I swear you’re analysing all my favourite ever music it’s mad, this album is definitely one of my biggest inspirations, every song slaps so hard, and PtH are one of those bands that helped me branch out from classic metal to more modern stuff
That was excellent. Thank you so much for sharing this. Not even a metal fan but this album is one of the greatest and most densely musical of any genre released in the past 25 years. Really appreciate this brilliant unpacking of even just this tiny sliver of this work of sheer compositional genius.
5:35 that same kinda thing is how I figured out the tapping riff that starts at 1:35 in Absolomb by Periphery. Really neat to see it in another context. Awesome video as usual!
hell yes dude, protest the hero kick ass. fun fact, this is the first song you've done a video on that i know how to play, although knowing how to play a song and being able to play a song well are two different things lmao
Awesome stuff - as an aspiring progressive metal songwriter it's satisfying to hear some of these techniques described in words as opposed to the jumbled mess of ideas and concepts floating around in my head. Love the content!
animals as leaders slap/thump/thumb playing seems like a great example of a bigger rhythm being made up of small units of motion, Arithmophobia comes first to mind which also has an extremely textured drum part with clear accents. The second riff's drum part in that song is an absolutely sick combination of double and single strokes where in the first 4 bars, the left hand only plays hihat + snare rimshots, and the right hand only plays the stack and snare ghost notes; then the second four bars swaps the hands' ghost notes & hihat notes. Playing it feels absolutely amazing.
Come to think of it, I've never thought too deeply about how the rhythmic element of physically playing certain riffs can superimpose over and contrast with the actual sound of the riff. I don't know why - now that you bring it up, I'm realizing it happens super often. I love the insights you have on this channel. I watch every MMT video with the assurance it won't be something that's been rehashed to death on TH-cam. Something similar to counter-rhythms I've thought about are riffs that give a strong impression of shape when played (and not necessarily when heard). Often I get this on drums - one example I can think of is the first main drum part on the song 'Truthers' by Horse Lords. I don't know if you play drums, but I feel like it would be easy to tap this drum part with your hands and feet regardless (the loop is only three beats long and uses only bass drum, hi-hat, and snare). When I play it, it feels like I'm playing in a circle, or perhaps in some weird, looping oscilloscopic shape. This drum part also has some unusual symmetrical properties, namely, that each 'piece' of the kit plays the same pattern but starting on different beats, which ends up being homologous to each beat having the same pattern but on different pieces of the kit. Using this 'rule', you can write some pretty complex drum parts (or riffs in general).
Really cool! I'm slowly learning drums but I can imagine what you're talking about from your description and listening. That's another cool angle I hadn't really thought about. I'm going to get into something kind of related about fretboard shapes / patterns in Catch 33 in one of my next videos, and I hadn't thought to put those ideas of shape vs playing rhythm together, but that's a great connection! And thanks so much for the kind words!
PTH rules! I spent some months trying to learn all of Scurrilous at some point and greatly improved my technique. Suggestion for the "rhythm you feel" things is maybe the tapping riff at 2:15 of PTH's Hair Trigger. When I play that it definitely feels different from how it sounds.
I like them! Super tight and punchy, and I feel like they add a lot of energy. But I'm not great at paying attention to drums lol, maybe that will change since I've started playing them some more.
Would really suggest checking out and maybe making a video about maudlin of the well. Not only are they just an incredible and unique band, their compositions and arrangements are very complex and interesting. They truly are a one of a kind band
When I tried to learn Lamb of God - Walk With Me In Hell intro riff, it always felt like 3+3+3+3+4, with ABABC pattern. But the tabs say there is 4/4. I'm not that good on counting measures lol
It can kind of be both/either! Probably helpful to learn it at first as the 3+3+etc. and then eventually learn to feel it in 4/4 (listen to the drums-snare hit on beat 3).
