Rob Scallon Plays a Brilliantly Dissonant Guitar Solo Using Only Tritone Chords aka the Devil’s Interval

In answer to a listener request, the very talented multi-instrumentalist Rob Scallon composed a brilliantly dissonant guitar solo employing only tritone chords. These chords, known as the “Devil’s Interval“, were rumoured to be banned from churches for fear that the inharmonious sinister sound produced by a diminished fifth (with a flat) or the augmented an augmented fourth (with a sharp) could summon Satan.

For this song I am allowed to play only 2 note tritone chords on the guitar tracks. No single notes.
A tritone is referring to a particular musical interval (how far away two notes are from each other) and is renowned for it’s dissonance and harsh feeling of tension. A tritone name refers to the 3 whole tone distance between the two notes. ..It’s rumored that the tritone was banned in medieval times, that you could be jailed for using it, that people believed it could summon the devil.

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Lori Dorn
Lori Dorn

Lori is a Laughing Squid Contributing Editor based in New York City who has been writing blog posts for over a decade. She also enjoys making jewelry, playing guitar, taking photos and mixing craft cocktails.