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Pivot Percussion Pedal Review

Pivot Percussion – A Review

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What feels like 403 years ago, the world was plunged into distress with the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic. We don’t need to relive the panic and hardship. However, it’s worth mentioning that musicians and the performance industry were hit extremely hard. Bars, restaurants, and venues closed. Overnight, singing became one of the most transmissible and dangerous pastimes. Gigs and performance opportunities are slowly coming back, but the landscape has been forever changed by Covid-19. Venues that used to regularly hire full bands and groups can now only afford to support solo players and duos.

 

Act I: The Problem.

Without his trusty band behind him, the hero of our story, Shaun, felt the need to augment his performance. He plays guitar and sings, but there wasn’t enough punch or low end to his show. One night, he saw a fellow musician play guitar and stomp on a suitcase that had an SM58 microphone stuck inside. The sound was unreliable and muddy, and the singer’s constant motion looked exhausting. But the idea was sparked. Shaun knew that he could take this concept and turn it into something incredible.

 

Intermission: Testing, Testing, Testing.

Shaun developed “The Lab”, a specialty workshop on his property for creating, testing, and prototyping what would one day become Pivot Percussion. I was fortunate enough to gig with him frequently as a duo during this development period, and there was a new model under our feet nearly every week. From the beginning, Shaun had nailed the ergonomic and comfortable nature of the pedals, but there was still work to be done with the perfect tone and sound. With what is now unique patented technology, Shaun created the Pivot Capsules. These are modular cores that can be swapped in and out of the pedals to make different sounds. Whether it’s a punchy bass drum, a sizzly shaker, or a snappy maraca, we were able to completely customize our show.

 

Act II: The Solution.

Enter, YOU. It’s time for the audience to try out Pivot. These one-of-a-kind instruments are now launched to the world and for sale at pivotpercussion.com. There will also be some at Songbirds very soon! Here’s an honest review of Pivot and what it can do for your performances:

 

The Review:

I absolutely love my Pivot pedals. There are other percussion instruments on the market, but Pivot fills a much-needed void. The pedals themselves are beautiful and nearly indestructible, plus there’s peace of mind knowing that the heart of the technology, the capsules, are easily replaceable if something were to go wrong. Here are my specific pros and cons after playing the pedals from their inception to launch:

 

Pros:

Passive components. I LOVE the fact that the Pivots don’t require external power or batteries. They’re just like a guitar – plug and play. I’m fortunate enough to know a little about how they’re wired on the inside, and I can say with confidence that the patented technology is extremely robust. Shaun said from the beginning that he wanted to be able to run them over with a van and they could keep playing. I’m confident that would be possible. (No Pivots were harmed in the making of this review.)

Impact reactive. Pivot pedals are all analog, meaning they don’t work like a digital trigger. With competitor percussion devices, the sound is constant no matter how hard you play. Pivots are a real instrument – the sound and attack changes the harder you stomp. You can also get interesting and varied results based on your footwear. This makes the Pivots much more musical and organic.

Incredible sound quality. Shaun nailed each of the capsules and their sound signatures. Pivot pedals sound massive and present through PAs and powered speakers right out of the box. Very little (if any) tweaking is needed on the speaker to make the Pivots sound their best.

Eco-friendly. Each Pivot pedal is made with locally-sourced, reclaimed lumber. This includes trees that were lost during hurricanes and storms. Instead of destroying wood in a landfill, Shaun turns fallen trees into musical works of art.

Locally owned and operated. Pivot Percussion is based out of Longwood, Florida. Each pedal is handmade and inspected.

Great customer support. Shaun stands by each pedal and is quick to offer support and replacements if needed.

Unique builds with customization. Because Pivots are made of real lumber, no two pedals look alike. Shaun makes some incredibly attractive Pivots that showcase natural woodgrain and the beauty of the tree. There are also customization options available. I was given a prototype pedal that has my face on it!

