Hi everyone... I'm totally new here. First off, I'm a guitarist, or trying to be. I've been more ore less fiddling with the instrument for two years, and I talk so lowly of myself not because I can't riff well but because I don't know chords or any of the important crap- no real understanding of music theory. Nonetheless, I am going to start lessons to get a more formal education. I realize being able to play half of master of puppets doesn't make someone a guitarist lmfao! I was in a musical slump until very recently, when I discovered A Bloody Epitaph, As Blood Runs Black and The Black Dahlia Murder. In short, I discovered some SICK death metal. I haven't seen any tabs yet of any of these band's songs, mainly because every time I searched I got thrown a dead link or a site that was impossible to use- However, I'm noticing some neat stuff- for one, these guys seem to have SWEET amps and guitars... What are some good guitars and amps for playing the insanely hardcore and thrashy kind of death metal that I crave? And also, I realize how dumb a question this is, but how important is reading music and taking lessons for a style such as death metal? To what extent should one learn?
hi, help with death metal?
- Thread starter ChronicThrash
- Start date
well if u want tabs, check out 911tabs.com. they actually have lots of tabs for at least bdm but as for the other bands i have no clue. mxtabs will be coming back up soon.
for stuff like bdm, you'd need a guitar with humbuckers and you would have to tune down, perhaps to drop c. i've seen bdm use custom esp guitars with emg pickups and as for their amps, i've seen them use krank amps but they constantly change the amps so it might be different now. bands sometimes use different amps for touring than what they may use while recording an album. some companies that are known from guitars for this type of style are esp/ltd, jackson and even ibanez. as for amps, they may use various different ones such as kranks, mesas, ENGL's, or framus'.
i myself was taught how to read music and play guitar in school but i didn't learn that much after beginning guitar. currently i take jazz guitar in school and all we really do now, is just play songs and i also play various styles such as death metal. i wouldn't really say reading music is necessary for death metal as most of the time, you'd find tabs for those songs or pick them up by ear but it may be helpful in the future. some theory is good so i'd say stick with lessons for a while until you feel like your not learning anything new. you can also find plenty of videos, books that may help you out and the internet is also a great resource which helped me learn many techniques.
for stuff like bdm, you'd need a guitar with humbuckers and you would have to tune down, perhaps to drop c. i've seen bdm use custom esp guitars with emg pickups and as for their amps, i've seen them use krank amps but they constantly change the amps so it might be different now. bands sometimes use different amps for touring than what they may use while recording an album. some companies that are known from guitars for this type of style are esp/ltd, jackson and even ibanez. as for amps, they may use various different ones such as kranks, mesas, ENGL's, or framus'.
i myself was taught how to read music and play guitar in school but i didn't learn that much after beginning guitar. currently i take jazz guitar in school and all we really do now, is just play songs and i also play various styles such as death metal. i wouldn't really say reading music is necessary for death metal as most of the time, you'd find tabs for those songs or pick them up by ear but it may be helpful in the future. some theory is good so i'd say stick with lessons for a while until you feel like your not learning anything new. you can also find plenty of videos, books that may help you out and the internet is also a great resource which helped me learn many techniques.
Beastkeeper
Brain Driller
Here's a reference list of some excellent death metal, if you're somewhat new to the scene...
Decapitated
Nile
Immolation
Cannibal Corpse
Deicide
Brain Drill
The Faceless
Necrophagist
Mortician
Krisiun
Morbid Angel
Vile
old Six Feet Under maybe
Incantation
Demilich
new Behemoth is DM as well
Cryptopsy
Vader
Hate
Crypticus
Toxicdeath
Monstrosity
Anthropophagus
Nunslaughter
Hate Eternal
Decapitated
Nile
Immolation
Cannibal Corpse
Deicide
Brain Drill
The Faceless
Necrophagist
Mortician
Krisiun
Morbid Angel
Vile
old Six Feet Under maybe
Incantation
Demilich
new Behemoth is DM as well
Cryptopsy
Vader
Hate
Crypticus
Toxicdeath
Monstrosity
Anthropophagus
Nunslaughter
Hate Eternal
DeadlySinners
Thrasher
Deathmetal guitar is actually quite fun and sometimes easy to play. I only tune E down to D to get that lower sound. I also use a Digitech DeathMetal Distortion. Personally i suggest screwing all the theory and moving straight to the fun stuff. Just throw down a few power chords for standard tuning or double notes for Dropping E to D. I also suggest sweep picking, and moving wrist not arm so you dont get cramps because swinging your arm around that fast wont last long. I use a platinum series warlock and peavey amps for my equipment but many people would choose seperate. ESP are great Metal guitars also. Last thing, I really suggest tab over sheet music, Its easier to write and read. Enjoy! A few last things i would reccomend are:
Distortion Pedals
Good big amps
Lots of extra strings
Pen and Pecil and a SHIT load of paper
And a lot of Chocolate bars.
Distortion Pedals
Good big amps
Lots of extra strings
Pen and Pecil and a SHIT load of paper
And a lot of Chocolate bars.
