Guitar Stuff » metal

Himsa Recording New Album

Matt — Wed, 25 Apr 2007 03:32:30 +0000

Himsa has completed the writing portion of their third album and are entering the studio today to start recording. This will be their first album with Century Records.

Derek Harn (bass) states: “The new album draws from the strengths of our last two records, Courting Tragedy and Disaster and Hail Horror, but this is an entirely new chapter for Himsa and our fans. Sammi Curr (guitars) wrote a lot of the music for Courting, and Kirby Johnson (guitars) wrote most of the tracks on Hail Horror (when Sammi wasn’t in the band), so the two of them have joined forces to craft a whole new level of rage. We’re looking at about 10 or 11 songs right now, and are extremely proud of them.

I look forward to this album. I loved Courting Tragedy and Disaster, and Hail Horror was really good too. I hope the new material is just as just as crazy.

The instrumental tracks will be produced by Courting Tragedy and Disaster producer Steve Carter and vocals will be tracked by Devin Townsend (Lamb of God, Darkest Hour).

[Via Ultimate Guitar]

Arch Enemy Freakin Rocked MacEwan Hall

Matt — Tue, 18 Apr 2006 13:00:35 +0000

As I said in my post about Michael Amott’s guitar setup, I went and saw Arch Enemy and Chimaira last night at MacEwan hall. I wasn’t really sure what to expect but I must say it was one of the better shows I have seen.

I went with a buddy of mine and we arrived after the first band. We got there just in time to watch them setup for God Forbid. They were pretty good for the most part. They had a really rad singer, but their sound setup wasn’t the greatest. You couldn’t hear the guitars over the bass and most of the backup vocals were pretty off key.

The second band up was Chimaira, their sound setup was really quick and very good. All the instruments were really clear. I think they even upped the volume on the lead guitar during the solos so that it was more audible. The lead guitarist was pretty good. He didn’t do a lot of picking shredding, but he definitely had his tapping down. In each solo he had a tapping riff that included tapping and picking and no less than 3- note fretting patterns which I thought was pretty impressive.

Arch Enemy took at least 45 minutes to setup. It looked like they were having a problem with either Michael Amott’s head or something with the bassist’s setup. Finally they got it going and the band came out. For some reason I expected the lead singer Angela Gossow to be really macho and butch, but she was actually pretty feminine (as much as a female metal singer can be). She was pretty playful and looked genuinely happy to be playing Calgary. It was pretty sweet to see them in such a small venue. We were standing at the back of the room but still had a full view of the whole show.

I don’t know many Arch Enemy songs by name, so I couldn’t tell you every song they played, but the few I know that were in the set are Nemesis, We Will Rise, Anthems (instrumental) and Burning Angel. I thought they did a wicked job on Nemesis. It isn’t one of my favorite songs, but it sounded much better played live.

All in all Chimaira was sweet, but I don’t know if I’d make a special trip to see them. Arch Enemy was rad and I would go see them in any capacity, whether it’s a show they are headlining like this one or even if they were just opening.

I have attached a few videos of Arch Enemy to this post below. This first one is actually one from the show that I was at. Someone recorded it and posted it on YouTube.

And then here are some random ones I have found from other shows and stuff.

Guitar Gear: Michael Amott of Arch Enemy Guitar & Amp Setup

Matt — Sat, 15 Apr 2006 22:33:53 +0000

In about 2 hours time I will be heading down to the MacEwan Ballroom at the University of Calgary to see Arch Enemy with guests Chimaira. I’m pretty excited for this show, I have never seen Arch Enemy play and I think Michael Amott is a wicked guitarist. In light of this I thought I’d do a post up about Amott’s guitar setup.

Michael Amott uses some complex midi switching on his live setup. Since he does a lot of switching in his songs and he didnt want to go with a multi-effect setup, he settled on a MIDI-controlled Providence looping/switching system.

From Guitar to Amp

It’s not that simple to describe Michael’s setup in list form since he uses multiple effect loops connected to his MIDI switch, but I’ll do my best.

His guitar is an ESP Ninja V Michael Amot Signature and he hooks it into his effect rack with a Shure ULXP4 Wireless Unit. The following effects are all hooked into the loop connections on a Providence PEC-2 Routing System.

Jim Dunlop Custom Rack Wah DCR-2SR
Rocktron Hush Super C Noise Gate
Roland SDE-3000 Digital Delay
Ibanez AD-9 Analog Delay
Boss OC-2 Octave Pedal
MXR Phase 90
Ibanez TS-808 Tube Screamer Reissue
Boss TU-2 Chromatic Tuner

The output from the MIDI controller is then sent to two Krank Krankenstein heads and then out to four Krank Revolution 4×12 Straight cabs with Celestion Vintage 30s.