Super comfy. This is the kicker (pun intended): you really can play for hours without getting tired. The design of the Original Pivot works perfectly with the flow of the leg and the knee. Using your heel to stomp prevents any shin pain or muscle fatigue, and the padding of the Pivot plus your footwear prevents any soreness in the heel. You can literally stand on the Original Pivots while playing them if you prefer to stand while performing. The Standard Pivots are great for playing piano or a minimalistic drumset. It’s worth mentioning that the Standards can be played with both the heel and the toe for maximum comfort.

Extra goodies. Shaun offers quality Pivot cables, cases, and straps for the instruments. It’s nice when companies go the extra mile. Everyone knows Sweetwater for the candy that they throw in every order – Pivot’s attention to detail with bonus goodies is even better.

 

Cons:

Difficult to master at first. I won’t sugarcoat this – Pivot pedals take a lot of time to get the hang of and master. I’m admittedly not the most coordinated person, but playing guitar, singing, AND stomping your feet on rhythm is challenging. I started incorporating Pivots into my performance gradually. Once you get over the first coordination hurdle, they do start to feel natural and second nature. Most of us tap our feet while playing anyway; the mental obstacle isn’t there, but the physical one takes some time.

Lots of options. This is both a Pro and a Con: there are a lot of customization options with the Pivot sound! There are three standard options with capsules: kick, maraca, and shaker. Combine this with using two pedals at once, and there are A LOT of possible combinations to take your playing to the next level. I use my Pivot pedals with a looper, and it’s easy to get lost in the possibilities and overcomplicating your performance. I started incorporating just the kick capsule with one pedal until I felt confident enough to expand.

Need a good sound system. This likely isn’t an issue, but Pivots sound the best when played through a nice powered speaker or PA. Pivots are targeted towards the professional, working musician who likely has a quality system already, so I don’t expect that this would be a hindrance to anyone purchasing a Pivot pedal.

 

Conclusion:

We are incredibly proud of Shaun and excited about the launch of Pivot Percussion! Come check them out at Songbirds, and ask Justin when you can see them in action at a local gig. Until next time, keep practicing, and check out our other posts on the Knowledge Blog!



Guitar Tone Guide

Guitars: What Actually Matters for Tone

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We are ecstatic to announce our new dealership agreement with Ibanez! In light of the good news, I felt it prudent to write a blog about what actually impacts an electric guitar’s sound and playability. This is a hotly contested topic, and there is no shortage of opinions online. I recommend following the advice of individuals who have done genuine scientific experiments and have building experience to back up their claims. I have personally built several guitars from scratch and have repaired many instruments of varying quality. The opinions here are what I’ve discovered – if you have varying information, please let us know!

A further disclaimer: Paul of PRS Guitars famously follows a 21-point checklist that his company developed. This list includes 21 points on the instrument that impact sound quality. My list below isn’t to say that I don’t believe Paul or conventional wisdom on the topic – I’m just of the belief that the list can be heavily skewed towards things that matter a lot versus things that hardly matter at all.

What Matters A LOT:

  • Pickups. At this stage of my career, I’ll die on the hill that pickups are the most important feature of an electric guitar. This is only tied with the neck (see below). A good quality pickup can make or break the sound of the instrument and how the signal is translated to the speaker.
  • Pickup orientation. There’s a huge tonal difference between single-coil pickups, humbuckers, active pickups, and other types that you commonly find in guitars. For example, the thinner, chime-y sound of single-coils is what defines country, southern rock, funk, and classic rock. What’s more, the pickups can be wired to virtually any configuration. Whether it’s three-position, five-position, or more… coil tapping, wiring mods… the possibilities are endless and can all change the tonal palette that you have on your instrument.
  • Neck/Fretboard. The neck of the guitar has the biggest impact on how it feels when played. In my opinion, a good neck should be straight and slick with frets that are set well and intonated correctly. If the neck is excellent, your playing will improve dramatically.
  • Setup. Every guitar needs a professional setup to play and sound its best. A setup includes action adjustment, or how high the strings are from the fingerboard, and intonation adjustment, or how in tune the guitar is with itself. Both of these have a massive impact on how easy it is to play and how correct it sounds.
  • Speaker/Amp. This a bit beyond the scope of this blog, but your output setup matters. An incredible and expensive guitar will only sound average when played through a low-quality speaker or amp. Balance the quality of your speaker with your guitar for best tonal results.
  • Tuners. I’ve found that tuners don’t change the sound of the instrument – their job is to stay in place and be reliable. However, this is important when you’re playing frequently and doing lots of re-tuning and bending. Low-quality tuners will go out of tune frequently and make your instrument sound wonky. I always recommend locking tuners – even the cheaper models are above and beyond what standard tuners can accomplish in regard to reliability.

