Jesus Christ Superstar - Everything's Alright

Well seeing as how its Easter and all, I thought it would make sense to put this up now, this is "Everything's Alright" from the 1973 movie adaptation of the rock opera Jesus Christ Superstar. I'm not a religious person and I don't like musicals, so it is very curious to me that I like Jesus Christ Superstar so much. A big part of it is the way Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice (music and lyrics respectively) present a much more human side to the story of the passion of Christ, showing the compassion in Judas and the fears and doubts in Jesus. Another thing that appeals to me is the actual musical style of JCS, it's not the overly theatrical music of "Phantom" or "Cats", and for the most part it's not cheesy. The music is 60's R&B mixed with rock, the vocal performances are incredible, and the bass playing by Alan Spenner on it is glorious.



This piece is more of a ballad, but its a very interesting song that embodies all of my favorite elements about JCS. First, its the only song where all 3 main characters Jesus, Judas, and Mary sing. Second, its a funky "waltz" in a 5/4 time signature that is done so well and subtly that one can't almost tell that the timing is odd. Third, it presents a soft side to the Judas character, a charitable quality that makes him likeable, and it also shows a logical and realistic side to Jesus in the story "there will be poor always/ pathetically struggling/ look at the good things you've got" he says. And fourth, you can tell there are a couple of small mistakes in the singing and playing on this track (hear Judas' voice "crack" at 1:25) but it wasn't edited or re-done, because the vibe mattered more than everything being perfect. I am a big fan of recordings like this, they are much more real and moving than the sterile and polished picture-perfect ones of recent times.
 
The bass playing on this song is not the most complicated compared to other ones on the musical (listen to "What's the Buzz" for a full out funk workout) but its still intricate, and considering that I'm more of a heavy metal bass player it was quite the challenge. I decided to try and get every single note perfect for my transcription, and i believe i did, but i know that when i made the video i missed a couple of notes here and there. Alan Spenner, the bass player on the original recording, keeps building the intensity and intricacy of the bass lines, and he hardly ever repeats himself, which is a testament to his creativity, specially considering that he most likely improvised the whole thing. A highlight for me is at 1:10 when he slides that A mayor chord into the E mayor chord. I also found it very interesting that at the end of both Jesus' and Judas' singing parts the song changes to a 3/4 time signature, and Spenner showcases a lot of ideas vamping over that B chord and turning around back to the top of the form.  I decided to use my 1976 Rickenbacker for my video to get a bit of that old-school sound, I hope you enjoyed it.

Here's a link to the tab of the bass part here

Nocturnal Rites - Still Alive

I'm back!

It has been a really long time since I added anything to my blog, and I apologize for that; I just have not been too inspired to write. I have had no problems learning new material on the bass, and in fact I have a few videos already made, but when I sit and try to do this written part I just stare at the white screen, the vertical cursor line blinking on and off.

Well that all changed after this weekend. I just came back from playing the Loud Festival in Sofia Bulgaria with Slayer, WASP, Symphony X, and other awesome metal bands. I had an amazing time, both on and off the stage, I can't wait to get back to Bulgaria (hopefully it won't be too long). The great experience from the trip totally inspired me to get back into writing great things about the music that drives me, and to re-start my blogs what better song than Nocturnal Rites' "Still Alive" from their 2005 album Grand Illusion.

I heard this band for the first time in 2008 when a fan of Warmachine's posted a message on our GarageBand.com site saying that our music reminded him of Nocturnal Rites. Having never heard of them I proceeded to find their website and listen to a couple of their songs. I was hooked instantly. Their modern era with vocalist Jonny Lindqvist is full of very catchy songs, killer guitar riffs, and phenomenal vocal performances, as well as solos by Nils Norberg who soon became one of my favorite lead guitar players. "Still Alive" has all of these typical Nocturnal Rites elements.

Nils Eriksson's plays a bass part that is not intrusive, and yet it complements the guitars while accenting certain riffs such as in the verse at 0:50.  I played the song on my 5-string bass, tuned down a half step (Bb-Eb-Ab-Db-Gb) The solo section I had to play up an octave at 2:47 because my low B string is too floppy in this tuning for it to sound like its supposed to.

