Ok, people, it's time to cast your votes for last week's contest! :cooler:
Lucid Seeker has been really busy, so he's asked me to post the poll for him.
This poll will be closed on Wednesday morning, SO GET THOSE VOTES IN!! :D
[Edit: Contestants, please vote for yourselves, as well. That way there is no mistake as to who may or may not have, since the poll results are private, this time.]
Here is a little recap of the specs of last week's contest:
Quote:
Originally Posted by Lucid Seeker
Task
Area - Rhythm Guitar
This week the task is to play a complex rhythm guitar part. You can play the chords to your favourite song, or even come up with a complex chord structure, however it must be a complex rhythm guitar part. By complex i am meaning something that will be a challenge for you to learn, something that requires time and effort to master, something that you know has a complicated rhythm. Also, when i submit them i would like a written description of how the part you played was complex. This recording must be more than a minute long, it can be just a minute but preferably more than a minute.
Style - For this task you can play in any style you wish.
Deadline - End of Friday
So, in summary, for the end of Friday i would like;
- A submitted video or audio recording which includes you playing a complex rhythm guitar part, also include a description as to why the rhythm guitar part is complex.
Well, I'm not sure if it's the most complicated of pieces - but it is a new piece for me so I'm still learning it. Im not exactly big on technique, I enjoy composing mostly (sometimes I write stuff I'm not skilled enough to play myself).
Anyway, I wrote this one in December. I think it's "rhythm" - not sure. There's a combination of strumming and picking, there really aren't any standard chords and there's some accents and room for improvisation. I wouldn't consider it a difficult piece overall, it's just getting all the little details and technique down that usually trip me up. The transition to the time change at the end still needs to be figured out (most of that was improvised).
This is a complex rhythm part both because of the chords and timing - it involves jazz chords and took a lot of effort to get it down.
It is also related to Dream Views - the lyrics are one of Onus' dreams, direct from his journal.
It is played on my Agile Cool Cat full-hollow jazz box. Sung by me (cringe) into an SM57, both popped directly into my E-MU 1616M. It is a demo - not intended to be presented as a finished or polished piece.
It was a lot of fun though! AND it's Dream Views and lucid dreaming related!
Oneironaut's Entry: "Stricken"
Quote:
Originally Posted by Oneironaut
It's Stricken by Disturbed, played to one of the beats on my beat-maker.
I learned this song in 2 days, so it's by no means perfect. My damn right arm is bruised and the fingers on my left hand are swollen from playing this thing so damn much, trying to get it right.
It's complex mainly because of the speed. It really doesn't give you much time to think, between the changes, so you really have to be on top of things. It's in Drop-C tuning, which I've never used before, so that's kind of new. There is a "pinch harmonic" (squeal sound) after the first chorus, also. Now, I have been trying to do pinch harmonics, off and on, since I started playing guitar. I have never been able to do them, but I've tried this damn thing so many times, during the past 2 days, that I can actually do them now (just not all the time). What sucks is that, when I'd gotten the squeal right, I would mess up later in the song and have to start all over again. Then, this time, and did a piss-poor job on the squeal, but I got through the song with minimal screw-ups, so I decided to uploade this one.
Also, I'm not really used to using my pinky all that much, and this one has a chord change where you have to tap your pinky up against one of the strings in a chord that I'm not used to, becuase of the different tuning. It may not be objectively hard, but it's hard for me.
Ranma187's Entry: Pantera riff
Quote:
Originally Posted by ranma187
Why is it harrd? 'cause you have to alternate between down strokes and alternative picking on 3 strings super fast and the ascend the neck with chromatic chords REALLY fast. It's tough.
02-10-2008, 03:36 AM
CoLd BlooDed
Damn, been too busy this week, couldn't rerecord my entry on time.
Now, I never realized how difficult this process is to narrow it down between these different styles. I'll be back with a vote.
02-10-2008, 03:49 AM
Mes Tarrant
:smitten: Omgggggggggggggggg.
Unbelievable. Wow. I feel like I'm at a concert... and for free!! :D
Absolutely amazing. I love the variety. Can I sign on to be your cheerleader?
:loveyou:
02-10-2008, 04:13 AM
pj
What about the descriptions, O? Those should be copied over from the other thread. It was part of the challenge, and I think it is important.
And T.J. got my vote, though it was a tough choice.
02-10-2008, 04:16 AM
Oneironaut Zero
Quote:
Originally Posted by pj
What about the descriptions, O? Those should be copied over from the other thread. It was part of the challenge, and I think it is important.
