# Where to find weird/odd/exotic/evil sounding scales?



## BlindingLight7 (Oct 5, 2009)

hey dudes, I've been HEAVILY practicing lately what my teacher's been giving me to study, but the scales/chords are getting rather dull and boring. Can someone guide me to some epic chords and scales?


-Wes, trying to look like a badass


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## Arminius (Oct 5, 2009)

GuitarScales.nl - Guitar Scale Dictionary, scales, guitar, guitarra, gitar, gitarra

This place has some cool ones, I like the Prometheus scale a lot.


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## Mr. Big Noodles (Oct 6, 2009)

I contend that no one scale or chord makes anything weird/odd/exotic/evil, or epic. I'll throw a couple into the hat, though:

Whole tone scale:
e-10-12-14
b-9-11-13
G-7-9-11
D-6-8-10
A-5-7-9
E-4-6-8
B-3-5-7

Octatonic scale:
e-11-12-14-15
b-10-11-13-14
G-7-8-10-11
D-6-7-9-10
A-5-6-8-9
E-4-5-7-8
B-3-4-6-7

Uh... Don't know quite what this is called. Essentially a minor pentatonic scale with a major third:
e-3-7
b-3-6
G-4-5
D-3-5
A-3-5
E-3-7

Phrygian dominant (if you don't know if already):
e-3-4-7
b-3-4-6
G-4-5
D-3-5-6
A-3-5-6
E-3-4-7

Nine tone augmented scale:
e-5-6-7
b-6-7-8
G-6-7-8
D-7-8-9
A-8-9-10
E-9-10-11
B-10-11-12


For chords, I can't help you so much. Not in one post, anyway. Chords get most of their sound from their relation to other chords in its context. When you get down to it, there are only a few sonorities: the triads (major, minor, diminished, augmented), the seventh chords (major 7, minor 7, dominant 7, half diminished, fully diminished, minor major 7), quartal harmony, secundal harmony, extended harmonies, and alterations thereof.

A long time ago, I wrote a piece for acoustic guitar that had this chord in it:

e-0
b-0
G-0
D-3
A-1
E-0

It popped up in a thread way back when, and I think I'd call it an Em(#4 b9) at this point. By itself, it's ugly and ambiguous, but it resolves nicely into a Bm chord:

e-0-2
b-0-3
G-0-4
D-3-4
A-1-2
E-0-x

Same deal with this little progression:

e-0-2-3
b-2-1-0
G-0-1-0
D-1-0-0
A-0-x-2
E-x-x-3

That one also uses weird chords which are clarified in a tonal context. But there's plenty of fun to be had using plain old major and minor chords. Check it out:

e-2-4-7-11-13-14
b-3-4-8-11-13-14
G-2-5-9-11-14-14
D-----------13-16
A-
E-

That's just D Ab Em Ebm F7 Gbm, and it sounds anything but conventional (unless you listen to a lot of classical music from about 150 years ago). What makes it sound so unstable is that the progression is built mostly from distant key relations and has no clear cadence. Exotic sounds aren't just achieved by exotic chords, you see.


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## Ryan-ZenGtr- (Oct 29, 2009)

Sounds to me like you want to learn modes...

Quick overview:
If you play C - C on a piano, you hit all the white notes in a row. If you then play D - D hitting all the white notes, you get the Dorian mode of C.

On a guitar, if you play a major scale then start on the second note of the same scale and continue to it's octave, you get that keys Dorian mode.

It's really easy once you realise that your playing the same scale but STARTING on a note from within the scale other than the root. That will be a mode of the original scales key.

Straight forward?

The best bit is if the people you work with know all this, then you can use musical jargon to save so much time. "Dude, it's Lydian there!" saves so much time than "Put your fingers ... here ... and ... here ... and then ... here ........".

Also it helps your imagination speak through an instrument and is a way of using technique to create "unique" sounds.

Just wait 'til you start harmonising modal chords *my brain quakes at the thought*

Good luck


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## lcsper (Nov 7, 2009)

You should look into learning modes for all three minor scales, some of the modes of melodic minor are particularly evil sounding. Definitely look into harmonic minor modes.

Don't forget that everything sounds dull on its own; its like cooking, you can't just eat pasta with no sauce because that would be dull. Its the same with chords and scales. Ultimately its what you do with them that gets you where you want.


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