Since learning modes of other parent scales such as from Harmonic Minor or Double Harmonic Major, this has massively opened up interesting, creative options for my writing. I write in Phrygian Dominant quite a lot as it's a very cool mode! Definitely recommend this if you're stuck in a writing rut.
I wish people would explore other modes of the Harmonic Minor. I love Phrygian Dominant, but I feel like it's the only mode I ever hear from the Harmonic Minor. I want to hear more music in Ukranian Dorian or Lydian #9. Have you ever tried modes of the Melodic Minor? Those can be really bizarre and interesting too.
@@rome8180 I have all the modes of all parent scales written down, but I definitely need to spend more time exploring them! Hungarian Minor is another I use from time-to-time (from the DHM scale), but will check out the ones you mention👍
You are truly a gifted teacher! You explain thing so we’ll and it makes sense! I’ve been playing for almost 2 years now and I’ve learned so much from your videos. I run your playlist on automatic while I’m cleaning my home and always learn something new just from listening.Thank you so much for sharing your expertise! Sending warm greetings from Miami.
Fusion. Rock. Hip-hop. Yes used extensively in Flamenco music. I was thinking of the "Mask of Zorro" theme song as well. Nice songwriting to the author.
Flamenco portion on Queen's "Innuendo" features Steve Howe of Yes on flamenco guitar. Of course, when the flamenco melody is recapitulated in the hard-rock section afterwards, Brian May is playing lead guitar that time.
Finally someone pointed out the difference in the tonic in the use of the andalucian cadence in Flamenco vs other styles! Thank you David, excellent as always!
Before I knew anything about how music works, I always associated Miserlou, White Rabbit, and Pyramid Song in my mind as being somehow similar or connected but for the life of me I could never have explained why. Now thanks to you I have an intellectual understanding of what my intuition was telling me!
I think any scale with the pattern H*H (H = half step * = bigger step) sounds “eastern” when played in an ascending fashion. Phrygian, Phrygian Major, and Double Harmonic Major all share that pattern when moving up the scale. You can also get the same feel with a natural 2, flat 3, and sharp 4 . The pattern is simply shifted up.
These videos help me appreciate and experience music that's been around me my whole life. Thanks for giving me a small taste of seeing music as musicians do. I feel like Dorothy opening the door and seeing a new world in technicolor.
46 & 2, White Rabbit, Miserlou, Hava Nagila I love all these songs despite any of them being in a genre I really appreciate, I now understand why, I also think that is why I love system of a down, I'm sure they used phrygian dominant scale in some of their song or a similar scale. I like to improvise some really basic flamenco on the guitar and I naturaly started playing on the same notes (with few changes) as miserlou, I know understand better why it works so well. Thank you for this video
I always look forward to the ending of your videos like these when you put together something you've composed to demonstrate the sound. This one was a nice combination of relaxing and haunting!
@@JoriDiculous yes, “The Gates of Babylon” is a bit more straightforward of an example, but the guitar solo and many other sections of “Stargazer” are excellent demonstrations of what Phrygian Dominant can do for a song.
The Phrygian Major Dominant scale is known as 'Freygish scale' in Klezmer music. You also hear that in Flamenco music too. 6:39 - 'Double Harmonic Scale' is a mode of the Hungarian Minor Scale, aka 'Egyptian Minor Scale', or 'Gypsy Run', which can bee seen s a harmonic minor w/ a raised 4th degree. Likewise, the Hungarian minor/ Egyptian minor/Gypsy minor scale, also exists in Arabic music, it is the same as the 'Nawa Athar' Maqam, and it also exists in South Asian and Romany music, under different names.
Lightbulb moment at 7:05, modes can exist from any starting scale, meaning that the modes we are most used to are just the modes of the major scale, and we can have modes of a harmonic minor scale and other scales! Thanks David :)
Any heptatonic scale has seven modes, and each of them is equally a relative mode of each of the other six. This stuff would make more sense to people if we reserved the word “scale” purely to denote a particular pattern of intervals, extending infinitely in both directions, with no particular starting or ending point, and no particular note designated as the tonic, and used “mode” to describe each of the various tonalities that the scale can assume depending on which of its notes our brain tonicizes. What typically gets misleadingly called “the major scale” (despite the fact it isn’t even the only mode of its own scale with a major sounding tonality) would instead be more accurately called “the diatonic scale, perceived in the Ionian mode”
Phrygian dominant is one of my favorite scales due to features like the contrast between the major tonic chord and the darkness associated with phrygian, as well as the interplay between I, bII and v°. Glad to see it featured. 😊
A great deal of Jewish liturgy and klezmer music is written in this scale (Avinu Malkeinu for example), especially in the Ashkenazi tradition. It is sometimes referred to as the Jewish Scale.
Damn David, where have you been all my life? I wish I learned all this while studying music 25 years ago, everything would've made so much more sense to me ! Thank you again for connecting the dots for me, finally!
