Halloween Cell: how to play it on guitar

Halloween Cell (F♯(1 5 ♭13)): guitar chord

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Standard

Halloween, 1978 · John Carpenter

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F♯(1 5 ♭13)

F♯5(♭6) Standard

3 strings

FamousHalloween1978 · John Carpenter

Main title, the 5/4 piano ostinato over held tonic notes in low brass and electronic strings

This is not a strummed chord but the three notes of Carpenter's piano riff: F♯ as the floor, C♯ a fifth above it, and D a minor sixth above, tapping out in 5/4 over a held low F♯. With no third it sounds bare and cold, and the D leaning a half step above the C♯ gives it the sting. Later the whole pattern slips down a semitone to F, C and D♭.

Also called Halloween theme ostinato, Michael Myers theme

Sources: Michele Darling, ''Halloween' Theme: What Makes the Music so Scary?', Berklee Online Take Note (30 Oct 2021) · Lisa Witt, 'How to Play the Theme From Halloween', Pianote (updated 12 Jan 2023) · Hooktheory TheoryTab: Halloween Theme · Hypebot reprint of the Berklee Online article

Chord clock

What’s in it

R F♯5 C♯♭13 D

About this shape

Lowest note: F♯2, the root
Highest note: D3, the ♭13th
Stretch: 3 frets
Fingers: 2 fingers

Where it sits on the neck

Fingering not checked by a guitarist yet.

Halloween Cell (F♯(1 5 ♭13)): guitar chord

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Halloween Cell (F♯(1 5 ♭13)): guitar chord

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