DeadlySinners
Thrasher
Metal is probably a genre you least need lessons for, it is a genre for people that are familiar with basements that practise scales all day.
MurderForProfit
Obscene
- Apr 13, 2007
- 78
- 0
- 6
For amps dont forget Madison. Either the divinity or omen are great amp heads... just try out as many as you can to oen it my be great to you it mught suck... its all in the feel. I like jackson
http://www.ultimate-guitar.com/ = best tab site.
but then again 911tabs.com searches through UG plus other tab sites, so it probably has more tabs.
but then again 911tabs.com searches through UG plus other tab sites, so it probably has more tabs.
Sabin Frost
Doom makes me happy
Death metal can be rather diverse, one of the most important things to learn for most of it though is tremolo picking as 32nd notes are quite common in death metal.
I play some deathgrind (as a bassist) but we often use BEADF#B on the guitars and BEAD on my bass. Tuning low instantly makes most music sound heavy and that is what you are aiming for most of the time in Death metal.
I play some deathgrind (as a bassist) but we often use BEADF#B on the guitars and BEAD on my bass. Tuning low instantly makes most music sound heavy and that is what you are aiming for most of the time in Death metal.
thanks a TON, guys... great feedback. There's one last thing though. I'm TOTALLY dumb when it comes to gear. Please explain EVERYTHING about how pedals work. Do you step on it and the sound changes? How do you program it on what to change to? Do they plug into the amp? Lmfao, I am a TOTAL newbie in terms of gear... I'm not as bad at actually riffing as i sound.
Allright, I'm not a guitar tech. or anything but I can give you a basic rundown.
On the average pedal, there 3 or 4 knobs, on above mentioned Digitech dm distortion, there are 4, low which adjusts the lower frequencies of your guitar, (I keep it on 10) mid, which does the same for your midrange, and a knob for your high end, finally a level knob which turns them all up the same ammount. That's fairly standard through all pedals.
To make it work, you'll need at least 2 cables,1 to plug your guitar into the pedals' input jack, another one to go from the pedals output into the amps pwr in jack. All of these things should be labled on you gear. Should you have multiple pedals you'll need cables to connect each of them but it stays basically the same.
Pedals' battery will eventually wear out, most of them run on 9 volt batteries which you can just buy anywhere. Or it can run off of electricity via another cable you can buy.
Finally when using your pedal, all you do is step on it and it will turn on, step on it again and it will take you back to the amps clean tone.
Also make sure you turn off any pedals and diconnect the cables to preserve battery life, if you're running it off battery.
I probably left some crap out or got somthing wrong, but I'm sure everybody will be quick to correct or add somthing.
On the average pedal, there 3 or 4 knobs, on above mentioned Digitech dm distortion, there are 4, low which adjusts the lower frequencies of your guitar, (I keep it on 10) mid, which does the same for your midrange, and a knob for your high end, finally a level knob which turns them all up the same ammount. That's fairly standard through all pedals.
To make it work, you'll need at least 2 cables,1 to plug your guitar into the pedals' input jack, another one to go from the pedals output into the amps pwr in jack. All of these things should be labled on you gear. Should you have multiple pedals you'll need cables to connect each of them but it stays basically the same.
Pedals' battery will eventually wear out, most of them run on 9 volt batteries which you can just buy anywhere. Or it can run off of electricity via another cable you can buy.
Finally when using your pedal, all you do is step on it and it will turn on, step on it again and it will take you back to the amps clean tone.
Also make sure you turn off any pedals and diconnect the cables to preserve battery life, if you're running it off battery.
I probably left some crap out or got somthing wrong, but I'm sure everybody will be quick to correct or add somthing.
BlackMetalWhiteGuy
Manly Man!
I use a program called TabIt, which can be downloaded from http://www.tabit.net. The full version is $19 US, but you can use the trial version to listen to tabs.
Here's the Black Dahlia Murder folder: http://www.tabit.net/tabs/list.php?f=2280
I learned a little bit of music theory in an Intro Music class at my college, but I learned everything else that I know from private study of music theory websites, and implementing that new knowledge into my TabIt originals.
For most types of death metal, these are the basic scales that you'll want to know:
- Minor
- Harmonic Minor
- Phrygian
- Phrygian Dominant
- Diminished
If you're more into technical, experimental, and progressive death metal, then you'll want to have a pretty solid understanding of how all the diatonic scales correlate with each other, and be familiar with the different modes of harmonic minor.
Here are all the diatonic modes:
C - Ionian (Major)
D - Dorian
E - Phrygian
F - Lydian
G - Mixolydian
A - Aeolin (Minor)
B - Locrian
Each mode can be played using ONLY THE WHITE KEYS on a piano, starting from the note indicated. The interval ratios are the same regardless of the instrument you're using, so A minor on a piano uses the same notes as A minor on a guitar. Furthermore, B minor uses the same intervals as A minor, except that you're starting from B rather than A, which means that you'll have two sharps in B minor, while A minor is only natural notes.
