Phrygian Mode Song
Category : Video
“Space Oddity” by David Bowie may have a Phrygian Mode intro. The chord changes are Fmaj7 to Em. Play C major scale over it. I hear the Em as the root.
Phrygian Mode is created when the third degree of a major scale is functioning as the root. I had a hard time finding true Phrygian Mode song examples for my book, Fretboard Theory. This may be as good as an example as I’ll find.
To learn more about guitar modes see my book, Fretboard Theory, and my DVD Guitar Modes – The Modal Scales of Popular Music.
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Mr. Desi Serna
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Love the song and was hoping to find Phrygian Mode here. I wish I could agree – I just hear the dominating C pitch too strongly. Maybe that’s just me.
About 18 months ago, I swear there was a popular song on the radio that ended with a descending Phrygian scale, but I never could find it again after I began looking for it in earnest.
The C pitch doesn’t start until the vocal comes in. Before that, at the very beginning when the song first fades in, you only hear the chords Fmaj7 and Em. If that part were to resolve, I hear it resolving on Em.