Bb Phrygian
The Bb Phrygian mode (also written A#) — Bb Cb Db Eb F Gb Ab — shown across the guitar neck.
Also written A# Phrygian. A# and Bb are the same pitch — Bb is the spelling in common use.
Tap any note on the neck.
Swipe the neck sideways to see the higher frets.
Bb Phrygian is the natural minor with one note changed — the b2, Cb. That single note is what gives the mode its sound: lean on it and the colour is obvious. Leave it out and the melody alone could pass for plain minor — then it is the chords underneath that keep the mode.
What is Bb Phrygian?
Bb Phrygian is the seven notes Bb Cb Db Eb F Gb Ab — the notes of F# major started from its 3rd degree, Bb. Same seven notes as the parent, but with Bb as home, so the intervals and the sound are different.
Bb Phrygian vs Bb natural minor
6 of the seven notes are the same. The difference is one note, and that is the whole character of the mode:
- b2 is Cb in Phrygian, where Bb natural minor has 2, C.
Play Bb natural minor and Bb Phrygian back to back over a Bbm chord and listen for Cb — that is the note to lean on.
Chords in Bb Phrygian
Stack the mode in thirds and each degree becomes a chord. The home chord is Bbm; the rest are the chords of F# major, since the notes are the same — what changes is which one the music rests on. Vamp between Bbm and Cb and the mode is unmistakable.
Bb Phrygian on the guitar neck
Because Bb Phrygian is F# major from its 3rd note, its natural fingering is position 3 of the seven three-notes-per-string shapes of F# major — the shape whose lowest note is Bb. Learn that shape with Bb as home — start and end on it, over a drone on Bb or the vamp above — and you have the mode under your fingers. Play the same shape with F# as home and you hear F# major instead. The other six positions are the fingerings for the other six modes of the same key.
How to practice Bb Phrygian on guitar
- Loop position 3 of F# major at 60 BPM, starting and ending on Bb so your ear hears Bb as home rather than F#.
- Hold a Bbm chord (or record one) and play the shape over it. Land on Cb on the strong beats — that is the sound of Phrygian.
- Hear it harmonized in 3rds on the Fretboard: press Play and every note sounds with its partner while the neck lights up.
The tool draws A# (the same pitch as Bb) Phrygian from its own root: the orange dots are on A# and the degrees count from it. The notes are its parent key's, F# major; to hear Phrygian, start and end on Bb.
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