Here are the modes of harmonic minor:
C - Ionian #5
D - Dorian #4
E - Phrygian Natural 3 (Phrygian Dominant)
F - Lydian #2
G - Altered bb/o7 (Harmonic Mixolydian, Super Locrian Diminished)
A - Aeolin Natural 7 (Harmonic Minor)
B - Locrian Natural 6
# - Sharp
bb - Double Flat
o - Double Flat
EDIT: Oh yeah, and diminished scales!
If you want, I can upload tablature jpegs with MIDIs.
Here's the Black Dahlia Murder folder: http://www.tabit.net/tabs/list.php?f=2280
I learned a little bit of music theory in an Intro Music class at my college, but I learned everything else that I know from private study of music theory websites, and implementing that new knowledge into my TabIt originals.
For most types of death metal, these are the basic scales that you'll want to know:
- Minor
- Harmonic Minor
- Phrygian
- Phrygian Dominant
- Diminished
If you're more into technical, experimental, and progressive death metal, then you'll want to have a pretty solid understanding of how all the diatonic scales correlate with each other, and be familiar with the different modes of harmonic minor.
Here are all the diatonic modes:
C - Ionian (Major)
D - Dorian
E - Phrygian
F - Lydian
G - Mixolydian
A - Aeolin (Minor)
B - Locrian
Each mode can be played using ONLY THE WHITE KEYS on a piano, starting from the note indicated. The interval ratios are the same regardless of the instrument you're using, so A minor on a piano uses the same notes as A minor on a guitar. Furthermore, B minor uses the same intervals as A minor, except that you're starting from B rather than A, which means that you'll have two sharps in B minor, while A minor is only natural notes.
Here are the modes of harmonic minor:
C - Ionian #5
D - Dorian #4
E - Phrygian Natural 3 (Phrygian Dominant)
F - Lydian #2
G - Altered bb/o7 (Harmonic Mixolydian, Super Locrian Diminished)
A - Aeolin Natural 7 (Harmonic Minor)
B - Locrian Natural 6
# - Sharp
bb - Double Flat
o - Double Flat
EDIT: Oh yeah, and diminished scales!
If you want, I can upload tablature jpegs with MIDIs.
Anarkissed
BOK CHOY!!!
Hey BMWG, nice overview.
I'd love to hear/see those jpegs/MIDIs! I've been wanting to improve my soloing a decent bit.
I'd love to hear/see those jpegs/MIDIs! I've been wanting to improve my soloing a decent bit.
I'll tell you straight up, don't use tabs. Not only is it better to train and use your ear, but you'd be surprised at the amount of mistakes tabs usually have.
BlackMetalWhiteGuy
Manly Man!
I'd expect someone with a Bodom avatar to know better than this. I disagree with this statement, because it's highly unlikely that you'll produce anything worth listening to that way. Power chords are the lazy alternative to real guitar music, because anyone can play them, especially in dropped tuning. Theory is very important, especially in death metal, because the genre itself is so expansive and covers such a wide variety of themes and emotions. Similarly, music theory utilizes different scales, keys and techniques to convey different feelings to the listener, and without at least a basic foundation in music theory, you'll be at a severe disadvantage when it comes to producing music with any sort of harmonious integrity.
I'm not saying power chords in general are a bad choice, because they do sound good when used correctly, but the overuse of powerchords generally leads to more widespread use of parallel fifths and other harmonic atrocities.
While sweep picking is both economical for the guitarist and harmonically consonant, exactly how would you expect someone with no interest in theory, who only plays power chords to go about performing this? It's virtually impossible to sweep without having at least some basic knowledge of arpeggios, and other basic interval relationships.
Thanks. I have some instructional tabs already just lying around, but I have a lot of work due this week and next, so I probably won't get around to it until later next week. Chances are it will be fairly in depth though, so I'll more than likely just create a new thread for it, and post the link in here in case anyone else is interested.
There is so much truth in this post. While I love using tablature as an instructional tool and for composing original music, it's usually pretty unreliable for learning songs from other artists.
The Emptier
t3h b3aSt0rZ
you guys left INCREDIBLE responses. I'm going to get right to work, researching all the gear and shit.
in terms of the musical side of shit, your responces have educated, relieved and terrified me: No wonder the music i was trying to write came out crappy... you can't just pick up a guitar and do power chord riffs or ull sound like shitty boring half ass long island death metal. the notion of actually learning music theory, scales etc. and having a real musical education is daunting and intimidating, but i must go for it... have any of you had the same problem, that you were musically blocked? Did actually learning scales and theory help you?
in terms of the musical side of shit, your responces have educated, relieved and terrified me: No wonder the music i was trying to write came out crappy... you can't just pick up a guitar and do power chord riffs or ull sound like shitty boring half ass long island death metal. the notion of actually learning music theory, scales etc. and having a real musical education is daunting and intimidating, but i must go for it... have any of you had the same problem, that you were musically blocked? Did actually learning scales and theory help you?
