The diminished chord is the darkest chord in music. This is because it's constructed with stacked
Like the Beast, it goes by many names: Diabolus in musica (devil in music), the devil's interval, the tritone, the triad and the flatted fifth. As its Latin moniker suggests, it's an evil sounding combination of notes that's designed to create a chilling or foreboding atmosphere.
To bring an even spookier feel to an A minor song, use the following chord progression: i – ii dim – V – i. For more exercises in creating your own minor chord progressions, head over to this guide to discovering more minor chord progressions.
Tritone. This two-note combination has quite a bit of lore surrounding it, with some authors calling it “the Devil's chord.” The Tritone is spooky and sounds a bit out-of-tune. To create this sound, simply play any note and add a second note which is six semitones higher, counting the black and white keys.
Harmonic minor is the darkest of conventional minor scales. You can make scary music by playing just the scale (see Bach's Toccata below) or play it over chords.
The 'secret chord' is a biblical reference. David was a King from the Hebrew bible, and although we all mostly remember him for being the underdog who defeated Goliath, he was, first and foremost, a musician. So we know David played a 'secret chord', whatever that may be.
The Melodic minor works perfectly if you want to create mysterious chords on guitar. The E Melodic minor scale is played like this: E F# G A B C# D# E. The 6th and 7th degree are sharped.
Theremin. The sounds of theremin are so creepy that it makes people quiver. Originated in Russia, Theremin is an early electronic instrument the wounds of which you can consider using this Halloween to make people quiver.
The tonic (C) is the strongest note and draws more of our attention, so minor chords like this trigger more sensory dissonance, a kind of tension that stems from the clashing of closely spaced frequencies.
The Augmented 4th, or Tritonus, which spans three whole steps in the scale, is one of the most dissonant musical intervals around. It was considered unpleasant and ugly, and was named "diabolus in musica" - "the devil in music" - and you wouldn't use anything diabolical to praise the Lord, would you?
There's a tale behind that moniker: In those pious days of the Middle Ages, the tritone was so unpleasing that it was considered the work of the devil, leading church authorities ban its use in ecclesiastical music.
Religious leaders in the 19th century called the fiddle “The Devil's Instrument,” since it was often played at weddings, dances and gatherings where food, drink and merriment ensued.
The Theremin is one of the strangest experimental musical instruments ever. The theremin is an early electronic musical instrument controlled without physical contact by the performer. It was created by Russian inventor, Léon Theremin (Термéн) and also called as also known as either phone or thereminophone.
The six-string F chord is one of the hardest standard chord shape to play on the guitar. When many people try to play the F chord on guitar (and often succeed), it's with far too much struggle and effort than is actually necessary. Even extremely influential guitarists can have a hard time with barre chords.
What Makes a Chord Progression Sound “Sad?” Music, and the emotion it conveys, is highly subjective. Be that as it may, a progression in a minor key or heavy on minor chords tends to sound the most melancholy to listeners. A similar effect can be achieved with diminished chords, 7ths, and other extended voicings.
A sus chord is a “two chord” over the root of its corresponding “five chord”. That is to say, D7/G = G7sus. Any voicing for a minor seventh chord is a voicing for a sus chord a perfect fifth lower. In fact, whether a band plays a D7 or a G7sus is entirely up to one musician: the bass player.
The 13 chord is a type of dominant chord. Its main function is to make the 1-chord sound like home. Typically, the chord built on the 5th scale note (in this case, G) is called the dominant. There are two places this dominant-13 chord can be used to create a gospel piano feel.
In the key of E, the notes would be E F G A B C D. Four of the Phrygian mode's seven scale degrees—the second, third, sixth and seventh—are minor, or “flatted,” intervals, which is what gives Phrygian such a foreboding, “evil” sound, one that is perfectly suited to heavy metal music.
In music a tritone consists of two notes that are three whole steps apart, such as “C” to “F#.” Not found in either the major or minor scales, and due to its discordant sound, it has been called “the Devil's Chord.”
But back in the day, the devil was said to exist in a particular musical tone. For centuries, it was called the devil's interval — or, in Latin, diabolus in musica. In music theory, it's called the "tritone" because it's made of three whole steps.