Being told how to play.....

I am the frontman and guitarist of the band Blackend. A few weeks ago, our rival band, whiplash, heard us do a cover of Blackened by Metallica. They said it was unbearably slow and said that even Metallica (whom wrote the damn song) even plays it too slow. I explain to them that metal has many differnt types, not all has to be fast. They tried saying that since we're a thrash metal band that we have to play fast. And i told them that we're also freestyle and we will play how we want. So i need some opinions, do you think it was right for these guys, who are no older than us, and from what we have heard, not trying to be cocky, are not near as good, do u think it was right for them to tell us how to play? I mean it pised us off prety well, so I want to know what you guys think, were they wrong in saying what they did?

Its your band; you guys decide what you want play, and how you want to play it. The other band can do whatever they want to. That crap about what tempo is suited for a particular genre is just an opinion. Opinions are like assholes - everbody has one, and most of 'em stink!

Rock on! Your way. :cool:

i think metal is about anger, it's about extreme emotions, and it's about guitar innovation. it's not about speed. sure thrash metal in the 80's was all about speed but it kinda gets old to tell you the truth, i mean for the audience listening - most will be more interested in how they can connect to the song rather then how fast you play it. I bet you metallica can play Master of puppets about 3 times faster than they do (apparently it's not that hard) but they don't ... because well ... it wouldn't be that great.

i agree. i mean at practice we saw what playing blackened as fast as they wanted us to would sound like...two words...utter ****... it was rushed and everything mixed together..so it just sounded like noise.

Tell the other band to play "Blackened" for you at their ideal speed. Ought to be interesting how "good" it sounds... ;)

Music is art NOT science, there is often more than one way to play a song and each different way will bring the song a different quality, good or bad, and everybody has different tastes so play it how you like dude, you can't please all the people all the time, play what makes ya happy :)

Originally Posted by: LordathestringsIts your band; you guys decide what you want play, and how you want to play it. The other band can do whatever they want to. That crap about what tempo is suited for a particular genre is just an opinion. Opinions are like assholes - everbody has one, and most of 'em stink!

Rock on! Your way. :cool:

thats exactly what i was gonna say. you deserve a rep.

he always deserves a rep. haha

Blow it off. They were probrably just jealous and trying to be spiteful. Ignore them.

One of the things you fall into when you try to be a cover band is people expect to hear the music be exactly replicated as if htey were watching metallica (or whoever) play it themselves... I've always avoided this situation by always mixing in my own songs... and always trying to change the arrangements of covers as much as possible.... When it comes to Metallica however... you can't change it at all really... and then when you try to cover it everyone wants to hear it exactly how it sounds on the recordings.... which is easier said than done... So tell them to chill out... they sound like the douche bags from that movie "Rockstar" who are covering Steel Dragon... or whatever band that is... Sometimes you just hve to own the song and make it your own... I suggest branching away from strictly covers though.... because you're going to hear a lot of comments like that otherwise.

An addition... funny story...
I was playing a cover of John Cash - Folsom Prison Blues... and I change the arrangement to more of a John Mayer type tap progression where I tap the strings to make the drum beat kind of while I play the song..... Well the crowd loved it except for one guy that was booing... the very next song I played one of MY OWN songs... which is reletively the same style.... The guy came up to me and said I butchered both the Johnny Cash songs I played and I was confused because I only played the one.... turns out the guy must not have known too much Johnny Cash......

Let the comments roll off your back... but don't shut your self off to constructive criticism.

Originally Posted by: aschlemanOne of the things you fall into when you try to be a cover band is people expect to hear the music be exactly replicated as if htey were watching metallica (or whoever) play it themselves... I've always avoided this situation by always mixing in my own songs... and always trying to change the arrangements of covers as much as possible.... When it comes to Metallica however... you can't change it at all really... and then when you try to cover it everyone wants to hear it exactly how it sounds on the recordings.... which is easier said than done... So tell them to chill out... they sound like the douche bags from that movie "Rockstar" who are covering Steel Dragon... or whatever band that is... Sometimes you just hve to own the song and make it your own... I suggest branching away from strictly covers though.... because you're going to hear a lot of comments like that otherwise.

An addition... funny story...
I was playing a cover of John Cash - Folsom Prison Blues... and I change the arrangement to more of a John Mayer type tap progression where I tap the strings to make the drum beat kind of while I play the song..... Well the crowd loved it except for one guy that was booing... the very next song I played one of MY OWN songs... which is reletively the same style.... The guy came up to me and said I butchered both the Johnny Cash songs I played and I was confused because I only played the one.... turns out the guy must not have known too much Johnny Cash......

Let the comments roll off your back... but don't shut your self off to constructive criticism.

we don't play all covers...the name of our band is blackend..so we figured we might as well play blackened by metallica...and this band was the only band crabbing about how slow it was being played...and they even commented that metallica played it slow.

Originally Posted by: speedpicker88we don't play all covers...the name of our band is blackend..so we figured we might as well play blackened by metallica...and this band was the only band crabbing about how slow it was being played...and they even commented that metallica played it slow.

Jezz, are you still whining about some crap another band laid on you?
Let it go, already!

