Songs that use the Phrygian mode

Phrygian has a sound much like the minor scale but with a darker edge. A common choice in metal, prog and hip-hop, Phrygian introduces an exotic, unnerving sound to a song's tonality. Today we're going to look at some examples of the phrygian mode in action and also look at some similar scales including the Double Harmonic scale and Phrygian Dominant.

📍 CORRECTION 1: at 4:45 the sheet music for “Milkshake” should show three Ds before descending to C#, not just one! Sorry about that and thanks to Asle Fjeldstad for bringing it to my attention.

📍 CORRECTION 2: at 11:05 I said that "Misirlou" started as an Arabic folk song, but in fact it seems it was Greek. Thanks to Theo Querel for bringing that to my attention.

SOURCES:

And, an extra special thanks goes to Vidad Flowers, Jon Dye, Austin Russell, Christopher Ryan, Toot & Paul Peijzel, the channel’s Patreon saints! 😇

0:00 What does Phrygian sound like?
1:00 Metal
3:00 Hip hop
5:00 Phrygian is a mode
6:28 Modal mixture
8:19 Phrygian's "middle eastern" sound
11:00 Phrygian dominant
13:00 Modal ambiguity
15:05 Piano outro

[DavidBennettPiano]

What's your favourite example of a song using the Phrygian mode?

[shyuga]

Crazy thing, back in 2000s I used to listen to hip hop, but once it got more into electro, I began listening to metal, because metal had the sound I wanted. Now I know the sound I wanted was the phrygian

[AFDO]

What a great video! However, it kinda upsets me when musicians ignore Flamenco when it relies almost solely on Phrygian mode and yet no one ever talks about it. The two main styles (that I know so far) are "Por Medio" and "Por Arriba". Por Medio ("from the middle") relies on A phrygian which can be easily arranged on the top 5 strings of a guitar (A-D-G-B-E), while Por Arriba ("from above") uses all 6 strings of a guitar and relies on the E Phrygian scale. Certain sub-styles of Flamenco also characterized on "Por Medio" or "Por Arriba". Tangos and Bulerias use Por Medio, while Soleas and Fandangos use "Por Arriba".

[jamesdalziel]

"A mode is when you take a scale... but treat a different note as the tonic". the use and purpose of modes finally falls into place. Someone said it elsewhere in the comments, but undoubtedly the best music-related channel on YouTube. Really great stuff, David. Thanks so much.

[nooneknows]

16:01 I also hear this song as C Phrygian. For some reason, to me it always sounded like C in a “dark” mode, and C Phrygian definitely makes a lot of sense!

[reginaldperiwinkle]

So from this I conclude that the Beatles never had a song that used Phrygian.

[BertoBoyd]

I’m a Flamenco guitarist and composer and really enjoyed your video on Phrygian which is the home of 90% of my compositions. I’ve always called your Phrygian Dominant/Major - “Altered Phrygian” due to the #3 in our I Chord example E7(b9) I think of it being a borrowed #7 of the relative A harmonic minor so when you Go to build the E chord, it becomes Major instead of minor with the added b9. Anyways, I love this theory geek out stuff. Nice job!

[hampusheh]

You're so right about that hip-hop sound, I hadn't thought about how "phrygian" that sound was. But it was so ubiquitous during that era of rap.

[behrangfarshid]

About that peace of music you wrote :

In Persian Music we have exactly this mode, called (Dashti in Shour)

Interesting point :
If you change the G to G# and play the E chord Major instead Minor, The name of the Scale and its rules will be completely changed and it will become to another mode, called (Shoushtari in Homayoun)

[WesCoastPiano]

This is by far the best music channel on YouTube. Great work.

[AbrahamZilberstein]

The whole modes/scales topic was a complete rocket science for me before I found your channel. Thanks a ton, you're doing a great job with this graphical presentations, examples from real songs and examples like "how it would without this note flattened" etc

[williamchristian]

Being a non musician I find the information that you deliver is top notch.
Even for myself I find it intrigues me. I actually can follow and understand it.
It teach me the difference between what makes a good song great.
Little minor tweaks can convey a major shift in the flow and emotion of a song.
At any extent I thank you for your efforts and enlightenment.

[GuiSmith]

Phrygian is also used really nicely in the Nightmare Before Christmas. It’s present in songs for the character Sally and her interactions with Jack Skellington. Specifically Sally’s Song uses Phrygian. Although if I recall it’s primarily minor harmonies, but Sally’s vocals are Phrygian and use the unusual note to end every other line. It’s beautifully ethereal. Locative is also used at times, so it’s a lovely display of Danny Elfman’s music skills.

[johanneslettinghvilborg]

That piece of music you wrote... It has such beautiful emotions, I still have goosebumps after hearing it. Love your work:)

[kineticwaves]

Phrygian and Lydian are my favorite modes. I like the mysteriousness and desert feel of Phrygian (a lot of rock and metal songs seem to use it) and the spacey psychedelic feel of Lydian. I would love to find new music in both of these scales.

[Bachini]

New Person, Same Old Mistakes = C Phrygian for me. For sure.

[joaquinrovner]

Love how in the symphony of destruction example David used the live in Argentina version with the public singing "aguante Megadeath"

[nicktshredz]

I'm really happy that you use some examples from metal music because a lot of really good modes get put to use in metal music that doesn't get paid attention to.

[gaabs]

I love how you're showing us how it would sound like in normal mode. It's so great for imagionation, it gives so mouch more understaning of the amosphere of each of the modes. And it also creates some funny positive caricatures of the metal songs <3

[kevinnguyen]

How much Phrygian do you want?

Metal and flamenco songs:
*yes*