I've recently gotten into some bands that use a lot of acoustc strumming meldoies or use full chords when distroted to get more of an abstract and original sound. I just joined the board so don't know if any one genre is preferred here but the band I am mainly speaking of is Opeth....Vintersorg is another...
Anyhow, I try and create some good strumming riffs and they all come out country sounding or just come out wrong....there's so many chords to choose from so I'm hoping you guys can narrow it down for me.
I want some sadder sounding stuff, or an evil some evil sounding chords....something that also can sound real nice and would be eays to go in and out of distortion riffs with.
Any suggestions would be fantastic!
What really matters is not so much the chords so much as what they are used with. For example:
play this progression: E A D
It has a very poppy sound, even when distorted. Pretty happy sounding.
Now play this:
E C D
See how just by changing the A to a C you get a somewhat more unsettling sound?
It's mabye not the greatest example ( I just thought of it off the top of my head) but I hope it gets the idea across. If not, plently of people on here are theroy gurus and can explain it easily.
Welcome to GN!
*edit*- Here's something that sounds a little evil. Play E, then slide it up one fret, then up another.
Sounds a little evil with distortion.
The king of rock, some say lives
the lizard king, is surely dead
the king of France, lost his head
the King of Kings... bled
( email me at esherman@wideopenwest.(com). I almost never check my hotmailaccount.
E as in
Open 2 3 1 Open Open
E---0---
A---0--
D---1--
G---3--
B---2--
E---0--
?
eh thats tabbed backwards. Typicaly tab goes from thickest string to thinest. I played the chord you had there, im not sure what chord it was, but it wasn't E Major.
E is:
E-0
A-2
D-2
G-1
B-0
E-0
The king of rock, some say lives
the lizard king, is surely dead
the king of France, lost his head
the King of Kings... bled
( email me at esherman@wideopenwest.(com). I almost never check my hotmailaccount.
hmmm Im used to tabulature, so a chord chart is reversed then?
Oops, no...i'm a Dunce...i type the tab line upside down. Hah
So yeah...I'm playing it right then...
Even still...your fingering at different frets. Either way you look at it, your version isn't E Major.
The king of rock, some say lives
the lizard king, is surely dead
the king of France, lost his head
the King of Kings... bled
( email me at esherman@wideopenwest.(com). I almost never check my hotmailaccount.
D minor. It's the saddest of all the chords. :roll:
The open major chords can have that country/western sound, they are somtimes called "cowboy chords". Try playing barred chords and chord fragments up the neck. Play around with some different triads and double stops (I'm really into the sound of double stops at the moment).
And try and step out of the I-IV-V progession, throw in some II and VI and VII's. That way you get to use more minor chords, darkening up things a bit.
I don't know how to make something sound evil, but these are some of the things I do to break out of the strumming around the campfire sound. Also, changing the rhythm helps, try swithing to a triplet feel or a shuffle.
Second chords sound rather sad...
Forr example A2
---0
---0
---2
---2
---0
---x
Hey,
What youll need to do to get the sound your looking for is unbalance your major chords a little bit. Try playing something like this...
Em
Cmaj7
G6
D9
More minor chords would make this even better. . .
How about subsituting the D for a Bm or Bm7?
If your tune sounds too happy you can always try replacing a major chord with its relative minor, or its equivalent 6th.
Flatten your thirds.... diminish your fifths.....play around. Too many possibilities to mention.
Maj7ths sound melon collie.
Kido
I agree with Sherman, Id recommend you to play around with some different chord progressions instead of trying to find a certain "evil" or "sad" chord. If you take a part where a certain chord sounds really strong, and remove the/alter the surrounding structure, that chord will probably no longer give the same impression.
Id recommend you to listen to this song, your music taste seems compatible with it (GP4 tab, try to get real song) :
http://www.mysongbook.com/tab-tab_download-id_tablature=8789.htm
Check out the awesome intro, the acoustic interlude or the riff at bar 37 that is basically just two minor chords. Its all just simple chords used right to create that gloomy and evil sound.
BTW you have good taste in music, I really like Opeth and Im a huge fan of Vintersorg (:
Great to see another Vintersorg fan, they're not as common as Opeth.
I'll fiddle around with all of the suggestiosn everyone mentioned here. Thanks for all of your input, feel free to add more to then thread, never cna have too much information!
There certainly are evil sounding chords out there (for example, the arpeggiated chord that's near the beginning of "The call of the ktulu" by metallica). I would just really study songs that have an "evil" vibe to them.
Steve-0
--7-------3-------0----------------
--8-------4-------0----------------
--9-------5-------0---------------
--9-------5-------2----------------
--7-------3-------2---------------
-------------------0----------------
Play that progession slow and it has an eriee ring to it. Have a play around that.
