whole-half and half-whole are THE death metal scales. 85% of Hate Eternal and Nile riffs are in those modes.
GUITAR SCALES AND MODES
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Tym_ex
Tymon
Haha were you referring to me? My answer may have sounded a bit blunt and short, but really, it's that easy. Scales and modes can be found everywhere on the internet. The hard part is to practice them for hours and hours.
And while there are certain modes and scales that sound more "metal" I don't think it's a good idea to focus on them alone. The church modes is the place to start. But since everyone is suggesting them; try the melodic minor scale for instant Fredrik leads. Sounds a bit like the harmonic minor scale but a lot fresher and more original in the metal scene.
STINNETT
Bad / Nationwide
Yo Key. The Guitar Grimoire is a great book for this stuff.
This is my technique for approaching scales and modes. It's been helpful to several people I've worked with on this stuff. You may or may not want to look at things this way...that's up to you.
First of all, learn the theory behind the major scale. I think it's helpful if all of your knowledge anchors from a base point like that. This is the same theory that you'll need to learn in order to build and understand chords and you may already have a good foundation here. The most important thing to learn is the actual intervals. Start with the root note and learn what a major second, third, a perfect fourth and fifth, and a major sixth and seventh sound like in relation to it and how to finger them. Learn them in higher octaves too obviously. If you've been playing extended chords you'll be familiar with the sounds and you should learn to find them either on adjacent strings or along the same string. Knowing the intervals in this way will get you around the neck alot better and help you tremendoulsy when building chords.
Now when you're ready to learn the modes, just think about altering the intervals to get a different sound. Lower the third and seventh a half step to their minor intervals and there is the Dorian mode. Change the 3rd and 6th to minor intervals by lowering them a half step....there's the harmonic minor (not a mode, but it's easy to think of it that way). Lower the seventh a half step as well and there's the Aeolian mode. Take the second down a half step as well and there's Phrygian. (You can find fretboard maps of the scales at this website: http://jguitar.com/scale?root=E&scale=Phrygian&fret=0&labels=none¬es=sharps )
I think it's helpful in your improvising and soloing to know what makes the modes different and exactly what intervals are different among them. That way you know what sort of chords and rhythms they work over too.
Simply playing the major scale but starting on a different degree is a surefire way to confuse yourself about the use of a mode....but hey it works for some people.
Take the 5th degree of the harmonic minor scale, and you have phrygian dominant. (Or just take the phrygian mode and raise the third back to a major third) That is a very exotic sounding scale that is common in metal.
Another exotic sounding scale is the diminished scale. It is an eight tone scale that you can either play as a strict alternating whole step / half step pattern or a half step / whole step pattern. The neat thing about this scale is that a single scale will work in several different keys (you can't play that pattern 12 different ways....only 3
) Sometimes you've got to experiment a little.
Sorry for being so long winded. I just like talking about scales.
This is my technique for approaching scales and modes. It's been helpful to several people I've worked with on this stuff. You may or may not want to look at things this way...that's up to you.
First of all, learn the theory behind the major scale. I think it's helpful if all of your knowledge anchors from a base point like that. This is the same theory that you'll need to learn in order to build and understand chords and you may already have a good foundation here. The most important thing to learn is the actual intervals. Start with the root note and learn what a major second, third, a perfect fourth and fifth, and a major sixth and seventh sound like in relation to it and how to finger them. Learn them in higher octaves too obviously. If you've been playing extended chords you'll be familiar with the sounds and you should learn to find them either on adjacent strings or along the same string. Knowing the intervals in this way will get you around the neck alot better and help you tremendoulsy when building chords.
Now when you're ready to learn the modes, just think about altering the intervals to get a different sound. Lower the third and seventh a half step to their minor intervals and there is the Dorian mode. Change the 3rd and 6th to minor intervals by lowering them a half step....there's the harmonic minor (not a mode, but it's easy to think of it that way). Lower the seventh a half step as well and there's the Aeolian mode. Take the second down a half step as well and there's Phrygian. (You can find fretboard maps of the scales at this website: http://jguitar.com/scale?root=E&scale=Phrygian&fret=0&labels=none¬es=sharps )
I think it's helpful in your improvising and soloing to know what makes the modes different and exactly what intervals are different among them. That way you know what sort of chords and rhythms they work over too.
Simply playing the major scale but starting on a different degree is a surefire way to confuse yourself about the use of a mode....but hey it works for some people.
Take the 5th degree of the harmonic minor scale, and you have phrygian dominant. (Or just take the phrygian mode and raise the third back to a major third) That is a very exotic sounding scale that is common in metal.
Another exotic sounding scale is the diminished scale. It is an eight tone scale that you can either play as a strict alternating whole step / half step pattern or a half step / whole step pattern. The neat thing about this scale is that a single scale will work in several different keys (you can't play that pattern 12 different ways....only 3
) Sometimes you've got to experiment a little.Sorry for being so long winded. I just like talking about scales.
elmuchoescadawg
Member
I dont really play any more but I know if I had a guitar now I could still play a couple of Troys leads. What a mullet
Jackal_Strain
Sigurd Løberg
I remember when I first got into scales. It wasn't long after that I started using droptunings and I still have problems "converting" the scales to droptunings,
lepersmeesa
Badman rudeboy
Half-whole and whole-half are two modes of the diminished scale. There are only three positions of the diminished scale, as the nature of the pattern.
These are used throughout death metal and neoclassical style metal.
These are used throughout death metal and neoclassical style metal.
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