On Fri, 31 Dec 2004 07:41:14 -0500, "Mike Marlow"
wrote:


All right - you opened that box... what is that dissonant pair that those
guys and others like them use?

"Evil" stuff is usually played in minor keys, and sometimes with a
flat fifth. Some hard rock bands tune a half or whole step lower,
which gives the whole thing a gruntier sound. The "E" string on a
guitar would actually be tuned to an "Eb" or "D", and the rest of the
instrument is tuned to match.

In rock and roll, It could go back to the Black Sabbath's "Black
Sabbath". Leaving rock, who knows who invented it? Scary,
dissonant sounding passages appear in all kinds of classical music.

Barry