evil sounding scales?

  • Thread starter Thread starter miasma
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miasma
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ok so i have a dilemma everytime i play lead it comes out sounding bluesy which is great because i prefer to listen to a slow passionate lead player rather than just a full on shredder all the time but i would like to know how to give my playing a bit more of a "metal" sound

specific notes? scales?
 
Harmonic minor, diminished, augmented, whole tone, locrian mode, phrygian mode etc...
 
Make sure you work on your phrasing too. It's all to do with how you phrase something. ;)

But the Harmonic Minor is probably one of the most 'Metal' scales there is.
 
if yo are playing your major and minor scales an penatonic scales, make sure yo know yor modes as stated above, just add flattend 3rd's or 5th's etc. pharasing it is a big thing as well, also don't play inside the box patterns do little runs like 12-15-19, 12-15-20 12-17-20, etc. make them sound more dissonant. also try movingyour postion's up 3, 5, 7 frets etc. just experiment, how long have you been playinglead. practice your legato. also try sweeps etc. i know you are not wanting to be full on master shredder buta little sweep here and there and legato and wide streches is what done it for me, i used to feel like i always played bluesy but i dicked around and this shit really helped. experiment and have fun it will happen
 
Oops.. it's called the Gothic Octave scale..


gothicoctavescale.jpg


Here's a video of George playing the scale..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pja0IQnZcH8
 
comfortablynumb":044b4 said:
Oops.. it's called the Gothic Octave scale..


gothicoctavescale.jpg


Here's a video of George playing the scale..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pja0IQnZcH8
Click to expand...

very cool scale! Its quite a wide stretch for some though! so it could take a fair bit of practicing to get the fingers stretching!
 
it's just half step between the first 2 notes and 2 whole steps for the third, it seems like a finger exercise if anything.
 
ENDITOL":83a94 said:
Harmonic minor, diminished, augmented, whole tone, locrian mode, phrygian mode etc...
Click to expand...

+1 to all of those. I'm a fan of locrian myself; I don't hear it used too often. Try some diminished arps like the example below:

--9----------
-----8-------
--------7----

Or some whole tone stuff:

------------------------7--9--11--
------------6--8--10--------------
--5--7--9-------------------------

And here's a good three notes per string pattern:

--9--10--12---

Obviously, place these wherever you want on the fretboard. And if you're going for dark and exotic, don't forget the harmonic minor scale. There's more uses to it than just Yngwie licks. The #7 can give a cool middle eastern feel to things.
 
In regards to the "octave gothic" scale, it's basically a particular type of pentatonic scale (the name escapes me). But essentially, take a pentatonic scale and flat the 3rd and 6th. So, for C pent:

C - D - Eb - G - Ab - C

Whatever the name of it is, I'm thinking it's a Japanese word. Can't remember.

Other "evil" sounding scales:

Octatonic:

C - D - Eb - F - Gb - Ab - Bbb (A) - B - C

OR

C - Db - Eb - Fb (E) - Gb - G - A - Bb - C

Both of these scales contain the same pattern, just in a different order. The pattern: Whole step - half step - whole step - etc, while the second is half step - whole step - half step - etc.

Taking this same idea, I came up with my own scale of alternating intervals:

C - Db - E - F - Ab - A - C

The pattern is: minor second (half step) - minor third (3 half step) - minor second - etc. I don't know if this scale already exists, but I've never seen it anywhere. Anyways, I like how it sounds.
 
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