Question, Do You Think Most Modern Metal Shreders Can Play Blues?

[MondoLikeMetal]

I was wondering if most modern metal shreders, athough you'll never hear it on thier albums, can play tasty blues riffs, ala B.B.King, Eric Clapton, S R Vaughn? I think prob most of the signed artists can, but how abot you,
Come on, chime in -- don't be afraid to lose your street cred, and let my know if you can play blues and or jazz.

 

[B36arin]

I learned to play blues before I learned to play metal.

 

[RLab]

I'm not a great guitar player, but I can play jazz pretty good, at least better than I shred

 

[amarshism]

I dabble.

 

[kvoid]

Most any Metal guitarist can play passable blues.

I'd be hard pressed to find a great blues guitarist that can play passable Metal.

The question is better asked on a blues forum IMO

I hate Jazz though and don't want to play it, but I screw around with the blues stuff all the time. It's fun and sounds dark and groovy. I listen to a lot of old Chess records stuff. Good shit.

 

[LeSedna]

I'd kill to be able to play decent jazz. This is insanely difficult.

 

[midget donkeys]

The question should be can metal guitar players play the blues well. Just like singing. Everybody can sing, but only a few can sing well.

 

[The Unavoidable]

Most any Metal guitarist can play passable blues.

I would disagree, to say the least. There is a big difference between running up and down the 'ol pentatonic minor and playing blues. And "most any metal guitarist" couldn't tell their asshole from a minor7b5 chord. And yes, playing blues means knowing some fucking chords and a few different roundabouts.


I've played blues quite alot over the years, but I wouldn't say I could "play" it. If I jam some with my friends then it's just basic rock licks.

 

[AllanD]

Nope, I can't even play most classic rock/metal solo's clean, I got too used to sweeping/"straight forward" note choice. I can't do the quick bend section of The Trooper, feels bad man.

 

[Chryst Krispies]

I can't get sad enough to play good blues.

 

[JeffTD]

I forced myself to stop playing anything even remotely pentatonic sounding years ago.

 

[The spark]

I think most guitar players can kinda fake the blues, but like any genre you have to be totally immersed in it to do it well... plus you have to have money/booze/woman troubles to do it right.

 

[egan.]

I think most guitar players can kinda fake the blues, but like any genre you have to be totally immersed in it to do it well.

I agree with this with the asterisk that the blues is totally over mystified and canonized a genre.

 

[StefTD]

I suck at everything I am no shredder at all but it's easier for me to "fake" metal sounding riffs
than jazz or blues, everyone who knows how to play guitar realizes that I am not a good player.
But I am pretty good at faking it most of my friends who don't play an instrument think I am
a good guitar player, just because I am able to play things that sound a bit like jazz, country, blues
or metal.
I am acceptable when it comes to "hard rock" or metal, but I have no clue about theory so Jazz is
way out of my range, and like I said, I am just able to play things that sound a bit like country or
blues, but if I should really play something in a band, I would fail hard

This is the best "bluesy" thing I ever wrote (just the first 20 seconds of the song):
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/835060/miri/cowboy.mp3

 

[006]

The question is better asked on a blues forum IMO

To get the opposite biased opinion?

 

[Bereavement]

I can't shred and I can't play blues..what am I

but if we talking about blues + metal.
I instantly think of Mikael Akerfeldt.

he probably not a shredder but definitely a great metal guitarist
and his blues playing capability is outstanding.
just ..slick

 

[AeternusEternus]

i have literally never heard a single blues note from mikael akerfeldt

 

[AeternusEternus]

my answer: depends on what you mean by a lot of those words, especially "modern." is tony iommi modern if he still writes music? is modern definable with a certain time period/advent of genre and newer? because there's a generation of wannabe shredders in the intermediate phase of guitar playing right now, and that generation plays every single note as if it were a button on a guitar hero controller. on or off. hit the note or don't. black and white, but without any regard to actual expression. those guys? no way. but like.. loomis? for sure.

 

[Harry Hughes]

Can't play jazz for shit.
The word 'blues' is too broad a term anyway. Blues has a of genres in it and also regional scenes that had their own sound (and could also be considered, to some extent, sub genres of blues too)
You say B.B.King, Clapton and SRV, but it wouldn't make you a bad blues player if you didn't have a grasp on all three styles. B.B.King's style if radically different to SRV's, even if it's still, blues.
If I were talk about my abilities as a blues player, I see myself firmly rooted in that more rock-y style of SRV, The Hendrix Experience, Led Zep, Tony Iommi etc.
Although I can 'shred' my soloing is typically still that blues rock style.

Hell, look at Joe Satriani. The guy is equally good at blues as the top bluesman, and shits all over most so called 'blues' players you'd see at the local bar/pub. Develop that feel for like, like he did, and you can definitely do it.
One good example I like to watch is the Red House performance on the first G3 DVD that came out, with Eric Johnson, Vai and Satch.
Vai just seems out of place and doesn't seem to really understand the blues well at all, but Satch pulls out authentic sounding Albert King and Hendrix style licks, while also retaining a style of his own.

 

[Paulie!]

I'd be hard pressed to find a great blues guitarist that can play passable Metal.

You found one, I'm way better at playing blues/rock than I am at shredding... I try my best though..

-P