Originally Posted by: PRSplayaBTW, what's the difference between Black Metal and Death Metal? Sorry to sound stupid, but I really don't know. :o

Plenty of things. The tone quality of the music alone is different enough as in black metal the guitars usually have a really dry sound where death comes with more beef to it. The production in black metal is usually poor and such quality has been accepted as the truest black metal form for some reason or another, so there's a lot of people that intentionally degrade their production for the sound of it. Death metal's got it's bad production, but not nearly like black metal. The vocal style is also quite different, in death metal it's a deep, gutteral growl where black metal usually has a higher, raspy shriek. The song writing, as well, is very different, while there are a good number of talented musicians in black metal, the genre itself is really quite basic. Only a select few bands have incorporated talent in their playing. Death metal's got its fair share of lame wads that settle in skill, but the superior ones have quite an advanced style in speed, structure, and theory. So, I'm in a band that thrives on playing simple stuff... it's just a matter of time until I convert the band (4 of the 5 current members agree that it is just a matter of time).

As far as talking to a drummer goes... well, I guess that really kind of depends on who the drummer you're talking to is. As far as technique goes he explained that he uses the gravity of the sticks and the recoil from hitting toms to prepare him for his next move. For example, say he hits a tom, the stick's gonna bounce back, so rather than clinging on for dear life and keeping the stick in one place and pulling back himself he saves his energy and lets the tom pull it back for him and in turn the stick flings forward on its own letting him prepare for the next hit. Things like that. As far as talking to him goes, well, the drum sounds that I stated above are about all I know as something I can spell out. I'm gonna be jamming tomorrow and thursday so I'll beat more information out of him then, but I'm still new at this too, so... there you go. I also learned that I've got a better sense of rhythm than I thought I had, which rocks.

Oh yeah, thanks for the good words all.