Oh damn, I have been looking for a book like music at hand for years. Are you familiar with Jonathan Sterne’s work? Also, Steve Vai’s building the church is another one of these tapping riffs (could never play it lol)
Music at Hand is awesome! And yep I've read chapters from Jonathan Sterne, love his writing style and thanks for the reminder that I should read the rest of The Audible Past. And thanks for the Steve Vai example, wasn't on my radar!
On the subject of counter-rhythms and things like that, perhaps not quite the same sorta thing, but Combustion by Meshuggah has always confused me, because I can't stop hearing the downbeat as the upbeat for most of the song... I've tried it out on drums before a couple of times and I've still yet to hear it any differently.
If find this approach of considering how a musical motif is constituted by the approach that a player has to the instrument very interesting. It seems to me like some sort of "musician-phenomenology" which, in several cases, can do a far better job of explaining why a certain musical idea is the way that it is. The idea of detaching a player from the respective instrument seems to be especially inadequate when it comes to guitar, since the guitar has a lot of idiosyncracies which affect the player's access to the musical vocabulary that this instrument provides. Well, anyways... *proceeds to chug low open string*
![เปิดใจ “ต้นหอม ศกุนตลา” หลังโดนพาดพิงธุรกิจที่เคยทำ และผลกระทบทำถูกปลดฟ้าผ่า! | แฉ 24 ต.ค.67 [2/3]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/vCi5OIqlxaE/mqdefault.jpg)
I swear you’re analysing all my favourite ever music it’s mad, this album is definitely one of my biggest inspirations, every song slaps so hard, and PtH are one of those bands that helped me branch out from classic metal to more modern stuff
That was excellent. Thank you so much for sharing this. Not even a metal fan but this album is one of the greatest and most densely musical of any genre released in the past 25 years. Really appreciate this brilliant unpacking of even just this tiny sliver of this work of sheer compositional genius.
How the hell did I catch a comment from 26 minutes ago when there hasn't been one in over a year? Guess Protest must be on our minds.
Brother, I raise my glass to you for a million years@@iDrunkRS
This song. This glorious fucking battlecry of a song... thanks so much for taking a loook at this. As always, masterfully done.
5:35 that same kinda thing is how I figured out the tapping riff that starts at 1:35 in Absolomb by Periphery. Really neat to see it in another context. Awesome video as usual!
WALL TO WALL SLAPS!
This album and Rareform (the original) helped shape my taste in high school
hell yes dude, protest the hero kick ass. fun fact, this is the first song you've done a video on that i know how to play, although knowing how to play a song and being able to play a song well are two different things lmao
haha for sure, I've known how to play this for a while and it somehow still took 3-4 hours to get it back up to speed lol
Awesome stuff - as an aspiring progressive metal songwriter it's satisfying to hear some of these techniques described in words as opposed to the jumbled mess of ideas and concepts floating around in my head. Love the content!
PtH video and Exist tshirt guarantees an excellent video 🤘🏻
animals as leaders slap/thump/thumb playing seems like a great example of a bigger rhythm being made up of small units of motion, Arithmophobia comes first to mind which also has an extremely textured drum part with clear accents. The second riff's drum part in that song is an absolutely sick combination of double and single strokes where in the first 4 bars, the left hand only plays hihat + snare rimshots, and the right hand only plays the stack and snare ghost notes; then the second four bars swaps the hands' ghost notes & hihat notes. Playing it feels absolutely amazing.
Great example! One day my drum chops will get there, I think this type of thing happens so much more on drums than guitar. Time to go practice!
Come to think of it, I've never thought too deeply about how the rhythmic element of physically playing certain riffs can superimpose over and contrast with the actual sound of the riff. I don't know why - now that you bring it up, I'm realizing it happens super often. I love the insights you have on this channel. I watch every MMT video with the assurance it won't be something that's been rehashed to death on TH-cam.
