Break the Mold - Intro (Now in Drop A)

Go check out my new idea for "Break the Mold," a progressive metal song I am composing. I upped the key a whole step so my guitar strings could take it a bit better. That really low tuning was killing the intonation of my strings. -Brandon

>>Break the Mold - Intro (Now in Drop A)<<

REC Metal Metrics 2 (take II)

Hey people near and far. I have recorded a take for the GMC REC program.

Quote from my teacher, Cosmin Lupu, guitarist for Aria,

"Very good take man! A few more little details and you are THERE :D I posted this on ARIA's FB page and I'll share it with the guys too :D Congrats!"

This is a little better than my last take. It is played more like it's supposed to be. It's really an intense song, so it's hard to play. My hands get fatigued. I don't know how I would play it on stage if I were to tour with the band Aria. They would have to turn my volume down I guess. haha.

This time in POD Farm, I used a Solo 100 amp head: bass at 4, mids at 0, and treble and presence at 9. Place the drive right between the 2 and 3. I put a Tube Screamer before the head, and the cab used was a 4x12 Brit Celest V-30s. The mic was on axis.

Now keep in mind, I'm using a 68 for the bottom string on a Jackson SLSMG with 81/85 EMG pickups - so it's not gonna sound exactly like me; unless you got the same setup. I tried the best I could to achieve a sound close to Cosmin's guitar. Oh, by the way, I am tuned to Drop A. LOVELY METAL.

There are a few more details in the description on YouTube, including my grading on this take.


Thanks for reading,
Brandon

Quick Drop A riff

This just came to me a few minutes ago. I am on lunch break from work.

Different tuning gives fresh ideas / 8 strings

I just got some more ideas last night. I recorded the beginning of a song I could call "Seven Bowls of Wrath." This is in reference to when God pours his wrath out on this world in the very last days. This is spoke of in Revelation chapter 16 (in the Bible, God's Word). By the way, these "bowls" are figurative. I was thinking it would be neat if I actually got together an album called "Prophecies of Revelation," each track having to do with the book of Revelation.

I have had my guitar tuned to Drop A for a long time now. I have run out of ideas and not making sense of my musical creations. So what I did was change my tuning to Standard Bb. To give you an idea where this is, if you dropped the 6th string down to match the 4th string (only an octave lower) it would be Drop Ab. So, I have actually gone lower in tuning, but a half step above in the key I normally played. I'm forming chords better.  It's working so far. I will want to be posting this on my SoundCloud before too long. I ran out of ideas last night, but I got my recording very tight and decided to call it a night. I did a great job getting my ideas out and recorded.

This video gave me some inspiration. Pete has an 8 string here, and I have a 6 string, but I got some ideas from this rhythm arrangement.

Since "Seven Bowls of Wrath" is wrathful and all, I want it to sound mean and heavy for most parts. After all, when you face God's wrath...er...you don't want to. Thankfully, I am not going to face God's wrath because I'm his child. I can face his judgement, but not his wrath. That's in the Bible, 1 Thessalonians 5:9.

I don't know if I want an 8 string or a 7 string. I keep going back and forth in my mind. The only thing keeping from getting an 8 is the massive neck. But, dude!!, if you wanna go LOW then you can on an 8 string. Just check out these guys. They are tuned to Drop F. They hit that open low string around 30 seconds. Pete is in the video again. He's the rhythm guitarist for Red Seas Fire.