Regarding Pyaramid Song, my pet theory is that it's called like that because its rhythm is 3-3-4-3-3, which is also the number of edges of each face of a pyramid (every side has 3 faces and the base is a square with 4 faces)
08:50 interesting how this relates to I Will Survive chord progression, specifically every other chord Am Dm G C F B7 E(sus4) E (call, response - call, response - call, questioning response? - suspended-wait-for-it then resolution)
@@DavidBennettPiano Seriously speaking, the way you talk about modes is just great, it suites both us who are already familiar with them (and works as a nice recap or shows more examples, sometimes unobvious) and those who are completely new to music theory. Thank you so much!
Your knowledge and ability to portray in an understanding manor is incredible. I have learnt alot for your videos and finally found out what my favourite scale of music is. Amazing channel great guy keep it up ❤
Another excellent video from a great channel! I was hoping you would mention "Come Out and Play" by the Offspring - I can't hear this scale without immediately thinking of that song.
I love the tension this mode gives because it almost wants to resolve on the equivalent harmonic minor's tonic. Personally I opt for double harmonic, but I find it interesting to flow between phrygian, phrygian dominant, and double harmonic.
Hava Nagila is actually a great example. By the way, for lyrical transcriptions the sort of raspy "h" sound should be written as "ch". It's a distinct sound in Hebrew
@@yeasstt No problems. The word for 'proof' in Hebrew is hokhakha,, with ה, כ and ח. If you don't manage to pronounce it, at least you'll your clear throat.
To conclude my Music graduation, I had to write a paper about a Arvo Pärt’s song called L’Abbé Agathon. At the end of the song, the soprano sings an odd musical phrase based on a scale that I couldn’t exactly describe. Now I know what it is. Can I go back 6 years in my life?
“The Man who stole the world” by David Bowie arguably begins, and frequently returns to, Phrygian dominant. That section moves between A7 and Dm, and (as is often the case) it’s somewhat ambiguous whether we’re in A Phrygian dominant or D harmonic minor (because, as always, it’s really both, or either)
As a self taught guitar player...this is pure gold. I always knew that the major scale had different "positions" up and down the neck of the guitar. In other words, I really had a great grasp of Ionian as a mode but learning how to actually APPLY the other modes is so refreshing now.
Only in the past several months have I (finally) reached a point on piano where I can experiment with exotic harmonies and it clicks. I've seen the Phrygian dominant scale before, but you showed some really interesting examples of how to build chord progressions from it. This will keep me busy for a while.
I love this mode - it’s so bold and urgent sounding. I actually am mixing a song right now called “Ruined Everything” that has an intro in G# Phrygian dominant (the song as a whole is mostly in G# phrygian). It really helps create that intense and dark atmosphere without reeling in melancholy in the process. Also, a fun fact - in terms of number of major and minor intervals, Phrygian dominant is unique in that it is the only major scale composed otherwise entirely (that is, bar the 3rd) of minor and perfect intervals: m2, m6, m7, then P4, P5, and the lone M3. Phrygian minor has four minor intervals with its m3, and Aeolian minor has three minor intervals (m3, m6, m7), but it also has a M2 which creates so much of the melancholic effect alongside them in that scale. It’s like Phrygian minor is darkness tonicized (unlike Locrian, which is very hard to tonicize and has the same intervals bar the unstable b5), and Phrygian dominant is just an acoustic or major atmosphere coupled with a maximally dark fog of minor surrounding its tonic. Aeolian dominant is not the same in darkness as it carries that melancholic nat 2 & b6, but Phrygian dominant sounds just so intense in its own way, thanks to the Phrygian urgency and boldness of the major tonic. Also, it was an amusingly common scale in the 2000s with certain rap & R&B styles :) Hence “Beautiful Liar”… There was this one producer whose name escapes me who used it all the time, he produced “Baby Boy” by Beyoncé and Sean Paul, and some other hits too. Thank you for the video David!
I never thought of taking one of the other Minor scales, and treating them modally the same way we do with Major scale etc. Modes on other minor scales is brilliant, and ill be investigating those after this video. I thank you immensely.
Lots of metal uses Phyrigian Dominant or related scales. "Sails of Charon" by Scorpions is a good example. Also "Caravan" by Duke Ellington and Juan Tizol.
Great video, thanks a lot! A nice 'Playbook' to study different modes might be the new King Gizzard LP called 'Ice, death, planets, lungs, mushrooms and lava', where they explore (as the first letter of the words in the title suggests) different modes on different tracks.
I am using phrygian dominant and harmonic minor a lot. It's my second nature when I am playing... On the other hand I always wanted to know the theoretical background of it. Wonderful explanation! Thank you!