Jonny's vocals remind me so much of Dio at times, very powerful and with a lot of grit. The guitar solo is great also, Nils builds it up with his different scalar runs but contrasts them by playing slower melodies with bends as well. And he manages to incorporate a little bit of wah effect and some whammy bar at the end. Really tasty.

For me this is a great example of what makes Power Metal so appealing, it pumps me up, it makes me want to raise my fist in the air and sing, and if the situation presented itself this would be a perfect soundtrack to go into battle with. It sounds cheesy, but I know a lot of you know what I'm talking about. Even though Nils Norberg is not in the band anymore, I am still very much looking forward to the next Nocturnal Rites album, and I've heard rumors that it will be coming sometime this year.  

It's good to be back writing for this. Stay tuned for more real soon!

Nickelback - Bottom's Up

  I know this post might surprise some of you, considering that most of you know me as a "metal-head", but that's part of the reason why I've chosen to talk about Nickelback here. I want to explore the reasons why we all love or hate a particular band, or song, or style of music. Of course most of the reasons are completely subjective, a matter of personal taste, but lets talk about the specifics of why a song or a band or a singer may makes us cringe or give us goose bumps.

 We all have those bands that we can't stand, and others that we adore but our friends can't understand why. For me some of the bands I cannot listen to are The Tragically Hip, or Coldplay. On the other side, I like Paramore, Jimmy Eat World, and Nocturnal Rites, all bands that most of my friends don't like and can't figure out why I would.

 I find that what makes me like or dislike a song or band may change, for example I don't like Coldplay because I find their sound very depressing, and generally I don't like to listen to music that brings me down. However, I love Billy Holiday, and she is a "blue" as it gets. Maybe its my fascination with her tone of voice and her way of phrasing her parts that attracts me to her music. So its difficult for me to pinpoint what exactly makes me decide if I like something or not. Sometimes I may like a band's music but not their singer, and at times its ok and I can still put up with listening to their songs while ignoring the singing, but other times its bad enough that I cannot listen to them at all.

 With Nickelback there is the opinion that they are just one more of a mass-produced group of bands that just put out songs in a very formulaic way, with the sole purpose of getting more radio play and as many listeners as possible. I call it the "junk food" of music, everyone eats it up but its not very good for you. Although listening to the radio has never been bad for your health, and there are good songs on the radio. This "Bottoms Up" is a good example, I kind of like the song, its got a very catchy tune, aggressive guitars and drums, a ripping guitar solo, some great vocal harmonies, and it makes for a good party song. Its a good "snack" for your ears; I wouldn't put it on my iPod and listen to it all the time, but i wouldn't change it if it came up on the radio. Does that make me a Nickelback fan? not at all, everything else that I have listened to by them has not been of my taste, but I have to admit that probably part of my reasons for not liking them are simply that everyone else in the world does, and I like to fool myself and think I'm "different" from everyone else. So I tried this, I listened to the song without thinking who was playing it. If I had never heard of Nickelback, and I was hearing this song for the first time, would i like it? and the answer was yes, its a cool tune. A song is either good or bad, regardless of who's playing it. For me anyways. I'm still going to put on my Mars Volta and Mahavishnu Orchestra CDs.

 What do you guys think? what makes you hate, or love, Nickelback? or any other band for that matter.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZHH7wpYT1tA

Meshuggah's "Straws Pulled at Random" by Maurizio Villeato

  
Ok so here we go with another guest post. This time its my good friend Maurizio Villeato, all the way from Italy!

  I met Maurizio last fall when I was out on tour with Annihilator. He is the bass player of Adimiron, a progressive metal band from Italy, and they were opening for us for the first couple of weeks of the tour. We all became friends very quickly since they are all very nice people; they are very funny and light-hearted guys, although you can't tell when they're onstage, at that point they're all business and they kick some serious ass. Maurizio impressed me very quickly because he is very versatile in his playing, he can use his fingers, pick, and slap, and he does it all very well and in great context within the band and whatever song he's playing. Here he is playing a song by what I'm sure is one of his favorite bands. This is Messhugah's "Straws Pulled at Random":

 
  Maurizio had this to say about this song:

  "Why did I choose Meshuggah? Very simple, at the moment it is my favorite band. I really love their sound, their way to conceive music, the melodic and rhythmic structures of the songs. Specially this song I think contains the most important Meshuggah elements: catchy intro and verses, powerful chorus and bridge, a beautiful solo, and a simple but circular outro. Don’t forget the tuning! I tuned the bass half a tone up, in F, and I have to say that this little change, if added to a good distortion, gives a unique and violent sound to the bass, which makes it the leading instrument of the song, and of the band. Whoever has seen Meshuggah live in concert knows what I mean; I understood it when we played with them in Turin, Italy.

