The Death Of Metal

Well, I think that's it for my foray into metal. It simply kills my right forearm to play it right now, which is something that came out of left field. I did something completely out of character and actually blew off rehearsal on Sunday. I'm not saying I'll never revisit metal for a laugh, but it had actually started affecting my ability strum and play less agressive stuff! Not happy about that.

So, I have two possibilities in the offing right now. One was from 'Join My Band' and the other was from Gumtree. I was subscribed to Gumtree a long time before I even thought about starting The Project, but had unsubscribed. Someone in my office has been looking for a new flat and reminded me that it's a decent resource. I'd pretty much written off 'Join My Band' as it seemed like most of the membership were in their teens.

I can't honestly tell whether either prospect is a great one, but y'know, if you don't test the water, how're you gonna find out, eh? One's just me and a drummer (so far) and the other one is me, three other guitarists and a drummer. Hey, maybe a four guitar lead is the way forward for Nu Southern Rock? A couple of the other guitarists have stepped up and said they'd be willing to have a go on bass (if someone has one!).

Meetup/jams in the next couple of weeks. I'll let you know how they go!

And news just in. It seems that an album entitled "The Roots Of The Allman Brothers" is due to be released in a week or so. Don't know where this came from! Details are sketchy but it appears to be a compilation of recordings which were considered to influence the Allmans back when they were getting started. Lots of blues stuff, obviously. Preliminary track listing goes something like this:

1) Key To The Highway - Big Bill Broonzy
2) Lost Lover Blues - Blind Boy Fuller
3) Statesboro Blues - Blind Willie McTell
4) Call It Stormy Monday - T-Bone Walker
5) Sweet Little Angel - B.B. King
6) Smokestack Lightnin' - Howlin' Wolf
7) Trouble No More - Muddy Waters
8) Can't Stop Lovin' - Elmore James
9) It Takes Time - Otis Rush
10) Deep Feeling - Chuck Berry
11) Need Your Love So Bad - Little Willie John
12) It's Too Late - Chuck Willis
13) I'm Gonna Move To The Outskirts Of Town - Louis Jordan
14) Did You Ever Love A Women - B.B. King
15) Wild About You Baby - Elmore James
16) Mona - Bo Diddley
17) Hoochie Coochie Man - Muddy Waters
18) 0range Blossom Special - Bill Monroe & His Blue Grass Boys
19) San Antonio Rose - Bob Wills & His Texas Playboys
20) Nobody Knows You - Bessie Smith
21) Tears - Django Reinhardt
22) Come On In My Kitchen (Take 2) - Robert Johnson
23) T.B. Blues - Jimmie Rodgers
24) Dark Was The Night, Cold Was The Ground - Blind Willie Johnson

Fascinating snapshot of the band's influences or shameless marketing of forgotten back catalogue tunes? You decide.

What Would Satan Do?

Right, first off I missed a major milestone a few days back. The Project entered the final 100 days. Yes folks, were down to double digits. I need to sit down, look at what time is left and actually figure out what my goals to be achieved by New Year's Eve are. I always knew that my action plan would have to be adaptable, but in truth I've kind of left the rails on that front. Must get more rails. I'm very glad to be starting a new guitar course in under a week as I found the last one very motivational.

So, having said that... what would Satan do?

On Tuesday evening I spent a few hours trying to get back into metal music, playing through some of the Metallica that I'd quickly taught myself in preparation for the jam with the metallers a few weeks back. I was painfully [cough] aware that I needed to play catchup if I was to join in successfully this coming Sunday. About 2 hours into trying to get my droning back up to speed I felt my tendonitis start to kick in. Ow!

Smart 39 year old kid that I am I figured I'd just keep going, only stopping when the shooting pains up my right arm got too bad. Clever, eh? Mama didn't raise no fool! So, because I'm an idiot, I had to take a break from playing on Wednesday, only resuming practice last night. Pretty soon after starting in on "Master of Puppets" the pain was back with a vengeance. I tried making the "Sign of the Devil" a few times to see whether that helped. Nope. Besides, playing with a pick and doin' that hand thing isn't possible. It ends up looking more 'pinkie out' tea sipper rather than hardcore headbanger.



"Screw this," I said to myself, reverting to playing less aggressive, less right hand intensive stuff... the Allmans' "Don't Want You No More" intro riff (the first thing I ever played on Red, which had make me instantly fall in love with My Precious)... Slash/Kravitz's "Always On The Run"... "Walk This Way". Pain subsided. Joy was felt.

Wait a minute!

