• I want to play more metal, but I have no idea where to start.
    22 replies, posted
I have been playing for about 3 years (but almost never practice, not enough time sorry) and I have a Boss Metal Zone stompbox, and I have not had much of an idea of what to do with it. I really like heavy distortion songs and I would like to play them (ones that have that really cool palm mute effect) but I have no idea where to start or what scales to use. It does not matter as long as it is not screamo, I hate that stuff.
Start writing your own songs. Might take some time to get good, but when you do, its fucking awesome.
I am not sure how to write my own songs with a genre of music I am not too familiar with. Are there any key chords or scales that would help with writing metal?
[QUOTE=SKEEA;31245081]I am not sure how to write my own songs with a genre of music I am not too familiar with. Are there any key chords or scales that would help with writing metal?[/QUOTE] Well, get yourself familiar by playing as many songs as you can in the genre. :) Learn riffs from them, etc. In between learning songs, you can practice with these scales common to metal: natural minor scale (which is a good scale to start practicing with for rock and metal in general), harmonic minor scale, and the phrygian (which is really not a scale, its a mode but for simplicity you can think of it as a scale.) Just look up lessons about these on google, and I'm sure you can find exercises you can practice with.
Alright, thank you for the info. Before I go off on my quest, any other helpful tidbits of info?
You can learn all the scales in the world, but its really how you play them that counts.
Power chords. Shitloads of power chords.
Throw in some chromatic stuff if you want an evil sound.
Indeed, that and some diminished scales as well, the effect is guaranteed. One thing you could also do is, while you listen to some music / bands or anything you might like, if there's a specific riff or part of that music that you actually enjoy, try to do something based on that. For example you could use similar modes but a completely different scale (or vice versa) or break it down and mix it with other ideas you might already have. Fiddling around with some riffs and combining some of them can sometimes yield very nice results, try it out ;)
Metal uses a whole ton of scales in the same song. It may start out in E minor and then go to E Phrygian, then E harmonic minor. There is way more flexibility in what notes you can play as opposed to other genres. I suggest just coming with riffs over a beat and changing them slowly to see what you can come up with. Like you can start off with a basic riff idea, and then start adding modification, and you'll end up with a new riff that is way different. Once you get good at improvising riffs, it becomes pretty easy. What is hard though is to come up with good riffs, and the same is true of melodies. Metallica is a great example of a band that can come up with great riffs.
Palm muted gallop riffs, tremolo picking, a bit of chugging here and there, power chords and fifths. For solos I recommend you don't just do super fast scale runs, but make them interesting, add emotion, use sweeping, tapping, string skipping, all that stuff, also - exotic scales can sound really fucking awesome in metal, if done right.
What scales and chords you should practice also depends on what kind of metal you want to play. You can write many great songs with only a few different scales. Nobody's going to complain if you like to write songs in C minor a lot, or B Dorian. It's not about how many different scales and chords you can possibly memorize; it's all about how you use them. [QUOTE=Pepin;31251458]Metal uses a whole ton of scales in the same song. It may start out in E minor and then go to E Phrygian, then E harmonic minor. There is way more flexibility in what notes you can play as opposed to other genres. I suggest just coming with riffs over a beat and changing them slowly to see what you can come up with. Like you can start off with a basic riff idea, and then start adding modification, and you'll end up with a new riff that is way different. Once you get good at improvising riffs, it becomes pretty easy. What is hard though is to come up with good riffs, and the same is true of melodies. Metallica is a great example of a band that can come up with great riffs.[/QUOTE] I agree, although it's incredibly hard to define what exactly makes a good riff or melody "good", especially in the broad world of metal. I think a lot of it depends on the context in which it's used. Dissonant black metal riffs don't work at all in power metal songs, and power metal harmonies, even if they are very consonant (which is about as close to objectively "good" as you can get), can totally ruin a black metal song. OP, if you do start writing music, don't worry about the quality right off the bat. Just try to write some riffs and put them together as coherently as you can. The ability to get the music you have in your head into reality will improve with time and practice.
[QUOTE=Z3r0747;31256538]I agree, although it's incredibly hard to define what exactly makes a good riff or melody "good"[/QUOTE] It's hard to say what makes a melody or riff good especially when looking at different genres, but generally it is pretty easy to tell what would be considered a good melody or riff in the genre, and great melodies tend to transcend genre. One viewpoint I have is that musicians don't have the ability to make great melodies, rather they have the ability to recognize great melodies. Many of the most grand melodies are so simple, yet it takes a grand musician to recognize the brilliance of such simplicity.
A good tool for scales and chords is nutchords btw, I use it all the time: [url]http://www.softpedia.com/get/Multimedia/Audio/Other-AUDIO-Tools/Nut-Chords-32.shtml[/url]
[QUOTE=Pepin;31257996]It's hard to say what makes a melody or riff good especially when looking at different genres, but generally it is pretty easy to tell what would be considered a good melody or riff in the genre, and great melodies tend to transcend genre. One viewpoint I have is that musicians don't have the ability to make great melodies, rather they have the ability to recognize great melodies. Many of the most grand melodies are so simple, yet it takes a grand musician to recognize the brilliance of such simplicity.[/QUOTE] Indeed. But not everyone has the same reaction or level of enjoyment even when exposed to melodies that are generally considered good. We all think certain melodies are better than others. I think a lot of melodies in classical music are overblown and too complicated to be memorable, for example, but many people would disagree with me. That doesn't mean they're bad. But yes, simpler melodies are usually better, and are more likely to be seen as good.
