Phrygian Dominant Chords on Guitar

How the Phrygian dominant chords are built

Take every other note of the scale on each degree and you get its harmonic field: seven triads, or seven seventh chords when you add one more third. In E Phrygian dominant, E F G# A B C D, the home chord is E: E, G# and B, a major triad, because the scale has a major 3rd.

The same seven chords exist in every key, with the same qualities on the same degrees. Learn them once in E, the main key on guitar, then move them: the neck above plays them in any key, and the chord boxes for all 12 keys are at the end of this page.

Phrygian dominant triads on guitar

Two major chords, two minor, two diminished and one augmented. The major and natural minor scales have no augmented triad; in the Phrygian dominant it sits on the 6th degree.

I, E: major, the home chord.
bII, F: major, a half step above the root.
iii°, G#dim: diminished, G# B D.
iv, Am: minor, A C E.
v°, Bdim: diminished, B D F.
bVI+, C+: augmented, C E G#.
bvii, Dm: minor, D F A.

Phrygian dominant seventh chords on guitar

With the 7th added, the home chord becomes a dominant seventh, E7. It is the V7 chord of A minor: the Phrygian dominant is the 5th mode of A harmonic minor, so the scale and the chord share every note.

I7, E7: E G# B D.
bIImaj7, Fmaj7: F A C E.
iii°7, G#dim7: G# B D F, a fully diminished 7th.
iv(maj7), Am(maj7): A C E G#.
vø7, Bm7b5: B D F A, half diminished.
bVI+maj7, Cmaj7#5: C E G# B.
bvii7, Dm7: D F A C.

Phrygian dominant cadences on guitar

Three moves carry most music in this scale. Each one works in any key: in A, read A for E, Bb for F, Dm for Am.

I to bII: E to F and back

The home chord and the chord a half step above it. E to F and back to E is the most typical sound of the scale, and flamenco players vamp on it for whole sections.

The Andalusian cadence: Am G F E

Four chords stepping down to E. Am, F and E come from the scale; the G chord does not, because the scale has G#, not G. The cadence belongs to the flamenco mode, which uses G and G# side by side, and that clash is part of its sound.

E7 to Am: the Phrygian dominant in a minor key

In A minor the Phrygian dominant is the scale of the E7 chord. Play it over E7 and resolve to Am: the G# tends to rise to A, and the F to fall to E.

How to practise Phrygian dominant chords on guitar

Pick a key and a neck region in the player above, then click the chords one by one: inside a region the hand stays in one position, so the changes move across the strings, not along the neck. Full neck does the opposite: choose the string that holds the root and the chords travel along it.

Switch to Full neck to hear the same seven chords as small shapes on the top strings, each one higher on the neck than the last. Turn on Intervals to see the root, 3rd, 5th and 7th of every chord.