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August 25, 2008

Metal Fatigue

So, usually I don't post stuff on this blog at weekends or holidays, and today is August Bank Holiday in the UK.

And I'm posting.

I just have to take a break from learning to play metal. It's not that I'm not enjoying it, as I am in a weird way, but the thing is that I HURT. I'M IN PAIN! Tim and I started a new regime at the gym a couple of weeks ago and while I'm glad we're doing it, I have to say it's really tough to do a full body workout then go into an intensive session on guitar. My shoulders are absolutely killing me.

I'm also pretty sure the neighbours are hating me right now. I decided to start my metallic education with Metallica's "Master of Puppets", which, doesn't really work if you play it quietly. I've had Red cranked, pumping 100W out of my Marshall for the last couple of hours. Sounds like it should, y'know. LOUD! Even our cat decided that the intro riff was too aggressive to sleep through... which is a first.

I think I'm just going to veg out in front of the TV for a bit...

7 comments:

Aunt Jackie said...

Loud, I wanna hear it loud... right between the eyes!!! :)

I love metal. Of course, it's hard to put Keyboards into metal without it starting to sound Goth, that is unless you stick to "machine-like" sounds... Piano and organ music is a challenge... We're not Metal though, more bluesy rock...

Glad you're progressing, but I know sometimes it's easy to feel burned out.

Ken Skinner said...

There is something magical about cranking an electric guitar. It's like holding trapped lightning or something. Just the slightest stroke of a string and SCR... WAAAAAAA!

I have to say what's holding me back right now is that my left pinkie isn't pulling it's weight. I'm definitely not a pinkie stretch fan!

Master of Puppets isn't hard to play slowly but it's getting the low end rolls up to speed that's the problem. I think come Sunday's jam I'm going to have to show what I've got on the metal side then rock out a bit with more familiar material.

Istvanski said...

Try stuff from their "Kill 'Em All" album, it's great fun - especially the opening riff to "Seek & Destroy".
Try it, it's a way of life!

Ken Skinner said...

Ah, "Seek & Destroy" was one of the tracks I downloaded onto my iPod. Definitely a cool intro riff. Screaming out for some mad pinch harmonics :-) Mebbe I'll have a crack at that one this evening...

Now, I'm assuming that most of the riffs are played just using downstrokes? Am I right or do they just manage to get consistent attack with alternate/combo picking? Some of it seems a bit quick for just downstrokes...

Dave Jacob said...

Now, I'm assuming that most of the riffs are played just using downstrokes? Am I right or do they just manage to get consistent attack with alternate/combo picking? Some of it seems a bit quick for just downstrokes...

Depends, but mostly downstrokes.

And if you want to see where southern rock and metal meet, look up Nola by Down. Specifically "Stone The Crow".

Ken Skinner said...

Oh, and when I was talking to a co-worker about how I'd been trying to mix some blues licks into the metal stuff we got side-tracked into considering what a mixture of metal and country would sound like... MUNTRY! It's the nu deal, man!

Dave Jacob said...

Metal and Country?

Look up Hank Williams III.