Chords for Thrash Metal / Hardcore Crossover Lesson - Minor 2nd Interval Sounds & Uses

[F] _ _ _ _ [D] _ _ _ [Eb] _
_ [Dm] _ _ _ _ [D] _ _ _
_ [Eb] _ _ [Bb] _ _ _ [Eb] _ [D] _
_ _ [Gm] _ _ [Dm] _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ [Bb] _ _ [E] _ _
_ _ [D] _ _ _ [Eb] _ _ [D] _
_ _ [Eb] _ _ [D] _ _ [Eb] _ _
[Bb] _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ [A] _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Hey everybody, Corey at Gemini Guitar.
As you heard in the intro there, I was doing
some thrashy sort of things.
Mainly focusing on that specific interval of the minor second.
I get some people ask me about riff creation ingredients, how do I come up with riffs and
things.
Well, what we're going to look at in this video are just a couple of similar
ideas to what I was doing in the intro that may shed some light on the subject, at least
for the darker side of [D] things in that metallic sort of vein.
So, let's see how we go.
_ So the example I was playing in the intro is focusing on the minor second interval and
what is that?
You might ask.
Well basically it means that we're a semitone apart from
each other.
So if we're playing a root note, say on the 7th fret E on the A string, _ [Eb] _ then
our minor second interval would be the F note next door to that, one semitone higher. _
_ _ [C] Now
pretty much the key or the general scale that we're working with in this context would
be the Phrygian mode since it progresses from the root E into the semitone interval or minor
second interval, then through the [D] rest of the scale.
[Eb] _ [F] _ [A] _ [C] _
[D] _ _ [Am] _ [F] _ _ [Eb] _ _ _
_ _ _ _ Interestingly, the E Phrygian mode
actually occurs within the C major scale, but since we're starting on the E note, that
becomes our root and therefore [Db] the F note becomes the minor second, the E being the
first degree or the [D] starting [Eb] point. _
_ _ _ Now we've also got lots of these over the fretboard,
so in the introduction there I was using in the 7th position the E note and the F note
on the A string, [D] _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ [Eb] _
[D] _ _ [D] _ _ _ [E] something to that effect, and I was also later on in the piece I was
using some stuff down in the open position, so we had like a double stop idea, which is
pretty much the same rhythm just with double stops.
So in this case what we're doing is
we've got the _ E note on [D] the D string, we're adding in the B note, which is actually the
E note's 5th, but we're going to put that on the bottom.
It's a bit of a heavy sort
of sound. _ _
_ [Eb] _ [D] _ _ [D] _ _ But we've still got that intervallic concept at work.
If we listen just to the
E and F again, _ _ _ _ [Eb] _ _ _
[Abm] just adding in that B [D] on the bottom, _ _ _ [D] _ _
[Eb] _ [D] _ so it's like a harmonised interval
in this regard.
So say you had two guitarists, one guy could be doing this bit, _
_ [Eb] _ [D] _ _ _ _ [A] and the other
guy could be doing this.
[D] _ [A] _ [Bb] _ _ _ _
_ _ And if we put those together just with one guitarist it sounds
pretty cool anyway.
[D] _ _ _ _ _ [Eb] _
[D] _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ Of course we can also use it as just straight power chords, so we've
got the low E5 in the open, _ to the [Eb] F5, _ [D] _ _ _ [Eb] _ [D] _ _
[Eb] _ [D] _ _ _ _ [Eb] _ [D] _ _
[Eb] _ _ [D] _ _ _ _ _ [Eb] _
[D] _ _ _ _ _ _ _ [Eb] _
_ _ [B] but the bottom line is we're emphasising that
minor second interval the whole [D] time.
[E] _ [D] _ [Eb] _ _ [D] _
[Eb] _ _ [D] _ [Eb] _ [D] _ [Eb] _ _ [N]
Now I've also got it up at the 12th and 13th fret on
the E string, low E string, and of course around that we've also got all the octaves
to go with it.
So in the introduction I was starting in [D] this point, _ _ _ [D] _ _ [Eb] _ [D] _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ I was [Am] also using the
octave from that, so that's 9th fret on the G string, and 10th fret on the [Eb] G string. _ _ _ _
_ _ [D] _ _ _ [Eb] _ _ _
_ _ _ _ [B] _ _ As you can see [N] there's a whole bunch of those all around the fretboard, so depending on
the style of music that you're doing and the context that you're doing that music in, all
of those have a specific role to play within those contexts I guess.
So the final idea I was using towards the end was like a hardcore metal crossover type
of rhythm.
I've covered this one before in hardcore rhythm I think, but this time we're
in D standard, so we're kind of closer I guess to that traditional sort of tuning.
[D] I think
in the introduction I was doing the more classic power chord shape, this one down here.
_ So
that's 2nd on the D, 4th on the G, and 5th on the B string.
_ _ _ So it ended up with something
like this. _
[Eb] _ _ _ [D] _ _ _ [Eb] _ _
[D] _ _ [Eb] _ _ _ [D] _ _ [Eb] _
_ _ I think towards the end there I was actually using inverted power chords in
the 7th and 8th position here too, _ _ _
_ [Bm] _ _ [F] before descending [E] chromatically.
[D] _ _ So that's another
option there for you, so if you get nothing else out of this video I would like to think
that you've learnt at least that intervallic concept.
[Eb] _ Semitone, [D] minor 2nd, [E] from root [D] to
next door to that. _
And just to explore that interval all across the fretboard and in that
way then you'll have the ingredients that you need to come up with a variety of styles
and riffs and things when it comes time to create something.
So that's what you should
do in my opinion, you learn an interval [E] somewhere, [D] try and learn it [Eb] everywhere. _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _
And also don't
be afraid to experiment a bit with it like we did, so we added in the double [D] stop [Eb] concept,
[D] _ [Eb] and _ _ the [D] octave, [Eb] _ _ _ [D] _ _ _
_ _ _ [E] _ and so on.
And in doing that then you really do assimilate it and it becomes
like a weapon in your musical arsenal if you like. _ _
Anyways, hope that's helped you out,
it's been a bit of fun doing this one, it's one of my favourite intervals and I'm going
to do some more lessons on this particular interval but within some different context
and sort of tempos and styles and things.
_ Anyways, until the next lesson, bye for now.