Joy was felt! I was enjoying playing this lightweight stuff, whereas I wasn't getting the same kick out of playing the metal tunes. Okay... soooo, let's see... I don't particularly like listening to metal and I don't enjoy playing it, not least of which because it causes me pain! I did enjoy playing it with the other guys, but that was partly because of the whole band camaraderie etc. Noise making is fun, no matter what the noise.

I guess what I'm trying to say is that while I may keep playing with the metal guys on and off over the next few weeks and months, I need to not lose sight of what I enjoy. Makes sense?

I was actually going to post a video of my droning speed using different pick angles, as tilting the ol' pleccie is something that significantly decreases string resistance so you can play faster. It also noticeably changes the tone, and when you accidentally [cough] clip the strings with an upstroke you get quite a cool double-time sound. BUT... that was about the same time I decided to lay metal to rest for the night, so... you, loyal reader, get nuffink.... bumpkus... RIEN DE TOUT!

"Non, rien de rien
Non, je ne regrette rien
Ni le bien qu'on m'a fait, ni le mal
Tout ca m'est bien egal"

Ah, that Edith Piaf... she knew a thing or two about nothing, eh? (Basic translation 'a la chav': "I don't regret nuffink... not the good fings wot av been done ta me or the bad... it's all the fukkin' same ta me, innit?")

What? WHAT?

Oh, I give up. I wanna rock out, but metal's not for me, not long term at least. I have a note from my doctor...

Metal Update

After a few weeks of uncertainty I've managed to clarify what the position with me and the metal band is... or at least I think I have.

The party line is that I'm more than welcome to learn the songs, come along and play at rehearsals as and when I can/I want to. 'The band' per se is still in an emergent state and so it's not really a case of who's in the band and who isn't right now, it's predominantly a handful of musicians getting together, shaking the tree and seeing what (if anything) falls out. I made it pretty clear that I don't currently see it as a permanent thing (though who knows... maybe I'll have an untapped talent for it!) but for now it's better to be playing with other people than not, right?

I've not had the chance to practice many of the tunes on their songlist, so I need to get back on the horse and dig my heels in. The other guys are clearly way ahead of me as far as learning the songs goes, which seems to concern me more than it does them!

I still have other feelers out there. Still waiting for some callbacks [cough]. I actually do think that in the long run that the only way things are going to happen the way I want them to is for me to take the wheel and put a band together myself. In the meantime, though, I'm gaining experience of how studios work etc, which is all valuable stuff. None of it's hard, but when you don't know stuff, you don't know stuff, right?

What else..?

Erm... the WAES Rock School course should be starting next Thursday. Really looking forward to that! I just spoke with the head of music there and she said that she expects the course to go ahead, though they currently haven't reached the required minimum number of students. D'Oh! SO... anyone out there who's interested, check out the WAES website here. The course is from 6-8pm on Thursdays in the Victoria/Pimlico area.

Evening update:

OW! ARMS HURT! BACK HURTS! EARS BLEEDING! METAL FATIGUE... AGAIN!

"Seek & Destroy" sought me out... and destroyed me!

Sunday, Metal Sunday

So here's the thing... I've actually got a lot to say about the jam on Sunday and I want to get it out before... well, before I forget half of it... but due to a mountain of work I've to get through I'm just going to have to post snippets. Any comments, suggestions and so on more than welcome.

After a late start to the morning and a late breakfast I just managed to get to the rehearsal rooms on time at 1pm. Riding the ol' bike with Red strapped to my back wasn't a major issue. It may even have been good for my posture! On the gig-bag side of things, the Ritter one I bought (a 700, if that means anything to anyone) is supposedly shaped for a Les Paul, but I was pleasantly surprised to find that Blackie the Ovation just squeezes in there... but only just.

So, I got there. I was nervous as hell... much more so than when I went for a jam with Col of Axe Victim, for some reason. I think it was a mixture of not really knowing where this might lead, not knowing the people I was going to meet and, frankly, not knowing much about metal guitar techniques.

Turned out that me and another guy were there to jam with a drummer/guitar/vocal combo. Bass to be added. They're a metal band who are initially looking at doing covers (mainly Metallica) but who have some original material.

From the start it became obvious that the drummer was a real powerhouse and highly skilled. It turned out that she's also a good guitarist. After the session she told us that she'd only been playing a year! I was gobsmacked as she was really, really good.

The guitarist was also top notch in the metal vein. I didn't really get to focus much on the vocalist as she was kind of side-lined by the screaming axes and I wasn't close to her monitor.

The other new guy there had recently relocated to London. He was really good, too, and more than capable of handling metal, blues, rock... anything. I got the feeling that his influences may have been closer to mine than anyone else's.

