Saddest Scale

The Minor scale (Aeolian Mode) is pretty sad sounding. Just solo w/ it for a bit and then throw in a couple minor chords and you'll start to hear how super sorrowfull it sounds. The blues scale (minor pentatonic scale) sounds somewhat sad aswell but I havent worked w/ it much yet so I cant recommend it that much.

I guess you could mess around with the I, IV, V chord prog. in any key using minor chords and see what comes to you. Then record it and start using the minor scale over it. I just tried this and it sounded pretty sad to me IMHO.

Yeah, I'd try what VoodooMerman said and remember slow with lots of feeling.

when I'm sad I usually pick through chords and stuff go slow and it gives a sad feeling, maybe stick to minors and flats.

Also the key to sounding sad is to play with a nice emotional vibrato imho....

Try Am Dm Em etc progressions.

D minor has a reputation as "the saddest of all keys."

i find spanish guitar can have the saddest songs, and i think they use mixolydian often. i know cantiga 311 goes d f g a c b a g f g f e f g a c b, but i can't tell you what scale or key that is. i think a lot of it however, is the intervals you use.

Most old American folk songs (the sort we used to sing in school) are in myxolydian. I think of it as a happy sounding "scale." Think of "Old Joe Clark," "Turkey In The Straw" and old fiddle tunes like that. Myxolydian.

None. You can write extremely sad sounding songs with the major scale and ultra-happy songs with the minor pentatonic scale. A scale doesn't really have it's own sound: it's the scale played against something else that decides how happy or sad it sounds. If you want to write a really sad song, start singin a melody line, add words to it and then start to figure out chords that go along. Starting with reportedly sad chords and scales with no definite plan of how to use them will always result in crap.

Do you already have a style of music in mind? Decide on that, pick the instruments you'll need, get a basic melody, find the words and think about how the song should sound from intro to outro. Then, and only then, should you worry about which scales and chords to add to your original idea. Your idea will be the foundation of the song, not the tools.

D minor has a reputation as "the saddest of all keys."

People weep instantly when they hear it, and I don't know why... :)

I agree with dm. I like Dm in a V, IV, I progression. That'll make anybody sad.