Play a dominant 7 chord with the minor 7th remaining static, and the three other notes - the notes of the basic major triad - each in turn doing a little semi-tonal wiggle one place to the right, and you’re in Phrygian dominant. You can do the Phrygian Dominant Wiggle on virtually any major chord in a chord sequence, regardless of its function, assuming it’s in a context in which sticking a minor 7th in it works (and unless there’s a major seventh or a sixth happening somewhere, you’re allergic to even really mild dissonance, you hate anything bluesy, or you’re right at the end of a song and you want complete, restful resolution, that’s pretty much always), and it’ll sound cooler.
Hey man, I really love your videos! They are education and entertainment at the same time. So good! Furthermore they inspire me to discover new music. Very refreshing :) Thank you so much!
This is a scale that is used by many metal bands. Powerslave by Iron Maiden, the Siren by Nightwish, March of Mephiso by Kamelot, and much of Nile's discography are a few examples.
I love these videos on the alternate modes, they're really great, great work! Would it be possible if you did another brightness-darkness video like you did on the normal modes but for the alternate ones please?
The word 'exotic' comes up a lot here, with all its awkward connotations, but seems perfectly appropriate here. Those of us who grew up around major and minor scales find other tonalities, particularly when not built on modes of those scales, to be exotic. Do people who grow up with Arabic or Flamenco music around them, in the home or on the radio, who presumably don't find those to be exotic, also find songs like the Pyramid song less exotic than other Radiohead songs? Do Western pop songs built on PD or other common Arabic scales/maqams ever find popularity in the Arab world, or do they pass unnoticed? Do they even sound watered down? Anyone here who grew up with Arabic music able to share their impression of White Rabbit or the Pyramid Song in terms of its exotic feel or lack of it?
As someone who is half arabic and half french, the "occidental" scales dont sound exotic at all, but the double harmonic scale and the phrygian dominant scale sound like the most consonant scales to me. I found the regular minor and major scales to be quite counterintuitive when i first learned them. Also, the regular phrygian mode sounds very occidental to me. Hope this helps ! It would be cool to have the opinion of someone who is 100% arabic tho
i am southern american, yet half of my family is spanish and they usually dance flamenco and other styles in family reunions, so to me at least it doesn't sound that exotic, in fact to me it's very consonant, yet it does feel very flamenco-ish sometimes
There's a quick flamenco sounding section in Holy Wars...The Punishment Due my Megadeth at 2:16 that sounds just like this mode to me. Could be wrong, but it sounds really close for sure.
The best example of this mode I know is "The Last Stop" by the Dave Matthews Band. The riff really emphasizes the jump between the 2nd and 3rd notes (its in F# Phrygian Dominant, so its the G to A# jump) It gives a really exotic middle eastern feel...
Hi David, Great video, again! FYI: In the world of electronic dance-music, there is a whole genre where most of the songs are using a phrygian dominant mode: Goa-trance / Psy-trance. Check out mixes by Tobias Bassline or songs by Mindscape for more :) really interesting to see how this is sooo different from electronic dance music / house or techno just because of its different scale/mode. Also, check out Ozric Tentacles for more examples of these scales. Great for polyrhythms too :)
Ooh, exciting to see Ozric Tentacles mentioned in the replies - I've just started listening to them recently and am loving their music! Do you have any particular recommendations for good songs of theirs that use unusual modes?
Another example of switching between Phrygian dominant and harmonic minor is Jewish Wedding Dance by The Jewish Starlight Orchestra. That song is mainly in A Phrygian dominant, but sometimes treats D minor as the tonic, making those sections in D harmonic minor. I wonder if treating the note a perfect 4th away from the tonic as the tonic in some sections is common in Jewish music.
I always see Thom Yorke or Radiohead in your videos, you've mentioned they're basically your favorite band. If I were as knowledgeable in music as you are I would want to put Dave Matthews Band songs in every video I could! Edit: Speaking of, I believe one of their new songs, Madman's Eyes (which they only play live so far), is actually in this mode too. Minarets too.
As much as I love Phrygian Dominant, I wish people would explore other modes of the Harmonic Minor. I feel like it's the only one I ever hear. I want to hear more music in Ukranian Dorian or Lydian #9.
I'm actually impressed you manage to talk about the Andalusian cadence without mentioning "In the Year 2525" by Zager and Evans... The urge must have been excruciating! XD
Thanks for this lesson. Age had erased "phrygian dominant" from my memory. I still played with it, I just kept calling it "umm it's some altered V chord thing, kinda half diminished. I forget." Now I know.
There's almost a sense of melancholy achieved by using this scale. It's spicy and exotic and, at times, can even be erotic, but also calming, whistful, and comforting. I've been improvising over a drone with this scale, swapping between the double harmonic minor and Phrygian dominant scale. It almost always ends depressingly, sometimes even with a Picardy third; fascinating when multiple topics within music theory come together to surprise and delight our eardrums.