With this setup, Amott has a chromatic tuner and a Providence PEC-2 routing system controller with him on stage. He also has a wah pedal near his PEC-2 and one at center stage.

Michael Amott’s Guitar Setup

On his guitar Amott uses D’Addario custom set 11-15-18-32-44-59 strings tuned down two whole steps (C F Bb Eb G C). He uses a Seymour Duncan ‘59 (SH-1N) pickup in the neck and a Seymour Duncan JB (SH-4) pickup in the bridge.

Alexi Laiho Guitar Lessons and Instructional Videos

Matt — Tue, 11 Apr 2006 04:59:07 +0000

I have been seeing lately that a lot of people have been finding this site by searching for Alexi Laiho Guitar Lessons or Alexi Laiho Instructional Video. Since I don’t really have anything directly related to that on this site I thought I might post some videos I found on Google Video.

Alexi Laiho Interview and Instructional Video

This first is pretty sweet it’s both an interview and a practical lesson. Alexi talks about a lot of important stuff like practicing with a metronome, starting slow and building speed, how he writes a solo, and his musical influences.

At about the half way point he does do some hands on stuff on his guitar. He starts off playing it quickly and then slows it right down so you can learn it. He shows off some sweep picking licks with some tapping thrown in and then some chord phrases. At the end of the video he goes through 5 or 6 licks from some of his songs as well.

Alexi Laiho Lesson Riffs

This second is another half and half. There are two sections of Alexi Laiho and his “buddy Robert” playing some licks and two instruction bits where Alexi slows the riffs down.

At about the 4:30 mark Alexi starts to show the licks at a slower pace, however the video is a little blurry so you will have to get the general position of his hand from the video and figure out the rest by ear. At the 8:30 mark there is another demonstration section where the two seem to jam for a bit. At the 13:00 mark more of the riffs are demonstrated slowly. The video is still very blurry though so don’t expect much. I’m guessing that with the original video there is an accompanying tab or sheet music book.

Young Guitar Magazine Alexi Laiho Video

In this next clip its pretty impossible for the average person to determine what Alexi is doing. It is still pretty sweet to watch though.

Children of Bodom playing Downfall at the 2003 Tuska Open Air Metal Festival

To finish it off here is a 4 minute video of Children of Bodom playing Downfall at the 2003 Tuska Open Air Metal Festival in Helsinki. “Ooh Hell yeah!”

So there you go. I hope some people can find what they are looking for now!

Dimebag Darrell Dean Interview

Matt — Sun, 02 Apr 2006 13:00:51 +0000

Some people can remember where they were when they found out Elvis died. For some it’s John Lennon or Kurt Cobain. I was much too young when Elvis and Lennon died and I was probably 10 or 11 when Cobain died, so I have no memory of those events. However, I remember the day I learned Dimebag had died.

It really isn’t all that glamorous, I was in class in college and a friend was on the computer when an IM message popped up on his screen breaking the news. At first we didn’t believe it, but a quick Google news search confirmed the report. That was a pretty depressing time all around.

To the point, I wanted to share this Dimebag Darrell interview with anyone who has not already seen it. In the first video dimebag tells the story of his first and second Dean guitars. He tells of the one that got away and a great friend who got it back for him. The guitar he sold and eventually bought back became his iconic lightning bolt Dean. In an interview taking place after a show in Milwaukee Dime talks about being happy and achieving his dream.

The second video picks up where the first left off. He gives his praise of the new Razorback design for his signature Dean guitar. The video then leads into some joking around between Dime and some of the crew and friends and then Dime heads back out on stage to play the end of their set. I hope everyone enjoys the vids.

Dimebag Darrell Interview at Deanguitars.com

Guitar Shredding Videos from Google Video

Matt — Sat, 01 Apr 2006 14:00:23 +0000

I have found two more impressive shredding videos on Google Video. Both are the same player and he has some very impressive skills. The first thing that I notice is he is very precise. You find a lot with videos on Google, Yahoo, or YouTube most people who film themselves shredding are playing much faster than their technical ability allows them to. As a result it looks and sounds impressive to the untrained ear, but once you see a guy like this play you realize the others were not as good as they seemed.

This should be today’s (and every other day’s lesson): start slow and build up your speed. If you can not play each note cleanly, slow down until you can and slowly build up your speed.

This guy though, is very good. The musician is Chris Feener and the first video is titled Neoclassical Shred.

