Free Halloween practice tool
Spooky Music Generator
Pick a spell and a key, and get a creepy little tune built from whole-tone scales, diminished chords, tritones and other dissonant sounds. Play it, practice it, or print the sheet music.
Spell
Spooky music
Tap a chord to hear it.
Loading sheet music…
Spooky sound lab
Hear the ingredients
Each one starts on C . Tap to hear it.
Creepy intervals
Creepy chords
The music theory of scary
What makes music sound spooky?
No home note
Whole-tone, diminished and augmented scales repeat in equal steps, so no note feels like home. Your ear keeps waiting for a resolution that never comes.
The tritone
Three whole steps, splitting the octave exactly in half. Medieval writers called it the devil in music, and it's still the go-to sound for villains.
Half-step rubs
Two notes a half step apart grind against each other. Think of the shark theme from Jaws : just two notes, a half step apart.
Strange chords
Diminished 7th, augmented and minor-major 7th chords sit between major and minor. They sound unstable, so they build suspense.
Want to write your own spooky soundtrack?
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