I always thought this was the "Hollywood shlock Egyptian" scale. You know like in the 1960s Batman series with Adam West, whenever super-villain King Tut appeared, they played a little tune in this scale. Also, Jewish Klezmer music uses it quite a bit. Actually, the ending David Bennett composition sounds like Chopin doing a little Klezmer.
Some examples of the “bright but dark” qualities of Phrygian Dominant from video games are the Mario Desert themes, and the Warp Zone theme from Super Mario Bros 3. This is because, while the desert themes sound dark, the warp zone theme sounds bright despite being composed in the same scale as the New Super Mario Bros Wii desert theme for example.
There's a similar modal relationship between minor and phrygian (non-dominant). Makes for some interesting sounds when you can basically mix all four together. "Spanish Nights" by Blackmore's Night is another song that switches between E phrygian and A minor 👍
Bolt Thrower - The IVth Crusade does too. Either that or Double Harmonic Minor, I'm not sure. The first riff doesn't give you enough info, but it definitely uses the flat 2nd and major 3rd.
JCA 111, Interesting thing about that was it kind of just happened. Howe was recording in Geneva and came to Montreaux to have lunch. Howe bumped into Martin Groves, Queen's equipment manager. Groves previously held that position with Yes. Groves knowing that Howe was friends with band, especially Freddie Mercury told him he ought to come by the studio as Queen was currently recording. The band played Howe some of the recorded material, including Innuendo. Mercury suggested that Howe should do some sort of flamenco style guitar solo on the track. Howe, initially demurred, but Mercury, Brian May and Roger Taylor eventually persuaded him to play. And as they say, the rest is history. Great solo on one Queen's greatest songs. Mercury was in great form on that song, which is remarkable considering he was not well.
Click the link to start your 7-day free trial and get 25% off a premium membership of Blinkist: blinkist.com/davidpiano 📖🎧
Hello David. How are you doing today
@@bourbon2242 I'm doing well! How are you?
@@DavidBennettPiano I’m good, thanks. You’re one of the few RUclipsrs whose videos I drop everything to watch. Keep it up!
@@bourbon2242 Thanks!!
@@DavidBennettPiano Oh! I just noticed that you recently hit 700K subscribers!! Congrats!!
Since learning modes of other parent scales such as from Harmonic Minor or Double Harmonic Major, this has massively opened up interesting, creative options for my writing. I write in Phrygian Dominant quite a lot as it's a very cool mode! Definitely recommend this if you're stuck in a writing rut.
I wish people would explore other modes of the Harmonic Minor. I love Phrygian Dominant, but I feel like it's the only mode I ever hear from the Harmonic Minor. I want to hear more music in Ukranian Dorian or Lydian #9.
Have you ever tried modes of the Melodic Minor? Those can be really bizarre and interesting too.
@@rome8180 I have all the modes of all parent scales written down, but I definitely need to spend more time exploring them! Hungarian Minor is another I use from time-to-time (from the DHM scale), but will check out the ones you mention👍
You are truly a gifted teacher! You explain thing so we’ll and it makes sense! I’ve been playing for almost 2 years now and I’ve learned so much from your videos. I run your playlist on automatic while I’m cleaning my home and always learn something new just from listening.Thank you so much for sharing your expertise! Sending warm greetings from Miami.
Fusion. Rock. Hip-hop. Yes used extensively in Flamenco music. I was thinking of the "Mask of Zorro" theme song as well. Nice songwriting to the author.
7:10 that is the best definition of modes ever. Tutors tend to over complicate. Thank you. Simply Moving the center of Gravity
Flamenco portion on Queen's "Innuendo" features Steve Howe of Yes on flamenco guitar. Of course, when the flamenco melody is recapitulated in the hard-rock section afterwards, Brian May is playing lead guitar that time.
Finally someone pointed out the difference in the tonic in the use of the andalucian cadence in Flamenco vs other styles! Thank you David, excellent as always!
Wonderful as always... these 'song examples of a mode' videos are so great: thank you
😊😊😊😊😊😊😊😊
Before I knew anything about how music works, I always associated Miserlou, White Rabbit, and Pyramid Song in my mind as being somehow similar or connected but for the life of me I could never have explained why. Now thanks to you I have an intellectual understanding of what my intuition was telling me!
“Misirlou” is interesting because it actually uses the lower leading tone (maj 7) as well as the upper one (b2)!
I think any scale with the pattern H*H (H = half step * = bigger step) sounds “eastern” when played in an ascending fashion. Phrygian, Phrygian Major, and Double Harmonic Major all share that pattern when moving up the scale. You can also get the same feel with a natural 2, flat 3, and sharp 4 . The pattern is simply shifted up.
These videos help me appreciate and experience music that's been around me my whole life. Thanks for giving me a small taste of seeing music as musicians do. I feel like Dorothy opening the door and seeing a new world in technicolor.