  "This is the live version, which is the same as the studio record, but just a bit faster, and more violent. This band gives no space for improvisation during live shows, so I tried to be the most faithful as possible, Hope you like the performance!

  "I just wanna thank you guys for watching my video, and my friend Al who gave me the opportunity to play for you from the other side of the ocean, thank you very much brother!

  "Bye guys, see you on the road. Respect!"

  Maurizio Villeato was born in Rome, Italy in 1989. At the age of 14 he started to play bass after watching Steve Harris on TV. He has always listened metal and rock music in his life, and has played all metal genres, from death to power, from classic to thrash. But when he joined ADIMIRON in 2007 he found his real dimension. He recorded “When Reality Wakes Up” in 2008 and “ K 2 “ in 2011 , having the honor to tour around Europe with some metal legends such as Annihilator and Death Angel, and open for  Sepultura and Meshuggah in Italy. Since 2009 he has also been studying Double Bass in The Academy of Classical Music, to play and understand music in all its forms.

Don’t forget to check out ADIMIRON on the net

http://www.adimiron.org/

http://www.facebook.com/adimironofficial

http://www.youtube.com/user/adimironcrew

  Thanks again for checking this out! Don't forget to leave your comments. 




Brought to you by the code 3RJUAHHFG2KH

Edguy - Pandora's Box

  My last post was a big hit, and I thank you all for that. It seems a little variety is appreciated, and believe me I also like variety. So I will be having more guests on here, in fact I already have the next one lined up (who could it be??) Please feel free to leave comments and don't forget that you can sign up to receive notices of whenever I have a new post up. Ok on to our new topic.

  For the past two weeks I have not been able to stop listening to the latest Edguy album, Age Of The Joker. It's full of great, catchy and epic tunes. I knew right away that I wanted to use one of them for this blog, the hard part was figuring out which one. I opted for Pandora's Box because it is probably the most different in style on the record. It has that very bluesy sound right from the beginning that makes it stand out right away from the rest of their songs. Here it is:






  I love the whole this song all the way through. Tobias Sammet vocals are raw and soulful. Interestingly they use the word Badlands in the lyrics, and that is precisely the band that came to mind when I first heard this song (check some Badlands here) I wish that riff around the 01:14 mark would come back later, but at the same time it's made even more special since it only happens the one time. It's great to hear the slide guitar and harmonica on the acoustic bridge, and by contrast it makes the solo section so much more powerful. I had to keep reminding myself  not to kill my strings during that guitar solo, but its SO much fun to play hahaha. 


  This actually was a tricky song to play for me. Its not that complicated, but I had a bit of a hard time locking in with the feel of the drums. They are very laid back, and a little hard to hear at times, so I had to concentrate to keep from rushing the eight-notes. I think it turned out ok though. 


  I am really looking forward to seeing Edguy live again. I have to say they put on one of the most entertaining shows I have ever seen. In fact, when i saw them it was the first time that I have seen a Toronto crowd get into a show so much. Everyone was clapping, jumping, singing along, and even laughing, because the band is really quite funny. Check out their music videos and you'll see what I mean. Big thanks to AvaloN-TLW for the picture I used on my video \m/

Annihilator's "Betrayed" by Mike Harshaw

  Well this time I'm changing things up a little bit, I'm having a special guest do this post. I'm hoping this turns out to be a sort of regular thing where I can showcase some of the great musicians I have been fortunate enough to work with at one point or another. This week is Mike Harshaw

Mike Harshaw

Mike with Warmachine

  I remember the first time I saw Mike, it was June 6, 2006. I know that because he was playing a show at a metal club celebrating the date: 6.6.6. I was immediately blown away by his skills. He looked so young and yet he played as if he had been doing it forever, lots of confidence and power even back then. Being in the same scene meant that I obviously saw and heard a lot from Mike and his band at the time, Nexus. We did a bunch of shows together (including both the filming and the release of Warmachine's DVD) and eventually Mike got hired by Mastery, a band in which he can display his full abilities. Most recently I had the pleasure of playing a show with Mike as we opened for Accept here in Toronto. I am very happy to have him as my first guest on the blog, I guarantee he will blow your socks off with his rendition of Annihilator's "Betrayed" from their latest, self-titled album. Enjoy! 








