Today we know E Phrygian Mode as closely resembling the E minor scale. Played from E to E the main difference is that E minor contains an F sharp and E Phyrgian does not. Lets take a look at an E minor scale on the treble staff below…
And now E Phrygian on the treble staff below…
As you can see they both start and end on the note E however E Phrygian contains F natural and not an F sharp. Now let’s take a look what E Phrygian would look like on the piano keyboard below…
As you can see it’s E to E highlighted on the piano keys.
Another way to look at it is that you are playing all the notes of a C Major Scale but instead of starting on C and ending on C you are starting on E and ending on E.
The steps of Phrygian are as follows… Half, Whole, Whole, Whole, Half, Whole, Whole. Or H, W, W, W, H, W, W. In other words E to F is a half step, F to G is a whole step, G to A is a whole step, A to B is a whole step, B to C is a half step, C to D is a whole step, D to E is a whole step.
You can build Phrygian on any starting note and apply those steps to get there. For example if you started the root or tonic note on A then A Phrygian would look like this on the treble staff…
A Phrygian on piano keyboard…
Until next time practice building and playing your Phrygian Modes!