46 & 2, White Rabbit, Miserlou, Hava Nagila I love all these songs despite any of them being in a genre I really appreciate, I now understand why, I also think that is why I love system of a down, I'm sure they used phrygian dominant scale in some of their song or a similar scale.
I like to improvise some really basic flamenco on the guitar and I naturaly started playing on the same notes (with few changes) as miserlou, I know understand better why it works so well.
Thank you for this video
I always look forward to the ending of your videos like these when you put together something you've composed to demonstrate the sound. This one was a nice combination of relaxing and haunting!
It sounds alot like a Eric Satie composition I think David should give him a little credit
“Stargazer” by Rainbow - one of the best examples of the Phrygian Dominant mode and one of the best rock songs of all time.
Gates of Babylon is a better example.
Ritchie Blackmore may have done more for the Phrygian Dominant mode than any other composer ever before him.
@@JoriDiculous yes, “The Gates of Babylon” is a bit more straightforward of an example, but the guitar solo and many other sections of “Stargazer” are excellent demonstrations of what Phrygian Dominant can do for a song.
And whoever is interested in an in depth analysis of Gates of Babylon, Doug Helvering just put out a video on it yesterday. Highly recommended.
@@EddieReischl I wondered why that sound was so distinctive. Thanks.
This is absolutely my favorite RUclips channel. Thank you for all your amazing videos, David!
The Phrygian Major Dominant scale is known as 'Freygish scale' in Klezmer music. You also hear that in Flamenco music too. 6:39 - 'Double Harmonic Scale' is a mode of the Hungarian Minor Scale, aka 'Egyptian Minor Scale', or 'Gypsy Run', which can bee seen s a harmonic minor w/ a raised 4th degree. Likewise, the Hungarian minor/ Egyptian minor/Gypsy minor scale, also exists in Arabic music, it is the same as the 'Nawa Athar' Maqam, and it also exists in South Asian and Romany music, under different names.
Lightbulb moment at 7:05, modes can exist from any starting scale, meaning that the modes we are most used to are just the modes of the major scale, and we can have modes of a harmonic minor scale and other scales! Thanks David :)
Any heptatonic scale has seven modes, and each of them is equally a relative mode of each of the other six. This stuff would make more sense to people if we reserved the word “scale” purely to denote a particular pattern of intervals, extending infinitely in both directions, with no particular starting or ending point, and no particular note designated as the tonic, and used “mode” to describe each of the various tonalities that the scale can assume depending on which of its notes our brain tonicizes. What typically gets misleadingly called “the major scale” (despite the fact it isn’t even the only mode of its own scale with a major sounding tonality) would instead be more accurately called “the diatonic scale, perceived in the Ionian mode”
Phrygian dominant is one of my favorite scales due to features like the contrast between the major tonic chord and the darkness associated with phrygian, as well as the interplay between I, bII and v°. Glad to see it featured. 😊
I'm glad I caught this within 24 hours of the release. This is awesome. Great scale. Thank you, David. Keep this up. Love all your videos I've seen.
The outro is superb, Didn't know you wrote so well, but it's not surprising.
A great deal of Jewish liturgy and klezmer music is written in this scale (Avinu Malkeinu for example), especially in the Ashkenazi tradition. It is sometimes referred to as the Jewish Scale.
Damn David, where have you been all my life?
I wish I learned all this while studying music 25 years ago, everything would've made so much more sense to me !
Thank you again for connecting the dots for me, finally!
Regarding Pyaramid Song, my pet theory is that it's called like that because its rhythm is 3-3-4-3-3, which is also the number of edges of each face of a pyramid (every side has 3 faces and the base is a square with 4 faces)
08:50 interesting how this relates to I Will Survive chord progression, specifically every other chord
Am Dm G C F B7 E(sus4) E
(call, response - call, response - call, questioning response? - suspended-wait-for-it then resolution)
Muse: check! Radiohead: check! Queen: check
😃😃
@@DavidBennettPiano Seriously speaking, the way you talk about modes is just great, it suites both us who are already familiar with them (and works as a nice recap or shows more examples, sometimes unobvious) and those who are completely new to music theory. Thank you so much!
Your knowledge and ability to portray in an understanding manor is incredible. I have learnt alot for your videos and finally found out what my favourite scale of music is. Amazing channel great guy keep it up ❤
Alanis Morissette's Uninvited has a verse in D phrygian dominant and a chorus in D mixolydian.
Another excellent video from a great channel! I was hoping you would mention "Come Out and Play" by the Offspring - I can't hear this scale without immediately thinking of that song.
Also the first part of Pay the man is in this mode
Yes! Just heard that song recently and came back here.
I was just telling my wife that there aren't enough Phrygian Dominant vids out there.
Pillow talk, eh?
I love the tension this mode gives because it almost wants to resolve on the equivalent harmonic minor's tonic. Personally I opt for double harmonic, but I find it interesting to flow between phrygian, phrygian dominant, and double harmonic.
