Needing your constructive criticism

As stated in the thread title I am needing some constructive criticism on a couple songs I am working on. I would also like to pre-emptively state that yes I know that my technical skills are abysmal lol, which is also another reason why I would like some suggestions as to what I could do to remedy that as well as your thoughts on how I can improve the tracks I'm working on such as adding notes or the deletion of certain notes, changing the timing/bpm and phrasing of said notes and what amp settings would they sound best played at ?. The tracks in question are titled metal songs 1 and 2 plus the track titled "Beast" and can be found here------> Please be gentle. I am not fiscally sound enough to afford myself a guitar tutor so please keep that in mind as you are formulating your replies. Also as a side note, I do have dozens of technical manuals for learning to play guitar at my disposal so I suppose it's just a matter of finding the right combination of lesson plans w/ your guys' help and sticking to them. The gear I am using at the moment is a Schecter Omen-6(std) w/ EMG 81/85 active pups and a Digitech Rp90 multi-effects pedal coupled to a crate gfx-212t. Well I think that just about covers it so I shall now end this post but before I go remember kids, "Not only Ninjas have Super Chops !"

reply to post by DexteramLucifer


I listened to all 3 tracks.

On "Metal Tracks 1 and 2", the guitar riffs are clean, but are pretty "stock". I would have to hear the tracks with full metal orchestration (drums, bass, and vocals). Due to the fact that they are solo rhythm guitar tracks, it leaves it to the imagination as to what the rest of the "song" components would be. Also, solo rhythm guitar in general does not express dynamics well, it is pretty much one dynamic throughout, so there are no emotional "high" points of expression or arrival. Good rhythm tracks, though.

The track "Beast" reminds me of old Black Sabbath, like a cross between "Paranoid" and some of the stuff from the Dio years. Some nice rhythm riffs in there. The drums could certainly be louder in the mix, and the rhythm guitars could use some doubling and stereo separation. The bass is lacking the "subs", the low frequencies that make metal rumble the cones. Mastering processes would be required to "juice up" the raw mix to modern metal recording standards.

Some dynamic diversity would help the track emote more, some points or arrival or anticipation, driven by a lyrical theme but accentuated by the music, a la Rage Against the Machine or Audioslave compositional techniques.

And of course, long term, vocals would help greatly to make it more of a "song" rather than a rhythmic metal composition.

Good work, though, and keep rockin'. It's a process of growth, and it's great that you are composing something.

Here is a metal-ish track I recorded a few years ago, when I still was in a band.
Soundcloud Link: Do you have eyes?

Hey bro have you thought about drop tuning I usually play in c or c# it will give you alot more low end grunt and use 13s with a wound g string. I would like to hear it in a lower tuning.

My son ( 15 month) is trying to sing when i was listening , like he does when I play

reply to post by InTheFlesh1980

Sounds like Econoline crush

reply to post by DexteramLucifer


I notice that the volume is low over the internet, but that doesn't tell ne if the recording volume was too low, or if the recording was not normalised in the transfer to the computer. If it was recorded too low, you need to look at the amps manual recording settings for the master volume control, usually high, while all the individual channels should be set lower than the master. If there was no normalisation done for the computer, that could have made it too low as well, some hints here,

en.wikipedia.org...

And you can look elsewhere using that heading in search.

reply to post by InTheFlesh1980



Thank You very much for your input. I still struggle w/ trying to do lead guitar stuff as I am just now getting comfortable doing rhythm guitar work because as stated earlier, I couldn't afford a tutor so I had to find a bunch of books and pretty much figure out how to teach myself.

reply to post by DexteramLucifer


Amp settings??
You have that line 6 sounding pretty killer.
Its easy to be gentle on you because in this rare occasion,you actually know how to play an instrument and not some computer garbage.
My advice...get a drummer and start grooving a few of your riffs...you''ll see and get more energy out of it and it will help you grow as a musician.

reply to post by freedomSlave


I like dropped D....it makes it nice and heavy.
Any song in D sounds better with that tuning.

reply to post by freedomSlave


I do have some riffs I've been working on that are in C# but I only have 10's on my guitar right now so they lack oomph. I'll try and get some basic recordings of them uploaded tomorrow.

reply to post by DrumsRfun


Thank You very much.

And yeah it would be awesome to have a drummer to jam with but for some reason that vexes me to this day, I don't make friends very easy.

Rather than books/manuals, I think you might be far more inspired by tutorial vids. have you tried any? I'm a heavy metal fan myself. Watched your vids. Don't you ever smile? LOL There was a couple of tunes I listened to where some parts reminded me of old Black Sabbath. Cool! Keep at it!

DexteramLucifer
reply to post by DrumsRfun

 

Thank You very much.

And yeah it would be awesome to have a drummer to jam with but for some reason that vexes me to this day, I don't make friends very easy.

Try putting an ad in a paper saying you are a guitarist looking for people to jam with. Who knows, maybe you'll even decide to form a band together. If they suck, well no hard feelings cuz your ad just said you wanted to jam, not form a band. LOL

Forgot to say...it's easy enough to make friends. If you put that ad out and someone answers, you already have something in common, the music. Add a little small talk like how long have you been playing, ever been in a band, what bands do you like, etc. Just take it from there. The other guy may not make friends easy either.

reply to post by Night Star


Lol, I never really thought about it before but I guess I don't ever really smile at all. I took your advice into consideration about video tutorials as well and now I'll soon be the owner of a couple different dvd lessons from lick library. The samples they had on youtube seemed promising so hopefully once the dvds get here it should be just like having a tutor(only it'll be on a television screen) oh and before I forget, Thank You very much for the kind words and advice.

reply to post by Night Star


I've tried ads on craigslist but I've never been able to get any jam sessions set up before. Hadn't thought of the local newspaper angle before, thanks for that !

So glad I could be of some help! Keep us posted on how things go. I don't know where you're from, but around here we have free music papers, like a newspaper but with all information on clubs and who is playing where and ads for band members needed and what-not. But your regular newspaper might bring some results as well.

As Night star said ( I never would of thought as a metal loving elf )

like a newspaper but with all information on clubs and who is playing where and ads for band members needed and what-not. But your regular newspaper might bring some results as well.

We have that here as well probably your best bet just inquire about it at the guitar store if that is something is in your area if you are interested . or you could also buy the software and be your own band like this guy

I just like to make noise and play in the basement when ever I have time. Slowly I am buying what I need to start recording my own stuff next on my list is a keyboard work station and then recording software/ new computer.

Do you have any effect processor Some reverb will help with the recording . and effects are just fun in general lol . Except distortion pedals I could never found one I like ever and it's sad because I love my metal lol but they all sound like crap..

reply to post by freedomSlave


There is a local mom & pop music store just a few miles from me that sometimes has a community bulletin board were people can post stuff. It's funny now that I think about it because it never clicked until just now that I've probably missed a lot of chances at some great jam sessions all because I've never paid any attention to what was posted on it.

As for software, I have Acid Pro(for my actual recording and for making loops) and Sound Forge Pro( for fine editing and for the final mixdown/mastering ) but I use Audacity for my everyday messing around and recording quick ideas.

And as for effects, all I have is my trusty ol' digitech rp 90 effects pedal (it's a damn shame what I've put that poor bastid through lol)

It'd be freakin' sweet if I could figure out how to really use that software properly because I could make a little walking around money as a small recording business without the city officials trying to shut me down because my property is zoned for both residential and commercial use.