  Here's what Mike had to say about the song:

  "Annihilator is one of those bands that I've always known and liked, but not untill recently did I really start to seriously get into the band. Being Canadian myself, I am pretty proud to call Annihilator a Canadian act. I really respect that after such a long career they have managed to put out such a variety of albums while staying true to their sound. That is why I decided to "Betrayed" off of their latest self-titled release "Annihilator". I was really impressed with how awesome this record was being such a recent album. I sometimes have trouble getting into some of the newer cd's and find myself constantly listening to classics like Megadeth's "Rust in Peace" or Metallica's "Master of Puppets" and other greats from the past. 

  "I chose Betrayed because I can't listen to this song without getting really pumped up. A really catchy and driving song like a lot of Annihilator's material. I liked the drums a lot in this song. One of the first things that caught my ear was the cymbal grab fills that happen in the middle of all the choruses, such a tight fill and works so nicely with the guitar riff. I also dig the fills that appear at the end of each verse before the chorus: building off the snare, going down a couple toms and then making the fills more complex, incorporating different snare/tom fill combos as the song goes on. I really love how the drummer builds the fills progressively as the song goes on. You can tell the attention to detail in how the fills are placed and created. As the song progresses, so do the fills.

  "When I was coming up with how I would play the song I tried to sort of take that idea a little further, changing/extending a couple fills. Especially the fill at the end of the last verse before the last chorus. Another cool part is the intro when the actual beat starts. I've always been a fan of those type of slow double bass/low tom grooves. With flams being played on the snare drum and toms to give it that extra fat sound. Of course the end is totally killer, all out double bass with the snare on the downbeat for a fast heavy finish. Can't deny that haha. The guitar, like any Annihilator tune, was really catchy and driving while also being melodic. The one part that especially caught my ear was at 3:12 to 3:30 in the video. This melodic lead section totally reminded me of the Amott brothers and Arch Enemy. Just a supper cool harmony part that really did it for me. Back to the drums for this song, I tried to stay true to what the drums do on the record but I can never help putting my own little twist on things. Hope you enjoy! \m/"

  Mike Harshaw (Michael Arthur Andrew Harshaw) was born in 1988 and has been playing drums for about 8 or 9 years. He enjoys playing anything from classic rock to heavy metal, specializing in progressive speed metal. He has played in many different groups along the way, currently with Mastery: A Toronto/Austin TX speed thrash metal band fronted by Billy Milano, (S.O.D/M.O.D). Hailing from Grimsby, Ontario, Canada Mike plans to have a future playing drums and music.

  See you guys next time. Don't forget to add your comments and follow me if you want to be informed when the next post is up \m/

Megadeth's Public Enemy Number One

Megadeth - "Public Enemy No. 1"

David and I

  Some of you know of my connection with Megadeth because of David Ellefson's involvement with the first Warmachine album, which he co-produced and played on a few tracks. Since then David left and returned to Megadeth, and now is putting out a new album called TH1RT3EN. This first single is pretty kick-ass so here it goes: this is Megadeth's "Public Enemy Number One".



  This one is one of the best songs I've heard from Megadeth in quite a while. It's got a good groove, cool guitar riff, and more importantly (for me at least) it's catchy. Before I do these videos I listen to the songs constantly for a couple of days just to really get all the parts and the arrangement in my head. But for this one I didn't need to use my iPod because the song kept playing over and over in my head. For me that is always the sign that I really like a song.

  It's a pretty straight forward tune, nothing too special or particularly impressive when it comes to the performance of it. However, there are a few highlights for me: I really like how the second half of every verse has a totally different sound because of the change in the bass line. While on the first half Ellefson just rides on the "A", during the second half he changes it and goes to the F-F#-G. I also really like that David uses the whole range of the bass, he often plays parts an octave higher than normal, and on the second half of the guitar solo he goes to the B string and rattles your head. After listening some more to my video I realized that I made a mistake during the last chorus at 04:05 and 04:17 I played a "F#" when it should have been a "D".