So, turned up and ran through some Metallica stuff. Luckily, they were tunes I'd at least heard, so I was able to jump in and play along after watching the other boys' fingerings.

After that we jammed for a bit, nominally on blues stuff (not!) then someone kicked off on "Freebird", "Sweet Child Of Mine" and a few other songs I could bash out some pentatonics on. I'm not entirely sure what scales/modes metal uses... Phyrgian? Lydian? Dunno...

Pulling some backbone out of my behind I started into some of the stuff I've written and was elated when the drummer kicked in behind me and the band joined in. You really can't argue with power chords from a Les Paul into a big amp. Sounded good.

After that I vamped on the intro from "Outside Woman Blues". Again, the drummer then the rest of the band fell in. I think that's what impressed me the most about the drummer. No matter what we played she was able to just bring it all together. Magic.

Next up was a session trying to play one of the band's original compositions. The riffs themselves sounded really good. I didn't have a clue what was going on so I wallflowered for a bit. I tried to join in being a faux bass, but in truth I was fading a bit. We'd been playing for over 3 and a half hours continuously and I was stiff suffering from a major workout at the gym the previous day.

Afterwards, we agreed to meet up again and later that evening the drummer texted me to let me know that they were looking forward to next time.

So, to the chase...

I've enjoyed playing some metal, but I don't know whether that's where I want my focus to be. I really liked the other guys in the band and felt I could learn from them. I am, however, way behind everyone else when it comes to knowing the tunes. Nevertheless, they've asked me back...

Obviously I don't have anything else major on right now. I've got at least one more definite possibility, though, and I don't want to put all my eggs in one musical basket. So, I'm thinking I should basically let these guys know that I enjoyed playing with them and would like to try out a few more sessions to see how it goes before committing to anything, but at the same time keep looking. They know I'm not a metal-head and seem to be okay with that... They seem pretty serious about trying to get out there and start gigging, but they're still a way's off.

Ah, what to do..?

On the positive side, it's another notch on The Project's belt. To those more experienced than I am it may seem like nothing, but for me, getting out there and playing with other people (amped to the max!) is a major achievement.

Metal, Metal, Everywhere

No, I've not turned to the dark side and given in 100% to the seductive riff-laden, low-E pedalling musical genre, but yes, this week it's all about HEAVY METAL.

[Imagine head banging, fingers raised in a 'Sign-O-The-Devil'... occasionally slipping into 'Live-Long-And-Prosper']

I had a crack at Metallica's "Seek & Destroy" last night. Like most of the metal stuff I've tried so far it's not actually that hard to play slowly, but playing it fast and accurately is where the challenge lies. I also don't have a 'metal pedal', so I'm relying on cranking the gain on the amp, dialling bass and treble to the max and turning down the mid. Sounds about right, but lacks the artificially clean sounding scream/crunch you get with a pedal. No, I'm not going to rush out and buy one just yet! I still don't know whether anything will come of the jam on Sunday.

Sunday... bloody Sunday...

Sounds a long way off, but realistically it's not as far as practice time goes. If I'm lucky I may be able to squeeze in an hour tonight (wishful thinking). Tomorrow night we're out at a show near Shepherd's Bush. That leaves Friday evening and maybe some time on Saturday or even Sunday morning.

All I'm hoping to achieve on Sunday is to put on a decent show and not screw up too horrendously. The band may turn around afterwards and tell me to get lost, but hey, it's the experience that's important here, isn't it?

Isn't it?

Hmmm...?

Okay, so I've been finding two things whilst trying to learn the Metallica stuff...

1) It doesn't take me long to burn out on a one of their riffs. Not the power chord stuff... that's easy. I'm talking about the more complex string-skipping roll-type stuff.

Here's a sample of what I mean. This is the riff from "Master Of Puppets" that comes straight after the whole descending intro thingy.

e ---------------------------------
B ---------------------------------
G ---------------------------------
D ---------------------------------
A -----2-----3-----4-----3-----2-2-
E -0-1---0-1---0-1---0-1---0-1-----

Right, I've just noticed that that one has no string skipping whatsoever... but what's tricky is rolling off the 0-1 on the low E and playing up through the second, third, fourth fingers on the A string then turning around and coming back. I can do it slowly, but it's a fast riff. I looked at possibly optimising the picking, playing the notes up-down on the low E followed by down on the A (then repeat). That seemed to speed things up a little, but I kept forgetting to start on an upstroke! D'Oh!