And T.J. got my vote, though it was a tough choice.
You were supposed to vote for yourself, so that the results aren't skewed by one person voting for himself, while others didn't. :P
That's ok, though. At least we know where your vote went. Haha.
And you're right. I'll copy/paste the descriptions as well.
[Edit: Ok. OP is updated with descriptions. :)]
02-10-2008, 04:30 AM
Bayside
I had to vote for TJ's, it was very nicely composed, very mellow, made me feel good and sounded great.
Nice job on Stricken though, I'm going to try and learn that song as well when I get a little better at guitar, and my pinch harmonics.
02-10-2008, 05:09 AM
Oneironaut Zero
Quote:
Originally Posted by Bayside
I had to vote for TJ's, it was very nicely composed, very mellow, made me feel good and sounded great.
Nice job on Stricken though, I'm going to try and learn that song as well when I get a little better at guitar, and my pinch harmonics.
Thanks, man. :)
It was weird, the way I figured out the pinch. I spent so much time trying to do it, on it's on, and getting nowhere. Then, when I tried to do it while in the middle of playing the riff, it just sorta...worked. Even now, if I try to play it on it's own, I almost always screw it up. But when I hit the string before it, to play the previous note, and then do the pinch, it's so much easier.
Let me know whenever you get around to learning it, cause I'd like to hear!
...now I just need to learn that damn solo. Heh.
02-10-2008, 11:48 AM
Adrenaline Junkie
Wow, those are all pretty damn awesome, it was a really tough decision for this one. I was very drawn towards TJ's but i ended up going with pj's.
The reason i did so was that i know that the core of this piece as inspired by dreams, and the overall passion and work put into it has been well worth it since it has captured that overall dream atmosphere. But down to rhythm, i like the chords chosen as it is not the normal set of chords you would choose for a song, yet it works which is pretty awesome, it sounds complex and it is also progressive in some areas, you can really feel it driving the piece forward and that is the sort of thing i as looking for, something that you can listen to and think "that must be difficult and complex to play".
Keep on with the voting guys, sorry i couldn't participate, i really wanted to but i've been busy, too busy in fact :(
02-10-2008, 02:29 PM
Oneiro
I think all four entries are worthy of commendation.. there is definitely some guitar talent out there!
How do you split such diverse pieces? Very very difficult.. all four sound tricky to play..
But pj gets it for me, purely because of the originality of composition.
02-10-2008, 07:29 PM
Mes Tarrant
Wow, it's a close one! :content: This is exciting.
02-10-2008, 08:23 PM
Vex Kitten
All of those pieces are great in their own way.
Voting for just one is going to be harder than I thought.
All I can say right now is damned good job all around. It was a pleasure to listen to each recording.
02-10-2008, 09:01 PM
StephenT
I voted PJ.
I loved the jazz guitar, but the singing... :eek: ;)
Joe's was very great, but it seems like I've heard the same thing a million times, so it kinda got boring for me. The talent is definitely there in playing and composing, but just not very original sounding I think.
O and Ramna, those are both great, but not my style at all, so I didn't vote for yall. Sorry. :(
02-10-2008, 09:01 PM
ThePhobiaViewed
All of them were really good but I voted for Ranma's because that's a really tough riff and it really flowed well and was in time.
Wow, this is close... TJ and O on 5, pj and ranma on 4... great work guys, almost inspiring enough to make me pick up my guitar again. :P
02-10-2008, 10:42 PM
Spartiate
I voted for TJ, I especially liked the beginning.
pj, interesting how you got your lyrics, the song had a pretty good feel overall.
O, didn't turn out so bad :P, well played but not really my style of song.
Same for Ranma, also your's was a little short, show more next time!
02-11-2008, 03:15 AM
CoLd BlooDed
I think I'm gonna have to vote for ranma, but all of them were fucking awesome. TJ's, yours was very mellow and very well played, put me in a good mood. Just didn't have that 'wow!' in regards for complexity. Still, really good.
Pj, loved it. Just finished listening to it and I was very impressed. Your singing, although it isn't the smoothest, definately fit perfectly with the rhythm (and the lyrics were very 'mystical', great stuff). The originality is great. Additionally, it does sound difficult, what with the constant combination of picking and strumming, but it doesn't get my vote.
O, great job man. It's killer seeing your rock out the metal. Maybe headbang a little next time, put some energy into it. :P Heh. Good to hear that you managed to get those damn pinches under a little more control, and if you had gotten a good recording with a pinch you would've had my vote.