  I think I will have to do a video of one of those Warmachine tracks that David played on. Any suggestions as to which one?

Blog #3 - Coheed and Cambria - "When Skeletons Live"

It's been a long time since my last blog, I know. I got quite busy getting ready for and then playing some shows with Annihilator. They were great shows. Specially since it was the first time the band had played a show in North America in about 17 years!

This time I decided to play a Coheed and Cambria song in honour of their great bass player Mic Todd. No he is not dead, thankfully, but it seems that he has been going through some difficult times. I wish him all the best. Here is me playing Coheed and Cambria's "When Skeletons Live" from their last album "Year of the Black Rainbow"


Coheed and Cambria - When Skeletons Live (BASS guitar cover) from Alberto Campuzano on Vimeo.

This is one of my favourite songs from this album, and I think this album is one of the best Coheed has put out (but they're all awesome). It's very characteristic of their material: lots of catchy melodies, harmonized vocal parts, busy guitars, and a wicked team of Mic Todd and Chris Pennie on bass and drums that grooves very hard; they make it difficult not to listen to just them throughout the whole tune. The whole song is full of great interactions between the rhythm section. Mic plays every pass of each verse differently, getting busier and busier, but always locked in with the drums. It is very refreshing to hear that they have opted to not just copy and paste sections like too many bands do nowadays. It's no wonder they are categorized as Prog Rockers.

There is so much more syncopated rhythms in here than in most average rock tunes. I had to pull a trick I wouldn't normally use: plucking ghost notes. Which is when i use my right hand finger(s) to pluck a string while I dampen that string with my left hand, creating a thumping muted sound. Its more percussive than anything, and its not very noticeable at first, but when you listen carefully it helps to connect the bass and drum parts together, and makes the groove tighter, or more in sync. The most obvious place to catch the ghost notes is during the chorus (first time at 1:14) where I play a set of eight-notes grouped in threes, with the first one being played and the other two being muted. However, there are a lot of other little spots where you can hear the "thud" of a note, but without a pitch. Its a technique used mostly for Funk or R&B bass parts, but its used very well here.

Another favourite part of mine in this song is the end of the pre-choruses (1:02 and 2:08) because each one is slightly different. The difference is so minute that before i started learning how to play the song I did not even notice it. Both of them have a two-eight-note shot that both Mic and Chris play together, but it happens from the "and" of beat 1 to beat 2 the first time (and Chris plays it with the floor toms), and then from the "and" of beat 3 to beat 4 the second time (and Chris plays it on the snare). So the whole thing is displaced by two beats the second time around. Its the little subtle things like that that keep me really excited about a song haha. Last but not least, even though the song is mostly pretty upbeat and energetic, the band really balances the vibe with that half-time groove at the end that just makes you wanna headbang. Great stuff!

Ok that's it from me for now. I will try to get another entry going for next week. Any suggestions for what i should tackle next? See ya next time. Thanks for checking this out \m/

Blog #2 - Exciter's "World War III"

For this week I have picked an old classic and favorite of mine, Exciter's "World War III" from their 1980 demo. There are a few reasons for me picking this track: for one Exciter is coming to Toronto to play a show at the end of April (of course I will be attending) second, I recently got their latest album Death Machine and it's a very solid record, pure thrash of the best kind. I'm particularly impressed with the pipes on Kenny Winter, their current vocalist. Actually I remember being blown away by him live when I saw them back in '07.

But the main reason why I wanted to play World War III is because it was one of the first speed metal songs I ever heard. It was on one of my mother's cassette tapes that I first heard it. She had a mix of heavy metal songs on that tape, but I didn't know who the artists were at the time. Later I recognized songs by Dio, Iron Maiden, Judas Priest. But it wasn't until that August of 2007 that I realized who played this awesome song I liked so much. I had gone to see Exciter with my friends from Into Eternity, Tim Roth and Stu Block. Tim is a big fan of Exciter's and so we went to check out their show. I was totally amazed by them, they sounded great, had lots of energy, and were very entertaining to watch. When they burst into WWIII it hit me like an angelic choir "these are the guys that play that rocking song!" I thought to myself; and now I'm playing it for you.

Exciter - World War III (BASS Guitar cover) from Alberto Campuzano on Vimeo.

