Hi. I'm HEAVILLY into metal, and while my knowledge of bands is suprisingly limited, I am a fan of Metallica, Lamb of God, certain Machine Head songs, Anything with Alexi (Children of bodom, synergy, etc.), and many of The Agony Scene's songs. I really should start listening more, especially because I play guitar. As a matter of fact, my guitar playing is why I started this thread. I got a guitar about two years ago: Acustic. I didn't take anything seriously at first, until I got an electric. It was a shitty squire which is what I have now, but my amp is decent. Don't ask me the brand, as I know NOTHING about guitar gear. Despite my lack of knowledge of the gear and bands in general, I love playing. See, I often see a problem with metal: It's plenty heavy, but never dark. It doesn't capture misery, pain, etc., rather it is often a guy simply screaming for the hell of it. Back on the subject, I've been REALLY practicing for a year and a half, but only on and off, and mostly reading tabs. I can play most of Lamb of God's VIGIL, alot of ONE by Metallica, And will soon know most all of The Rolling Stones AND The Aghony Scene's versions of PAINT IT BLACK. When I try to be creative and make my own shit, I am VERY disapointed. Would learning chords and reading msuic, etc. help? How well do you guitarists in here write riffs? Is there a trick? Thanks for the help
I am a rhythm person. For me, its more about the right hand than it is the fretting. Start by creating some sort of rhythm with your right hand, and then figure out what notes to use. I hardly ever use chords, and I can only read tablature. Chords are good to know for rock music, but not so much metal. You'll need to become quite comfortable with power chords. I am not much of a lead player, and I've yet to write a solo that I keep. So anything regarding soloist techniques is best left unsaid by me. You'll also want to make good use of palm muting. an idea for this would be, while you're playing your riff, say, on the E string "5555 3333 2222" (with the accompanied A string notes) let the first note from each position ring out, and follow it up with palm muted notes. Yes, the 5 3 2 riff is pretty much shit, but you get the idea. Spicing things up with the muting makes for some interesting riffs. I mainly write thrash / hardcore riffs, though I do venture into power metal, with thrash influences sometimes. Basically, you could fret wonderfully, but if you don't have a rhythm, the song is going to be pretty dry. As far as creating riffs that suit the style of music you seem to listen to, work with palm muted triplets on your E string. that is, play three notes closely together, take a quick rest and then repeat. Once you've got that down, add in some single notes on the A string. The idea with those notes is that they'd create some sort of identity for the riff, instead of just continued chugging. I'm not a guitar teacher. I've only been playing for a couple years, on both bass and electric guitar (hardly ever played an accoustic). Though I've always tried creating my own stuff over learning other songs, I definitely use influences.
