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Old 2005-08-31, 21:57
Seamus616
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Best scales for metal..

I am massive into blues... but prefer Metal is there any "exotic" scales you would advice for metal??
 
Old 2005-09-01, 01:17
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harmonic minor, any mode esp. the 5th...phrygian dominant
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Old 2005-09-01, 01:23
oRg
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Well, in metal you use the normal major/minor scales as well as Harmonic Minor, some Melodic Minor, and recently I've been hearing alot of the Diminished scale used. It you listen to the song "I, Monarch" from Hate Eternal's cd I, Monarch you can hear that the rhythm uses it alot.
 
Old 2005-09-01, 04:51
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Depends what kind of metal you wish to play. Death Metal seems to use mainly diminished. Thrash metal is more minor (harmonic, natural, melodic) scales. Power metal is more major/minor. Mix them up and create your own unique sound.
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Old 2005-09-01, 16:50
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DamageFan6984
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Quote:
Originally Posted by davie_gravy
harmonic minor, any mode esp. the 5th...phrygian dominant


DITTO Harmonic Minor is the way to go.
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Old 2005-09-01, 21:37
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EZURATE
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Quote:
Originally Posted by DamageFan6984
DITTO Harmonic Minor is the way to go.


They're all good to know and utilize in your playing.

Check out Spanish Phrygian and Melodic Minor.
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Old 2005-09-01, 23:59
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YJM04
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some of the scales i play around with are:
harmonic minor,melodic minor, mixolydian mode, natural minor, hungarian minor/major,spanish phyrgian and normal phyrigan, major scales, diminished, major and minor penitonics,harmonic major,double harmonic major/minor,augumented,auxiliary diminished/augumented,diatonic,Hirajoshi,Neoploitan maj/min.
those are some pretty good scales to mess around with.
some becker fans may notice that he used the hirajoshi in one of his songs as well many of these scales
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ibut i wouldnt get any help at a slipknot board, theyre struggling with palm muting!
 
Old 2005-09-02, 07:39
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Everyone tells me that I use the harmonic minor scale in my leads. I would'nt know however.
 
Old 2005-09-02, 15:56
oRg
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I use a combination of Harmonic Minor, Diminished, and Natural Minor the most. It's the minor third space between the notes that I like to use. You can use pretty much any scale it just depends on the context in which you use it.
 
Old 2005-09-02, 16:01
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feetunderwarpath
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i use A minor a lot without even realizing it just feels natural and I play through feel mainly, but for solos i like to know my scales.
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Old 2005-10-14, 18:51
The Angry Hobbit
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penatonic, harmonic minor, diminished, and modes.... just depends on the sound you are looking for.....
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Old 2005-10-15, 09:18
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Quote:
Originally Posted by The Angry Hobbit
penatonic


I wouldn't advise using the pentatonic scale in metal unless people are looking for that almost primitive sound of early Black Sabbath. Hardly anybody since about 1980 has used the pentatonic in metal.
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Old 2005-10-15, 12:44
walpurgis
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Which one out of diminished, harmonic and melodic minor, has the most "evil" sound? I didn't want to use that word, but I couldn't think of a better one, and I've forgotten about all the theory that I had learned
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Old 2005-10-15, 14:16
blizzard_beast
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Out of those three, I'd say the diminished has the most "evil" sound.
 
Old 2005-10-15, 14:31
walpurgis
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Sweet, thanks.
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Fuck Brad and everyone who looks like Brad. From the looks of this picture, I think he's jerking off too much. Keep him away from LouAnne.

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Old 2005-10-15, 16:30
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Minor for thrash and power metal works good i find
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Old 2005-10-15, 20:09
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augumented and natural minor are best for a sad feeling theme.
natural minor is also good for tapping, for example sea of lies by symphony X
to give a feeling of hightend action, it just depends what mode u play in
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Quote:
Originally Posted by User01
ibut i wouldnt get any help at a slipknot board, theyre struggling with palm muting!

Last edited by YJM04 : 2005-10-16 at 14:34.
 
Old 2005-10-17, 18:00
Rattlehead
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Zertonshfits
Minor for thrash and power metal works good i find

Thrash also makes extensive use of the Locrian mode. Just look at Rust in Peace.
Quote:
Originally Posted by YJM04
natural minor is also good for tapping, for example sea of lies by symphony X

Which part are you talking about?
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Old 2005-10-17, 19:01
The Angry Hobbit
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Quote:
Originally Posted by johnmansley
I wouldn't advise using the pentatonic scale in metal unless people are looking for that almost primitive sound of early Black Sabbath. Hardly anybody since about 1980 has used the pentatonic in metal.



thats what i thought until i heard Bloodlined Caligraphy
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Old 2005-11-06, 18:32
JacksonGuitars07
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The augmented fifth scale is good for composing neo-classical style licks.

C - D - E - F - G - G# - A - B

The half-whole scale is pretty dark sounding, perfect for death metal riffs

C - C#- D#- E- F#- G- A- A#

The pentatonic actually CAN be used nowadays. Mainly used for those 80s Van Halen style shredfest solos. You just have to know how to use it properly so you don't sound contrived.

Hope those helped!
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Old 2005-11-10, 04:11
{DEATHBLACKGRIND}
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I've been playing around with a fair bit of whole-tone stuff lately which sounds cool. Hear cool use of whole-tone in Necrophagist - Intestinal Incubation.
I mainly use scale knowledge for jazz and improvisation though, for metal riffs I usually just play around with what sounds cool/bent.

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