Ranma! Great job. Not as long as the others but the speed and lack of screwups gives you my vote. Love the style, love the beat. Keep it up.
Good stuff everyone.
02-11-2008, 06:14 AM
Oneironaut Zero
Quote:
Originally Posted by CoLd BlooDed
O, great job man. It's killer seeing your rock out the metal. Maybe headbang a little next time, put some energy into it. :P Heh. Good to hear that you managed to get those damn pinches under a little more control, and if you had gotten a good recording with a pinch you would've had my vote.
Haha. Sorry, man. Don't consider myself much of a headbanger. :chuckle: I'd have definitely bobbed a bit more, though, if I wasn't so focused. I was trying my damned hardest to get that song played correctly, for the vid, and there's no way in hell I would have gotten it down, if I was directing more of my energy toward moving around. Heh. Yeah, I'm pretty disappointed in the pinch. I've definitely had some better ones, in the times that I was learning the song, but it's not too bad, going from not even knowing how to do them, to getting a few good ones in, in the two days it took me to learn the song, so I can't really complain too much. :)
Thanks for the feedback!
02-11-2008, 08:43 AM
one
hehe
soo close...
02-11-2008, 04:10 PM
Patrick
Nice job guys. All of them were great. I admire your devotion for working so hard on these guitar wars :)
Joe's and PJ's are the best in my opinion... and although PJ's was pleasantly reminiscent of Pink Floyd, I had to choose Joe's because it was plainly the most enjoyable to listen to. Then again, they all made great listening. :D
02-11-2008, 09:45 PM
Man of Steel
Holy crap, people. I'm torn here! You all have my utmost respect. All of those are awesome, amazing works. I think I'm going to have to vote for Tornado Joe, the fact that he wrote that himself, and played it so well, plus the soothing melody... Yeah. I loved it.
Not that I didn't love the rest of y'alls', though! I really liked pj's submission, too; despite it not really being up my alley, it was really great. Sounded like something I'd hear in an upscale coffee shop somewhere. ;)
O, wow, great job on that song, man! I was debating between you and TJ on this one, and went with his because it was an original work he came up with, but freaking nice job on the metal! I loved it! Longest submission, too, which means your fingers are extra tired. :chuckle:
Ranma, again, great job. That sounded like a pretty tough riff to play, even if it was a bit short. You did awesome, man, keep it up! You guys have got me wanting to pull my acoustic out and go take my neighbor up on his standing offer to teach me how to play it!
02-12-2008, 05:02 PM
Tornado Joe
Aha, here's the voting thread!
Me casts my vote to.... PJ! And I'm not just returning the favor - for as much as I enjoyed the character of the second piece, the first one (main entry) is composed of a complex form of music and much discipline went into learning and performing that piece. And complexity was pretty much the main requirement of this competition.
:clap:
HOWEVER, that being said - Oneironaut!! DUDE! You, my friend, have improved tremendously! I'm not saying that you ever 'sucked', but I remember your first posted video (when you just bought the guitar?). I did NOT expect you to be flyin up and down that neck so soon, playin tight metal riffs!
O, wow, great job on that song, man! I was debating between you and TJ on this one, and went with his because it was an original work he came up with, but freaking nice job on the metal! I loved it! Longest submission, too, which means your fingers are extra tired. :chuckle:
Thanks, MoS. :cooler:
Quote:
Originally Posted by Tornado Joe
(Sherry not included!)
...DAMNIT!! :pissed:
*takes award graciously, but grumbles under his breath as he walks off stage*
Haha. But thanks a lot, TJ. That really means a lot coming from someone as seasoned as you seem to be. :) You know, I'd gotten the impression that you played, before, but this is the first time I've ever heard it, and damn, man, once again, I'm more than impressed!
02-12-2008, 07:16 PM
Spartiate
Quote:
Originally Posted by Tornado Joe
Aha, here's the voting thread!
Me casts my vote to.... PJ!
Quote:
[Edit: Contestants, please vote for yourselves, as well. That way there is no mistake as to who may or may not have, since the poll results are private, this time.]
Disqualified!!!!!
02-12-2008, 07:23 PM
pj
Well - Joe and I both disqualified ourselves by voting on each other, so it's all back in balance anyway.
And I cast my vote BEFORE that edit saying I wasn't allowed to vote for Joe... so if it really comes down to it I shouldn't be disqualified anyway.
