Thursday, April 14, 2011

Learn Guitar Scales For Soloing : The Exotic Phrygian Mode

By Nick Dillon


When learning to play the guitar it's crucial that you learn guitar scales so as to elevate your playing. You don't want to be sitting in that blues box forever. Playing by ear is a great skill, but you lack understanding of what you're doing that way. Comprehending music theory enhances your ability to compose original music as well as play guitar solos. When you learn guitar scales, you are learning music theory. Part of what you want to do when you learn guitar scales is to also learn modes, and one of these is the Phrygian Mode.



To put it simply, the Phrygian Mode is played when you take the notes of a certain key and make the first note as well as the final note played within your solo the third note in that key's scale. Imagine that that you're playing music in the key of G. To play your solo in the Phrygian Mode, you would begin and end your solo on the B note. This doesn't need to be th exact same B-note; that is, you can begin the solo with a high-B note and end the solo on low-B note, if you think that "feels" best.

When you become more advanced in your guitar playing, you can play solos based on the Phrygian Scale's intervals. Knowing about this gives you a deeper understanding of the notes involved in the Phrygian Mode and lets you get even more creative.

The Phrygian Mode intervals go: Root, flatted 2nd , flatted 3rd ,4th ,5th , flatted 6th , flatted 7th . So to play E Phrygian, you would use: E-F-G-A-B-C-D-E'. Notice that E Phrygian Mode is really in the key of C. So you are really playing the C major scale, but you are emphasizing the individual notes in a different than "straight" way.

The Phrygian Mode is used to give an "Egyptian" or Middle Eastern feel to a solo, lead break, etc. It is a favorite mode of "Neo-classical rock" guitar players and advanced instrumental hard rock guitar players like Steve Vai and Joe Satriani.

Because of the fact that the intervals used in the Phrygian Mode result in the inclusion of several flatted notes, this mode has an exotic, mystical sound, as if you're conjuring up a magical underground river than nobody sees but all feel. If you are interested in playing some complex rock guitar based music, this is a mode for you. It is great to use to do an acoustic guitar lead or solo, too.

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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