What Matters A LITTLE:

  • The pick that you use. Picks of different hardness and elasticity will have different strengths of attack against the strings. This mostly translates to loudness, but different picks also change how you play.
  • The strings. You’ve probably heard of string gauge, or how thick a string is. You can get monster sound from both thick and thin strings – what really matters is tuning stability and sustain. Thicker strings stay in tune longer and sustain more, but they are difficult to bend and can hurt the fingers. Thin strings have the opposite features. Experiment with what size strings are best for your play style, and don’t forget that fresh strings will always sound and feel better than old ones.
  • The nut. Players often get into arguments about what material of nut is best for the sound of the guitar. I don’t have strong opinions on this topic, but I do believe that cheap plastic nuts should be swapped out for better-quality materials like bone, synthetic bone, or brass. This is to prevent breakage and keep the strings in tune longer.
  • Internal electronics. Better quality electronics like potentiometers and wires don’t have a huge impact on the signal of the guitar, but they’re much more durable and feel better to use. I always recommend swapping out stock electronics for ones of better quality simply because they’ll last longer and resist wear.

What HARDLY MATTERS at all:

  • “Tonewood” or what the body is made of. This has a big impact with acoustic guitars, but it doesn’t matter very much at all for electric guitars. Your primary concern with the body should be its shape (how does it feel to hold it and play for extended periods?) and its weight. There’s nothing worse than playing a multi-hour gig with a brick tied across your shoulders. Check out this video by Glen Fricker for a tonewood side-by-side comparison (parental discretion advised: language) and this video of that one time someone made a cement guitar.

The Final Takeaway:

If I were building a guitar on a budget for a professional gig, I’d splurge on nice pickups and a good neck. Nothing else has a massive impact on my style of playing. Check out this video for a demonstration of why pickups matter, even when there isn’t a guitar body at all.

I hope that this helped clear some things up! Let us know if you’d like to check out some awesome new Ibanez products, and until next time with the Knowlege Blog, keep practicing!

Leslie Rotating Speaker

DIY Leslie Rotating Speaker

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The Leslie Rotating Speaker – a holy grail of weird and wacky vintage music gear. This is one of those things that seems to have fallen into a lost ravine of history. I find that most musicians today have never heard of it, let alone seen one. Let’s dive in and explore exactly what this is and hear what it sounds like because… I built one! 

Note: Vintage or analog gear IS NOT better than modern, and it doesn’t make you play better. However, it’s imperfect and a little cooky. There are a sea of options with digital plugins, emulators, effects, and programs available that sometimes it’s overwhelming just to start. Having a piece of tangible gear in front of you really narrows down your field of possibility and forces you to get creative with what you have. For me personally, I like playing analog (or vintage) gear because it helps me write and get in the zone.

 

History:

The rotating speaker (or Leslie) was first innovated by Donald Leslie in the late 1930s. It was originally designed to help an electric organ sound more like an authentic pipe organ. The Leslie was soon adopted by guitarists and swelled to popularity in the 1960s and 1970s with artists like Jimi Hendrix and Pink Floyd using it on their records. Since then, the Leslie has seen a dramatic fall from popularity mostly due to its clunky size and the availability of guitar pedals that can kind of replicate what it sounds like. Vintage Leslie speakers are nearly impossible to find nowadays as they weren’t made with very robust materials. The ones that exist really belong in a museum. If someone sells an original Leslie, it goes for multiple thousands of dollars. Yeah – I can’t afford that.

 

So What Is It?

