Back to some power chords, which I haven’t studied in a while; trying to make master Iommi if not proud, at least not too angry, LOL
A few notes about this one:
First, rather than stressing over multiple takes and trying to minimize mistakes, I’ve decided to embrace the mistakes and document the song as if I just sat down to play it. In reality it took me three takes to get it without a big blunder, but it is true to the intention.
The mix is intentional: I’ve removed Iommi’s guitar (thanks to Moises) and made my own playing louder than the rest because this is intended to capture my current skill level, rather then being a balanced mix with all instruments in equilibrium
Strumming 16th notes at this tempo is HARD, took me a while to get it passable.
There’s some ugly clicking noise when I’m strumming the muted chords. I think I’m hitting the strings too aggressively, and a lighter touch on the pick would probably easy it. Need to experiment more.
The solo is messy; it is probably one of the easier Iommi solos as is, but still a bit too fast for me (also, the bends need quite some work).
Great effort Claudio.
Those fast power chords are the ‘simple pentatonic solo’ are unexpectedly challenging.
Try playing the main E power chord, the tonic chord, at fret 12 as a 6th string root power chord, instead of at fret 7 as a 5th string root. That’s where Tony does it.
Well played: I had forgotten, or perhaps never realised, how great a hook that chord sequence, the driven strumming created. It was great hearing your live version of such a classic.
That was killer. What a classic. There is nothing like a little Black Sabbath first off in the morning. I love that you played the solo too, thats a big go for it. Totally stoked me this morning.
Keep working on your downstrums. Like you said they are hard but are totally metal.
Hey Claudio, Well done!
Solid effort & you delivered an instantly recognizable Black Sabbath song!!!
Nice listen!!!
I for one would be curious to hear your guitar level a bit lower so it’s easier to hear the rest of the boys in the band - keep your performance more in line with Iommi’s…
Well done Claudio, I enjoyed it. You got it mostly there, timing/changes are great.
I would further work from this level to improve and polish things. The most obvious one is palm muting - I don’t hear it a lot in your fast chugging. You mentioned it is hard and it is indeed, but you will never be able to do this unless you practice. Listen to Justin’s tutorial and explanation how he plays those (palm mute). Slow down tempo as much as necessary and practice those down strum power chords with palm mute. Increase the tempo as you get more comfortable.
One observation - your picking hand is completly closed (curled and tucked in fingers). Nothing wrong, there is no standard here, but from my experience, this makes it more difficult to play palm muted powerchords.
That’s a “d’oh!” moment (cue the Homer Simpson voice).
A bit of background: I’ve been listening to Sabbath since I was a kid of around eight or so, and badly played the riffs of both Paranoid and Iron Man when I was a teenager, but back then on a nylon accoustic - no cutaway, so no chance of going 12th fret or beyond). Fast forward to now and while I did lookup the solo, the rythm part I just assumed I knew what the chords were - never crossed my mind to look up how it should be played, tsc tsc tsc!
Oh well, I’ll have to give it another go when I incorporate this and other pieces of feedback from this thread.
Hi Tod! yeah, I probably over-did it in the intention of bring the guitar up-front (to highlight any improvement areas). While I could just re-mix, I’m probably going to give it another go some months from now, and when I do that I’ll update here for “before and after” contrast.
Thanks Boris, you gave me some great suggestions here on things to look at. Palm muting is clearly a blind spot, I have not yet given it a proper practice routine as a technique, and it shows, right?
And on the right hand curling, that’s another interesting eye opener: over time I certainly grew a lot more aware of my LEFT hand dynamics, curving, etc., but for the strumming hand, while I learned to be conscious of pick attack angle and other details, finger positioning is not something I gave any attention thus far. Will have to see some lessons while focusing on this particular aspect.
Tennis elbow?
Incidentally, practicing this song, with the very fast and aggressive strumming had caused me to develop pain in my right arm – I just now started combing through the threads in strumming arm pain here in the forum, looking at what I’m doing wrong and what can be improved. Your comment made me think whether I’m perhaps tensing the right hand too much while strumming and causing tendon pain from it …
I am not a doctor, so talking purely from my experience. This is a physical thing and it will require you to develop strength, stamina and most importantly firm (not floppy), but light touch in both hands. I experienced pain in both hands when first stated playing it - I remember even stopping a few times mid song due to my left hand pain. IMO, the main thing to differentiate is: if the pain disappears very quickly after you stop playing, it was pure tiredness and it is normal. You just need to work on your muscles and touch. If you feel the pain long after you stop playing, then it is tendon or similar that you are affecting somehow. Developing proper/light tension is good in any case.
This is not to say that you should change your strumming hand shape - it is your choice. I think muted power chords are more difficult, but some other things are easier. Huge majority of shredders would play exactly like you play, for example.