We use this scale a lot in traditional Jewish music! It's a lot of fun to improvise with
Hava Nagila is actually a great example. By the way, for lyrical transcriptions the sort of raspy "h" sound should be written as "ch". It's a distinct sound in Hebrew
@@yeasstt Not in this case. You're confusing ה and ח.
@@danielguy3581 ah, my bad. It's been years since I've had to read hebrew. I tend to forget which is which
@@yeasstt No problems. The word for 'proof' in Hebrew is hokhakha,, with ה, כ and ח. If you don't manage to pronounce it, at least you'll your clear throat.
Your piece at the end is gorgeous
You are such a great teacher, David, and love your composition at the end - really beautiful.
One of the coolest modes ever. An absolute maximalist scale when you want to prove more is more.
To conclude my Music graduation, I had to write a paper about a Arvo Pärt’s song called L’Abbé Agathon. At the end of the song, the soprano sings an odd musical phrase based on a scale that I couldn’t exactly describe. Now I know what it is. Can I go back 6 years in my life?
I'd love if you did more analysis of traditional Jewish melodies. They're incredibly old and interesting. Look into Kol Nidre or other prayers.
Phrygian dominant is also known as "di fraygishe shtayger" (literally: the phrygian ladder/scale) in Yiddish
They’re mostly using the Ukranian dorian, fourth mode of harmonic minor
@@bamsuth9650 racism moment
@@tfwnoyandere speaking facts
@@bamsuth9650 you are being racist you troglodyte
Very interesting segment, David. Will have to delve into the history books to learn how this scale became the basis of Middle Eastern music. Thanks!
“The Man who stole the world” by David Bowie arguably begins, and frequently returns to, Phrygian dominant. That section moves between A7 and Dm, and (as is often the case) it’s somewhat ambiguous whether we’re in A Phrygian dominant or D harmonic minor (because, as always, it’s really both, or either)
As a self taught guitar player...this is pure gold. I always knew that the major scale had different "positions" up and down the neck of the guitar. In other words, I really had a great grasp of Ionian as a mode but learning how to actually APPLY the other modes is so refreshing now.
Best original melody I think you've done so far!
Only in the past several months have I (finally) reached a point on piano where I can experiment with exotic harmonies and it clicks. I've seen the Phrygian dominant scale before, but you showed some really interesting examples of how to build chord progressions from it. This will keep me busy for a while.
I stumbled across this scale while noodling about on my synth, and found improvising in it to be loads of fun. Just like with various blues scales.
I love this mode - it’s so bold and urgent sounding. I actually am mixing a song right now called “Ruined Everything” that has an intro in G# Phrygian dominant (the song as a whole is mostly in G# phrygian). It really helps create that intense and dark atmosphere without reeling in melancholy in the process.
Also, a fun fact - in terms of number of major and minor intervals, Phrygian dominant is unique in that it is the only major scale composed otherwise entirely (that is, bar the 3rd) of minor and perfect intervals: m2, m6, m7, then P4, P5, and the lone M3. Phrygian minor has four minor intervals with its m3, and Aeolian minor has three minor intervals (m3, m6, m7), but it also has a M2 which creates so much of the melancholic effect alongside them in that scale.
It’s like Phrygian minor is darkness tonicized (unlike Locrian, which is very hard to tonicize and has the same intervals bar the unstable b5), and Phrygian dominant is just an acoustic or major atmosphere coupled with a maximally dark fog of minor surrounding its tonic. Aeolian dominant is not the same in darkness as it carries that melancholic nat 2 & b6, but Phrygian dominant sounds just so intense in its own way, thanks to the Phrygian urgency and boldness of the major tonic.
Also, it was an amusingly common scale in the 2000s with certain rap & R&B styles :) Hence “Beautiful Liar”… There was this one producer whose name escapes me who used it all the time, he produced “Baby Boy” by Beyoncé and Sean Paul, and some other hits too.
Thank you for the video David!
Scott Storch :) He produced “Naughty Girl” too!
I never thought of taking one of the other Minor scales, and treating them modally the same way we do with Major scale etc. Modes on other minor scales is brilliant, and ill be investigating those after this video. I thank you immensely.
Mr Malmsteen loved your video and concur. The Phrygian dominant mode is like air : you can't live without it. So beautiful and mysterious.
Joe Satriani also approves.
Great video on this! More in depth than other ones I've used as research. Thank you!
Lots of metal uses Phyrigian Dominant or related scales. "Sails of Charon" by Scorpions is a good example.
Also "Caravan" by Duke Ellington and Juan Tizol.
Thanks for your videos which are really educational, and much appreciated.
Great video, thanks a lot! A nice 'Playbook' to study different modes might be the new King Gizzard LP called 'Ice, death, planets, lungs, mushrooms and lava', where they explore (as the first letter of the words in the title suggests) different modes on different tracks.
