The final two modes - Phrygian and Locrian

Up until now I've been treating each mode on it's own. I've done so because each of the modes I've treated 'till now have been quite different to one another in terms of their steps, sound and application. I have chosen to write about the Phrygian and Locrian modes together only because each contains a flattened second, which sets them apart from the others and also gives them a sort of 'exotic' sound when played. 


Here, again, is the C Ionian (major scale)

In order to change the Ionian to the Phygian mode, one flattens the second, third, sixth and seventh degrees of the Ionian, and so in the case of C, one plays the notes

What one gets when one uses this mode is an exotic sounding minor scale. Below this is a tab of the scale played up near the nut. 

The Locrian mode is the same but for one note difference. In the case of the Locrian mode, the 5th degree is flattened as well. This tailors the scale to work well over diminished chords as well as minor7flat5's and so forth.

I am tabbing out in the first position for one octave from C to C. The C Locrian contains no open strings if the guitars in standard tuning.

 Bootiful. 


By now, so long as you've had a look at all of the other articles on modal playing that I've published, you should be well able to figure out how to apply these modes all over the neck of your guitar, so this time round, I am not going to provide tabs for them in all positions. Instead I'm going to leave it up to the interested reader to do so. 


In the future, I will be posting licks and fingering exercises that will draw on one's knowledge of modes and modal playing. I found it easy to learn the modes in the order that I have written about them in my blog. Perhaps you will too. I've seen people demonstrating them in other ways, but I found them generally confusing. I will write about one of these ways later today or tomorrow. I found it unhelpful to me because, instead of concentrating on the qualities of the modes - what they sound like and their applications - it shows another way that they all relate to the Ionian mode in a startling pattern of sequence. Music is an art for the ear and I learnt them by their sounds and the fingering used to achieve them. I think it easier to do so that way. 


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Until the future,
May The Force be with You.