How to use the phrygian mode to make chords and progressions

the major scale also known as the ionian mode has seven notes if we label each note with a number you get the scale degrees one two three four five six and seven it doesn't matter what the tonic note of our major scale is it always has the scale degrees one to seven for example c major has the notes c d e f g a and b with the seven scale degrees we mentioned [Music] the major scale is useful as a point of reference for all other scales or modes for example the natural minor scale or aeolian mode has the scale degrees 1 2 flat 3 4 5 flat 6 and flat 7. the flat scale degrees are half a step or a semitone below the major scale degrees so the c natural minus scale has the notes c d e flat f g a flat and b flat [Music] the focus of this video is the phrygian mode it is also known as the third mode of the major scale this has the scale degrees 1 flat 2 flat 3 4 flat six and flat seven c phrygian therefore has the notes c d flat e flat f g a flat and b flat the only difference between a natural minor scale and the phrygian mode is the flat second note this note will be vital in defining the phrygian chord progressions we create later on it gives the phrygian mode its distinctive intense and dark minor sound because of this the phrygian mode is often used in metal music to provide an evil or exotic edge if you need more help with modes then check out our video in the description below you can use the notes from a scale or mode to create a series of chords these chords are what make up a key in songwriting the most basic chords are constructed with three notes and are called triads they will be either major minor diminished or augmented let's use the c phrygian mode we saw earlier to construct our chords to create our first chord we take the first note which is c here and then skip a note which takes us to e flat and then skip another note from e flat which gets us to g these three notes will create a triad in this case c e flat and g create c minor this is our one chord then we move on to the next note and start again in c three and the next note is d flat if we skip a note from d flat we have f skip a note from f and we get to a-flat d-flat f and a-flat create a d-flat major chord this becomes our two chord we then repeat the process for the remaining notes of the phrygian mode to generate a set of seven chords note how we have repeated the notes twice here to make constructing the chords easier to visualize this gives us the following chords the one chord is c minor two is d flat major 3 is e flat major 4 is f minor 5 is g diminished 6 is a flat major and 7 is b flat minor let's now look at some common chord progressions using this pool of chords although we're in the key of c phrygian remember that the roman numeral system means you can use these progressions in any key you like just work out your pool of seven chords and use the progressions in the same roman numeral order the key to creating phrygian sounding chord progressions is to use chords that have the flat second note in them as we saw earlier this is the only note that is separating phrygian from aeolian so if you want to make clear what mode you're in then keep coming back to the chords with that defining note the basic phrygian triads that have the flat second note in them are 2 5 and seven let's start with a one two one seven progression [Music] a progression like this will fully anchor you in the phrygian mode this is because it goes from the tonic chord to chords that contain the flat second note that we discussed it also mixes minor and major triads nicely before we move to the next chord progression i'd like to thank you for choosing to watch this video we rely on your kind support to keep the channel running if you are able to help us we now have channel memberships and super thanks available these allow us to keep on making songwriting content that is available to everyone click on thanks and join below this video to find out more this next progression introduces the three chord the use of mainly major chords colours the sound of this progression we still have the two chord to keep things phrygian note how the chords rise in number order this is referred to as the escalator effect phrygian is not exclusively used in metal music in this example we'll use a dark electronic sound to give you an example of a different phrygian use [Music] here are a couple more common chord progressions that use ideas we have discussed so far to produce a phrygian sound [Music] [Applause] [Music] so far we have only used basic triads in our phrygian progressions but you are of course free to use different chord types in your phrygian songs you can experiment with this on any of the chords but where it is particularly interesting is in introducing or emphasizing the flat second note as you understand now this will reinforce the phrygian sound there are many ways to do this so what we discuss won't be exhaustive let's start by taking the three chord turning it into a dominant seventh this adds the flat second note from the scale to the three chord major triad here it is at the end of a progression see how it pulls us back to the one chord [Music] [Music] three of the chords in the previous progression have the flat second note so there's no question that we are in phrygian but one way we can emphasize this even more is by using the first inversion of the seven minor chord this puts the flat second note in the base of the seven chord to make it stand out in this example it leads us into the two chord [Music] [Music] combining different chord types with different instruments can really transform the phrygian sound experiment with this yourself to come up with new and interesting ideas if you change the six chord into a sus 4 chord then it introduces the flat second to yet another chord the use of the sus4 adds a completely different feel to this progression which may not be associated with the phrygian sound here it is in a chord progression using acoustic guitars [Music] watch the video on screen now to better understand all seven of the major scale modes

Channel: Write A Song

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Keywords: Phrygian Mode Theory, Phrygian Mode, Phrygian Mode Explained, Mode Theory Explained, Music Theory, Songwriting, Songwriting Explained, Song writing, Song Writing Explained, phrygian mode, music theory, phrygian, modes, phrygian scale, music theory tutorial, music modes, music school, phrygian mode explained, music theory lesson, phrygian chords, guitar modes, musical modes, songwriting tutorial, modes music theory, How to use the phrygian mode to make chords and progressions

Id: c3RjlkENz6M

Length: 9min 19sec (559 seconds)

Published: Fri Jun 10 2022