Thanks for the replies dudes.
I feel like the song flows quite well overall, but I do agree that perhaps a faster part somewhere would be a good contrast to the rest of the song. Any suggestions as to what part I should tinker with? The song is almost seven minutes long as is, and I don't feel like it needs yet another part!
Thanks for the vibrato comment. Almost every time I show something I wrote to Jeff Loomis, he consistently says "Man, thank God you have a good vibrato"
He and I have had some good discussions about how a weak vibrato really sucks and can totally ruin a lead part when it just isn't
there right, you know?
As for the drum programming, I basically just spread samples around on individual tracks in grid mode. The cymbals obviously sound fake, but in a songwriting template I could really care less! The snare, toms, and cymbals are from past projects I did, and the kick is the Sneap kick (because it's fun, and a songwriting template is the only place I would ever use it).
Here's the seven string, taken with my crappy digital camera:
It's a Diamond Series Elite 007...which is cool, because my main guitar for years has been a Diamond Series Elite 006. I hadn't even been planning on buying a seven-string, but Loomis called me up one day last year, and the abridged conversation basically went like this:
"Hey, uh, well I was thinking of selling a few things of mine and I was just wondering if you would know anyone who would want to buy them."
"Oh cool, what were you thinking of selling?"
"Well, that XXX just sits around and it's missing some knobs, but I was probably going to get rid of that. And I also have a Schecter seven string that I don't ever use anymore that I should sell."
"Hmmmmm....well how much are you selling the guitar for?"
"I don't know, I was thinking like, $350 or something?"
"Um, I'll buy it. It would be cool to have a seven-string."
Haha... Anyway, he never used it live, but it was a backup guitar on some tours, and I recall him saying it was the first Schecter seven-string he ever owned. It had the lame stock pickups in it, but he gave me the EMG707s out of his black Schecter that he destroyed (the neck is cracked away from the body) when he threw it across the stage after finishing their set at a metal festival (can't recall which one). He says he doesn't really know why he threw it, but at the time it seemed like a good idea!
Puke