This one's a string-skipper, as promised. Intro riff to "Seek & Destroy":

e ---------------------------------
B ---------------------------------
G -----7h8-7-------------------5---
D -------------7h8-7-------5-----7-
A -0-0-------0-------0-8-7---7-----
E ---------------------------------

...so that's not a great example either as it's not played particularly quickly...

Anyway, if I practice either of these riffs for too long my fingers start forgetting what they're supposed to do and my only option if I want to keep playing them is to drop down in speed to get back with the programme. Two steps forward, one step back. I know how finger memory is supposed to work: you start out slow but precise then gradually build up in speed. Right now I don't have time for slow. I need to nail this stuff ASAP.

2) Any musical activity late at night really screws up my sleep patterns. The same's true for other intense repetetive activities, such video games. Please, nobody mention the intense repetetive activity that actually helps sleep, m'kay? When I try to learn riffs close to bedtime or even when I'm writing or mixing tunes, they get stuck right in the front of my brain and I end up lying in bed, going through them, over and over, spinning my wheels. If I'm lucky I'll get to sleep eventually, but you can bet that at 4am I'm going to wake up and the whole process'll start over.

So, I'm a feeling a little weary today. You try sleeping with the intro riff to "Master Of Puppets" echoing around inside your cranium! Aaaaarrrghhh!

Oh, and in other news, I think our neighbour has just started to play bass! Last night I heard the sound of tentative low-end plucking drifting over our garden fence (okay, minds out of the gutter, please). I tell you, it's like that Kevin Costner movie "Field Of Dreams"... "If you build it [a chord progression], they [the rest of the band] will come!"

I expect Jim Morrison will visit me in my dreams any day now...

Metal

Picture the scene, I'm sat here at my computer, listening to something cool and jazzy on the ol' headphones, when an email drops into my inbox from the drummer in a metal band. The band are looking for a second guitarist and would I like to come along to their next rehearsal for a jam. Of course my answer was 'yes'.

Now, I'm not a metal-head. In fact, if I scroll through the genres menu on my iPod, the list goes like this:

Acoustic
Alternative
Alternative & Punk
Blues
Blues/R&B
Country (Eh?!)
Dance
Electronic
Electronica/Dance
Folk
Gospel & Religious (How'd that get in there?!)
Jazz
Other
Pop
R&B
R&B/Soul
Rock
Soul/R&B (I guess the em-phas-is is on the other syl-lable)
Soundtrack
Southern Rock
Unclassifiable (What!!)
World

So I check out the "Rock" genre and the heaviest thing by far that's in there is Guns 'n' Roses. The next heaviest would probably be Placebo... For some reason the early You Am I stuff doesn't even have a classification! No clue where Faith No More have got to. Maybe I deleted them from the iPod so that I could squeeze Herbie Hancock's "River: The Joni Letters" on there.

Okay, so there's nothing metallic lurking inside the miniature music box. Now, I had a friend at university, a long haired Cornish biker bloke called Roger (medical student... prodigious pot smoker... great with the elderly)... anyway, Roger was into every single metal/hardcore band on the planet. His record collection covered every vocal style from menacing growl to ear-splitting scream. He once took me to a thrash metal showcase in Wolverhampton with bands like Nuclear Assault and Napalm Death on the bill. I remember standing in the Wulfrun Hall, literally pinned to the back wall by the noise from the ceiling high speakers. It was thrilling but I can't honestly say it was enjoyable. For one thing I was the only one in the place not wearing leather trousers. Try as I might (and I didn't) I wasn't going to fit in with the crowd!

I remember having quite the discussion one day with Roger about "Crossroads" (the Ralph Macchio movie I just purchased via the interweb). He kept going on about how great Steve Vai was (but not as great as Satch, blah-blah-blah) and how he did the soundtrack. When I said that I thought the soundtrack was by Ry Cooder (who did actually produce the soundtrack), Rog went off on one, saying "That fukker didn't play a single fukkin' note on there, not even the fukkin' blues stuff. That's all Vai, not that other fukker!" Huff, huff, toke on his doobie, plug his Washburn in his 8-foot Marshall stack and SCCCRRRR-CHANGGGGGG!!!! "Fukkin' Ry Cooder! Can fukkin' Ry Cooder play this?" Roger presses [Play] on his CD player then riffs along to "Passion & Warfare", hitting every note perfectly, despite his strings being rusted down by a couple of grades.

I am so losing the plot with this post!

The point is that I don't do metal, but a metal band has invited me to come along and play with them in just over a week's time. In the spirit of The Project I really have to grab at every opportunity and so I've said yes. Methinks I'm going to be pounding out some powerchords and dancing with the Phrygian until next weekend!

Time to beat Red (the Les Paul) into submission.