The Leslie is a speaker cabinet, usually larger than a medium-sized guitar or bass amplifier. Internally, a molded cardboard baffle (or drum) is suspended over a speaker. This baffle has a chunk missing and is connected to a small motor that allows it to spin. The majority of the baffle blocks sound traveling upwards from the speaker and encourages it to exit the cabinet through the bit that is missing. When the baffle spins, the cavity throws sound around the cabinet and the room. This creates the Doppler Effect – that thing that happens when you hear sirens on the road, and as they get farther from you, it sounds like the pitch goes down and gets distorted. The result is a watery, warbly tremolo-like effect that sounds absolutely psychedelic.

 

The Build:

I stumbled upon this amazing DIY article from Premier Guitar when I was searching for a way to build my own Leslie. It is pretty thorough and served as the template for what I did. If you would like to replicate this build, start with this article. I’d say that this project rates as follows:

  • Time Commitment: Medium. This would take a full weekend if you don’t take breaks like I did.
  • Difficulty: 7/10 with no experience, 4/10 if you understand basic carpentry and electronic wiring.
  • Frustration: 5/10 with experience, but my notes should help lower that number.
  • Satisfaction with End Product: 9/10. My only grumbles are with cosmetic issues and things out of my control.

Note: The article is a great starting point, but don’t get too bogged down with the details. I used it as a loose template and everything worked out great!

 

Issues that I Had:

Check this part out if you’d like to build your own! Here’s a list of the steps that were problematic and how I would recommend doing this better next time. I’m comparing my experience to the article listed above:

  1. The parts listed in the article were fairly difficult to find. I had absolutely no luck finding a cake dummy out of styrofoam that is as big as the article suggested. Instead, I hot glued several layers of thin styrofoam together to make the complete baffle. For some reason, styrofoam is expensive.
  2. The motor was also more costly (and larger) than I expected. I had to hollow out the center of the baffle to accommodate the motor. On the plus side, the motor that I used is very quiet and is capable of going very fast.
  3. Speaking of fast, the PWM controller that I used allowed the motor to spin way faster than what is usable. I ended up soldering a 200k resistor between the output pin (pin 3) of the potentiometer and the lead going to it in order to slow down the motor control. Before I did this, less than 10% of the pot sweep was usable before it got to be too fast. Now, the entire sweep works and sounds musical. *see footnote*
  4. I decided to wrap the cabinet in vinyl tolex-like material. This was my first time wrapping a cabinet from start to finish. I can’t state enough how miserable the glue was that I used. I chose a thin glue that is intended for vinyl flooring, mostly because it was cheap and in a small container that wouldn’t create a ton of waste. It adhered to the cabinet and the wrap well, but EVERYTHING in my house got sticky. It also has a ridiculous cure time. I finished applying glue over a week ago, and there are parts of the wrap that can still be pushed around. When I build another cabinet, I’ll likely just use a natural wood finish. If there is glue involved, it will be of better quality.
  5. I didn’t plan ahead with the electronics and controls for the outside of the cabinet. This is mostly because I didn’t decide what I wanted to do until it was finished (should I build a spring reverb in the base? Should there be LEDs? Does it need a second input jack?). After testing the speaker and hearing how awesome it sounds with the basic setup, I had to attempt to cut and drill through ¾” plywood on the finished product with paddle bits. Ick. I got lucky, but that could have gone badly.
  6. The article hints at the importance of centering the baffle on the motor’s spindle, but it gravely understates the frustration of that process. I originally made a thick cardboard sheet that held up the styrofoam and spun on the motor’s shaft, but it wasn’t strong enough to prevent the baffle from wobbling at high speeds. This wobble caused a TON of vibration in the cabinet and frankly made it unusable. (It also led me down an annoying rabbit hole learning about how to balance spinning objects and how static balance is different than dynamic balance and… I don’t know, I didn’t pay attention in high school physics.) I ended up using a wooden disc with perforations that allow the sound to pass through. This was cut on a laser machine, so I know that the center is true. Even with this, the baffle still wobbles and the cabinet shakes at high speeds. I don’t know how to attempt this most accurately with hand tools, and I would plan on making several baffles before settling on the one that works best.

*footnote*: There is a sweet spot with the speed of rotation. There is very little musical difference in the last 15% of the potentiometer sweep (after adding the 200k resistor). It's worth experimenting with 100k or a smaller value. There is also a faint electronic whine that can be heard with the use of the resistors. It is less pronounced with smaller resistance values.

