Harmonic Minor or Phrygian Dominant?

Harmony & Theory
#1

When musicians/guitarists say they are playing in harmonic minor, the majority of times are they actually playing in phrygian dominant?

It seems like the most common use of harmonic minor in a rock/neo-classical/metal context is when you have a natural minor progression but you borrow the dominant V chord from harmonic minor. At that point you can play your harmonic minor shapes which sound great but are you actually hearing the sound of phrygian dominant?

What would be an example of when this isn’t the case and you are strictly hearing the sound of harmonic minor as opposed to phrygian dominant?

#2

It depends on which note has tonic function. If the progression is in minor and is resolving to the i chord then playing the harmonic minor over the V chord is playing the harmonic minor, not Phrygian dominant.

2 Likes
#3

Ah okay, interesting! Thank you :grinning:

1 Like
#4

Tom Gilroy hit the nail on the head and I would add even if say you have a phrygian modal progression naturally it will want to resolve itself back to the minor root tonic in that minor key whether you do or not. So think of the phrygian chord progression, if you come across one, as a sort of chord melody phrase so you can grasp this concept so you can aurally comprehend the sound of pulling back to the minor key, and how it sounds to find your way back to the minor tonic. Because you can still have a phrygian style phrase span across chords that exist in both minor and phrygian chord progression and still remain more phrygian sounding.