I cannot do sweeps or fingertapping correctly or really not at all, but I will write something. I will see how it goes. I cannot do it this weekend due to the fact that I will be at the motoGP races, but I will try to start something as soon as I get back.
try with metallica, most of the riffs are very easy
Fuck chords and scales, just make something up by ear if you're into metal.
Learn some easy Marilyn Manson songs. Learn scales. Learn some Iron Maiden by ear.
Alright this might be a long post, but try to get the most out of it as possible. I'll give you some suggested listening and what you can pick out of it. You won't like all of it, but try to give some of it a chance before slamming it. Forgive me if I seem a bit patronising or you've heard a lot of this stuff, it's only because I'm not sure where you're at. Metallica - The most obvious place to start, I'd specifically recommend the first album (Kill 'em All) because most of the riffs are pretty simply at fun to play, and also the 5th album (the self titled album, or The Black Album.) It's more commercial, but the riffs are easier and still fun to play. There's a ton of palm muting everywhere, and most of it's in E or A Minor. Ride the Lightning is also great, my personal favourite but a lot of it's very fast and hard to play for a beginner metal player, as is Master of Puppets. ...And Justice For All is crazy progressive and all the songs are 7 minutes so it's a bad place to start. Then after the 5th album they released 2 blues rock albums which kind of suck apart from a few songs (in most people's opinions.) Then they did St. Anger which was hilariously bad, then they did Death Magnetic and it was alright but the mix was awful so it kind of hurts to listen to because the snare drum is so piercing. Megadeth - Rust in Peace is considered to masterpiece at least in my mind, it's amazing. The songs are very advanced though, but listen to it anyway. You might not like Dave's voice, but all the guitar stuff is stellar. Marty Friedman has a very Eastern influenced style and it works crazy good. Black Sabbath - The first 3 albums, the first one is more blues based and not particularly heavy besides the title track which is just plain evil. Paranoid has most of the amazing riffs, Iron Man, War Pigs, the title track, Electric Funeral. The solos are awesome too, I found them really tough as a beginner. But they're nearly all based in the first and second position blues scale. For scales, just learn the pentatonic 'box' shapes. Every guitarist should know them, they're 2 notes-per-string and practically every great rock lick can be play with them. Ozzy Osbourne - Blizzard of Oz, tons of amazing riffs. Randy Rhoads was an absolute God, if you liked the other stuff you'll love his playing. You'll probably recognise Crazy Train. Devin Townsend - This isn't the norm. for suggested listening but I like to throw him in there because he's incredibly underrated. Ocean Machine, Synchestra and Terria are where I'd start. Some it's pretty out there, or ambient, or more hard rock. But mostly it sounds absolutely massive and incredibly heavy. I'm a big fan anyway. Judas Priest - British Steel, every metal guitarist needs to have heard it. Van Halen - The first album, not really metal. But because it influenced 90% of metal guitarists it's definitely worth a listen. Iron Maiden - Number of the Beast, more great riffs, more great solos... The follow is more heavier, and more 'shreddy' so if you're not really into metal yet you might not be so into it. But they're all great in their own way. If you're not so into really fast guitar playing it'll probably seem pretty obnoxious. Yngwie Malmsteen - Rising Force. His first album, the production's pretty bad but nearly all of his best known songs and licks are on here. The vocal songs are cheesy as hell, but I still love them. The stuff on here's been ripped off a billion times and this album pretty much started the whole shred guitar craze in the 80's along with the early Van Halen stuff. Gojira - From Mars to Sirius. The vocals are kind of growled here so it might take some getting used to, but this album is killer. Ridiculously heavy, catchy riffs, great lyrics and a lot of contrast too. Jeff Loomis - Zero Order Phase. This one's entirely instrumental, but the playing is absolutely insane. 95% are the riffs are using the low B on a 7 string so they can rumble the floor a bit. Opeth - Blackwater Park. You probably won't like this at first due to the death metal vocals, but give a try. Pantera - Vulgar Display of Power. Dimebag is pretty much at guitar God status and this album should demonstrate why. If you want to try and emulate that rhythm tone, 'scoop' out the mid-range on your metal zone. Be warned however, this can sound really cool in your bedroom but if you're playing with a band you won't be able to be heard at all. It's pretty hard to get right. Necrophagist - Epitaph. You're probably going to think it's shit at first, but the guitar playing is amazing. Cannibal Corpse - Tomb of the Mutilated. A year ago when I first heard this I laughed out loud because I couldn't tell if they were serious. Now I think it's an awesome album and I've heard nearly all their stuff. Death metal is pretty cool.
[QUOTE=CupUp;31256107]Palm muted gallop riffs, tremolo picking, a bit of chugging here and there, power chords and fifths. For solos I recommend you don't just do super fast scale runs, but make them interesting, add emotion, use sweeping, tapping, string skipping, all that stuff, also - exotic scales can sound really fucking awesome in metal, if done right.[/QUOTE] If you want a lot of emotion in leads, sweeps are not the best source imo.
I wasn't suggesting that he should compose his solos mostly of sweeps, but a couple here and there can really improve the effect that the solo has, it can work as an explosion or a climax of the solo, it's really up to the guitarist whether sweeps are a good or bad source of emotion.
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