[TheAthleticNerd]

Hello all! I wanted to make a thread dedicated to my favorite musical scale/mode of all time, and see if anyone else has anything to say about it, whether it's appreciation for the sound, a track you recorded that utilizes the sound, or whatever else. I know whenever I do any sort of improv on guitar, this is the scale that I default to, and more often than not I'll start writing in Ableton based around this sound.

Now, for those who don't know (but know their basic music theory), the Phrygian Dominant scale (which will now be abbreviated as "PD") can be thought of as the Phrygian mode, which is the third mode within the Major/Ionian scale, but with the third note within the scale raised up a half-step. The easiest way to visualize it, let's say if you're using a piano, would be to see it in the key of E. The notes, then, would be E, F, G#, A, B, C, D, E. Some of you clever theorists could also think of PD as the 5th mode of the Harmonic Minor scale, hence why I also called PD a mode in the beginning. That little tidbit helps a lot with writing chord progressions and improv.

Now for the good part: What it sounds like. That raised 3rd makes an already exotic mode even more exotic, and tends to evoke sounds of middle eastern and spanish culture. A nice, fairly popular example would be the main theme from Juno Reactor's "Pistolero". Heck, pretty much all of Goa and Psytrance utilizes the PD scale. Again, you know it when you hear it, but once you figure out the source of it something about that knowledge just makes everything so enriched - kinda like the first time I found out what a TB-303 was.

But yeah, whatever you have to say about it I'd like to hear. Any questions/discussion about the theory within it I can help clarify as well.

Take care!

[Joe Oso Dopke]

I personally love the way Phyrgian Dominant sounds in a jazz context; sends chills down my spine!

[mischjok]

Originally Posted by TheAthleticNerd

Hello all! I wanted to make a thread dedicated to my favorite musical scale/mode of all time, and see if anyone else has anything to say about it, whether it's appreciation for the sound, a track you recorded that utilizes the sound, or whatever else. I know whenever I do any sort of improv on guitar, this is the scale that I default to, and more often than not I'll start writing in Ableton based around this sound.

Now, for those who don't know (but know their basic music theory), the Phrygian Dominant scale (which will now be abbreviated as "PD") can be thought of as the Phrygian mode, which is the third mode within the Major/Ionian scale, but with the third note within the scale raised up a half-step. The easiest way to visualize it, let's say if you're using a piano, would be to see it in the key of E. The notes, then, would be E, F, G#, A, B, C, D, E. Some of you clever theorists could also think of PD as the 5th mode of the Harmonic Minor scale, hence why I also called PD a mode in the beginning. That little tidbit helps a lot with writing chord progressions and improv.
!

The phrygian dominant mode is in fact the 5th mode of the harmonic minor scale. It isn't a scale as such so it is right to call it a "mode" rather than a "scale".

Care to post examples of it being used in electronic music? I have never come across a dance track that makes good use of it.

[YoMyEX]

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I believe the guitar riff during the verses is in PD

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Basically anything from Yngiew, Neo-classical bands, Middle Eastern and ancient Egyptian music pieces.

[TheAthleticNerd]

Care to post examples of it being used in electronic music? I have never come across a dance track that makes good use of it.

Like I said, the opening riff from Juno Reactor's "Pistolero" is a clear example (I'm a newbie so I can't post links - gotta look it up on Youtube). Off-hand I've heard it in "Astral Warrior" by Chi-A.D. (listen at around the 6:00 mark, it's in D), "Animals" by Cydonia (also in D), "Gaza" by Delerium (also in D lol) - if you hear it anywhere it will likely be in Goa or Psytrance, and even then more often than not I mostly hear either natural or harmonic minor. Like YoMyEx said it's most often heard in neoclassical metal and similar artists, guys like Yngwie, Satriani, Paul Gilbert, and the like. I know I'd be taken back if I heard it more often in house or breaks.

[SpinVector]

I believe that sphongle and a lot of psybeint uses it too. Basically anything with a semitone then 3 semitone interval set can give you that cool exotic vibe. Definitely a fan of it, although whenever I try to use it, it sounds kind of inauthentic because I'm not practiced with it.

[Hypergiant]

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[Alarinth]

I absolutely love the mode.

But, it's also the mode that I find the most tiresome. I can hear one song, or maybe just a section of a song, but inevitably I will grow bored of the very "obvious" sound it has. What I found helps a lot is to actually play with both a high and low third (E, F, G, G#, A, B, C, D).

Another thing that fits greatly with this mode / scale is to incorporate the diminished scale or the whole-half scale. I see how going from Phrygian to whole-half may sound like a bit of a stretch to some other theoreticists, but it's really the diminished part that connects it, the whole tones are just "fillers".

Phrygian Dominant, play the harmonic minor scale, starting on the 5th note.

[YoMyEX]

Originally Posted by Heliograf

Phrygian Dominant, play the harmonic minor scale, starting on the 5th note.

instant Egyptian/Arabic scale!