Damn, it was sounding so promising at the beginning of the month.

Looks like it's just the 2 of us. ?

good stuff, well done both of you!

Yeah sorry for my track though....i started with the strings first and by the time i had to do guitar i could'nt find something really heavy to play over it without clashing horribly.

So it sort of ended more rock than metal - off the mark but yes ?

Nice stuff you guys. I am not a metal-er so I stayed well away from this one.

Guys.......might I ever so humbly suggest that whoever wins this tries to come up with a challenge that suits a wide variety of players. To me even if it means taking a little longer to think it through. It would be nice to see more guys and girls being inspired to haul ass to the studio and throw down.

No disrespect to the previous challenge winners lately but as soon as I saw progressive metal I knew this would bump a lot of guys out the running. In my own case I've been playing around 40 years and I'll give a lot of things a go but not metal and not country. Polka......not so much either. I realize the problem is that, to a metal player a jazz challenge might be a complete turn off....or a blues player might not feel like entering a pop challenge. I understand from personal experience that the task of setting a challenge is a daunting one. My gut sense is that genres/styles work less well than conceptual stuff.....simply because we all more or less specialize in one or two actual genres/styles.

The trick is to come up with a challenge that any style of player is drawn to and can make a statement with.

@G-man - Nicely done, I liked that.

Highway Chile wrote: My gut sense is that genres/styles work less well than conceptual stuff.....simply because we all more or less specialize in one or two actual genres/styles.

The trick is to come up with a challenge that any style of player is drawn to and can make a statement with.

I thought the Metal brigade would be all over this challenge - I expected a great turn-out, bit perplexed at the lack of entries?

Alan made a good point in the lead up to this challenge - (I'm paraphrasing here) : That the effort of approaching a foreign genre was good for your development on the instrument/musically.

I prefer the conceptual/creative challenges (Like the one you came up with for a spaghetti kung fu style one or Hammeron's 'Agter elke Prawn' and the delay one was also a very cool one!) 'cause there is the opportunity to choose the genre that inspires your creativity - In the same vein, Alan's 'Radio friendly Pop' genre challenge I also enjoyed as we could choose a style of pop that was creative.

Hmm, definitely a bit of a talent to choosing and wording a challenge topic...I'd just say : "Blues" and leave it at that :?

V8 wrote: @G-man - Nicely done, I liked that.

Highway Chile wrote: My gut sense is that genres/styles work less well than conceptual stuff.....simply because we all more or less specialize in one or two actual genres/styles.

The trick is to come up with a challenge that any style of player is drawn to and can make a statement with.

I thought the Metal brigade would be all over this challenge - I expected a great turn-out, bit perplexed at the lack of entries?

Alan made a good point in the lead up to this challenge - (I'm paraphrasing here) : That the effort of approaching a foreign genre was good for your development on the instrument/musically.

I prefer the conceptual/creative challenges (Like the one you came up with for a spaghetti kung fu style one or Hammeron's 'Agter elke Prawn' and the delay one was also a very cool one!) 'cause there is the opportunity to choose the genre that inspires your creativity - In the same vein, Alan's 'Radio friendly Pop' genre challenge I also enjoyed as we could choose a style of pop that was creative.

Hmm, definitely a bit of a talent to choosing and wording a challenge topic...I'd just say : "Blues" and leave it at that :?

I learnt from this challenge... tho I couldn't get anything workable down unfortunately... someday I'll enter a challenge.

Quinlan Kok wrote: Yeah sorry for my track though....

Don't ever apologise for your work. Just by entering you did better than all of us.

I thought I had until the actual end of the month (Sat night), should read the details next time.

Here's some super rough sketches, just throwing down some riff over drum loops, was going to work it into something:

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/29399799/Guitar%20Forum%20Metal%20Part%20test.mp3

what i think a awesome creative entry would be is a song totally consisting of sampling ordinary audio like a running tap, pots etc stuff that has low mids and highs and then warping the audio in your program to make a song.

No guitar, so totally creative in regards to basics of music. And learning a new skill in recording software to warp any audio in time, and if you want to change the pitch of the audio that too.

Quinlan Kok wrote: what i think a awesome creative entry would be is a song totally consisting of sampling ordinary audio like a running tap, pots etc stuff that has low mids and highs and then warping the audio in your program to make a song.

