Musicianship

by **metaldazza** on Sun Mar 22, 2009 5:17 pm

For me musicianship is VERY important but not technical ability (if I am allowed to make that distinction). Having great technical ability doesn't make you a great musician it makes you a great technician.

For example Carcass' early grindcore work which is less than technical, at 15 it blew my socks off, it's great music 20 years later. Later Carcass became much more technical but they still created great music. I assume they just got better at playing because they practiced (ignoring line up changes which bring in new ideas as well).

It must be true that learning more about music increases your options when writing music as you understand it more deeply but surely you must need to practice putting your new technical abilities into songs to see how they work as well?

by **thrash metal maniac** on Sun Mar 22, 2009 5:22 pm

Makes sense to me - Good musicianship could come from someone who's only been playing guitar a year... and someone who's been playing much longer might not have the same songwriting ability but could be more proficient on the instrument (or even vocals to a point)

by **MartinC** on Sun Mar 22, 2009 5:27 pm

I'm rubbish at guitar but I still write the best songs in metal. Amazing.

by **Gareth Hares** on Sun May 03, 2009 11:00 pm

Metal Iain wrote:Musicianship is really important for me because it's far less subjective than song writing. In my opinion, a band ought to be able to play their chosen style with relative ease. It means the band are likely to sound good both live and on record. This applies to any band, whether they play Country or Metal.

Talking about Metal specifically, I think it's a crock of shit to exuse incompetant musicianship and talk about attitude and emotion because plenty of bands incorporate both. Slayer's music is supposed to be aggressive, fine. That, however, shouldn't exuse Kerry King and Jeff Hanneman from being crap guitarists. Alex Skolnick has a few solos to his name that, obviously, incorporate great musicianship but also attitude and emotion. King and Hanneman, however, have none. In short, bum notes and playing out of time shouldn't be an integral part of aggressive music. With bands like Sepultura and Sodom, however, they are.

Does any one else think that King and Hanneman can play well - not quite Malmsteen on the shred - but Iain sounds remotely like he's insulting the greatest thrash band ever! :O
How dare you
I hardly think you can call em crap sir, i suggest that their dominance for the past 26 years proves that
There are some good musicians who write on this forum but i would wager that most fall short of KK and JH

by **Gareth Hares** on Sun May 03, 2009 11:05 pm

How i see it

Musicianship - not really important
Punk and Hardcore bands all the way over Dreamtheatre
Dreamtheatre can play better than i could ever dream of
however - does anyone ever listen to it n just think that they try too hard

I recommend people to go listen to the Fiend and Nebukadnezza
Donny from Nebs would probably admit that he aint the best solo-er around - however songs like INFOTAINMENT make people go fucking wild
Pure aggression

Surely thats why most of us are on this forum
My perception of thrash is that we just want fast buzzing music - not to get headache from tricky time signatures

by **James** on Mon May 04, 2009 12:37 am

I agree with King/Hanneman, they have conjured so many great thrash riffs and the solos in my opinion are perfectly fitting.

by **thrash metal maniac** on Mon May 04, 2009 12:01 pm

All I have to say on Slayer is HELL AWAITS... those songs are mighty... mighty mighty metal

they weren't shit shit, just obviously didn't really care about writing technical fancy solos, instead opted for the 'fast-as-you-can-play' approach.... like the songs

by **Gareth Hares** on Mon May 04, 2009 8:29 pm

thrash metal maniac wrote:All I have to say on Slayer is HELL AWAITS... those songs are mighty... mighty mighty metal

they weren't shit shit, just obviously didn't really care about writing technical fancy solos, instead opted for the 'fast-as-you-can-play' approach.... like the songs

It's what we love about them!

Does anyone rate God Hates us All and Christ Illusion?

I think they're fuckin brilliant

by **Storm of Damnation** on Mon May 04, 2009 8:34 pm

God Hates Us All really hurts me. It's one of those albums I just can't listen to.

by **Kilgore~Let 'Em Burn** on Mon May 04, 2009 8:34 pm

You know my stance pn Slayer Gazmo, but what i can't understand is the obsession on here with the first 2 albums.

Yeah Hell Awaits is a good record but the albums after it were SO much better both in songwriting and performance.

SNM in my opinion is a steaming dog egg of a record that pales in comparison next to other thrash debuts from the era. And before you say anything Slayer are my favourite metal band of all time. Ever.

by **RedBurp** on Mon May 04, 2009 8:34 pm

You just need to write and be able to play good songs, not just be a solo machine.

by **Lev** on Mon May 04, 2009 8:36 pm

I still haven't heard Christ Illusion, but I thought God Hates Us All was really quite good. Too many tracks though, some should have blatently been B-Sides, it does get rather bland towards the end, but songs like Disciple and God Send Death are great.

by **Kilgore~Let 'Em Burn** on Mon May 04, 2009 8:40 pm

Christ Illusion is much better, purely because of Dave Lombardo.

by **Lev** on Mon May 04, 2009 8:43 pm

He is pure legend, really.

by **Gareth Hares** on Mon May 04, 2009 8:45 pm

Storm of Damnation wrote:God Hates Us All really hurts me. It's one of those albums I just can't listen to.

Have you got GHUA?
Try it again
Track 2,3,7,and13 in particular should have you frapping your cock

Musicianship

Re: Musicianship

Re: Musicianship

Re: Musicianship

Re: Musicianship

Re: Musicianship

Re: Musicianship

Re: Musicianship

Re: Musicianship

Re: Musicianship

Re: Musicianship

Re: Musicianship

Re: Musicianship

Re: Musicianship

Re: Musicianship

Re: Musicianship