Opeth Guitar work

[Necroticism]

Any other guitarists want to list some chords that Opeth use?

I was also wondering most of the distorted stuff, is it chords still strummed (some of it sounds like this) or is it just powerchords/single notes?

 

[Alteredmindeath]

2
3
4
4
2
2 Low E..
Opeth chord

 

[Solen]

I know many Opeth chords and songs for that matter, which ones do you want to know?

 

[rbloemink]

what opeth uses very much is octave-chords. Just the 1th and 8th note. Like:
7 7 7 6 6 3
x x x x x x
5 5 5 4 4 1

f.e. in wreath, but also in many songs of Blackwater park: The leper affinity, drapery falls.

and the tritone chords (also discussed in another thread) like:
9-10
8-9
7-8

Opeth also uses very disharmonic chords, you have to figured it out yourself. I think opeth tries to use chords with a lot of body, so powerchords is not their favourite stuff. They will use chords with a 3rd instead.

 

[Thorns of Sorrow]

They are all octaves dude, and they play alot of the heavy stuff in 6/8, and slower stuff in 3/4 usually.

octaves:
D--9--11------
A--x---x------
E--7---9------- etc

 

[thebigfish]

opeth uses all kinds of weird chords, for instance, the opening chord of 'bleak' is, i believe, 0-7-8-9-11-0, quite dissonant indeed. they use a lot of 'diabolus in musica', E-Bb, F-B, stuff like that. they'd throw you at the stake for it in the middle ages. they also use some interesting power chords. normal power chords are not major nor minor, but not opeth's. they use stuff like 3-2-5 (g major) or 5-3-7 (a minor). adds a lot of dynamics to the music, if you know what i mean.

 

[Necroticism]

This is cool advice, Im gonna try playing some different ones now.

rbloemink, any chords from sons like The Moor, The Drapery Falls and other stuff from still life would be nice.

And also if anyone could give me an idea of how Opeth do the clean parts (not Damnation style stuff, even though I love that) but the other stuff. Am I right in thinking they use some arpegiated chords?

 

[Hondo]

Find those two guitar lesson videos, they go through all of drapery falls for you. I think it was at guitar.com, and people probably have it on the DC hub too.

 

[legofarley]

maybe it's just me but it seems like opeth's electric songs use most of those odd chords. And, their acoustic stuff sticks to more common chord and song structures, for the most part. I've learned to play a lot of their stuff and that's just what it seems like to me. I could be wrong

 

[legofarley]

Does anyone know how Opeth gets a heavy distortion while maintaining note distinction? I've always wondered how you could still hear every note being played with such a heavy distortion

 

[Id]

Opeth uses the Amadd9 chord a lot it's:
0
0
5
7
0

 

[fadingessence]

Does anyone know how Opeth gets a heavy distortion while maintaining note distinction? I've always wondered how you could still hear every note being played with such a heavy distortion

in the studio they multitrack everything with something like 4 different guitar layers. As in they play a part on the laney as pretty low disortion, on the 5150 at low disortion, on whatever else they use (was a few different amps) and then put it all over each other to make it sound heavy. But all the notes come through because they were recorded at lower distortion levels. At least that is how I understood it from interviews ect.

Far as live goes they simply use less distortion, it sounds heavy as hell because of the dissonant chords and double guitar parts but one guitar by itself (listen during a soundcheck) doesn't sound anything like death metal levels of distortion. Thats just not where the heaviness comes from.

For example on my Gt-3 I use a 5150 amp model but the volume is at 30/100 and gain is middle out of low/mid/high...not even close to what the max is.

back to chords though, they love these too..especially clean..think sideways it's easier

00570x and to variate for flavour 005760x both of those are Drapery falls but used more, basis for the first riff in credence as well.

Any variation of this chord is good:

e--x
b--x
g--7
d--5
a--6
e--x

Or:

e--x
b--x
g--6
d--7
a--5
e--x


with straight power chords just remember to use 3 notes instead of 2 to give a fuller sound. as in

5
5
3

all i can think of atm...

 

[Kaberonie]

Mikael plays his E minor at the 7th fret all the time.

 

[Neon_Black88]

wow Kaberonie, i want that guitar

 

[Neon_Black88]

btw go to opeth.darkwood.com for heaps of opeth tabs... you can get an idea of the chords they use from those tabs

 

[Necroticism]

Could someone just give a quick run down on the tritones?

 

[ET Hydro Quebec]

e--x
b--x
g--0
d--4
a--1
e--2

Well, its not distinctive of Opeth but Mikeal surely likes weird chords not often used.

 

[L0bster]

To go from: xxx442x into: xxx440x, is a typical opeth switch, just listen to forest of october or deliverence.

also strange chords around D like:
5320xx
or
4320xx

are used in songs like Demon of the Fall and Closure.

 

[StephenSLR]

Could someone just give a quick run donw on the tritones?

I'd also like to know where tritone gets its name from.

Three tones of what?

 

[StephenSLR]

Any other guitarists want to list some chords that Opeth use?

I was also wondering most of the distorted stuff, is it chords still strummed (some of it sounds like this) or is it just powerchords/single notes?

Has anyone tried reversing the polarity of the pick ups by switching the wires around on one pick up.

You can only notice a difference when both pick ups are on as they are out of phase with each other and give it an edgy sound.