Can anyone help me and tell me how to make a creepy bassline or song altogether. What theory, time sigs, scales, progressions, are involved. I'm trying to make up something that can really send a shivver down someone's spine, but no luck yet, thanks.

Check out the "Call of Ktulu" by Metallica, that's a little creepy. So is "The Thing That Should Not Be" also by Metallica (both instrumentals).

The Funeral March is creepy too.

Any B Grade horror flick or Suspense/Thriller movies should give you some ideas too.

Check out the "Call of Ktulu" by Metallica, that's a little creepy. So is "The Thing That Should Not Be" also by Metallica (both instrumentals).

The Funeral March is creepy too.

Any B Grade horror flick or Suspense/Thriller movies should give you some ideas too.

Uh... The Thing That Should Not Be has plenty o' vocals... just for clarification.

Look into phyrigian for a nice dark mode.

I think he meant Call of Ktulu and Orion.

I think he meant Call of Ktulu and Orion.


I meant The Thing That Should Not Be, I just made a mistake thinking it was instrumental only, thanks for the clarification - and I call myself an old school fan ...

believe it or not the major scale can sound quite creepy

Listen to "I Put A Spell On You" but Screamin' Jay Hawkins. (think I have the name right)

Black Sabbath - the title track off of the album by the same name. Creepiest riff ever made with 3 notes.

The verse of "Dazed And Confused" by Led Zeppelin is a good example of a creepy bass line.

first of all... any discussion of creepy music needs to mention the diminished 5th interval... i.e. if you're playing in E minor, the diminished 5th is Bb... also called a Tritone because its intervallic distance is 3 whole tones

it's pretty dissonant, and was called 'diabolus in musica' by old musical dudes in powdered wigs, literally translated as 'the devil in music'

it's no coincidence that Black Sabbath's and Metallica's music is completely laced with the diminished 5th... it's is EVERYWHERE on Ride The Lightning, Master of Puppets & And Justice...

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/4952646.stm

a diminished 2nd can also have a similar effect... so try Locrian mode... it's minor with a flat 2 and 5

don't forget rhythm, tempo & timbre too... all the diminished 5ths in the world won't sound creepy at 230bpm on an accordian or a kazoo

The diminished and whole tone scales can be used pretty effectively too.

The theme to Jaws!! The creepiest 2 note bassline I've evr heard!! :eek:

Analyze some of your favorite creepy songs and see how they get there. Here are some basic things you'll probably discover quickly:

Whenever possible ascend my minor intervals or tritones. Try to descend by minor seconds, major intervals or tritones. Avoid leaps of perfect fourths or fifths.

Start by descending.

If a note sounds too happy and breaks the mood try moving it a half-step up or down.

Listen to a lot of horror soundtracks. I learned a lot from them.

Babylon A.D. by Cradle of Filth has a creepy bass line with a rich and creepy tone. One of my favourites.

Listen to Radiohead - Climbing up the Walls. The bassline is really simple and I don't know if I'd call it creepy, but the song is pretty creepy.

The song "In the Hall of the Mountain King" by Edvard Grieg has a classical creepy sound to it

"THRILLA!!!" (Stands on toes, spins around, and moonwalks out of the room.)

Astor Piazzolla's "Buenos Aires Hora Cero" has a creepy bassline (and is a pretty creepy song overall).

King Crimson - John Wetton(earlier) and Trey Gunn's(later) basslines in particular..

Listen to Trey Gunn in the album "The Power to Believe"

DARK.

I doubt it would be considered "creepy" but whole tone scales are fun

C,D,E,F#,G#,A#,C

is one of them, the other is bassically all the notes that aren't in the first one, it sounds hypnotic

The theme to Jaws!! The creepiest 2 note bassline I've evr heard!! :eek:

Oh yeah! Good one!

SB

the bass line to frantic disembowelment is super creepy

The Thing That Should Not Be is kind of a creepy song.

"Boris the Spider" by Entwistle is not only creepy, it's creepy crawly! Just in time for Halloween

try messing around with maj7 #11 chords

Example:
Emaj7 #11 (no 3rd)
G|-8
D|-8
A|-7
E|-7* [lowest note optional]

maybe if you saw "Broken flowers" movie, you have noticed the truly creepy sound of ethiopian music.

try to look for Mulatu Astatke, Mahmood Ahmed, and others, they have the most groovy, creepy bass lines i've ever heard

in ethiopia they have word "tezeta" that is nearly the same as blues in english. i dont know exactly what mod they are using, but its very simple play and very creepy....

tritones used to be outlawed by the church because they were the devils intervals (or something like that), so it has the original creepy sound. Dom7#11's are simply the tritone an octave up with a dominant 7 chord below it, so whoever suggested that is right on the money.

However, you can play any tone and get an undesired effect if you don't have a good groove going on, so work on a different rhythmic feels with whatever bass line you come up with.

I think the classic creepy sound is something with a lot of floor tom on the drums and minor sounds from all other instruments.

Listen to Reveille's (I know... rap metal.... not my favorite either) song "Aftertaste" for an example of an easy, creepy bass/guitar line. Ostinato's always help me when I'm trying to do something creepy.

;-D

Good luck!