The second video from the same player is called Petrucci Shred. He plays licks from Flight of the Bumblebee and Into the Acid Rain Unison.

Basically his skills give me something to aspire to. I have just started practicing from John Petrucci’s instructional video, so hopefully I can build up my speed and ability and one day shred like this.

ESP Alexi Laiho Signature Guitar

Matt — Fri, 31 Mar 2006 13:20:38 +0000

When Fender bought out Jackson Guitars Alexi was told it would take 1 year for them to build him a new signature guitar. When ESP told him it would only take them 3 months it was a no-brainer for him to switch. The Alexi Laiho signature is basically a Jackson RR Custom clone with some added visual flair.

The design of the guitar plays on the black pinstripe on white look that the Jackson RR1 Rhoads has, but with a more stylized look. The shark fin points on the body are straighter and slightly curved as opposed to the true edges on the RR.

Like the more expensive Jackson RR models the Alexi ESP is designed with neck-through-body construction for maximum sustain. The body is made of alder and the neck is made with maple with an ebony fingerboard. The 24 XJ frets are decorated with custom saw tooth inlays.

For a $4000 suggested retail guitar I am a little shocked by this: the guitar only has one EMG HZ-4 Pickup in the bridge position and one volume control. For the minimalists it may be great but to me that just seems like a rip. Alexi being another avid tremolo user his guitar has an original Floyd Rose tremolo bridge.

Feature Summary

Alder Body/Maple Neck/Ebony Fingerboard
Neck-thru-body construction
4 XJ Frets/Saw blade Pearl Inlays
1 EMG-HZ H-4 Pickup in the Bridge
Original Floyd Rose Tremolo

This is probably the least impressive guitar I have looked at this week. It is basically a Jackson RR1 with one less pickup. Besides its rad paint job it doesn’t have much going for it.

That raps up my 7 day look at metal guitars. You can check out all of the previous posts here:

Dean USA Razorback Tribute Dimebag Darrell Signature Guitar

Matt — Fri, 31 Mar 2006 02:41:02 +0000

Dimebag had always been a Dean player in his youth. His first Dean was a cherry sunburst ML bought for him by his father and his second a Dean that he won in a playing competition. The guitar he won later became his most popular guitar, the custom lighting bolt painted Cowboy from Hell.

When Dean went out of business in the mid 80’s Dimebag became a Washburn promoter. In 2004, not long before Dime’s death the Dean company was reopened by Dean Zelinsky and Dimebag was brought back on as an endorser. The Razorback Tribute has been released along with a range of reissued ML guitars in Dimebag’s name.

The Razorback Tribute guitar is similar to the ML in many ways but has been updated with a modern body design. The points of the ML have been made jagged to simulate a razor’s edge and the body has been finished with a hand airbrushed rusted metal finish. To top it off the headstock is decorated with a tribute Dimebag Darrell crest.

Although Dime used Dean and Bill Lawrence pickups in his personal guitars, the Razorback has a Seymour Duncan Dimebucker Signature pickup in the bridge position and a MiMarzio rhythm pickup at the neck. Don’t worry though; the Seymour’s were still approved by the man himself. Dimebag is a pioneer when it comes to metal and the use of a tremolo bridge. Only a Floyd Rose Tremolo was good enough for the Razorback.

Mahogany was used to build both the body and the set neck which has a rosewood fingerboard. The fingerboard is inlayed with pearl wings and a razorblade on 10th fret. Dimebag choose Grover tuners and black hardware to finish the look of this guitar. If you ask me the guitar is a little over the top price wise at $3699 from Musicians Friend. But there may be a big enough market in Dean and Dimebag fans to sell the guitar. Musicians Friend will get their next shipment on June 2nd 2006, so place your orders now.

Feature Summary

Mahogany body/Set Mahogany Neck/Rosewood Fingerboard
Seymour Duncan Dimebucker bridge pickup
DiMarzio neck pickup
Floyd Rose tremolo bridge
Grover tuners/Black hardware/Dimebag Tribute crest on the headstock
Comes with certificate of authenticity and Dimebag tribute photo

The guitar is definitely too expensive for my taste, but if you ask me it screams Dean and Dimebag. It would be a great performance guitar.

Read the other posts in this series:

Jackson RR1 Randy Rhoads Signature Guitar

Matt — Wed, 29 Mar 2006 13:12:08 +0000

Randy Rhoads designed this guitar and approved its prototype before he passed. It’s a shame he didn’t live to see this wonderful guitar come to production. Randy will forever be known as one of metal’s most talented and influential guitarists. So many of today’s guitar players were influenced by the man who made Ozzy and the Jackson RR1 Rhoads Signature screams just like Randy would have wanted.

