From Zero to Mozart
Stage 4Scales & musicianshipLesson 51 of 70 · Ear & musicianshipNEXT

Phrygian, Lydian, and Locrian

The three remaining modes. You'll meet them less often on the violin, but each has a strong, instantly recognisable colour.

Phrygian — minor with a flat 2nd

Natural minor, but the 2nd degree is a half step lower. That ♭2 sits right against the tonic and gives Phrygian its dark, tense, unmistakably Spanish flavour — flamenco is built on it.

72 bpm
E PHRYGIAN — the white notes from E. The F right next to the E (a half step, low 2) is the whole character. Play E, then F, then back to E, slowly: that tiny step down and back is the sound of flamenco.

Lydian — major with a sharp 4th

Major, but the 4th degree is a half step higher. That ♯4 makes the scale sound like it's lifting off the ground — bright, wondrous, unresolved-in-a-good-way. Film composers reach for it constantly (the leap at the start of The Simpsons theme is a Lydian ♯4).

72 bpm
F LYDIAN — the white notes from F. It's F major, but the 4th is B natural, not B♭ — a whole step higher than a normal 4th. Play up to that B and hold it: it floats, it doesn't want to come down.

Locrian — the one with no home

Minor with both a ♭2 and a ♭5. The flattened 5th means the tonic chord is diminished — there's no stable home to rest on. Locrian is a curiosity; you'll almost never meet a whole tune in it.

72 bpm
B LOCRIAN — the white notes from B. B up to F is a ♭5 (a tritone). Try to rest on the B at the end: you can't, because the note a fifth above it is 'wrong'. A scale with no gravity.

Try it

Try

Play a C major scale on the D and A strings. Now play the same seven notes starting from F (F G A B c d e f) — that's Lydian, and the B natural is the ♯4. Then start from E (E F G A B c d e) — that's Phrygian, and the F right by the E is the ♭2. Same notes, two completely different characters, just by choosing a different home.

The usual mistake

Fixing the "wrong-sounding" note by ear. In Phrygian your hand will want to raise the ♭2; in Lydian it will want to lower the ♯4. Those notes are the point of the mode — leave them where they are and let the mode do its work.