Robin May

Key: C Phrygian for the verse
F Natural Minor for the bridge and chorus sections

Rhythm
I wanted to ‘force’ Phrygian mode for this track – but also to keep it simple. Phrygian mode is a minor mode, so I started with a Cm7. Phrygian mode is the only mode that has a minor chord two frets / one tone down from the root; so I simply added a B flat minor7 to the Cm7 – and there you have it!

I played two rhythm guitars on it, but all they both do is alternate between the chords of Cm7 and B flat minor7; one with a digital delay / echo.

Here is the tab for the fingering I played:

Cm7    
8
8
8
8
10
8

Bbm7
6
6
6
6
8
6

I played two separate guitar tracks so that I could use different effects on each, but it could be played on one and the following is written as such:


It sounds like I’m striking the strings more often, due to my using a digital delay – which repeats what I’ve just played.

The arrows are the strumming pattern. Each arrow shows the direction of the strumming arm. Long arrows = strum the strings, short arrows = move your arm in the direction indicated ~ but do not strum the strings.

The essence of learning to strum is to keep your strumming arm moving at all times, like a pendulum and in time with the music, whether or not you are striking the strings.


Here is the chord chart for the bridge section:

| Fm / / / | C# / / / | Bbm / / / | / Bbm G# / |

| Fm / / / | C# / / / | Bbm / / / | / Bbm G# / |

| Fm / / / | C# / / / | Bbm / / / | / Bbm G# / |

| Fm / / / | C# / / / | Cm / / / | C# / D# / |

Again, I play two guitar parts. One is played through a distortion, and is simply bar chords – mostly ‘A-type’ bar chords, so the Fm is played at the 8th fret.

The other guitar is playing Funk-style, three-string chords on just the top strings (thinnest three).

Here are the chord shapes I used:

Note: I didn’t play the G# on the ‘Funk’ guitar part.

Here is the chord chart for the chorus section:

| Fm / / / | Cm / / / | C# / / / | Cm / / / |

| Fm / / / | Cm / / / | C# / / / | G# / Bbm / |

| Fm / / / | Cm / / / | C# / / / | Cm / / / |

| Fm / / / | Cm / / / | Bbm / / / | / / / / |

As with the bridge section, I play two guitars – one with distortion and one in a Funk-style.

The distorted guitar is playing barre chords: A-type at the 8th fret for the Fm, then E-type at the 8th & 9th frets for the Cm and C# respectively.

The Funk-style guitar is playing the following shapes:

Soloing, Jamming & Improvising
The verses are in C Phrygian mode – which is a great minor scale to play with. Dependant on the style, it can sound very dark and Rock, or quite Spanish. Here is the box for the Phrygian mode, root on 6th string:

Notice that there is only one note, in three positions within this box, that is different from the natural minor scale. Once you have your Natural Minor box position memorised it is therefore quite easy to swap to this mode.

Play around with this box from the 8th fret for the key of C Phrygian.

Stress the C# notes; 9th fret on the 1st & 6th strings & 11th fret on the 4th string; within your improvising in order to highlight the Phrygian ‘sound’.

The bridge and chorus sections favour the F Natural minor scale. This shares the same notes as the C Phrygian – so you can stay in the same position – but if you move to the Fm position then you will find your 'root notes' are still on the 1st, 4th and 6th strings

Below is the Natural minor scale box, root on the 6th string.

Play around with this at the 1st or 13th frets when in Fm, over the bridge and chorus.

The Minor Pentatonic and Blues scales will also work well over this piece – they can always substitute the Natural minor – as they can be regarded as simplified versions of it.




Play these from the 8th fret for the verses (in C) and at the 1st or 13th frets for the bridge / chorus sections:

The minor pentatonic, root on 6th













The blues scale, root on 6th



The flattened 5th, or ‘Blues note’ – which is the only difference between the two scales – is a note to get familiar with and to experiment with in every scale as a passing note.





Finally, the remainder of this tutorial provides some choice licks to add to your repertoire :)

Key:
s = slide
h = hammer-on
p = pull-off
b = bend

These first batch are all within the Phrygian mode:

--8h9p8----8h9p8--9----------------
------------------------------11b13-----
--------------------------------------------
--------------------------------------------
--------------------------------------------
--------------------------------------------


---------------------------------------------------------
--8h9p8s7--8p7s6--7p6s4--6b8--------------
---------------------------------------------7s8s7----
---------------------------------------------------------
---------------------------------------------------------
---------------------------------------------------------


--8-8-8-9-9-9-8-8----
--8-8-8-9-9-9-8-8----
--5-5-5-6-6-6-5-5----
---------------------------
---------------------------
---------------------------


----------8h11--9----------
--8h9----------------8------
-------------------------------
-------------------------------
-------------------------------
-------------------------------


----------6---------6----------6---8b9b8---s11--9-----------------
--7s8-------7s8------7s8-------------------------------11s13-----
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
---------------------------------------------------------------------------


---------------------------------------------
---------------------------------------------
---------------------------------------------
--10b11b10--8-------------------------
----------------------10-------11---------
----------------------------9---------8-----


-------------------------------------------------------------
-------------------------------------------------------------
-------------------------------------------------------------
--11p10----------10-11---------------------------------
--------------11--------------10-9-8----6h8p6--------
--------------------------------------------------------8----


------------------8---9p8-----------------------------------------
-------------9-----------------11b13---11b14---11b13-----
-------10-----------------------------------------------------------
-11-----------------------------------------------------------------
---------------------------------------------------------------------
---------------------------------------------------------------------

Here are a few licks around the F Natural minor scale:

-----------1-------------------------------
--1h2---------2--------------------------
---------------------3p1p0--------------
---------------------------------1s3------
--------------------------------------------
--------------------------------------------


----------------------------------------
----------------------------------------
--------13---------12---------13---
--15---------15---------15---------
----------------------------------------
----------------------------------------


----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
--------------------------------------------------------13---14p13-----------------
--------13--15-16-15--13---------13--15-16--------------------15-----------
--15-----------------------------15------------------------------------------15-----
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


---------------------------------------------------------------
---------------------------------------------------------------
---------------------------------13---15p13-------13----
--------------13--------15----------------15--------------
--------15--------16----------------------------------------
--16----------------------------------------------------------