The Devil’s Chord: The Tritone Scale as 'Diabolical Subtext' of the V Chord

To become a more effective songwriter, there comes a point where every guitarist must break out of the conventional major and minor scales and add flavor to their sound by using 'outside' notes and chords to create a more interesting musical experience for the listener.

One of the essential features of Western music is the dynamic of ‘tension and resolution’.  Building tension throughout a song and then releasing that tension through resolution into the tonic note is a key part of songwriting that hooks the listener in and keeps them coming back for more.

Similar to tension-building, the idea of ‘adding color’ to chords and melodies becomes necessary to keep the listener engaged and improve songwriting quality.  Good songwriters have the ability to use notes that sound vibrant, colorful, and pique the listener’s attention.  

In short, over-reliance on the basic major and minor scales eventually grows stale.  When these formulas begin to lose their effect, the songwriter is left experimenting with new ways to maintain the listener's interest.

The Current Article

This article explores one method for building tension and adding color to one’s sound: namely, using dominant V chords and their shadowing underbelly, often referred to as the ‘tritone scale’, 'spider scale', or 'diminished seventh arpeggios', as a tool to improve one’s songwriting.

1. I begin with a discussion of the logic behind dominant V chords and the authentic cadence (i.e, V to I progressions) within both major and minor keys. 
2. I then discuss how the tritone scale functions in relation to the V chord and authentic cadence.  
3. I conclude with examples illustrating some ways to apply the spider scale and V to I progressions within your own rock and metal songwriting.

The Authentic Cadence: V to I Progressions and Tension Building

Within music, the term ‘cadence’ refers to the transition or movement between two chords and the general sense of emotion created by that chord change.  

In music theory, the ‘authentic cadence’ is the first type of cadence that most students learn.  The reason for this practice is because it is the strongest cadence.  It is considered as having a dominant, or powerful sound, with a strong sense of release or resolution being created.  

The concept of an authentic cadence refers to the transition from a V chord to the I chord.  When building chords from the major scale both the V and I chords turn out to be major.  The I chord is built from notes 1, 3, & 5  of the major scale.  The V chord is comprised of notes 5, 7, 2 of the major scale.

The chord structure of the major scale (in C) is as follows:

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Despite their happier sound, major chords themselves are considered more ‘dominant’ than minor chords.  Hence, when the seventh scale degree is stacked onto the major V chord within the major scale it is referred to as a ‘dominant’ 7th chord.

The dominant 7th chord differs from two different types of 7th chords, namely the major 7th and minor 7th chords.  The dominant 7th chord is symbolized with a note followed by a '7' (e.g., E7).  The major and minor 7th chords tend to be symbolized with a note followed by 'maj7' or 'm7' (e.g., Cmaj7, Am7).  

The three types of 7th chords differ by their interval structure.  

• A maj7 is comprised of a root, major 3rd, perfect 5th, and a major 7th interval.  
• A minor 7th chord is comprised of a root, minor 3rd, perfect 5th, and a minor 7th.  
• A 'dominant 7th' chord is comprised of a root, a major 3rd, a perfect 5th, and minor or 'flat' 7th.  
• The minor 7th is what distinguishes the dominant 7th chord from the maj7 chord.  

Major chords possess more natural tension and boldness than minor chords.  Given the more dominant nature of major chords, it comes as no surprise that authentic cadence is nearly always a major V chord.  Further, the V chord is typically a 'dominant 7th' when extended to include the 7th scale degree.

Using the chord structure of the major scale, isolating the V and I chords of C major, the authentic cadence sounds as follows.  The following examples illustrates both the major V chord and the dominant V7 chord.

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Leading Tones: Their Function within the Authentic Cadence

The concept of a ‘leading tone’ is often discussed in relation to the authentic cadence and tension building within music.  

A key feature of the major scale is that there is only a half step between the 7th note and the tonic note.  This small ‘half step’ distance possesses more natural tension than the 'whole step' distance between the 7th note and tonic note of the natural minor scale.

The leading tone (i.e., 7th note of the major scale) is included within the major V chord, which is comprised of the 5th, 7th, and 2nd notes of the major scale.  The leading tone resides on the 3^rd scale degree of the major V chord.  

The location of the leading tone on the 3rd scale degree of the V chord is especially important, because this is the note that is most important in creating tension when resolving into the tonic.  The leading tone is further important to understanding how the spider scale functions in relation to the V chord.

Applying the Authentic Cadence to Minor Keys

When we apply the above principle of an authentic cadence to a minor key things become more tricky.  The chord structure of natural minor scale (in A minor) is as follows:  

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When building chords from the minor scale, we see that the fifth chord is not major, but minor.  It tends to be symbolized with a minor 'v' as opposed to major 'V'.  

