Phrygian Mode
The darkest of the modes that still hold together. Phrygian is natural minor with the second lowered, which puts a half step directly above the root. That half step is the whole character, and it is audible within one bar.
- 7 notes
- 1 b2 b3 4 5 b6 b7
- the flattened second
which styles use it
- Metal
- Flamenco
- Film music
- Game music
How it is built
Take natural minor and flatten the second degree. In C that means D flat instead of D. On the white keys, Phrygian runs from E to E. Playing the root and the flattened second together is the fastest way to hear what the mode is about.
Dark and tense, often described as Spanish because flamenco uses a related sound constantly. Threatening rather than sad, which separates it from ordinary minor.
Where to use it
In metal, where the half step above an open string makes obvious riffs. In flamenco and Spanish guitar writing. In film and game scoring, wherever menace is required without anything happening yet.
The chords that go with it
The giveaway is the major chord built on the flattened second, a half step above the tonic. A i to bII move is Phrygian in two chords and needs no further explanation.
What it gets confused with
With Aeolian, one note away, and with the Phrygian dominant from harmonic minor, which raises the third and sounds considerably more Spanish still.