Practicing Modes.
A great finger-stretching exercise too!
When playing eighth-notes and sixteenth-notes, always remember to use alternate picking. It will absolutely improve your technique.
The “A Phrygian” Mode.
Check out the first two lessons in this series: “A Ionian” and “A Dorian”.
The “Phrygian” mode is another minor scale. This means that there is a “minor 3rd” in the scale, opposed to a major 3rd in a major scale.
Below is the key of “F major”, but the root note starts at the “A” note. This means that “A” is the 3rd note in the key of “F major”. It also means that this is called the “A Phrygian” mode.
The notes have changed from the “A Ionian” mode, as well. The “A Phrygian” has moved the “B” down one half step to “Bb”. The rest of the notes in this mode are all natural.
Look at it as the “F major” scale, but instead playing the scale as:
F - G - A - Bb - C - D - E
the root note is “A”:
A - Bb - C - D - E - F - G.
The notes in this exercise all exist between frets 5 and 8. Think of it as a four-fret frame. This just so happens to be one of my favorite modes, because it is so easy to play the four frets; and there’s no shifting between frets. Every finger will play at least two notes in this scale.
Below is another way to look at the exact same scale as above, only from the perspective of the “Roman numerical” placements on the fretboard.
Notice, the “Phrygian” mode structure has lowered four notes one half step from their major positions in the “Ionian” mode. We now have a “minor 2nd (ii), a “minor 3rd” (iii), a “minor 6th (vi) and a “dominant 7th” (vii). So, just like the Dorian mode the Phrygian mode is also a “minor” scale.
I - *ii - *iii - IV - V - *vi - *vii
Again, study this scale and mode structure, because it will be important to know as we move on to other modes in the next articles.
Here is how you practice this scale.
Make sure you set your metronome at 60-70bpm to start. As you get better with the scale, slowly increase the tempo until you can play it clean and correct at 90bpm. Remember to use the proper finger placements for technique.
Stay tuned for more articles on modes and scales coming soon.
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Dave