The RR1 is Jackson’s most popular signature guitar, and not only for its name. The alder body and maple neck are built together in a neck-thru design. Neck-thru gives the guitar much more sustain than the cheaper bolt-on neck option.

The ebony fingerboard is decorated with the classic Jackson shark fin mother-of-pearl inlays. The headstock mounts die-cast tuners and Jackson logo inlay. In the bridge position there is a Seymour Duncan JB TB4 Humbucking pickup and in the neck there is a Seymour Duncan Jazz SH2N. For switching the RR1 Rhoads has a 3-way toggle switch. Since Randy incorporates tremolo into so much of his music the guitar has an original Floyd Rose Double Locking 2-Point Tremolo.

The unique body shape of this guitar is very popular among metal guitarists. This was Alexi Laiho of Children of Bodom’s guitar of choice before he signed with ESP to create a signature of his own. The guitar is available in over 25 different finishes.

Feature Summary

Alder body with maple top/Maple neck/Ebony Fingerboard
22 jumbo frets with shark fin inlays
Seymour Duncan JB TB4 in the bridge/Jazz SH2N in the neck
3-way pickup switch
2 tone/1 volume control
Floyd Rose Original double locking 2-point tremolo
25+ different finish styles

I have been eyeing up the RR1 Rhoads Signature guitar for a few months now. My current electric guitar is an Epiphone Les Paul standard. While it does get the job done, I would really like something with a neck-thru design and a tremolo bridge. Maybe once I pay my car loan off I will be able to afford it.

Read the other posts in this series:

ESP Ninja 600 Michael Amott Signature Guitar Review

Matt — Mon, 27 Mar 2006 13:15:30 +0000

As we all know ESP is pretty much the guitar when it comes to metal. The company has 17 different signature models and most of them are for metal guitarists. The first thing that catches my eye about the Ninja is it has this classic flying-v look with an edge. The guitar was introduced like many others at 2006’s NAMM show. It comes in black and has chrome hardware and chrome pick guard.

Some of the features of the guitar include a set neck, 2 volume controls, a 3-way pickup switch, and Seymour Duncan pickups with a JB at the bridge and a 59 at the neck. For the shredder in us all the headstock sports Sperzel locking tuners and 22 XJ frets. To add that extra signature look the rosewood fingerboard has X shaped ninja star inlays.

In addition to the standard version there is also a lower end LTD model. From the specs on the ESP website the LTD only looses the Schaller Straplocks and the Gotoh tune-o-matic is replaced with a generic tune-o-matic bridge. However, there must be more to have a $2600 USD price difference.

To sum up the features of the ESP Ninja 600 Michael Amott Signature

Set-neck construction
24.75” scale
Mahogany body
3-piece mahogany neck with a rosewood fingerboard
22 XJ frets with custom “x” inlays
Seymour duncan JB (b) / 59 (n) pickups
2 volume, controls w/3-way toggle
Chrome hardware
Sperzel locking tuners
Bone nut
Schaller straplocks
Gotoh tune-o-matic bridge w/stop tailpiece

Check out the ESP Ninja Michael Amott Signature at the ESP website.

Read the other posts in this series:

ESP KH-2 Kirk Hammett Signature Guitar

Matt — Sun, 26 Mar 2006 13:10:46 +0000

ESP number 3 on the list of signature metal guitars is Kirk Hammett’s KH-2. The KH-2 comes in three different models, the Vintage, the Neck-Thru, and the Standard, all at different price points. There was a time when I thought there were none greater than Kirk Hammett. I have since discovered otherwise, however there is no denying his guitar talent.

The three versions of the KH-2 are very similar. They are 24 XJ fret guitars with a 25.5″ scale. Each guitar has an alder body with a rosewood fingerboard. There is an EMG 81 pickup in both the bridge and neck position and they are controlled with 2 volume knobs, 1 tone knob, and a three way switch. Everything is finished in black hardware and the fingerboard is inlayed with skull and crossbones markers. On the pick end the bridge is an original Floyd Rose tremolo.

As for differences, the Vintage sports a worn looking paint job that has a “Caution Hot” sticker behind the bridge and a label above the pickups. The Neck-Thru is the same as the Vintage but has a straight black paint job. The standard KH-2 is built with a bolt-on neck instead of a neck-through design like other two versions which makes it a bit cheaper.

