Phrygian Dominant mode

Phrygian Dominant is a very common mode, but one that’s often under-explained to beginners. It has a sound closely related to Arabic Hijaz and Turkish Hicaz, but with Western equal temperament tuning. You’ll hear it in genres like:

• Metal
• Industrial rock
• Surf rock
• Eastern European / Arabic traditional music
• Hip Hop
• Pop

It’s very versatile - it projects a lot of power, and can also be very lush. It’s easy to use. In fact, it’s so versatile that I’d say Phrygian Dominant is the #1 underrated mode for musicians just starting to make their own music.

Phrygian Dominant doesn’t tend to have especially long chord progressions. Instead, you tend to see short loops (“vamps”). Most of what you need to understand is just these two vamps:

• I7–♭IImaj7
• I7–♭vii7

A note on seventh chords

Site-wide, chords are written as seventh chords even when a recording plays triads — Getting ready explains why. For Phrygian Dominant specifically:

• The I is always a I7. The I chord naturally implies a ♭7; if you solo over it, you hit that ♭7. How much of that crunch actually gets played is a voicing choice — you’ll see I7 more in jazz and the I triad more in EDM.
• The ♭II is always a ♭IImaj7. Its major 7 is the scale’s root — the most implied note possible. Same with ♭vii7.

There are a couple of interesting exceptions where the triad and the seventh chord have a noticeably different character, and it’s clearer and more correct to notate the triad. I’ll note those individually.