Dissonant chords?

[Daemoniac]

Holy shit, i actually forgot i had this thread...

Cheers for the suggestions, and in response to ToanArchitect: I retuned it back up, so its now just in Drop G# tuning again.

 

[TonalArchitect]

Here's an offensive-to-the-gods nasty chord:

D#---0
C#---7
F#---0
C#---0
G#---4
D#---6
G#---0

Here's some for either ringing out or palm-muted-but-not-staccato riffing (ala "Electric Red" verses):

D#----------------
C#----------------
F#----------------
C#-----------5---
G#--2----1--5---
D#--3----2--6---
G#--0----2--0---

The obvious way to go is for tritones, but I'm by far more partial to seconds.

 

[Mr. Big Noodles]

Seconds are preferable, but tritones are easy on guitar. Unfortunately, that fact makes guitar pieces written with twentieth century harmonies a bit predictable. That's why I work with tertial and quartal harmony, but use progressions that avoid key. The benefit has been that I have to work with harmonies that make a bit of sense (can't do stacked major sevenths), and have learned to appreciate the motion of a chord. I'm all harmony, though. My melodies suck.

 

[henrebotha]

another cool thing to do is make a chord thats any note and the minor second from it. Then bend the lower note slowly up to the pitch of the higher note.

This is called a "unison bend".

You should get a whole bunch of that weird wavering noise, like when you tune with harmonics.

This is called "beating".

eb:----------
bb:--5bend--
gb:--10-----
db:---------
ab:---------
Eb:--------
Bb:--------

I find myself using that position a lot for dissonant chords, or like this:

eb:----
bb:--7--
gb:--10--
db:----
ab:----
Eb:----
Bb:----

which is essentially the same thing.

The second way (ie lower note on the third string) is much easier and more practical to do.

Generally, unison bends are used more as a lead effect than as a chord... And I actually do think they could be used to great effect in rhythm parts. I should go try this when I get off work.

My favourite dissonant chord at the moment is simply Xflat5. In E:

e-6-
B-8-
G-9-
D---
A---
E---

Add a major 7 or minor 9 for added flavour.

 

[TonalArchitect]

Let's have some love for Augmented chords.

Here's a compact little voicing:

Eb---12
Bb---13
Gb---13
Db------
Ab-------
Eb-------
Ab-------


Eb-------
Bb-------
Gb-------
Db---4-----
Ab---5---
Eb---6--
Ab---5----

For low-register, drop-tuned stuff.

And a bar-voicing, if you dig that


Eb---4----
Bb---5----
Gb---5----
Db---6----
Ab---x----
Eb---4----
Ab--------

This isn't the "Hardest Chords" Thread, so I'm not going to show you what you'd need to have a note on the Ab string(s).

 

[Mr. Big Noodles]

Fifth manipulation is good stuff, like m#5 (ex: E-G-B#), or Mb5 (ex: E-G#-Bb). Major-minor chords are difficult to find good voicings for on guitar, but here's an example:

e-9
b-5
G-5
D-7
A-7
E-5

With the major triad on the bottom (and added b7):

e-8
b-5
G-6
D-5
A-7
E-5

 

[henrebotha]

With the major triad on the bottom (and added b7):

e-8
b-6
G-7
D-5
A-7
E-5

Shouldn't that be

e-8
B-6
G-6
D-5
A-7
E-5

?

Anyway, yeah, love the clash of a major and minor third in the same chord. a la

e-(0)-
B--8--
G--8--
D--6--
A--7--
E-(0)-

which is also great because it's got the major 7 clashing with the minor 3.

 

[Mr. Big Noodles]

Shouldn't that be

e-8
B-6
G-6
D-5
A-7
E-5

?

Oops. Thanks for catching that. Correcting now...

Kudos on your major-minor-maj7, that's another good one. This illustrates a method for making dissonant chords: mixing tonalities. The next logical step would be adding a b5, then a m6/#5, then maybe 9 and b9, and so on.

 

[henrebotha]

Kudos on your major-minor-maj7, that's another good one. This illustrates a method for making dissonant chords: mixing tonalities. The next logical step would be adding a b5, then a m6/#5, then maybe 9 and b9, and so on.

I arrived at it a different way, though - I approached it as a modified 7#9. Whereas the Hendrix chord has a funky/bluesy sound to it due to the flat 7, this version gives it a sharper sound and emphasises the major side of the major-minor equation. So there's another way to do this kind of thing: take sounds you already know and alter them.

 

[ilikes2shred]

Thanks, I never new there was a name for... um.. beating.

Anyway, I good example of unison bends in a rhythm section (I DID know that one.... ) would be My Acid Words by Nevermore. Its the very first riff.

 

[Mr. Big Noodles]

I arrived at it a different way, though - I approached it as a modified 7#9. Whereas the Hendrix chord has a funky/bluesy sound to it due to the flat 7, this version gives it a sharper sound and emphasises the major side of the major-minor equation.

Maj7 chords have always struck me as having an immobile, sickly-soft quality that doesn't fit anywhere, never emphasizing a major key. This doesn't really contribute, but I find it a difficult chord quality.

 

[henrebotha]

This thread has actually managed to kick-start my inspiration muscle... NEED MOAR

The difficult thing for me is that I tend to approach diatonic chord progressions from a four-part harmony perspective because that's where my theory knowledge is rooted; but I have no idea how to harmonically approach (or resolve!) a chord like my aforementioned major-minor-M7.

 

[Mr. Big Noodles]

It's usually a color chord, but let's see what we can do. Both a major tonic chord and its parallel minor share a major V, so you could resolve to the V. I also experimented with moving up a tritone, then down a fifth, as a sort of Neapolitan cadence. Both are eh, but I'd rely on V, viiº, and ii. If I knew Bartók's work better, I could probably get a better idea of what to do with that chord. Polymodality is hard shit.

 

[henrebotha]

Bartok big on that stuff? I've never really given him a listen.

 

[Mr. Big Noodles]

Oh, yeah. I couldn't recommend any pieces in particular to illustrate his use of major-minor, but there's probably a few examples in his Concerto for Orchestra.

Also, Michael Stearns (soundtrack composer for the Ron Fricke films Baraka and Chronos) likes to resolve weird chords. You might want to check him out.