I've lately been playing around with a Indonesian gamelan scale called the pelog scale. It's a strange scale that is almost a blues scale, but with just enough odd tones that it has a strange "evil" or menacing sound. I played with the scale on a piano at first, just checking out what it sounds like with the western version of tuning, and then I worked a few forms of it out on the guitar. What I noticed is there's a few chord progressions you can do with it, but that the best ones are chords that are adjacent (a half-step different). In fact, as long as the high notes of the scale match the high notes of the chord it can sound pretty close to a fit.
The first chords I tried were just [: Amaj Bbmaj :] repeated in
a vamp. This would fit, but it was kind of boring unless I had a ton of
distortion, and I didn't really like the sound. I didn't make any recordings
of this since it didn't fit the direction I wanted to go. It also sounds half
decent with power chords, but again only with some distortion to give it that
evil emo death metal feel.
After playing around a bit, I figured out the following combination works:
[: 7b5#9 -6 :] or combinations of them work best. The key is to
have the top (high notes) of the chord be a two minor chords a half-step apart, and try to make the
bottom (low notes) match whatever you like.From this I have two recordings. What I'm playing is a simple pelog scale
in the key of A major, that is if there's even a "major/minor" distinction.
I'm backing that with two chords played slowly in a reverb heavy vamp: [:
Bb7#5b9 A-6 :]. I'm then just screwing around playing notes and seeing
what fits.
The first clip (Pelog Test 1) sounds fairly random and pretty much like crap. The key idea I got out of it is that while I'm playing I can emphasize the top notes of the harmony by playing the minor chords that make up the top six notes of the pelog scale on guitar. When you listen you'll hear me slide a three note chord around sometimes, and with the reverb it fits really well.
The second clip (hit the forward button if it doesn't continue) is a little more organized, as I start off slowly and then try to merge in the slide. As you listen you can hear that I still don't have it, since I eventually start trying to get creative and go faster. Listening to this I really think it needs to be played slowly, and with articulation that has a menacing bite to it. I think they key is to get the spring in the reverb to clang on the off notes.
The next experiment I'm doing with this scale is to work out some riffs and a longer chord progression for it. Two chords are nice, but that gets boring. Also these are test recordings I do real quick to try out an idea. I just loop the chords into a loopback pedal and play around. The next recordings will hopefully be clearer.
Feel free to shoot me advice on this scale. I know next to nothing about gamelan music so tips about artists or music to check out are much appreciated.