Low E string: F, Gb, Ab, Bb, C, Db, Eb at frets 1, 2, 4, 6, 8, 9, 11
A string: Bb, C, Db, Eb, F, Gb, Ab at frets 1, 3, 4, 6, 8, 9, 11
D string: Eb, F, Gb, Ab, Bb, C, Db at frets 1, 3, 4, 6, 8, 10, 11
G string: Ab, Bb, C, Db, Eb, F, Gb at frets 1, 3, 5, 6, 8, 10, 11
B string: C, Db, Eb, F, Gb, Ab, Bb at frets 1, 2, 4, 6, 7, 9, 11
High E string: F, Gb, Ab, Bb, C, Db, Eb at frets 1, 2, 4, 6, 8, 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: Gb (b2), the dark half step above the root that defines the phrygian sound.
Same notes, different mode
F 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 F phrygian on guitar
Not one open string falls in this key, so every note has to be fretted and any pedal needs a held root. Five flats sit in the signature. Both E strings carry a root at fret 1, giving the E-shape barre its home at the same fret. With a capo at fret 1 the grip becomes E phrygian, which lets open-position minor shapes do the work. Roots continue at fret 3 on the D string and fret 8 on the A, so box one covers the low frets and the next shape takes over at fret 5.
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