Harmonic minor and Hungarian minor occupy a special place in rock and metal guitar — they carry an instantly recognisable darkness and drama that natural minor alone can’t quite achieve. If you’ve ever wanted a clear map of how these scales relate to each other, and how their associated Phrygian modes fit alongside them, this masterclass from Joe Stump lays it all out with characteristic directness.
What you’ll get out of this lesson
A thorough grounding in harmonic minor, Hungarian minor, and their related Phrygian modes (including Phrygian dominant and the Byzantine), with a clear framework for how these scales connect to each other and how to start applying them in a metal context. Download the supporting resources here:
https://www.dropbox.com/sh/7prg7hi3xxdo6w7/AAD9Dknj0rANSaUsPwKhBwqga?dl=0
The Minor Framework: Natural Minor and Phrygian as the Foundation
Joe begins by establishing that in a metal context, most minor scales are variations of either the natural minor scale or the Phrygian mode. Rather than thinking about modes in relation to the major scale, he frames them in terms of minor tonality — which is where rock and metal players spend most of their time anyway.
So the framework looks like this: natural minor is the starting point. Its related Phrygian mode (starting on the fifth degree) is E Phrygian when working in A minor. Every more exotic scale in the session is then an alteration of one or both of those two scales.
Harmonic Minor and Phrygian Dominant
The first alteration is straightforward: raise the seventh degree of natural minor and you get harmonic minor. That raised seventh creates the distinctive half-step resolution that gives harmonic minor its dramatic, almost classical character.
The related Phrygian mode of harmonic minor goes by several names — Spanish Phrygian, Phrygian dominant, dominant Phrygian, or Phrygian major. Joe is characteristically clear about his preference:
To me, Phrygian dominant, much cooler. If we didn’t have Phrygian dominant, then regular Phrygian would be very nice, but to me, playing in regular Phrygian when I got Phrygian dominant and the Byzantine, it’s like I lost a bet.
The relationship is exact: Phrygian dominant is to harmonic minor as regular Phrygian is to natural minor. The raised seventh of harmonic minor becomes the major third in Phrygian dominant, giving it that flamenco-inflected, sun-baked intensity.
Hungarian Minor and the Byzantine
Hungarian minor takes harmonic minor and raises the fourth degree (equivalently, you can think of it as adding a flat five — the tritone, which travels everywhere in blues and jazz). This creates a scale that Joe describes as so strong it sounds compelling even just ascending and descending.
The fifth mode of Hungarian minor is the Byzantine (also called double harmonic minor). Just as Phrygian dominant is the Phrygian strain of harmonic minor, the Byzantine is the Phrygian strain of Hungarian minor. The altered note from Hungarian minor — the raised fourth — becomes the natural seventh in the Byzantine, creating an extraordinarily rich, Eastern-inflected sound.
The full family tree in A minor:
- Natural minor → Phrygian
- Harmonic minor → Phrygian dominant (Spanish Phrygian)
- Hungarian minor → Byzantine (double harmonic minor)
Practical Advice: Know It Thoroughly or Not at All
Throughout the masterclass, Joe returns to a key piece of guitar wisdom: don’t spread yourself thin across dozens of scales. For any scale you want in your vocabulary, know it deeply — multiple fingerings, root on the fifth string and the sixth string, running up the neck on two strings, running on a single string. Start in the keys that help you see the neck most clearly, then expand. As Joe puts it, you don’t have to know every scale there is. Know the ones you use the most, and know them so well that the name is all you need — no working it out on the fly.
He also recommends knowing all the chords built off each degree of any scale you love: different voicings, different fingerings, and how to put those chords together in sequences. That kind of deep chordal knowledge unlocks a scale in a way that pure scale-running never will.
Taking it further
Once you’re comfortable with harmonic minor and its modes, the harmonic minor scale does have full modal names — the second mode is Locrian natural 6, the third is Ionian #5, and so on — and these are covered in the PDF resources linked above. Joe notes that while the modal names can be confusing if you’re not used to them, they can also be genuinely helpful for understanding why certain fingerings work the way they do over specific chords.
Your homework
Work in A minor this week. Learn the harmonic minor scale with the root on the low E string and the A string, using three notes per string. Then learn Phrygian dominant starting on E using the same approach. Listen carefully for the difference in character between the two scales, and try composing a short two-bar riff in each. Next week, add Hungarian minor using the same process.