Particular Scale

What do you call a natural minor scale except with a major 3rd and a minor 2nd?

Ie, (in E): E, F, G#, A, B, C, D, E

Looks like the Spanish Phyrgian scale, fifth mode of the harmonic minor scale.

lol jesus. what in the sam hell is that? I used to know all the theory in the world but its been slipping of late. even still i don't think i ever learned no spanish scales, modes hardly too. Oh yeah, that reminds me of something i'm going to post in a more appropriate subject field.

Well... E, F, G#, A, B, C, D... doesn't look familiar? You can rearrange notes until you find something you're familiar with.
D, E, F, G#, A, B, C? No...
F, G#, A, B, C, D, E? No...
A, B, C, D, E, F, G#? Aha! That's the A Harmonic Minor scale! See now why E, F, G#, A, B, C, D is the 5th mode of the harmonic minor scale, like noticing said? It's the same notes as A Harmonic Minor, but beginning on the 5th scale degree, therefore the 5th mode.

People commonly call this the Spanish Phyrgian mode because it contains Spanish elements (try playing the progression E, F, E) as well as the defining phyrgian tone of the b9 (F in this case).

Another name for this scale could be E Phyrgian #3.

sweet man, thanks

I've heard it called dominant phrygian. Just my two cents.

Dominant Phyrgian is fine too. That tells you that the scale is phyrgian, except that it forms a dominant 7th chord, and that's exactly it.

It inherits its 3rd, 5th, and 7th from the E7 chord. G#, B, D are tones that it must contain to be dominant. It inherits other scale tones from E Phyrgian. That would be the b9, 4, and b6 (F, A, C). Put it together and you have E, F, G#, A, B, C, D.

3 ways to get at one scale? Yeah, it's like looking at a building. You can see it from the front, either side, or the back, and it's the same building, though each view looks different.

flat 9, oh yeah. lol. that brings back a bit. i should start taking some of that stuff up again but hey. i'm only a rock guitarist. lol.