 

The Final Product:

Overall, I’m very pleased with my DIY Leslie Cabinet! Unlike the original vintage models, this does not have any onboard amplification and is only a speaker. My signal chain starts with my guitar, then goes to any effect pedals that I want to use. It then goes to my Fender tube amp, but I bypass the amp’s speakers and send the signal to the Leslie. This means that I get to enjoy the EQ and gain controls of the amp! The Leslie is plugged in, but I can turn it on and off with an onboard switch which is mounted next to the speed control and the input jack. It’s a lot larger than I anticipated, but I’m very glad that I made it because it does sound quite unique.

 

So How Does It Sound?

I’m surprised by how unique the sound actually is. Many pedals attempt to replicate the sound of the Leslie, but I haven’t heard anything that is absolutely accurate yet. I’m convinced that is because of the way that the cabinet reacts with the room. The natural reverb, echo, and Doppler Effect decay that happens with the air is the secret sauce that can’t be easily replicated in a pedal yet. Granted, I’m not sure that the sound is so unique that it warrants making a big Leslie cabinet. I definitely plan on keeping it and making some cool recordings with it, though!

 

If you’re looking for a Leslie subsitute, I’d recommend one of my favorite pedals – the Walrus Audio Julia. This one packs a big punch because it includes the “Lag” control which detunes the delayed sound of the guitar. It’s not quite like the Doppler Effect, but it adds that watery shimmer that makes the Leslie so unique.

 

Sound Sample: (see bottom of page)

 

Here’s a sound recording of my DIY Leslie in action! This is a clean tone with the aforementioned signal chain, no pedals are used. There is also no EQ or mixing applied.

The recording was taken with an SM57 microphone mounted in the room before going straight into my audio interface. My guitar is a double humbucker setup with DiMarzio pickups.

For a cleaner and more usable sound in a mix, I am excited to try recording this in stereo or with several different mics placed throughout the room at different heights. The Leslie causes sound to swirl around you, and this wacky trait is a bit lost in mono.

 

Conclusion:

I hope that you learned something cool about the Leslie Rotating Speaker, and maybe you’ll try to build one someday! Stay tuned (pun intended) for the next Knowledge Blog, and keep on making art!

Internal Leslie
Traditional Blues

Traditional Blues – Hurricane Projects!

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Hurricane Blues

With Hurricane Ian just around the watery corner, most of us in Florida expect a day or two (hopefully not more…!) of boredom as we wait for the storm to pass. Assuming that it’s just a lot of rain, hurricanes can be quite dull, especially when the power goes out. I’ve already planned a couple of house cleaning adventures! However, sitting around is a great opportunity to start a new art project or write something new – and what better than some old-fashioned Hurricane Blues?

 

Traditional Blues Format

Grab your instrument, a notepad, and something to write with! The blues has been around for a long time and is the child of spirituals and traditional call-and-response slave songs. Its blending and evolution gave birth to rock and roll, hip-hop, rockabilly, country, and pretty much every popular genre on the radio if you trace far enough down the lineage. Fortunately, traditional blues follows a specific pattern and is very repetitious.

 

The Twelve Bar Traditional Blues Structure Is:

1 | 1 | 1 | 1 

4 | 4 | 1 | 1

5 | 4 | 1 | 1 (or 5)

We commonly see chords written with Roman Numerals, but I’ve simplified it to regular numbers to make it easy. The numbers in the pattern represent the chords that you should play for your blues song. Let’s say that we are in the key of C Major, one of the simplest keys to visualize. If you are playing piano, it only uses white keys.

The C Major scale looks like this:

C – D – E – F – G – A – B – C

If we were to expand on this scale and turn it into the chords for C Major (also called the Diatonic Chords), it would look like this:

C – Dm – Em – F – G – Am – Bdim – C

Lastly, let’s number the chords of the scale. That would look like this:

C – Dm – Em – F – G – Am – Bdim – C

1 –   2 –    3  – 4 –  5  –  6   –   7     – 1

If you apply these chords and their respective numbers to the Twelve Bar Traditional Blues, our correct format for the Blues in C is:

C | C | C | C

F | F | C | C

G | F | C | C (or G)

*Note: You can make this sound a lot “bluesy-er” and authentic by making each chord a dominant chord if you know how to do that. For example, C would be replaced by C7.

