Phrygian Dominant: The Most Hauntingly Beautiful Scale

foreign [Music] John pru here with today's quick tip on a great scale to use over minor Tunes it's the phrygian dominant scale so this is a scale that's used in many cultures and has a worldly recognizable appeal I'm going to teach you the scale today but I'm also going to show you three techniques on how to improvise using this scale over a common jazz chord progression you ready to learn let's go when you hear the term phrygian dominant what does that mean well let's figure it out together all right we're going to talk about how to construct this scale what is this scale well first of all before we can talk about what are phrygian dominant scale is we first have to say well what is a phrygian what's the phrygian mode phrygian is three so if I said c phrygian what that means it's an A flat major scale [Music] starting on C that's called C phrygian right it has a very distinctive sound starting on C but that doesn't sound like a dominant scale yet does it now why is that well one way that we make this into a dominant scale is by this [Music] and what makes this scale really unique is the flat two or they can also think of it as a flat nine and then it jumps right to the major third that's what really gives the scale its sound now you hear that in a lot of different music from Middle Eastern music Indian music Spanish music Jewish music it's a it's a scale that's used in a lot of different cultures and it's a lot of fun to play and so we're going to talk about the scale in different ways of thinking about the scale and then we'll get into some improvisation the next way we're going to think of this scale is as a mixolydian scale with the flat 9 and the flat 13. first of all what is a mixolydian scale what's the mixolydian mode if I said play C mixolydian that means that it's five in the key of f so it's an F major scale starting on C that would be C mixolydian right so if I said now play a flat nine and then play a flat 13. that would be the phrygian dominant scale so another way of thinking about it is a C mixolydian scale with a flat nine and a flat 13. again we're talking about the same scale same notes just different way of thinking about it so let's talk about how to use this phrygian dominant scale when you hear the term dominant what does that mean it means that it's a five chord right a five resolving to a one chord and so we're going to be talking about how to resolve a phrygian dominant chord using it over a v chord that then resolves to either a major or a minor one in this case we're talking about Minor because it's often used in minor keys so let's take a C7 for example and take this descending scale [Music] and then I went back up to the third and then I'm resolved it to an F minor nine let's try that lick together it's kind of a nice way of using this scale over the V chord resolving to a one so we have root 7 13 5 4 3 flat nine three and then one all right so as you're playing this scale what gives the scale its quality is the flat nine to the three you can either think of it as an augmented second or a minor third and that's really the quality of this scale is this interval here and then resolving to the fifth of the one chord thank you so that's one way that the scale is used and probably the most common way the scale is used is use over a v chord but there is another use for it and that is as a one chord and so oftentimes in certain music especially in for example Jewish songs like Hava Nagila for example the dominant chord or a C7 is actually functioning as a one chord almost like a blues where you have the one chord and it's dominant so you have this C7 and then it goes up a half step to d flat and then back to C7 where C7 is one right it feels like that's the one chord so you can still use this scale [Music] with between C7 and d flat it's a really cool way of using the scale that's not a five chord it's just as a one chord so there's a little piece I made up here using the scale it would go something like this foreign [Music] try that with me it's kind of fun here we go in the left hand I'm just going one two and three four one two one and two and three four one and two and three these are straight eights but if we were doing this as a swing tune that Rhythm would be called The Charleston Rhythm right one and two and but as a straight eighth it's more one and two one and two and and the right hand is playing this for G and dominant scale so let's try that together ready one two ready and a one two three [Music] yeah all right now comes the fun part we're going to improvise using the phrygian dominant scale and I have three improvisational techniques I wanted to talk about again these improv techniques you can use over five chords that go to a one chord and you can look for examples of this in songs like Caravan by Duke Ellington [Music] using this scale it resolves to a one chord so look for these places and songs that have this five one relationship and use the scale so the first technique we're going to talk about is what's called scale clusters and all that means is we're going to take part of the scale in this case we're taking the root the flat nine and the third as a cluster and we're using that but it's almost like a little Motif and we're varying the Rhythm and the Rhythm goes like this the right hand would go one and two and three and four and one two three four and now this is we're calling this the beginner level because the left hand is only playing a two note voicing and the right hand is playing a simple Melody so we're going to kind of progressively go beginner intermediate Advanced as we go through these different techniques so let's try the right hand together uh one two ready and one and two and three and four and one two three four and great and then the left hand you're just going to be playing so we're leaving out the root we're playing rootless voicing and it's a two note voicing with the third and the seventh and the left hand and then going to the seventh and the third of the F minor nine and then for the sixth nine we're just going to lower the seventh to the sixth like that so together it would sound like this two three four one and two and three four and one two three four try that with me here we go [Music] and feel free to you know after you've played through this if your left hand if you'd like to add a little bit of Rhythm you could just for example do something like this [Music] add a little rhythm in the left hand if you'd like to I was kind of doing a bop bop bop in my left hand let's play with the track now I'm going to play the first time and then have you try it the second time here we go [Music] your turn [Music] great so the next section is taking that same cluster but now we're taking a different set of notes we're taking the fifth the flat 13th and the seventh all right so we only have again the three note shape or cluster and it's the same Rhythm so we're going one and two and three and four and one two three four and and the nice thing about this is we're ending on the ninth of the F minor chord this is a really beautiful sound and the left hand again is just playing these shells a third and the seventh and then going to the seventh and the third of F minor and then to the sixth and the third there so it would sound like this two three four [Music] one two three and one try with me here we go [Music] let's try it with the track I'll play it