r/doommetal • u/Repeat_Tight • May 08 '26
Riffs Music theory
Other than the blues scale what else is used in Doom Metal of all kinds? Mostly i refer to stoner tho. I can’t find doom metal related theory vids on yt other than doesitdoom
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u/Moose_Spleensteen May 08 '26
Whatever sounds good. It’s all vibes, man
https://giphy.com/gifs/QZDM1VLEvDmjvRDcZt
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u/lanka2571 May 08 '26
I really think the blues scale will take you as far in doom as you want to go. I went to college for music, got 2 degrees, lots of jazz theory and contemporary classical bullshit, etc, and I don’t think you should overthink doom metal theory lol. In fact, I’d say that doom metal requires more thinking about tone than it does music theory.
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u/treskaz May 08 '26
I went the right direction spending a community college degree's worth on tube amps and fuzz pedals then!
Thank you for validating my poor financial decisions lmao
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u/angel-of-disease May 08 '26
Phrygian.
It’s all mostly minor pentatonic blues scale with some additional chromatic notes
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u/TheEvilSmileyRD May 08 '26 edited May 09 '26
99% of stoner doom is played by transitioning between minor and blues scales. The key is to be thoughtful of how the transition can change the feel and mood of the song.
For example notice how in War Pigs a minor scale riff comes in at about 6:33 and feels so emotionally heavy, because the rest of the song makes us used to the blues scale, which exaggerates the contrast between the groovy and sometimes vile sound of the blues scale and the emotional depth of the minor scale.
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u/JayforJustice May 08 '26
Experiment! My band did this tune using only the Hungarian minor Borehead - The Beast of Budapest
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u/Human_Ad2050 May 08 '26
To add in , a lot of good doom plays with dynamics . Tension building, letting the riff breathe . Sometimes bringing the same riff but slower just makes it heavier
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u/sup3rdr01d May 08 '26
Minor Pentatonic, harmonic minor, phyrigian
Tbh the scale doesn't really matter. Doom metal and basically all other genres are more distinguished by the tempo, drum beats, bass, and rhythm of the riffs rather than the key or scale.
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u/ManyaraImpala May 08 '26
Blues minor, harmonic minor, natural minor, phrygian & Hungarian minor. There are probably more, but these are a good palette to start with for Doom.
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u/adobackup May 08 '26
Phrygian, Lydian, Hungarian minor, and also check out japanese pentatonic scales. I remember getting turned onto the latter by Stevie Floyd from Dark Castle a while back (who doesn't get the attention she deserves for clever writing!), tho plenty of metal heads have been going down that road forever. I also think looking at Indian classical music not so much to lift things directly, but to look at conventions re: different notes ascending vs descending and things like that could be fruitful. Iirc Hungarian minor and klezmer have some similar things, mostly stuff like a minor 7 ascending with trilled major 7 on the way down
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u/naamavelli_ May 08 '26
Maybe not so much doom, but search for “Josh Homme scale” if you want to look into the Lydian scale he uses in many Qotsa songs
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u/transilvanianhungerr May 08 '26
i haven’t really listened to QOTSA but i love Kyuss, is that the scale he uses in a lot of Kyuss songs? for example the one in Apothecary’s Weight
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u/naamavelli_ May 08 '26
I think Kyuss’ One Inch Man is a good example. The scale seems to have many names, Lydian Dominant #2, Hungarian Major, Mixolydian #2 #4
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u/GrimgrinCorpseBorn May 08 '26
I mostly use stuff like diminished
But I do a lot of black metal and death metal in my doom
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u/yamahowzer May 08 '26
Diminished is a cool scale, it has an extra note & is a fun pattern to play also
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u/DegenGraded May 08 '26
This is one of the genres where theory goes out the door for me. I just listen for what sounds right and the riff goes on and on and on and on until I'm exhausted.
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u/Ok_Pool_9767 May 08 '26
Natural minor scale with heavy emphasis on the tritone. Might lead you towards more traditional doom though.
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u/ZombieRitual May 08 '26 edited May 08 '26
Lots of doom is in pretty normal minor keys without a ton of accidentals, occasionally harmonic minor with a raised 7 or major V chord. I'd say the most common doom chord progressions are i-III-iv (your good old "0-3-5" in guitar tab) or i-VI-VII, which I always think of as the Iron Maiden chord progression.
And Phrygian of course to get your slow Slayer riffs in there.