Lydian, Phrygian and Locrian

You have met Dorian and Mixolydian, and you already know two more modes under other names: Ionian is the major scale and Aeolian is the natural minor. That leaves three. Lydian is major with a raised fourth, dreamy and floating. Phrygian is minor with a flat second, dark and Spanish-sounding. Locrian, with a flat second and a flat fifth, is unstable and rarely used as a home. Hearing each over a drone is the quickest way to learn its colour.

By the end of this lesson you will be able to:

• Name all seven modes of the major scale and the degree each starts on.
• Play and hear Lydian, Phrygian and Locrian over a drone, naming the note that defines each.
• Find the parent major scale of any mode.

Start a major scale on each of its seven notes and you get seven modes. You know four already:

• Ionian (from degree 1): the major scale.
• Dorian (from degree 2): minor with a natural 6.
• Mixolydian (from degree 5): major with a ♭7.
• Aeolian (from degree 6): the natural minor scale.

The other three:

• Phrygian (from degree 3): 1 ♭2 ♭3 4 5 ♭6 ♭7. Natural minor with a ♭2. The half step from ♭2 down to the root sounds dark and tense, the sound of a lot of flamenco-flavoured and metal music. E Phrygian is all the natural notes starting on E.
• Lydian (from degree 4): 1 2 3 ♯4 5 6 7. The major scale with a ♯4. It removes the one "grounded" note of the major scale and sounds bright, floating and dreamy. Film composers love it.
• Locrian (from degree 7): 1 ♭2 ♭3 4 ♭5 ♭6 ♭7. Its ♭5 makes the home chord diminished, so it never feels settled. It is mostly heard briefly, over a m7♭5 chord.

Each mode has a colour note, the one that makes it different from plain major or minor. Hold that note over a drone and you hear the mode.

Finding the parent. E Phrygian starts on degree 3, so count back to the major scale whose third note is E: C major.

Phrygian. Pick the open low E and let it ring. Over it, play E F G A B C D E slowly. Stop on the F and hold it: you hear the tension. Resolve it down to E.

Lydian. Pick the open A string. Play A major first (A B C♯ D E F♯ G♯), then the same with D♯ instead of D. The D♯ lifts the whole scale.

Compare with your ears, not your eyes. For each mode ask: does it sound major or minor? Which note gives it its colour? Phrygian is minor with a ♭2; Lydian is major with a ♯4; Locrian has a ♭5 that never settles.

Do these in order. Each one is small. Tick the ones you have practised.

• 1.Phrygian over E

  4 min

  1. Let the open low E ring as a drone (re-pick it every bar).
  2. Play E Phrygian: E F G A B C D E, which is all natural notes from E.
  3. Hold the F over the drone. That flat second is the Phrygian sound.
  4. Play a phrase that moves between F and E.

  You have it when

  • You can hear the dark, tense pull of F to E.
  I practised this one

• 2.Lydian over A

  4 min

  1. Let the open A string ring as a drone.
  2. Play A Lydian: A B C♯ D♯ E F♯ G♯ A.
  3. Hold the D♯ (the ♯4) over the drone and compare it with D natural (A major).
  4. Make up a phrase that leans on the D♯.

  You have it when

  • You can hear how the ♯4 makes A Lydian brighter than A major.
  I practised this one

• 3.Name the parent

  3 min

  1. For each mode, work out which major scale it comes from: E Phrygian, A Lydian, B Locrian, D Dorian, G Mixolydian.
  2. Method: count down to the major scale's root (Phrygian starts on degree 3, Lydian on 4, Locrian on 7, Dorian on 2, Mixolydian on 5).
  3. Check by spelling both scales.

  You have it when

  • You name the parent major for all five: C, E, C, C and C.
  I practised this one

Untimed. Let the drone ring and play slowly, holding the characteristic note for two or three beats so its colour sinks in.

• Playing a mode over chords that point to another key. A mode only sounds like itself when the home note is clear. Use a drone or a one- or two-chord vamp on the mode's root.
• Thinking of modes as just positions of the major scale. The notes are shared, but the home note changes the sound. Always ask which note is home and which note gives the colour.
• Treating Locrian as a mode to jam in. Its flat fifth makes the home chord diminished and unstable. It is mostly heard over a m7♭5 chord, briefly, in jazz.

Phrygian is common in flamenco-flavoured and metal riffs (E to F over an E bass), and Lydian appears in a lot of film music and in rock and pop melodies that want to float. Try writing a two-chord vamp for each: E to F for Phrygian, A to B over an A bass for Lydian.

Short version (10 minutes)

Play E Phrygian and A Lydian over their drones, holding the colour note.

Standard version (about 30 minutes)

Do all three exercises, then write a four-bar melody in E Phrygian over the open E drone.

• Seven modes: Ionian, Dorian, Phrygian, Lydian, Mixolydian, Aeolian, Locrian.
• Lydian: major with ♯4. Phrygian: minor with ♭2. Locrian: ♭2 and ♭5.
• Hear a mode over a drone or vamp on its root.
• Parent major: count back to the degree the mode starts on.

You are ready to move on when you can honestly say:

• I can name the seven modes in order and the degree each starts on.
• I can play Lydian and Phrygian over a drone and hear their colour notes.
• I can find the parent major scale of a mode.