the first time you do it the second time [Music] two three your turn [Music] all right well done our second improv technique is what's called a turn and this is for the intermediate level a turn is taking a Target note and playing above the note and playing below the note so you can also think of it as an upper neighbor and a lower neighbor so we have our Target note in this case we have a c here we're going above and then below that's a turn so rhythmically we're gonna go one two and three and four and one two and three four and like that and it also creates a little bit of a motif this so it's it's also creating a type of motif development here so um let's try this line together slowly ready one and two and three and four and one [Music] do two uh one two three four and the left hand says this is the intermediate level we're gonna instead of just having the third and seventh we're also going to add the fifth and the flat nine and the left hand so this is the C7 flat nine and then when we go to the F minor 11 because the melody note is the 11th we have the 7935 and then going to the six nine three five for the F minor six nine so all together it'll sound like this three four [Music] try that with me do a ready go [Music] feel free to do the same after you've played this a couple times let's try it with the track now I'll play it the first time through and then you'll do it the second time here we go [Music] great next up we have another turn this time we're starting on a lower note and going up high so we go like this this one goes one so again the turn starts here upper neighbor lower neighbor up to the top note here which is the fifth of C7 so we have one [Music] so let's try the right hand slowly three and four and one and two and a three four one and two and a three forehand and the left hand is exactly the same as you just played it so together it'll be this three four one [Music] here we go one and two and a three and four one and two and a three four and one all right now let's play with the track it's gonna be a little bit faster I'll play it the first time you try it the second time here we go all right [Music] yeah that's a lot of fun isn't it and this is a great progression just to use this scale and you could just have this progression on Loop and just play for hours if you want to using the scale it's so much fun and it's really versatile so just have a great time playing it our third improv technique for the advanced level is what's called Triad pairs which means we're going to take the scale and break it down into some Triads so this first Triad you see and I have it bracketed off there is an F minor Triad descending and then we go to an E diminished and then to a d flat major and then to a c seven and then going up to the 11th of the f Marsh seven and again this comes from the fact that within the phrygian dominant scale we have all these different Triads right that's what makes it sound so so cool so we're starting again F minor e diminished d flat C even by itself it sounds really cool just to play that as blocked chords so let's just try the right hand by the way once we get to that third bar there we have a little comp pattern with the bottom two fingers here with your right hand so we're going one two and three and four and a little bit of a stretch if you can get that it's a just a ninth there so we have one two and three and four and that's what's happening there so let's just try the right hand alone here we go two three four one and two and three four and one two and three and four and one try again go one and two and three four and one two and three and four and cool and then the left hand rather than playing in the beginner version we had just three and seven and then the intermediate we had a four note left hand rootless voicing now for the advanced version we're having you actually play the bass Groove and a typical bass Groove in this style using these the scale is one and two and three four one and two and three four where you're playing the root and the fifth of each of these chords so it's one and two and three four one two and three four one and two [Music] and then a fun Baseline so we're gonna put them together and kind of slow it down so you can see how it all lines up together so together it would sound like this slowly I'll play it through once and have you join me the second time it goes two three four one and two and three try it with me [Music] all right great let's try it with the track now it's going to be a little faster let's play it through two times I'll play it the first time and then you play it the second time all right here we go [Music] [Music] great now we have another Triad pairing starting with C and we're going the opposite direction so in in the previous example we started at the top and went down now we're starting at the bottom and going up with these Triad pairs starting with C major and it's a d flat major again the same Triad pairings just reversed e diminished and then F minor and then we end on that F minor 11 again and that's the same exact pattern this as we did in the previous example so the right hand again would be like this three four one and two and three four and one two and three four and one try it with me one and two and three four and one two and three and four and one two three and again the left hand is playing that same bass Groove thank you all right great so putting it together I'll play it through once you join me the second time slowly here one and two and three and four one two [Music] and join me here [Music] great let's try it with the track now it's a little bit faster I'll play it the first time you join me the second time [Music] your turn that's great and you know the fact that we're playing a bass line and we're playing the scale and we're comping this is more of a solo piano version of this when you were playing those rootless voicings that's the way that you would play if you were playing with a bass player or with a bass and drummer thanks again for being here today for our quick tip on the phrygian dominant scale I hope you learned a lot I know I had fun teaching you we started off learning about the scale learning different ways of thinking about the scale and then we got into some improv techniques from both the beginner intermediate and advanced level I encourage you to go home and to try to use this scale and also to improvise and create your own lines which is really the goal of this course so thanks again for being here and hope to see you again real soon take care everyone so long thanks for watching and if you enjoyed the lesson be sure to check out piano with johnny.com we have over 1 000 step-by-step lessons for all playing levels where you'll learn your favorite songs Styles and how to improvise at the piano thanks for watching and I'll see you in the next one

Channel: Piano With Jonny

Views: 27,510

Keywords: john proulx, jonny may, piano with jonny, phrygian scale, phrygian mode, piano scales, piano modes, jazz piano, jazz piano scales, piano improv, piano improvisation, jazz improv, jazz piano improv, how to improvise jazz piano, jazz improvisation, phrygian dominant, phrygian dominant scale, piano exercises, phrygian dominant mode, harmonic minor scale, music theory for beginners, phrygian dominant chords, music theory piano, piano jazz improv, piano improv techniques

Id: vJBit7BplaM

Length: 21min 8sec (1268 seconds)

Published: Fri Mar 31 2023