 

Taking It Farther:

Now that we’ve made the Twelve Bar Traditional Blues in C, you can apply the same structure to any key if you know the proper key signature. If you need help, use a handy image of the Circle of Fifths. If you’re not sure how to do that yet, stay tuned for further posts regarding the music theory that makes the rules work the way that they do!

Stick with the C Major Blues if this is your first venture with Blues or more involved music theory nonsense. 🙂

 

Meter:

Like most music, Blues can be in a variety of awesome meters! Most commonly, it’s in 4/4 time or 6/8 time, though. In the format above, each chord or space represents an entire measure (also called a bar). Twelve measures make up the entire structure. Stick with using 4/4 for now if you’re a beginner, but don’t be afraid to try out 6/8 when you’re ready! I personally love a good 6/8 blues.

 

Lyrics:

Here’s the fun part! Blues lyrics are often simple and repetitive, but they still pack a punch! Try to find a single idea and frame it with a contrasting thought. A conflict and a resolution work beautifully. Blues also has a lot of humor, so start with a good joke if the idea of writing “serious” music is too tough! Most songs are structured like this:

Initial Idea, or Conflict (four bars)

Repeat or Embellishment of the Initial Idea (four bars)

Contrasting Idea or Resolution (four bars)

Lovers of poetry could compare this to an A / A / B structure. Feel free to steal any of these original lyric ideas as I anticipate Hurricane Ian’s arrival:

 

The house is starting to smell

Yeah there’s a stench here in my house

I forgot to start the dishwasher, oh well.

 

It’s been raining here for two whole days

It’s been pouring here for two whole nights

I’ll build a boat if Ian’s here tomorrow

 

Oh I didn’t do the laundry

No, I didn’t do the laundry before the storm

There's only one pair of socks and they can’t take much more

 

I can’t find my batteries

Can’t see my own two feet

Suppose I should go to bed since the batteries are all gone

*Note: the very last bar of the form is called the turnaround. It’s often where cool solos, musical tricks, and vocal riffs can be heard. Feel free to throw some pizzazz in for your turnaround!

 

It’s a Wrap!

I hope that this simplifies the Traditional Blues and makes it a bit more accessible. Try your hand at experimenting with it during the storm. Use an instrument or just your voice! If you come up with anything that you are particularly proud of, send it to us at Songbirds! Stay tuned for more posts to our Knowledge Blog, and most importantly, stay safe during Hurricane Ian and other storms to come!

phrygian mode guide

How to use the Phrygian Mode

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One of our previous blog posts about how to use Dorian is still one of our most-viewed of all time. It seems like there’s a lot of hunger for information about modes, so let’s take a deep-dive into the absolute BEST mode in music: Phrygian.

Hold up: why is Phrygian the best? This is subjective, of course, but it’s my favorite as it can immediately transport you to exotic musical lands. It has the sound of classic middle-eastern mystique and can absolutely melt faces when paired with metal or rock. It also has three variants contained within itself, so it’s highly versatile. To the western musical ear, it’s one of the farthest and most dramatic departures from what we are used to hearing. It’s gratifying and thrilling – what’s not to love?

A Reminder About Modes:

Modes don’t need to be complicated. Grab your instrument (or ideally, go to a keyboard) and play the concert C Major scale. Those notes are C – D – E – F – G – A – B – C. This scale is a mode in itself: Ionian. When we play a Major scale, we are also playing an Ionian scale. We use two different words to describe the same thing, but most musicians don’t know about modes. Use this knowledge bomb to impress your friends with your musical nerdiness. 😉

Now, if we were to play the same NOTES from the C Major scale, but start in a different spot within the scale, we would be playing a different mode. It’s that simple.

Phrygian starts on the third note of the Major scale. This means that Phrygian, using the same key signature and notes of C Major, would be: E – F – G – A – B – C – D – E.

