Tritones – Tension in Music
Added 2025-08-31 13:00:10 +0000 UTCHello Humans,
I just did an 11-minute talk on the Tritone – the interval supposedly once banned by the church (diabolus in musica) and later embraced by metal bands everywhere, myself included.
It’s part lesson, part songwriting tips, and part me geeking out about where it shows up in my favourite songs (and a few of my own).
I kept it pretty light as music theory can get a bit intense... but do let me know if you want moarrrrr.
If you’re into dissonance, or just a bit nerdy, then this is for you. (TwoHaiku I believe you requested this, so lemme know if there's anything I didn't cover!)
Love,
Mishkin
Comments
Ah thanks for the feedback! I adore the beauty of dissonance... in fast I would say it's been an obsession in my songs of the last few years especially when writing for CV
Mishkin Fitzgerald
2025-09-03 20:41:46 +0000 UTCI don't think that will ever happen in my music haha!
Mishkin Fitzgerald
2025-09-03 20:41:04 +0000 UTCOoh that's a good idea, I should have started with that. I'll get that into my next talk, and I'll double check the piano mics too! Thanks Pete!
Mishkin Fitzgerald
2025-09-03 20:39:39 +0000 UTCHi Ian, thanks for this wonderful feedback! Chromatic runs is one of my favourite things to do, especially as a descending or ascending bassline so I'll maybe do that for my next talk. Yeah, Korn are great at that too. Lemme know if you ever wanna book a writing session, I can certainly help!
Mishkin Fitzgerald
2025-09-02 09:13:10 +0000 UTCThanks for this. I was aware of some of the examples here, but Maria was a proper surprise! I love that concept in Ribbons of playing a tritone, resolving, but then playing another tritone (a diminished 4th, was it?) to further unsettle the listener. Definitely something to experiment with there for middle 8’s, Metal breakdowns etc 😊 How about using chromatic runs effectively as a theory topic? I believe the middle 8 riff in Freak On A Leash was an E-F-Gb-G, but could well be wrong, as they were probably heavily down tuned. C#? B? 🤷🏻 I can’t seem to write anything that good 🤣
Ian Hall
2025-09-01 15:31:12 +0000 UTCThanks Mishkin, that's the first time I've seen the tritone demonstrated as a possibility of something beautiful instead of "evil" - not to say that the Black Sabbath (song) riff isn't beautiful of course, but can see a much wider use for it now
Chris
2025-09-01 10:18:58 +0000 UTCAs long as we don't stray into Schenkerian analysis, that may trigger some bad memories.
Darren Robinson
2025-08-31 20:20:40 +0000 UTCNicely done. I wonder if just the concept of resolution (in the musical sense) might be worth a few words, for people without any theory background? Also, minor point; piano's clipping! x
Pete Jordan
2025-08-31 15:37:37 +0000 UTC