Additionally, the leading tone (G) makes for a full step transition from 7th note into the tonic (A).  This 'full step' leading tone is contained within the minor v chord on the 3rd, making it minor instead of major.

This full step leading tone differs from the half step leading tone we see within the major scale.  The full step transition in the minor scale possesses less natural tension than the half step transition of the major scale.

Extracting the minor v chord and the minor i chord, we construct a v to i cadence from the A natural minor scale as follows:

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As you can hear, the minor v to i cadence does not possess the same boldness or tension as the major V to I cadence within a major key.  The v to i progression in the pure minor scale doesn't sound as powerful when resolving into the tonic as the major V to I progression. 

Practically speaking, the minor v to i progression would definitely not be very good for signaling a song is about to end, but it might be good for signaling that the song is not yet over and that there is more to come.

If the minor scale lacks the same boldness as the major scale in it's V to I cadence, then how do we go about resolving the problem?

The Solution: Harmonic Minor

To solve the dilemma, the harmonic minor scale may be introduced to resolve the problem.

The harmonic minor scale itself represents an altered minor scale that contains properties proven to work musically though a long history of experience.   

Specifically, the harmonic minor scale features a ‘sharp seventh’ scale degree.  The sharp 7 reproduces the half-step leading tone between the 7th and 8th notes featured in the major scale.  The sharp 7 thus adds properties to the minor scale that replicate the boldness and tension of the major scale.

Important to note is that one result of the sharp 7th note of harmonic minor is that it creates major V chord, which differs from the minor v chord of natural minor.  The major V chord better reproduces the authentic cadence of the major scale, matching its sense of boldness within minor keys.

The chord structure of harmonic minor is as follows:

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The sharped 7^th note of harmonic minor also produces several other changes in the chord structure of the minor scale.  

As you can see, the 3rd scale degree (the relative ‘major’ equivalent in harmonic minor) produces an augmented chord.   An augmented chord is composed of two major 3rd intervals strung together (that is, it contains a 'sharp 5' or 'augmented 5' note).  This structure differs from a major chord, which is comprised of a major 3rd and a minor 3rd strung together.

Moving on, one can see that an extra diminished chord is produced on the sharp 7th scale degree of the harmonic minor scale.  The diminished chord on the 2nd scale degree is retained from the original natural minor scale.

Within harmonic minor, the augmented chord is rarely used but can be fun to experiment with.  The diminished chords also tend to not be used much on their own.  As we shall see, they tend to function as extensions of the V chord.  Harmonic minor progressions tend to be based strictly on i-iv-V, with the diminished chords being used in relation to the V chord.  The VI chord (the 'Lydian' equivalent) also tends to work well on it's own and within progressions (just as we see in standard natural minor).

Altering the Natural Minor Scale

To recap, harmonic minor is useful because it creates a major V chord that is not included in the natural minor scale.  This major V chord creates a stronger V to i cadence within the minor scale.

As such, to solve the weak sounding authentic cadence in the minor key, we simply borrow the major V chord from harmonic minor, and use it within the pure minor scale.  This solution simply alters the minor 'v' chord in natural minor by changing it to a major 'V' chord.  

The use of a major V chord within minor keys seems so natural that many music theory books present the natural minor scale as always including an implied major V chord.  In other words, the ear just wants to hear a major V chord when playing in a minor key. 

The practice of adding a major V chord to the natural minor scale tends to add a ‘Latin’ or ‘flamenco’ sound when resolving into the tonic, but need not always.  In the case of players like Randy Rhodes, for instance, this alteration creates more colorful, neoclassical type sound.

Important to note: whenever you use the altered V chord within natural minor, the scale temporarily becomes harmonic minor for just that chord.  When composing, soloing, or writing melodies over the major V chord you'll generally always want to use the 'sharp 7' from harmonic minor to avoid clashing with the major V chord in the harmony line.  When playing chords from natural minor, you can play the standard natural minor scale.

Here's the V to I cadence when using our altered A natural minor scale--

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As you can hear, there is a stronger, more stable and resolute sound to the major V chord resolving into the tonic than there is when using the minor v chord from natural minor.

The Role of the Diminished Chords: the ‘Diabolus en Musica’

As noted above, the diminished chords within both natural and harmonic minor rarely sound good on their own and are infrequently used.  

The reason the diminished chords tend not to work well within progressions is because they feature an interval known as a ‘flat 5’, ‘diminished 5th’, or 'tritone.'  This interval is ugly, dissonant, and muddy in quality. 

