Compare with
F phrygian
F natural minor with one note lowered: G♭. Seven notes: F G♭ A♭ B♭ C D♭ E♭. The same notes as D♭ major, centred on F.
- Parent key
- D♭ major Same notes
- Colour note
- G♭ The flat 2nd
- Repeating chords
- Fm – G♭ i – ♭II
Across one chord in different positions. Down one place, every chord of the mode. | ||||
| iVampFmF · A♭ · C | ||||
| ♭IIVampG♭G♭ · B♭ · D♭ | ||||
| ♭IIIA♭A♭ · C · E♭ | ||||
| ivB♭mB♭ · D♭ · F | ||||
| v°C°C · E♭ · G♭ | ||||
| ♭VID♭D♭ · F · A♭ | ||||
| ♭viiE♭mE♭ · G♭ · B♭ |
Light up
What makes it phrygian
Natural minor, with the 2nd lowered
One note separates F phrygian from F natural minor: G becomes G♭. Over the same root, that turns Fm – G° into Fm – G♭.
F natural minor
- F
- G
- A♭
- B♭
- C
- D♭
- E♭
F phrygian
- F
- G♭
- A♭
- B♭
- C
- D♭
- E♭
Hear the difference
One chord that says phrygian
The ♭II chord, G♭, is built on the colour note. Play it to hear those notes together.
The brightness ladder
Seven modes on F
From brightest to darkest, each row lowers one note of the row above. Phrygian is row 6 of seven.
↑ Brighter
- F lydianFGABCDE♯4
- F ionian (major)FGAB♭CDE—
- F mixolydianFGAB♭CDE♭♭7
- F dorianFGA♭B♭CDE♭♭3 ♭7
- F aeolian (natural minor)FGA♭B♭CD♭E♭♭3 ♭6 ♭7
- F phrygianFG♭A♭B♭CD♭E♭♭2 ♭3 ♭6 ♭7
- F locrianFG♭A♭B♭C♭D♭E♭♭2 ♭3 ♭5 ♭6 ♭7
Darker ↓
Jam along
Three drills over the vamp
Play over the repeating Fm – G♭ chords with a metronome. The neck highlights the notes to aim for, with G♭ ringed.
- The vamp, with a clickFm – G♭, two bars each, in frets 3–7. Strum on the beat.80 bpmLevel 1
- Scale over the vampUp the scale and back down, one note a beat, while Fm – G♭ sounds. Stay in frets 3–7.80 bpmLevel 1
- Land on the colour noteOver G♭, aim for G♭. It is the note that makes it phrygian.80 bpmLevel 2