Middle Eastern Guitar Ornaments in Phrygian Dominant

What are Middle Eastern guitar ornaments?

Small decorations around one note that make a melody sing:
the guitar borrowing the voice, the oud and the clarinet.

In Arabic, Turkish, Persian and klezmer music a melody is rarely played plain. The main notes are decorated with quick neighbour notes, slides and trembles that come from the voice and from instruments without frets. On guitar most of them are played with the left hand alone: hammer-ons, pull-offs, slides, bends and vibrato.

Every example on this page is original and short, one bar, so you hear the ornament on its own. They are written in E Phrygian dominant; the Key menu in each player moves them to any key, and the player on top holds all fifteen.

Mordents on guitar

A note, its neighbour, the note again, as fast as one beat allows:
a hammer-on and a pull-off on the same string.

The upper mordent flicks to the scale note above; the lower mordent dips to the note below. In Phrygian dominant the most typical one is on the root: E F E, the half step that defines the scale, turned into a quick shake.

Upper mordent on the root

E F E on the 5th string, then the lower tetrachord up to A and back.

E|-------------------------|
B|-------------------------|
G|-------------------------|
D|-------------------------|
A|7-h8-p7-8-/11-12-11-8-7~-|
E|-------------------------|

Lower mordent on the 4th

A G# A, resting on the 4th degree, a common resting note in Hijaz melodies.

E|---------------------|
B|----------1-0--------|
G|2-p1-h2-4-----2-1-2~-|
D|---------------------|
A|---------------------|
E|---------------------|

Lower mordents down the tetrachord

A, G#, F and E on the high E string, each with a quick dip to the note below.

E|5-p4-h5-4-p1-h4-1-p0-h1-0-|
B|--------------------------|
G|--------------------------|
D|--------------------------|
A|--------------------------|
E|--------------------------|

Trills in Phrygian dominant

Two neighbouring notes alternating fast for the length of a note:
hammer and pull without picking again.

Pick once, then hammer-on and pull-off as evenly as you can. Start slowly with the tempo slider; an even trill at a moderate tempo sounds better than a fast, uneven one.

Trill between the root and the b2

E and F alternating, the tension of the scale held for a whole beat and more.

E|------------------------------|
B|5-h6-p5-h6-p5-h6-p5-h6-p5-3-1-|
G|------------------------------|
D|------------------------------|
A|------------------------------|
E|------------------------------|

Trill on the major 3rd

G# and A trilled, then the half steps down to F and E.

E|-------------------------------|
B|-------------------------------|
G|1-h2-p1-h2-p1-h2-p1-h2-p1------|
D|--------------------------3-2~-|
A|-------------------------------|
E|-------------------------------|

Trill on the 5th and the b6

B and C on the open 2nd string, the second half step of the scale.

E|------------------------------|
B|0-h1-p0-h1-p0-h1-p0---0-------|
G|--------------------2---2-1---|
D|----------------------------2-|
A|------------------------------|
E|------------------------------|

Slides and bends: the oud on a fretted guitar

The guitar has frets, the voice and the oud do not:
slides and small bends fill the space between the notes.

In maqam Hijaz the interval between the 2nd and 3rd degrees is usually sung a little narrower than on a fretted guitar. You cannot play that exactly, but a slide through the augmented second or a half-step bend into the 3rd suggests it.

Slide through the augmented second

From F to G# in one slide, three frets, high on the 1st string.

E|0-1-/4-5-4-/1-0~-|
B|-----------------|
G|-----------------|
D|-----------------|
A|-----------------|
E|-----------------|

Bend from G to G#

The finger sits on G and pushes it up a half step: the 3rd arrives from below, like a voice.

E|---------------|
B|6-8b1~-6-5-----|
G|-----------7-4-|
D|---------------|
A|---------------|
E|---------------|

Long slides down to the root

E slides down to C, then the line falls step by step and slides into the root.

E|----------------|
B|5-/1-0----------|
G|-------2-1------|
D|-----------3-/2-|
A|----------------|
E|----------------|

Turns around a note

Four notes that circle the main one:
above it, on it, below it and back.

A turn (gruppetto) plays the note above, the note itself, the note below and the note again. The inverted turn starts below. In this scale a turn on the root crosses the b2 and the b7 in one gesture.

Turn around the root

F E D E, then a leap to G# and back.

E|---------------|
B|5-6-5-3-h5-9-5-|
G|---------------|
D|---------------|
A|---------------|
E|---------------|

Turn around the 5th

C B A B around the 5th degree, then down to the root.

E|--------------|
B|--1-0---------|
G|4-----2-4-1---|
D|------------2-|
A|--------------|
E|--------------|

Inverted turn on the 4th

G# A B A, starting below the note.

E|-----------------|
B|-----------------|
G|2-1-h2-h4-p2-1---|
D|---------------2-|
A|-----------------|
E|-----------------|

Grace notes and the klezmer krekhts

A note that arrives through a quicker one:
a hammered grace note, a slide, or the sob of klezmer.

A grace note is short and not counted in the rhythm; it leans into the main note. The krekhts, a klezmer ornament, imitates a sob: the note breaks quickly downwards, like a catch in the voice.

Grace notes with hammer-ons

D into E, E into F, E into F again, then back to the root.

E|----------0-h1-p0-|
B|3-h5-5-h6---------|
G|------------------|
D|------------------|
A|------------------|
E|------------------|

Krekhts, the klezmer sob

G# breaks down to F with a quick pull-off, twice, then F falls to E.

E|4-p1-4-p1-----|
B|----------6-5-|
G|--------------|
D|--------------|
A|--------------|
E|--------------|

Grace slide into the 3rd

A short slide from F into G#, then A, G# and the root.

E|-----------|
B|-----------|
G|-----------|
D|3-/6-7-6-2-|
A|-----------|
E|-----------|

How to add ornaments to Phrygian dominant licks

One ornament per phrase, on a long note:
more than that and the melody disappears under its decoration.

Take a lick you already know and pick its longest note. Add a mordent if the note is short, a trill or vibrato if it is long, a slide if the melody jumps. In Hijaz style the 2nd and 3rd degrees get the slides; in klezmer the krekhts goes on the notes that lead back to the root.