The diminished chords alone sound out of place alongside other chords within progressions, often sounding wrong or incorrect altogether.  This problem becomes especially pronounced when using distortion and playing the notes together as a chord.

The diminished chords sound so out of place in conventional progressions that the Catholic Church long ago barred their use within music altogether.  The church loathed these chords so much that they referred to them as the ‘diabolus en musica’ or the ‘Devil in Music’.

When composing, finding ways of dealing with the diminished chord (such as dropping the flat 5 or avoiding the chord altogether) is often a problem one encounters.

Using the Diminished Chords: The Spider Scale and Dominant V Chords

Despite their problems, when one knows how to utilize the diminished chords they can become a powerful tool for adding color and tension when resolving a chord progression into the tonic.  In fact they function beautifully in relation to the authentic 'V to i' cadence.  

Within metal and shred music, the diminished chords are typically used in the form of arpeggios, often referred to as 'diminished 7th arpeggios'.  These arpeggios are used to produce a hypnotic fury of notes to create suspense before resolving into the tonic.  The flat 5 interval tends to sound bad when played as a chord, so arpeggiating the diminished chord tends to be a solution to handling the flat 5.

To arpeggiate the diminished chords, a scale known as the ‘spider scale,’ ‘tritone scale’, ‘diminished 7th arpeggios’ is used to visualize the structure of the diminished arpeggios across the fingerboard.   

Here is a brief look at the structure of the diminished 7^th arpeggios from the open E position to the 12th fret. The spider scale is a moveable pattern, that is shiftable up and down every four frets.  You need to apply the pattern to whatever key your song is in.

It’s useful to think of the spider scale from a framework of chord substitutions, chord stacking, or as an extension of the dominant V chord within minor keys.   

The spider scale and its ‘flat 5’ interval matches the dominant V chord because it shares some of the notes.  The scale generally should be started on the major 3rd of the V chord and matches the various extensions of the V chord: from a V to a V7, to a V9, and so on.  

That said, to apply the spider scale, if we were playing in the key of E minor, for instance, the major V chord would be B major.  The spider scale would then start on the 3rd of the B major chord, which is an E flat or D sharp note. These are the 'leading notes' into the tonic within E minor.  

Likewise, if we're playing in A minor, the V chord is E major.  The spider scale then starts on the 3rd of the E major V chord, which is an A flat note (or G sharp).  Again the spider scale starts on the 'leading tone' into the tonic within harmonic minor.  Further, it is played over the major V chord. 

As an example, lets draw from the key of A minor, and test how the spider scale sounds over an E major chord chord.  An E major chord is the V chord within our altered A minor scale (which borrows from harmonic minor).

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Notice from the above example that the notes of the spider scale harmonize quite well with the E major V chord.  They produce a hypnotic dissonance, which then resolves into the tonic chord of A minor. 

Spider Scale as Diabolus in Musica

Interesting to note about the spider scale is that when playing around with it for a while, you might find that the notes of the spider scale tend to uncannily land on the notes that contain diminished chords within harmonic minor.  

The spider scale matches the structure of the diminished chords within harmonic minor scale like miracle of nature.  This darker ‘diminished’ subtext of harmonic minor justifies referring to it as the ‘diabolical subtext’ of the V chord within the minor scale.  

When playing in the 'V chord modes' of phrygian and phygian dominant, it can be fun to isolate the spider scale and the modes corresponding to the leading tone (i.e., the Locrian modes).  The songwriter can then combine these scales and arpeggios in creative ways to achieve a darker, more diabolical sound, such as that seen in death and black metal genres.

The important thing to note, however, is that the major V chord is the key to unlocking the power of the spider scale.  Again, the diminished chords tend to not sound very good on their own, but function as an extension, chord stack, or substitution for the dominant V7 chord.

The Spider Scale as Applied to Metal Riffs and Songwriting

Applying the lessons learned, here is a short generic riff or song idea that implements a i to V progression and the spider scale to add color to the V chord with outside tonalities.

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Conclusion

The V chord provides some of the most interesting possibilities for songwriting.  Particularly, the darker and more mysterious nature of the dominant seventh chord (and it's diminished chord stack) opens doors for all kinds of musical experimentation. 

For instance, the V chord lends itself well to use of accidentals, chromatics, Phrygian and Phrygian dominant modes, Locrian modes, and the diminished scale itself (different from the spider scale).  These scales work well when tastefully used in conjunction with the V chord.  They open doors for greater melodic and harmonic possibilities and more sophisticated compositions. 

In future articles I will explore some of the ways unlocking the power of the V chord, including it’s use within atonal death metal, neoclassical shred guitar, and other types of hard rock and heavy metal.

'Till next time..