There's this Raaga in Carnatic called Maaya Maalava Gowla (MMG) which is the first Raaga that any kid learning Carnatic will do. Of late I tried playing some stuffs and we tried some Black Metal kinda progression along with my Drummer and Keyboardist. The Raaga is really evil sounding. Check it out... I will show you in the key of A Scale: A, Bb, C#, D, E, F, G#, A (B is Flattened and C, G Sharpened) Comapre this scale with a Major Scale.. A Major = A B C# D E F# G# A A MMG = A Bb C# D E F G# A So A MMG is a Major Scale with Flattened 2nd and Flattened 6th. Notice the Major 7th ( G# ), Root ( A ) and Minor 2nd ( Bb ) all lying Chromatically. The feel of Minor 2nd along with Major 7th on both sides of the Root gives it the Evilest Feel of all. It also has a very wild and Gloomy Feel to it. Another Good thing about this is the Root, Perfect 4th and Perfect 5th intervals are intact like a Major Scale. So which means even if you have a 12 Bar Blues Progression like a Blues in A, you can try this for a real exotic feel. Or even mix it with a regular Minor Pentatonic that you;d use. But I'd prefer to change the progression to highlight the best of this scale. The best of this scale is the Major 7th, Root and the Minor 2nd lined up a Chromatic. So I'd prefer to use these chords for sure. Check out these chords based on this Scale... A Major = A C# E Bb Major = Bb D F C# Minor = C# E G# D Minor = D F A E Add#11 = E G# Bb F Augmented = F A C# G#sus2b5 = G# Bb D G#sus2b5 might kinda sound dissonant but goes extremely well with the feel of the scale... Whatever be the progression, make sure you include the chords G#, A and Bb. The three chords in chromatic gives the extremely dark feel for the scale.. Sample Progression: / A Bb A G# / A Bb A G# / D C# D C# / A Bb D C# / Ofcourse it's not a friendly sounding progression. But look at title of the thread. Have Fun...And Feedbacks Please
hey ronnie i had to post after reading ur stuff.....its a strange coincidence that im using this particular scale these days. i however didnt know the name of the raga. anyway that dont matter, lotsa things in indian classical overlap those in western. i rem the scale this way: 2b, 6b. i howver dont think its that evil sounding or something, its got more of an arabian/spanish feel to it. and by the way, theres a gypsy/flamenco kinda of instrumental that paul gilbert came up with. he used this exact scale.
and the dick dale miserlou song featured in pulp fiction (when the titles roll), also uses this scale.
Dude, check out the minor 2nd and the major 7th note which makes a three note chromatic as part of the scale. This scale can sound the evilest of all, if you know how to exploit this chromatic thing...Use that sample progression I gave and then try playing the chord tones to begin with.
