Good, Bad, Mediocre Solo? YOU DECIDE!

[tseegert]

So, since I am in the house of Shred, (for the most part) I look to you, my brethern in the decision of the quality of a lead; Please check out "Empty Sunday" on our page http://www.myspace.com/madeaband and hit me with anything that comes to mind, good bad AND the ugly. I would really appreciate it... cause you all rule, and stuff.

Again, this was all home recorded, with shite for recording equipment (more or less) so please this time around omit production considerations. Just consider the shredd!

[jgcable]

I like the song. I could do without the beginning break in the middle. It is a little confusing. It sorts itself out pretty quick though.
Regarding the solo, its good and tasty but its not shred. I think the note choice was a little shakey in the beginning but it got much better.

The singing was good and in key. A tad nasely though. Your singer sings through his nose and his throat. Similar to the way the singer in Avenged Sevenfold sings.

Bottom line... I liked it.

[tseegert]

Yah, the intro notes might sound a tad akward, but I was actually aiming for that... I find myself liking chromatics more and more

I spose I dont shred in the classic sense, I tend to shy away from overusage of drawn-out 16/32nd note runs. I try to break it up a bit.

Regarding the singer, he used to be much more nasally, I've been actively working on that with him. Sadly I wasnt at the sessions this time to make him re-do things when he persisted. Whats nice about him though, once he has a good vocal recording of himself singing with his diaphragm, he retains the ability to reproduce it quite accurately and consistently... with a few minor regressions here and there.

All in all, quite a talented fellow though. Sometimes he just nails stuff when we're writing on the first few takes of a verse part while improv-ing.

Thanks for the listen once again JG, your honesty is appreciated and acknowledged.

[charvelguy]

I have to ask.. did you do the solo break in Experiate as well?
It strikes me as rather Freidman influenced but I'll comment more in detail after you reply.

[tseegert]

Yah, I play all the leads in this project at the moment.

[charvelguy]

I was going to mention the last time I posted but I 'edited' and decided to not post some of my comments. I'm usually pretty direct and honest but it appears that tends to get me in trouble sometimes, but since you're asking for opinions and I'm not being paid to shut up and do what I'm told!
Here goes....

To me there's a similar modal thing going on in the very last like 1/2 measure or less of the out in the solo of experiate as there is in the early portion of Empty Sunday's solo.
You shift into a very 'majory' type of note choice. Its very brief.
In Empty Sunday you move out of it but in experiate you pretty much end on it. Not sure what mode and all is going on there.
Take for instance in experiate again, if you were still playing another part of the song or of the solo progression..to me that would relate well and fit as an ending vibe but it struck me as ..well, odd.

Definitely am not trying to say there's a change needed in your style because I like 90% of what your doing and its a matter of taste, but note choice is much like word choice..sometimes you know what you are saying and how you want it to sound but it doesn't exactly come across that way or you had a typo.

Its tough to pin down as you can't go back to specific time i the song w/o having to relisten to the entire tune up until the point of where you notice it.

The remix is more 'studio smooth' to my ears this time about.

[Argos]

Honestly, I think the singing sounds really weak. It sort of takes away from the rest of the music which is pretty solid to my ears.. You might try and get him some lessons with a good coach.

[kelly user]

charvel guy, is right. you have an odd choice of notes some times, out of key, and i find that it is the note that you tend to hold out. but un that exasperated or whatever song has a very cool easterny feel in the beginning of the solo.

[jgcable]

I think its just an improper choice of notes in the beginning of the solo.

[tseegert]

Well, I spose the ears don't lie eh? I'm actually pretty well versed on theory, and all the notes outside of the key were intentional. It's kind of hard to decide if notes in this particular solo sound plain improper, or what I was going for, which was intentionally "wierd"...

I say its hard to decide, because there has been quite a few people that point out how much they like this particular lead. Those people arent musicians, and I assume most of you here, are.

I spose there's not really a middle ground to try, as doing so would eliminate any flats that were intentionally included for a certain sound.

Choices... choices...

Maybe on the next one I work on, I'll try the natural minor approach, though I find it to be much harder to be creative, and I tend to fall back into old habits, 3 notes per string, that kind of thing.

Anyways, you've all given me food for thought, which I appreciate. I'll use the nuggets of wisdom to the best of my ability

Thanks again guys.

[jgcable]

Well, I spose the ears don't lie eh? I'm actually pretty well versed on theory, and all the notes outside of the key were intentional. It's kind of hard to decide if notes in this particular solo sound plain improper, or what I was going for, which was intentionally "wierd"...

I say its hard to decide, because there has been quite a few people that point out how much they like this particular lead. Those people arent musicians, and I assume most of you here, are.

I spose there's not really a middle ground to try, as doing so would eliminate any flats that were intentionally included for a certain sound.

Choices... choices...

Maybe on the next one I work on, I'll try the natural minor approach, though I find it to be much harder to be creative, and I tend to fall back into old habits, 3 notes per string, that kind of thing.

Anyways, you've all given me food for thought, which I appreciate. I'll use the nuggets of wisdom to the best of my ability

Thanks again guys.

The intentional notes "outside of the key" you are referring too are still wrong.. no matter how you slice it.
With that said.. dude... I like your stuff. The songs are good.

[kelly user]

accidentals have to be previously introduced with the entire band, i doesn't sound right when you throw in there out of no where. think master of puppets, that F the is out of place, seeing as the song is in E minor like the rest of the metallica songs.

but yeah, when a band( trumpets, tuba, baritones.....etc.) do it they do it in chords. it gets the effect you are looking for the odd and out of place ( look up fisher tull, a brilliant composer, that taught theory)

[slash-ed]

Every Metallica song has an E and an F

[khabibissell]

I thought the playing on that solo is good, though I do agree that the note choice in the begininng of the solo was a bit jarring. If you were going for that then I say cool... getting outside the box isn't a bad thing.

As for Metallica, the F in MOP moves the key to E Phrygian. It works well, and I'm sure it was intentional. It creates a bit of tension for the intro bit.

[Twisteramps]

Notes were jarring, if that's what you were going for then great! However... I didn't hear much 'shred' in that, if that's what you were going for. It was nice, but I guess we have different ideas of the word shred.

Pete