To sum up the main features:

24 XJ frets
25.5” scale
Alder body/rosewood fingerboard/3-piece maple neck
Skull & bones inlays
EMG 81 active pickups
Original Floyd Rose bridge
2 volume & 1 tone control with 3-way switch
Black hardware
Neck-thru-body construction (Vintage/Neck-thru models)
Bolt-on neck (standard KH-2 model)

Read the other posts in this series:

Fender Stratocaster Yngwie Malmsteen Signature Guitar

Matt — Sat, 25 Mar 2006 13:02:12 +0000

Yngwie Malmsteen is sort of in a genre of his own. To call his music metal is sort of a stretch by today’s standards. Regardless, the guy can shred better than 90 percent of the players today, and without him, shredding wouldn’t be the same.

Inspired by to pick up guitar by powerful footage of Jimi Hendrix sacrificing his axe, Yngwie (Ing-vay) started playing with Hendrix and Deep Purple as his influences. Later he would become interested in classical composers like Beethoven, Bach, Mozart, and Vivaldi. Studying classical music, Malmsteen developed his own style of neo-classical metal.

The Yngwie Malmsteen Signature Strat was designed by the man himself and had a lot to do with his signature sound. The guitar has an alder body, a maple neck, and a scalloped rosewood fingerboard lined with 21 super-jumbo frets. For sound the guitar houses two DiMarzio YJM Signature Pickups in the neck and middle positions and 1 DiMarzio HS-3 Stack at the bridge. The tone is controlled by 1 knob for the neck pickup, and 1 knob for the bridge and middle pickups. For pickup selection there is a three way switch, one position for each pickup.

The bridge is an American Vintage Synchronized Tremolo and the headstock has a brass nut, which gives the sharp tone Yngwie is known for. The guitar comes in three finishes, Candy Apple Red, Vintage White, and Sonic Blue, and has aged plastic parts and pickup covers.

Although I have never played a YJM Strat myself, I have heard one played. Let me tell you, even if you cant play like Yngwie, you can sound like him with this guitar. I did play a guitar once with a scalloped frettboard, and I have played jumbo fret fenders before, but never one with both. Both jumbo frets and scalloped fretboards I find strange to play on. It may also be the way the action was set on the guitars I played but I couldn’t get used to it in the short time I had. I found myself having to consciously remind myself that my fingers don’t have to touch the fretboard, so long as the string touches the fret.

Feature Summary

Alder Body/Maple Neck/Rosewood or Maple Fingerboard
21 Dunlop 6000 Super-Jumbo Frets
2 DiMarzio YJM Pickups (Neck/Middle)
1 DiMarzio HS-3 Stack (Bridge)
1 Master Volume/1 Tone (Neck)/1 Tone (Bridge/Middle)
3-way Switch
American Vintage Synchronized Tremolo
Chrome Hardware
Brass Nut
3 Finishes and Aged trim/pickup covers

Read the other posts in this series:

Guitar Reviews: March Metal Madness

Matt — Fri, 24 Mar 2006 13:30:47 +0000

Unless you haven’t picked up on it yet, I’m a pretty big metal fan. I was thinking about doing a series of review posts on some guitars commonly used by metal guitarists.

To finish off the month of March, over the next 7 days we will look at 7 different signature metal guitars. Each of the signature guitars is from one of my favorite guitarists.

The guitars I plan on reviewing are as follows:

So, check back tomorrow for first on the list, the Yngwie Malmsteen Fender Strat.

Guitar Shred Show Guitar Lessons – Almost as Fun as Air Guitar

Matt — Tue, 21 Mar 2006 15:15:57 +0000

The Guitar Shred Show lessons site takes a unique approach at teaching guitar players how to shred. The site has a flashed base interface and is all in a video form. We follow the path of Mr. Fastfinger who teaches us to shred by example. It’s really easy, you just press a key between A and Z or 1 and 0 and Mr. Fastfinger will demonstrate a different lick for you. Along the bottom of the screen the lick is shown in tab form for you to learn as well. The really fun part is you can make your own shredding solo by pressing different keys from A to Z in succession. Mr. Fastfinger will move from riff to riff creating a wicked guitar solo.

It’s fun for quite a while actually. There is even a story mode where you have to dual with an evil tribe god to win the praise of the village people.

Ozzfest 2006 Lineup Announced

Matt — Sat, 11 Mar 2006 01:43:40 +0000

The lineup for this year’s Ozzfest has been announced and Ozzy will only be playing 10 of the 20 shows. Ozzy and System of a Down will be headlining the main stage. Black Label Society, Atreyu, and Unearth, three bands I would love to see, will be playing the second stage.

Read all of Ozzfest of 06 at antimusic