C# Phrygian (Db Phrygian) on Guitar

Phrygian is a minor scale with the note directly above home pushed down a semitone — instant darkness. The notes of C# Phrygian are C#, D, E, F#, G#, A, B. Its characteristic note is D — the flat 2nd — the one note that gives this minor-type scale its colour.

That flat 2nd is the sound of flamenco, of Andalusian cadences, and of half the metal riffs ever written. It sits a single fret above the root, so the tension is always one finger away.

C# Phrygian across the whole neck

Standard tuning, frets 0–12. The gold notes are the root (C#); every colour marks an interval, the same palette the app uses.

Practice C# Phrygian over a drone →Free, in your browser. It listens through your mic and lights up what you play.

Over the drone, hammer between the root and the flat 2nd — that semitone grind IS Phrygian; the rest of the scale is just context for it.

Formula and intervals

R - b2 - b3 - 4 - 5 - b6 - b7 — 7 notes. The flat 3rd makes it a minor-family scale.

Chords in C# Phrygian

These are the diatonic chords — the harmony built from only the notes above. Vamping between any of them keeps you inside the mode.

Degree	Chord	Quality
i	C#m	Minor
II	D	Major
III	E	Major
iv	F#m	Minor
v°	G#dim	Diminished
VI	A	Major
vii	Bm	Minor

Same notes, different home

C# Phrygian contains exactly the same notes as A Major. Nothing about the notes changes — what changes is which one feels like home, and that changes everything about the sound.

Other modes on C#