Play that scale, which we will now call E Phrygian, on your instrument and hear how it sounds.

Special Note:

The method for arriving here doesn’t resonate with some people as easily as others. If this was too confusing, you can approach Phrygian ‘in reverse’. Think of the E major scale. Those notes are E – F# – G# – A – B – C# – D# – E. We can turn E Major into E Phrygian by lowering, or flattening, the second, third, sixth, and seventh, notes. The shorthand for this is “E Phrygian is Major with a flat 2, 3, 6, 7”.

Still confusing? You can also think of it as an E natural minor scale with a flat 2.

The Most Important Note:

Phrygian uses the flat 2, which is the reason why it sound so special. When writing or improvising with Phrygian, it’s a good idea to utilize the flat 2 a lot!

How to use Phrygian - Easy Mode:

All modes, but especially the exotic ones, do very well with a pedal tone. This is a single note that drones below the melody of the music. For inspiration, check out some traditional Indian sitar music or Klezmer music. In the case of Indian music, there is often a tone generator on stage that drones the pedal tone while the sitarist plays.

Let’s use this method to improvise an awesome Phrygian melody. Find an easy way to drone the note E – it’s better if it’s low. You could record a piano and loop it with your phone, or you could use a free tone generator online.

Once you have that set up, grab your instrument and play the E Phrygian scale! Pay special attention to how the notes relate to the pedal tone.

How to use Phrygian - Medium Mode:

Plenty of songs exist with pedal tones, but chordal harmonies add so much depth to the piece. Let’s compose a chord progression using the notes of the E Phrygian scale. As a refresher, those notes are: E- F – G – A – B – C – D – E

This means that the chords would be Em – F – G – Am – Bdim – C – Dm – Em.

It’s important that we use the notes of the scale for our chords, for now. Try the following progressions on your instrument, and when you’re ready, use the E Phrygian scale to solo over them:

Em | Bdim | C | Em

Em | F | G | Em

Am | G | F | Em

Em | F | G | F | Em

How to use Phrygian - Hard Mode:

I mentioned earlier that there are some cool variants of Phrygian, and here they are! The best one (in my opinion), is called Phrygian Dominant. This version sounds even more exotic. All you have to do is raise the third note by one half step, or sharp the 3. This means that, in E Phrygian Dominant, G becomes G#. The notes of this scale are E – F – G# – A – B – C – D – E, and the chords for harmonies are E – F – G#dim – Am – Bdim – C+ – Dm – E. Note that we are using E Major, not E minor, with this variant, plus we get TWO diminished chords and the rare augmented chord on C! Spicy! The best example of this variant is the guitar solo for the song Don’t Fear the Reaper. Take a listen and enjoy those cool harmonies!

Try to solo over the following chord progressions with E Phrygian Dominant:

E | F | Am | E

E | F | G#dim | Am

E | Bdim | C+ | Dm

But Wait! There's One More Variant:

Now that you’ve grown accustomed to the Phrygian Dominant scale, you can take it one step further with this last variant: the Double Harmonic Scale. This is simply a Phrygian Dominant with the seventh note raised one half step, or a #7. That means that the notes of the E Double Harmonic Scale are E – F – G# – A – B – C – D# – E. Use the same chords as in the Phrygiant Dominant, as the raised seventh of the Double Harmonic Scale functions as a melodic tool for tension and release – much like the Melodic Minor scale.

If you’ve understood all of this, you are ready to branch out and use the Phrygian scale in unique ways. Much like with the Double Harmonic, you can now make alterations to your chord harmonies and melodies that pair well (or not!) with Phrygian. For example, I might write a chord progression with the Phrygian Dominant chords and substitute a B Major chord in (so that the D# note in the Double Harmonic has an interesting place to land). I could also use the Phrygian Dominant scale over a standard Em chord progression to enjoy all of the dissonance and rub where the notes don’t quite align. Have fun with it!

Conclusion:

I hope that this sheds some light on the best musical mode, Phrygian, and that you get loads of enjoyment from experimenting with it! Stay tuned for more guides on how to use other modes in the future, and if you want to dive deeper, check out our Music Lesson Program!