What do you think is more important?

[slayercannibalsuffohead]

I have been having this argument for years now with different musicians and obviously there are going to be votes for all concerned, but at the end of the day, which person/instument is most important overall?

I am a guitarist that can play drums as well, cant sing, and can play bass (like a guitarist, not like a bass player should) and I think the most important player/instrument for metal is the guitar/guitarist. I know everyone is important, but when it comes down to it, my heart has always been with the guitars!

I have just listened to my top 10 songs of all time and the reason I love these songs is purely for the riffage! The drums are cool and some of the bass lines are cool and the singer etc etc .......... but it is the RIFFS that draw me to any song that grabs my attention. Hence why some drummers dont agree with me and they usually end up saying its equal all round, but I just cant come to that.

So I have this scenario for them: Would you rather listen to a 3min song that has,
1. Same 4 bar drum pattern with 10 different riffs or,
2. Same 4 bar riff with 10 different drum patterns.

Then you have the poor old bass player, but I think bands like Iron Maiden w/Steve Harris, where the bass plays more of a part than in other bands, still cannot compete with the guitars overall.

Next up we have singers ......

Moving right along , what are your thoughts? Who do you think is the most important and what part/player of your favourite songs draw you to it?

 

[mrbean667]

Defs all equal.

 

[deanbailey]

I voted all equal, because you can't have one without the other.

Of course you'd have instruments that are the driving force behind the genre (guitars for most rock/metal bands, which is what I'm gonna assume this topic is about) but when you play something else like jazz, the guitarist only really comes out in leads and keys and bass are main dudes.

But often you'll find that you listen most to the instrument you play.

 

[Morgan C]

Depends on the music really. I love Nightwish and they're drummer plays a basic 4/4 beat 95% of the time, guitars are just chords and bass is just root notes. But they have good vocals and lots of other stuff going on too.

I think out of everything, vocals are just more important. A good vocalist can save a band that otherwise is very simplistic, but there's no way I'd be able to look past an awful vocalist to hear the guitars or drums or whatever.

 

[Harry Hughes]

Depends on the music to some extent.
I mean, obviously something like Joe Satriani, Steve Vai or Buckethead's solo project is heavily guitar focused. Take away that guitar and it becomes nothing.
I'd say most of the music I listen to is very guitar driven, no matter what the genre. Some of the stuff I listen to has the guitar taking a back seat to the vocals (Paramore for example).
I think it's assumed that all elements are important, but what is MOST important, in terms of my own music taste, to me is the guitar /guitarist/s

 

[slayercannibalsuffohead]

Talking Metal. Death Metal, Heavy Metal, real metal stuff, (not hanging shit) not Paranormal or whatever they're called!

 

[Harry Hughes]

Talking Metal. Death Metal, Heavy Metal, real metal stuff, (not hanging shit) not Paranormal or whatever they're called!

A majority of what I listen to is still metal so I voted based on that

 

[GarethSE]

All equal but I have to say a drummer that manages to inject some genuine groove into his shit rather than just simply PLAY gets my respect the most in metal nowadays.
But as far as songwriting goes, every instrument should have an equal amount of care and attention paid.

 

[deanbailey]

Most metal guitarists suffer from what I've sorta called the "solo-artist-syndrome" where they cannot listen to anything/or care about anything else other than their guitars.

I've had a cases where I recorded a vocalist of a band and had the guitarists (who are the song writers) come in to listen to it to see if it's all in order. I lowered the level of the guitars so that the vocals were more than audible. 20 seconds into the song the one guitarist says "dude...I can't hear the guitars!?"

Yesterday actually, I had a vocalist with the same syndrome. As long as you can hear the slight nuances of his softest lines (which is over really heavy guitars) he's happy. Even if that means it drowns out the guitars or song for that matter.

As a musician who plays in a band with other musicians, you just have to realise that you are 2, 3, 4 or 5 guys making one sound, not 2, 3, 4 or 5 guys making separate sounds that happen to work with each other.

 

[~BURNY~]

A chain is no stronger than its weakest link.

 

[SocialNumb]

^

I voted "All equal".

Also like Morgan said, depends on the music. In metal a singer for me is a make it or break it deal. No matter how bad ass the band is, a bad singer will ruin it for me... If only we had a mute the singer button. (no, not in your daw smart ass)

 

[Fredrik-Ablaze]

For any non musician listening to a song it's mostly the vocals that matters; so they're really important getting right.
That doesnt leave out that the backingtrack has to be really solid as well though

 

[egan.]

I know the question is metal specific but at the same time it's rare to hear a good band in any style w/o a good drummer (or one edited to sound that way).

I wish I could vote for keyboards just for the laugh.

 

[Chryst Krispies]

It's called a band for a reason.

END.

That said, I think guitars are WAY cooler than drums.

 

[Loren Littlejohn]

I was thinking traditional rock when I answered this so I said vocals (I wouldn't say that if I was thinking other genres).

Why?

Because I can handle guitars, drums and bass being "meh" but if the singer sucks I leave the room. The problem is most bands don't seem to have the greatest frontmen .

 

[Line666]

Singer by far, its really the human element, its the section that people most relate to, a singer can definitely make or break a band.

 

[exoslime]

of course, somehow, everything is important, equally, and every instrument should be played "right"
not refering to metal here but most of the other musical styles, but i think the guitar is the lessest important.

My opinion is that the vocals are the most important, because they are upfront, the vocals are what its about in a song, except its an instrumental piece of course, i cannot listen to a band with great musicians when the vocals annoy me (like Dream Theater, Red Hot Chilli Peppers, Muse...)

And followed right after, the groove
so drums and bass, as important as the vocals, it needs to be "on the spot", its the basement of a song, if there is no groove, its a fail

guitars and other instruments is in my opion only the spice in the music, but the main dish (groove and vocals) needs to be right.

btw i´m a guitarist and this is how i see the things..

cheers
chris

 

[guitarguru777]

IM a guitar player so i vote ......

DRUMS - Drums truly, without drums you can have guitar bass and vox and its just not metal. you can replace anything else with some type of synth sound and its still construed as something heavy.

 

[motomoto]

a singer draw all the cameras
a guitarist plays the solos and show off
a bass player posses to get SOME attention(just cause he is on front)
and the drummer gets all the groupies

So i pick....... drumzzzzzz

 

[Line666]

and the drummer gets all the groupies

Sorry. What???