I am using phrygian dominant and harmonic minor a lot. It's my second nature when I am playing... On the other hand I always wanted to know the theoretical background of it. Wonderful explanation! Thank you!
Play a dominant 7 chord with the minor 7th remaining static, and the three other notes - the notes of the basic major triad - each in turn doing a little semi-tonal wiggle one place to the right, and you’re in Phrygian dominant. You can do the Phrygian Dominant Wiggle on virtually any major chord in a chord sequence, regardless of its function, assuming it’s in a context in which sticking a minor 7th in it works (and unless there’s a major seventh or a sixth happening somewhere, you’re allergic to even really mild dissonance, you hate anything bluesy, or you’re right at the end of a song and you want complete, restful resolution, that’s pretty much always), and it’ll sound cooler.
I really like your composition. Beautiful chord progression!
Hey man, I really love your videos! They are education and entertainment at the same time. So good! Furthermore they inspire me to discover new music. Very refreshing :) Thank you so much!
Thank you! People always told me that this is the double enharmonic scale but I knew it wasn't, I just didn't know the actual name until your video!
i'd say that a good chunk of the score for Dune (2021) would be in phrygian dominant, and it sounds SO EPIC
This is a scale that is used by many metal bands. Powerslave by Iron Maiden, the Siren by Nightwish, March of Mephiso by Kamelot, and much of Nile's discography are a few examples.
Yeah I was wondering if Powerslave was going to get a mention.
Plus 1 for mentioning Nile.
I was left wondering how he forgot the most iconic song using phrygian dominant (Powerslave)
So many kpop songs now as well use phrygian dominant
Have to say, I didn't want your outro composition to end!
I love these videos on the alternate modes, they're really great, great work! Would it be possible if you did another brightness-darkness video like you did on the normal modes but for the alternate ones please?
The word 'exotic' comes up a lot here, with all its awkward connotations, but seems perfectly appropriate here. Those of us who grew up around major and minor scales find other tonalities, particularly when not built on modes of those scales, to be exotic. Do people who grow up with Arabic or Flamenco music around them, in the home or on the radio, who presumably don't find those to be exotic, also find songs like the Pyramid song less exotic than other Radiohead songs? Do Western pop songs built on PD or other common Arabic scales/maqams ever find popularity in the Arab world, or do they pass unnoticed? Do they even sound watered down? Anyone here who grew up with Arabic music able to share their impression of White Rabbit or the Pyramid Song in terms of its exotic feel or lack of it?
You raise some interesting points that deserve more attention. Let's hope you have informed answers to your questions.
@@justme1492 Agreed. Would love to hear some answers to these questions. @davidbennettpiano :)
Interesting thoughts David!
As someone who is half arabic and half french, the "occidental" scales dont sound exotic at all, but the double harmonic scale and the phrygian dominant scale sound like the most consonant scales to me. I found the regular minor and major scales to be quite counterintuitive when i first learned them. Also, the regular phrygian mode sounds very occidental to me. Hope this helps ! It would be cool to have the opinion of someone who is 100% arabic tho
i am southern american, yet half of my family is spanish and they usually dance flamenco and other styles in family reunions, so to me at least it doesn't sound that exotic, in fact to me it's very consonant, yet it does feel very flamenco-ish sometimes
There's a quick flamenco sounding section in Holy Wars...The Punishment Due my Megadeth at 2:16 that sounds just like this mode to me. Could be wrong, but it sounds really close for sure.
The best example of this mode I know is "The Last Stop" by the Dave Matthews Band. The riff really emphasizes the jump between the 2nd and 3rd notes (its in F# Phrygian Dominant, so its the G to A# jump) It gives a really exotic middle eastern feel...
Loved learning about this. Thank you!
Hi David,
Great video, again! FYI: In the world of electronic dance-music, there is a whole genre where most of the songs are using a phrygian dominant mode: Goa-trance / Psy-trance. Check out mixes by Tobias Bassline or songs by Mindscape for more :) really interesting to see how this is sooo different from electronic dance music / house or techno just because of its different scale/mode.
Also, check out Ozric Tentacles for more examples of these scales. Great for polyrhythms too :)
Ooh, exciting to see Ozric Tentacles mentioned in the replies - I've just started listening to them recently and am loving their music! Do you have any particular recommendations for good songs of theirs that use unusual modes?
Analyse is one of my favourite songs. Thanks for explaining to me now why it is so daunting
Another example of switching between Phrygian dominant and harmonic minor is Jewish Wedding Dance by The Jewish Starlight Orchestra. That song is mainly in A Phrygian dominant, but sometimes treats D minor as the tonic, making those sections in D harmonic minor. I wonder if treating the note a perfect 4th away from the tonic as the tonic in some sections is common in Jewish music.
Fantastic as always!! Thank you for such a great lesson with so many cool examples and concise explanation. Much love from Maine
Really enjoying your videos, thanks. Love your composition on this one.
