The-Band-Aid

Artist : Lacuna Coil

Song : Heaven’s a lie

“Dude..Do i buy this electric guitar? Why not..?”

This was a recent topic of conversation with one of my friends. He wanted to know why i felt acoustic was a better one to go for first. Here’s my take :

1. Rigging up - Acoustic takes the least amount of time and effort to rig up and start practicing or even perform for that matter.

2. Rhythm - The chunky sound when the acoustic guitar is palm muted allows a lot of improvisations while playing chords. I don’t deny that this can’t be done on the electric. But acoustic gives the natural sound at a low cost if that’s something important for you. 

3. Creation - If you’re a newbie you’d probably take lesser time to get into the hang of performing and creating with an acoustic. This is because it takes as much as perfect knowledge of around 5 chords to start off. You don’t want to spend twice or thrice as much to do that would you?

Once you get the hang of performing, recording and things alike, why don’t you go for the electric then? Sounds reasonable right?

I posted the above song to justify the above points. These are the chords you need to learn to play the song:

Em  C  Asus2  G  D

Reread the points while listening to it. I’m sure you’ll agree :)

I’m a huge fan of the sound of acoustic (especially when the chords begin) in the above song. I use a specific preset to feel songs alike. It’s shown below if you’d like to try it too. It’s the “Jazz” present in most audio drivers.

Artist : Stoned Sour

Song : Through The Glass

I spoke about “simple yet effective” in my last post. You want me to show you simpler but more effective? There is one.

There are times when my electric guitar strings break. I’d say that’s a boon in disguise because i automatically revert to my acoustic. And when i do, i end up discovering more. Mostly because of the pleasant sound it retains in spite of an off note here and there.

Above song is the first song i’d suggest you to try and learn. Extremely simple.

It’s like this. You’ve heard of power chords? Here. The above song is made of three of them. Yes! Only three!!  You got to try playing those three chords shown below.

Here from the left to right i.e E A D G B E, is String 1(Thickest) to String 6(Thinnest).

A red dot on the block 3 means you gotta hold the 3rd fret, second string. And other definitions are similar.

Notice that you have to play all the strings and there is no need of muting.

Rhythm-wise in a 4\4 beat, play the leftmost chord for 1 count, middle chord for 1 count and rightmost chord for 2 counts, And voila! You’ve learnt to play Through the glass!

Sounds good, Eh? 

Artist : Nightwish

Song : Crimson Tide Deep Blue Sea

Speaking about instrumentals. It’s also important for an instrumental to have a great impact on the listener. No matter how slow or simple the song is.

Raising your drum sticks high and belting the snare with such simplicity is not as easy as it looks. A song without keyboards can feel like curd rice without pickles.

Yeah, i’m from the South of India and i like that combination. Deal with ze analogy :P

Notice the Vibrato technique on the guitar. This song is the best example for you to learn that on your guitar.

Go pick up yours now!

Artist : Stratovarious

Song : Stratosphere

Jam sessions are the best place to discover new songs. Back in college days i had a drummer who was highly enthusiastic about doing that. After a jam session one day he just insisted i listen to a song and repeated ” Wait till 3:32 dude!” “Wait till 3:32 dude!”. 

I did. And whoa! That was one hell of a drum-guitar improvisation!

Stratovarious’ music is mainly influenced by classical symphony. They translated it into guitars and made it sound more aggressive. The song has beautiful transitions. It’s almost as if it says “Hurry up man!” in the beginning and then goes “Relax, sit and think calmly” in between. Extreme variation! 

Tell me how the 21st century beethovens and mozarts did :)

Artist : Chemical Vocation

Song : We’re not here to give up

Well, recently me and a group of friends had this discussion about a specific genre in metal. Its called “Emo”. Ok ‘Metalheads’. Drop your eyebrows down please.

The genre is named and categorized mainly because of the melodrama in the lyrics. Emo is short for Emotional you see.

The video and the song above perfectly depicts this genre of music. Study the special breed of species. They are quite interesting :P

The clothing, The hairstyle, The Vocals. Apparently all this is a fixed standard they follow. I’m not kidding. I think some ISO 420. Not sure.

Ok lame joke. I know. I’m funnier when i’m mooching off food during somebody else’s treat. Something to do with encouraging conditions.

Having said all of this. I will not deny that i secretly enjoy the amazing melody the genre offers.I see it as notes and time signatures. Expressive ones. You enter it and you’ll start appreciating most songs mainly because of the explosive melodies.

Artist : Lacuna Coil

Song : I Like It

My friends asked me “Why haven’t you done posts about women in metal??”. That moment when there is a 250 mA current flowing in a circuit above the head (I was trying to imply “a bulb” :P)  Ok once you’re out of the facepalm mode. I thought “Oh! Why not!”

Lacuna Coil is technically a very skilled band. Every member is unique. But you and i know that it gained popularity mostly because of Cristina Scabbia’s Vocals. Right? Absolutely!

The song above depicts the difficulties women face while trying to land themselves with a set of good musicians to form a band. It shows all the stereotypes in the music industry (BTW, Stereotypes mostly originate when large amounts of repeated exploration has already been performed on something and the next generation continues to follow it. Personal Opinion). So in the end Cristina finds her comfort place in Lacuna Coil and that’s how the music video ends.

So it becomes the responsibility of men already dominating the heavy metal scene to not impose its nuances but portray a sense of welcoming and comfort for the woman who wants to find out what it is.

Salute to bands like Lacuna Coil to have done that. The reward being that it is one of the most popular female led bands in the world!

Artist : Helloween

Song : If i could fly

It’s been a while since i posted. But i’m back with one of the best songs I’ve ever bumped into. Helloween is a power metal band. The chords\notes they frequently use, categorizes their music into a route towards deliverance.

If you repeatedly listen to the song, at a certain point of time the keyboard intro might just become a subconscious satisfaction of the mind. And i’d term the drums as “The liberation rhythm”.

Ok. I think you get the point :P

I somehow associate the lyrics to the chant of an army general. Someone like General Maximus of gladiator. It’s just very fitting to the role.

Above is a live version of the song. I chose this mainly because of the way drums feel like.

So it’s time to fly and see the world through your eyes!

Artist : Junkyard Groove

Song : Its Ok

Like the sound of acoustic? Yeah it can sound great if used well. This was another massive hit song of junkyard groove.

The best part about this song is how the lead notes are used to accompany the rich sound of the acoustic. All of this makes the song pretty jolly-sounding! Learn to play it and you’ll get to understand the reason. Focus on the guitar notes. ( Hint : Spot it in the catchy strumming pattern)

Somehow this song is more popular among the female population. That’s what I’ve noticed in their concerts. I think it’s more to do with the story telling lyrics :P

I’ll see you with more in the upcoming posts.