This song was sent to Mike Varney of Shrapnel Records back in 1980 and was used in the compilation CD "US Metal Volume II in 1982". Exciter later released it as a bonus track on the 2005 reissue of Heavy Metal Maniac. The song has an ominous and dark intro, the evil mood generated by John Ricci's guitar put through some nice delay. All of a sudden and without warning the whole band kicks in full force with a chugging barrage of "E flats". Alan Johnson keeps that pedal tone on the bass throughout the next section while the guitar goes into the main riff. We can hear a bit of a Steve Harris influence in the bass fill at 0:43. The verses of this song are short and groovy with a nice syncopated line. On the second chorus we can hear a Geezer Butler lick at 1:33. The instrumental break is a fun one to play, beginning with that almost "surf rock" downward slide; although I did have a small issue with my volume knob during that part: the knob on that Gibson Thunderbird is so close to the G string that I hit it accidentally and rolled it down a little. You can see me turning it back up at 2:15. My favorite part of the song is the end, where each band member gets two bars to play a small solo, and while Ricci's seem a little frantic and "off the cuff," Johnson's and Beehler's are a little more polished. It sounds to me like the bass solos were overdubbed, because the sound of the bass is different there: its louder and more gritty, plus it sounds like the end of the solos overlap the bass from the main riff. The ending is very reminiscent of early Iron Maiden.

Next time I think i will be doing a tune by another Canadian band that I mentioned earlier in this blog...

First Post!! - Children of Bodom's "Was It Worth It?"

Welcome to my new Blog! This is my first time blogging so I am still getting to know how this whole thing works. Please feel free to send me any tips and comments.

The purpose of this blog is to explore songs I really enjoy; whether because of the lyrics, the production, the technical ability of the musicians involved, or maybe for no particular reason at all. In the process maybe we can discuss other things about the song, band, or genre. I'm open to anything! Since I'm always learning tunes at home on the bass or the guitar I figured I would video tape myself playing some of those songs and post it up here.

For my first post I picked Children of Bodom's "Was It Worth It?" A new single from their upcoming album Relentless Reckless Forever due out March 8th, 2011. I chose this one because since this is a brand new ordeal for me (blogging that is) I thought it appropriate to use a new song to start.


Children of Bodom - Was it Worth it? - Bass Cover from Alberto Campuzano on Vimeo.

This song is great! lots of energy, catchy melodies, cool riffs, harmonized guitar parts... Basically everything I've come to expect from COB. The intro of the song sets up a very haunting mood with the choir sounds in the background, but as soon as the beat kicks in it is obvious this is not gonna be a slow song like Angels Don't Kill.

The thing that really caught my attention with this song is the feel of it; the beat can be felt as a regular 4/4 meter, but it has an underlying triplet feel, which makes it more of a 12/8 groove, and the rhythm section sure plays around with that dual sense of time. At first when the whole band kicks in the feel of the song is almost of a shuffle, with that "limping" or swinging eight notes, but by the time the guitar and keyboard solos come by you can hear the bass and drums playing around with the triplets to make for an interesting effect: at around the 3:00 minute mark you hear the bass pattern is to play the first and third triplet for two bars, and then change to play the second and third triplet for the next two bars, and they keep alternating for the duration of the solos. Very cool indeed. I am really looking forward to hearing this one live, because i have the feeling that the solo section will be stretched out and Alexi Laiho and Janne Wirman will be melting everyone's face off.

The bass sound on the song is the trademark sound of Henkka Blacksmith, crunchy! its got tons of attitude and its up front in the mix, so it was not very difficult to hear what he was playing. However, at times i had difficulties making out exactly the rhythms he was playing when chugging on those low Cs, so i mostly followed with the bass drum patterns.  I'm a big fan of bass parts that stand apart from the guitar parts but occasionally jump in and join with the guitar to give a section more power and energy, and that is what happens during the intro: the first time through Henkka plays a very subdued part, but the second time through he joins in at the end of the guitar riff. You can hear that at around 0:32.


The highlight of the song for me is the chorus. Plenty of melody coming from the harmonized guitars, over a simple but cool chord progression, and topped with the angry lead and gang vocals \m/


Ok thats it for this post, I will try to have another one up next week. Thanks for reading!


Al