Omg David are you sure you're all right ? That's the first video in ages without any Radiohead nor Beatles references !!
It’s all good, Pyramid Song appears at 4:01
Very clear and precise with excellent timed graphics
White Rabbit, Innuendo, Muse, it’s crazy how many of my favourite artists/songs use this
9:53 omg THANK YOU
I love your composition at the end.
I always see Thom Yorke or Radiohead in your videos, you've mentioned they're basically your favorite band. If I were as knowledgeable in music as you are I would want to put Dave Matthews Band songs in every video I could!
Edit: Speaking of, I believe one of their new songs, Madman's Eyes (which they only play live so far), is actually in this mode too. Minarets too.
As much as I love Phrygian Dominant, I wish people would explore other modes of the Harmonic Minor. I feel like it's the only one I ever hear. I want to hear more music in Ukranian Dorian or Lydian #9.
Perfect vídeo! Beautiful music in the end! 😊
Congrats to the only person who's ever made me understand a lick of theory and enjoy doing it. Nostrovia
Joe Satriani’s ‘Surfing With the Alien’ uses the Phrygian Dominant mode in the solo section:
C# Phrygian Dom / D# Phrygian Dom / F Phrygian Dom 😎🎸
Really enjoyed your composition at the end of the video.
I'm actually impressed you manage to talk about the Andalusian cadence without mentioning "In the Year 2525" by Zager and Evans... The urge must have been excruciating! XD
Wow great lesson! And awesome piece at the end!
Most beautiful your composition at the end.
Thanks for this lesson. Age had erased "phrygian dominant" from my memory. I still played with it, I just kept calling it "umm it's some altered V chord thing, kinda half diminished. I forget."
Now I know.
That's a mix of Satie and Delibes, and you of course. Lovely and inspiring in the wings of Debussy.
There's almost a sense of melancholy achieved by using this scale. It's spicy and exotic and, at times, can even be erotic, but also calming, whistful, and comforting. I've been improvising over a drone with this scale, swapping between the double harmonic minor and Phrygian dominant scale. It almost always ends depressingly, sometimes even with a Picardy third; fascinating when multiple topics within music theory come together to surprise and delight our eardrums.
I always thought this was the "Hollywood shlock Egyptian" scale. You know like in the 1960s Batman series with Adam West, whenever super-villain King Tut appeared, they played a little tune in this scale. Also, Jewish Klezmer music uses it quite a bit. Actually, the ending David Bennett composition sounds like Chopin doing a little Klezmer.
Some examples of the “bright but dark” qualities of Phrygian Dominant from video games are the Mario Desert themes, and the Warp Zone theme from Super Mario Bros 3. This is because, while the desert themes sound dark, the warp zone theme sounds bright despite being composed in the same scale as the New Super Mario Bros Wii desert theme for example.
so helpful! thanks David!
Beautiful mode of music.
I love the vibe of this mode
Wonderful composition of yours!
Awesome ..nice reminders all the way through.
Love these videos, please do more exotic modes
The verses in Preslava-Oshte ti puka(which uses F# minor) are in the C# key
I was waiting for this
There's a similar modal relationship between minor and phrygian (non-dominant). Makes for some interesting sounds when you can basically mix all four together. "Spanish Nights" by Blackmore's Night is another song that switches between E phrygian and A minor 👍
Nice composition Dave
Also for my fellow Extreme Metal fans, Nile use Phyrgian Dominant all the time to match their Egyptian and Middle Eastern lyrics and imagery
Bolt Thrower - The IVth Crusade does too. Either that or Double Harmonic Minor, I'm not sure. The first riff doesn't give you enough info, but it definitely uses the flat 2nd and major 3rd.
@@BlazinLow305 yeah that's true. We cant really know beacuse they don't play the seventh note at all
Dimmu Borgir - Blessings Upon the Throne of Tyranny switches between Phrygian and Phrygian Dominant
Thanks for the good info.
I always call mixolydian flat6 "the emo scale" which means phrygian dominant is "pyramid emo"
You have Dr Brian May in the thumbnail.... But the flamenco example used on Innuendo was played by Steve Howe from Yes
JCA 111,
Interesting thing about that was it kind of just happened. Howe was recording in Geneva and came to Montreaux to have lunch. Howe bumped into Martin Groves, Queen's equipment manager. Groves previously held that position with Yes.
Groves knowing that Howe was friends with band, especially Freddie Mercury told him he ought to come by the studio as Queen was currently recording. The band played Howe some of the recorded material, including Innuendo. Mercury suggested that Howe should do some sort of flamenco style guitar solo on the track.
Howe, initially demurred, but Mercury, Brian May and Roger Taylor eventually persuaded him to play. And as they say, the rest is history. Great solo on one Queen's greatest songs. Mercury was in great form on that song, which is remarkable considering he was not well.