Example SOLO STUDY
[Bar 1] We start with a melody constructed from the semitone intervals that exist within the scale (three per octave). Each three-note motif (a 16th-note followed by an 8th-note) creates interest for the listener, because it is played over a 4/4 backing that has four 16th-notes per beat. The resultant ‘threeagainst-four’ effect is known as a hemiola. [Bar 2] The main idea in this section, which starts in the second half of beat 2, is a line that is employed heavily by Yngwie Malmsteen throughout his solos. Note how it resolves to the G# note (3rd of E) in the following bar. [Bar 3] Although E Phrygian Dominant can be used over both chords in our E and F progression, occasionally notes relating to F are emphasised over the F chord in order to reflect the harmonic shift in between one chord and the next (E sounds resolved, F unresolved). In the first half of this bar, a G# pedal note is used in order to reflect the E chord, whereas the melody in the second half starts with an F triad to reflect the underlying F major. [Bar 4] As with the G# note in the first half of the previous bar, here, an E note is used as a pedal point throughout the duration of the E chord. [Bar 5] If one omits the C note from E Phrygian Dominant, it is possible to modify the two-string scale shapes mentioned earlier and produce a threenotes-per-string formation that can be shifted up in octaves. For example, if one were to start with D, E and F on the sixth string, and G#, A and B on the fifth string, one could shift this same two-string scale shape up in octaves, firstly onto the middle two strings, and then onto the top two strings. It’s from the resultant pattern that the melody in bar 5 is based. Note the thematic use of the same six-note melodic motif throughout. [Bar 6] The run in this bar is based around the same two-string scale approach used in bar 5, only this time the C note has been reinstated to encompass all seven notes of the scale (this would result in a 3- 4-3- 4-3- 4 note configuration if applied across all six strings).