Something similar to counter-rhythms I've thought about are riffs that give a strong impression of shape when played (and not necessarily when heard). Often I get this on drums - one example I can think of is the first main drum part on the song 'Truthers' by Horse Lords. I don't know if you play drums, but I feel like it would be easy to tap this drum part with your hands and feet regardless (the loop is only three beats long and uses only bass drum, hi-hat, and snare). When I play it, it feels like I'm playing in a circle, or perhaps in some weird, looping oscilloscopic shape. This drum part also has some unusual symmetrical properties, namely, that each 'piece' of the kit plays the same pattern but starting on different beats, which ends up being homologous to each beat having the same pattern but on different pieces of the kit. Using this 'rule', you can write some pretty complex drum parts (or riffs in general).
Really cool! I'm slowly learning drums but I can imagine what you're talking about from your description and listening. That's another cool angle I hadn't really thought about. I'm going to get into something kind of related about fretboard shapes / patterns in Catch 33 in one of my next videos, and I hadn't thought to put those ideas of shape vs playing rhythm together, but that's a great connection! And thanks so much for the kind words!
Will you ever do work on Gorguts obscura?
yes
YESSSSS
Metal Music Theory hell’s ya
I've been playing this for years and it definitely feels more like the group of 3's to me but I love this breakdown
Insightful video as always 👍🤘
Been enjoying watching that book stack grow...
Catch you on the flipside, Funny-man!
Riff stick sounds great on this one
Love pth, great videos dude!
PTH rules! I spent some months trying to learn all of Scurrilous at some point and greatly improved my technique. Suggestion for the "rhythm you feel" things is maybe the tapping riff at 2:15 of PTH's Hair Trigger. When I play that it definitely feels different from how it sounds.
Yo! Protest rule! And this album in particular is one of my all time favs.
Curious what you think of the drums on this record - I go back and forth on them. Awesome video as always.
I like them! Super tight and punchy, and I feel like they add a lot of energy. But I'm not great at paying attention to drums lol, maybe that will change since I've started playing them some more.
Would really suggest checking out and maybe making a video about maudlin of the well. Not only are they just an incredible and unique band, their compositions and arrangements are very complex and interesting. They truly are a one of a kind band
Love them! Will have something interesting to say about them some day hopefully
When I tried to learn Lamb of God - Walk With Me In Hell intro riff, it always felt like 3+3+3+3+4, with ABABC pattern. But the tabs say there is 4/4. I'm not that good on counting measures lol
It can kind of be both/either! Probably helpful to learn it at first as the 3+3+etc. and then eventually learn to feel it in 4/4 (listen to the drums-snare hit on beat 3).
🔥🔥🔥
Oh damn, I have been looking for a book like music at hand for years. Are you familiar with Jonathan Sterne’s work? Also, Steve Vai’s building the church is another one of these tapping riffs (could never play it lol)
Music at Hand is awesome! And yep I've read chapters from Jonathan Sterne, love his writing style and thanks for the reminder that I should read the rest of The Audible Past. And thanks for the Steve Vai example, wasn't on my radar!
I love you more than you know
On the subject of counter-rhythms and things like that, perhaps not quite the same sorta thing, but Combustion by Meshuggah has always confused me, because I can't stop hearing the downbeat as the upbeat for most of the song... I've tried it out on drums before a couple of times and I've still yet to hear it any differently.
For sure! That's a tricky one
Can someone tell me da name of the album on his T pls? The cover made me very curious haha.
Exist! Great prog metal band
Wish you showed a full jam of you with this song....just saying.
If find this approach of considering how a musical motif is constituted by the approach that a player has to the instrument very interesting. It seems to me like some sort of "musician-phenomenology" which, in several cases, can do a far better job of explaining why a certain musical idea is the way that it is. The idea of detaching a player from the respective instrument seems to be especially inadequate when it comes to guitar, since the guitar has a lot of idiosyncracies which affect the player's access to the musical vocabulary that this instrument provides.
Well, anyways... *proceeds to chug low open string*
Haha absolutely! So many very guitar-specific things that have such a huge influence on how metal bands write
nasty
My dude check out some Consider The Source. They're not metal, but I think you'd find a lot to dig into. Keep up the rad content \m/