3, 4, 6, 8, 9, 11
G string: Ab, Bb, Cb, Db, Eb, F, Gb at frets 1, 3, 4, 6, 8, 10, 11
B string: Cb, Db, Eb, F, Gb, Ab, Bb, Cb at frets 0, 2, 4, 6, 7, 9, 11, 12
High E string: F, Gb, Ab, Bb, Cb, Db, Eb at frets 1, 2, 4, 6, 7, 9, 11
The phrygian mode is minor with a flat 2nd, the third mode of the major scale. That half step above the root gives it a dark Spanish and Middle Eastern color: flamenco resolves onto it constantly, and metal riffs on the flat 2nd for menace. Try vamping between the root chord and the chord a half step up to hear its signature cadence.
it consists of these notes and degrees:
i
bII
bIII
iv
v°
bVI
bvii
Characteristic note: B (b2), the dark half step above the root that defines the phrygian sound.
Same notes, different mode
Bb phrygian uses the same notes as the scales below. Start from a different note and you get a new mode built on the very same note set.
How to play B♭ phrygian on guitar
Only the open B string lands in this key, sounding Cb, so nothing open can hold a drone under the tonic. Six flats govern the spelling. Capo at fret 1 gives A phrygian. Low E first shows a root at fret 6, so the E-shape barre lives mid-neck while the A-shape sits down at fret 1. Roots also sit at fret 3 on the G string, plus fret 8 on the D, meaning box one has company before the next shape starts at fret 10.
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