No guitar, so totally creative in regards to basics of music. And learning a new skill in recording software to warp any audio in time, and if you want to change the pitch of the audio that too.

You might want to check out iZotope Iris

V8 wrote: @G-man - Nicely done, I liked that.

Thanks!!

Quinlan Kok wrote: Yeah sorry for my track though....i started with the strings first and by the time i had to do guitar i could'nt find something really heavy to play over it without clashing horribly.

So it sort of ended more rock than metal - off the mark but yes ?

I really liked your entry, but as you say it ended up sounding more rock than metal. Not a bad thing just a little off the mark for the topic as you say. But other than that some solid playing. ?

As far as the topics go, I agree. I loved this topic because A: I started playing guitar because of metal and B: I'm a guitarist in a metal band so this was right up my alley. In previous challenges I have been lucky to get 2 or 3 votes just based on the fact that my playing style is limited, and I'm the first to admit it. BUT I normally give it a go anyway, if I have the time and inspiration. It really thickens the skin when you come out with no votes after the compo has ended. But it's all a learning experience at the very least ?

The first challenge I ever entered was Baroque and Roll, massively open to interpretation and I loved it. I had no idea what I was doing but I ended up with something that sounded good. If I ever get to choose a topic I'd probably go down a similar road, leaving it open ended and such so that a metal approach could be just as valid as a blues approach, or a single guitar with no drums could be as acceptable as a full-on 4 track monster. I always wondered about a compo where the contestants were given a drum track and could do what ever they wanted to it, up the tempo, add effects etc and then make an original song out of it. Might be fun?

Thanx g man, ya i kinda look at the comp to either learn something new, or push a area i know i struggle with. Most guitarists play what they can, and maybe too limited source of inspiration - it's good to try something new, i'm heavy into funk rock - never knew i liked funk, but man after hearing funkadelic and bliss from gilbert i was hooked

You are getting me wrong. It's not a matter of anyone being being limited in creativity or imagination/inspiration etc. I can't speak for anyone else but for me it's a matter of looking at a challenge and balancing how I feel about it...inspirationally etc, how well I can play that style......against the time I have available to dedicate to it, especially trying to suss out or learn the genre. When you are under the gun......you either know a style or you don't! Especially in terms of writing a piece and recording it.......in a +/-3 week time frame, along with your regular day job and home chores/reponsibilities, regular gigs, recording work etc etc etc. This doesn't leave a lot of time in the studio for a dedicated project in a style you struggle with. This is why you see people say....." I had something but just couldn't develop it".

If a challenge read said...... "Using any style or genre you want, write a short piece of music that conveys the emotion FEAR". That would be wide open and understandable to everyone. Almost everyone can do that with whatever instrumentation they have on hand and in any style they do best. It does not have to be conceptual only, all the time..... that will get boring fast. It's just a suggestion to essentially simplify things for a while and hopefully get more folks inspired to enter on a somewhat consistent basis. I dunno.....just me. ?

Kudo's to the two of you who entered BTW. You each did an excellent track.

Ok It seems we have a clear winner . G-Man can you PM me a topic for the September Challenge please.

Think you understood me wrong -

What i meant was that even if a guitarist plays let say metal and only metal, he can still get rythmic influences from hip hop for a middle 8, or melody from another genre. I was a complete metalhead back in the day and i was a bit of a snob if it wasn't metal - and refused to listen to anything else.

Look at the guys from haunted shores, still metal but they add notes to their chords to give it a beefy voicing. Its good getting out of a comfort zone and try something different, who knows, you might be really good at another style and not even know it.

So how are we doing with the new challenge?

I PM'd Rene this weekend, just waiting to see if what I have suggested is actually viable. I hope it is! ?

Looking forward to seeing what you went for.

It's tough. On one hand you want to be different and throw out something interesting/unusual/not run of the mill...... and on the other something you hope that more than a couple people will feel inspired by it, enough to have a shot at it.

On an advanced level the Progressive Metal was a good one because you are talking odd time signatures, changing time signatures, key changes perhaps, tempo changes maybe...etc etc all within a metal flavor. Tough one though.

But I guess I have to remind myself that at the end of the day it is the spirit of the challenge that is more important.......and that it is for fun and learning from it. I tend to view challenges too competitively.

Congrats on the win and kudo's to both of you. Both tracks were very well done.