Originally Posted by: speedpicker88we don't play all covers...the name of our band is blackend..so we figured we might as well play blackened by metallica...and this band was the only band crabbing about how slow it was being played...and they even commented that metallica played it slow.

I see... I just figured since your name was Blackened that you were a Metallica cover band.... That's cool though. do your thing man. Fuh-Getta-Bout-It! rock on \m/

I hate when people tell you how to play. Another thing I hate is when people who don't play guitar try to tell you about guitar. One time this guy I work with was like "So, do you play any instruments?"
"Uh, yeah...guitar."
"Cool."
"Uh.....do you play anything?"
"No. I was gonna play guitar once, but I quit after one lesson."
"Oh, I see."
"Can you play 'the Purple Haze'?"
"Um......................yes."
"Yeah, that's hard to play."

WTF?!?!?!

Originally Posted by: earthman buckI hate when people tell you how to play. Another thing I hate is when people who don't play guitar try to tell you about guitar.

yes, i know you hate when people tell me how to play. and another thing you hate is when people who don't play guitar try to tell me about guitar. life sucks.

Originally Posted by: CW14Bahahaha.
Ooooh the original recording's too slow :rolleyes:
Man, ignore them. They obviously don't know their heads from their asses when it comes to music.

Agreed. Besides, I think "Blackened" played any faster than it was played on the original recording would just sound ridiculous.

This brought back a memory for me. Back before I played Guitar I was in the Junior High Band, I played French horn at the time.

We were preparing for Solo and Ensemble, a school competition.

My Band Instructor told me this and I still aplly it to this day.

Setting:

Working on a classical peice--mozart, bach something of that type.

Scene:

My playing was very mechanical since you are taught to read music from the very get go.

He picked up the sheet music and rattled it in my face.

He said-- that I know what the notes mean, how they are played and the timing. A quarter is a quarter and a 16th is a 16th. STOP playing what is written. (sounds funny) I looked at him weird also.

He followed up with this-- The sheet music is a guideline. The notes etc. are just a map of what the composer/writer was trying to say. How ---DO YOU-- interpret the song. Use the guidelines but make your own path.

Regardless of what we play --considering covers-- we are not the original artists. No way are we ever going to sound exactly like a recording or a performance. We/our band is an individual and we are not taking the song to make our own.

Rather we take the song and give it back the way we feel/see it.

I'll get off my soap box.

yea we tried seeing what would happen if Blackened was played any faster, just sounded like a bunch of noise

Originally Posted by: aschlemanotherwise.

An addition... funny story...
I was playing a cover of John Cash - Folsom Prison Blues... and I change the arrangement to more of a John Mayer type tap progression where I tap the strings to make the drum beat kind of while I play the song..... Well the crowd loved it except for one guy that was booing... the very next song I played one of MY OWN songs... which is reletively the same style.... The guy came up to me and said I butchered both the Johnny Cash songs I played and I was confused because I only played the one.... turns out the guy must not have known too much Johnny Cash......

Ha, sounds like on Dane Cook's reatliation album. He's doing his show and some asshole in the crowd is being a chump.
HE just stops the show and says something like
"Shut the*** up. You ruining the ****ing show for everyone. Hey if he talks again, tell me and we'll kick his ****ing ass".

Just embarass hecklers.

Also, speedpicker, don't give those vandrukes the time of day.

Blackened would sound cool if you slowed it down to doom metal tempo... i.e. Type O Negative or something like that. Of course, then it would take 25 minutes to get through! :eek:

If/when me and my musical project do covers, we will purposefully and spitefully butcher them.

Here's what's on my hit list so far:

- "Gypsy" by Fleetwood Mac. Doom metal with f'ed up tunings a la Sonic Youth, with random grindcore blastbeat interludes, and me screaming and moaning the lyrics like a goat is gnawing on my crotch. Very badly off-key. I might get myself really drunk before laying down the vocal track, to the point of my retching at some point in the middle of it.

- "One" by Metallica. Each identifiably distinct bar of each verse/chorus/bridge will be done only once, and several will be arbitrarily omitted, thus truncating the length to about a minute, with notes/progressions switched around and made backwards, and badly off-key vocals; this one guy we know who sounds like a retard when he talks will be moaning "please kill me" and the like in the background. Since I'm 50 times better on bass than I am on guitar, it'll sound like utter sh*t. Basically, I'm a bassist who's been playing (with) the guitar since January of this year; many a bassist, upon getting notably proficient at bass, succumbs to the vanity of "branching out" into guitar, even though we (usually) had sworn we wouldn't give in to the temptation when we first chose bass as our weapon.

- Some kind of Iron Maiden medley... six or seven songs cobbled together and reduced to about three minutes... maybe played at super-fast grindcore/thrash tempo. The bass parts will be easy enough (Dave Murray was the man who inspired me to pick up the bass, the first and only instrument I have mastered), and I think my drummer's up to it... let's just say only by 1.) the distinctive basslines 2.) and whatever lyrical fragments are discernable in my harsh warbling would you even be able to remotely connect it to anything Iron Maiden has ever been known to have done.

- "High" by John Legend. I first heard it on TV and was just struck at what a beautiful, passionate song it was. He's like Marvin Gaye reborn. So I just have to mutilate it.