Calling All Metal Musicians

This message is to all metal fans: we need to know our roots. No, I’m not talking about Black Sabbath or Motorhead, Elvis or The Rolling Stones. I’m talking about classical music. If you’re about to hit the back button, understand this is coming from a guy who plays an ESP and wears a Mastodon shirt. Hear me out, it’s for your own good.

Remember the first time you heard “Far Beyond Driven, ” or, “The New American Gospel? ” I hope I don’t speak only for myself when I say all I heard was noise. For one reason or another though, I believed there was something to them, and now I can’t get enough. The way we learn to enjoy music is by attempting to understand it. This means listening critically to a lot of an artist’s work and recognizing patterns or themes, and familiarizing yourself with the genre and other artists who attempt the same thing. A lot of times we even check out the band’s Wikipedia to try and understand where the individual members are coming from. It’s when you understand a lot of different styles and sounds that you start to craft your own ideal, from your own circumstances, with your own patterns and nuances.

Classical Music is just another form to analyze and understand. Let me start by saying that as a heavy metal guy, the classical genres that I most enjoy are the Minor Symphonies by Beethoven and Tchaikovsky, the darker piano music of Chopin, and the slow wandering string ensembles, listening as a song-writer, rhythm guitar player, and solo guitar player, respectively. If any of the last three are you, I’m tellin’ you, this stuff is great.

Beethoven was an angry old man (like Lars Ulrich) and his best music is full of tension, angst, and sorrow (what a coincidence). The tools of any songwriter are the different instruments, song structure, dynamics, tempo, transitions, repetition, and the like. A 30-minute instrumental told by a symphony orchestra is the most vivid, capable form this could take, and Beethoven is master. He uses different combinations of instruments to create varying sounds to express varying thoughts. He can utilize tempo and dynamics to create smooth lines of singing melody, or harsh, abrasive rhythms. Don’t believe me? Windows Media Center comes pre-loaded with Beethoven’s Fifth. Listen to it 5 times at full blast in your car and pay close attention. You’ll see.

The work of the rhythm guitar player involves chord progressions, rhythms, and runs up and down scales. This is basically all piano music is. Most of the piano music your familiar with is the boring, pre-fab, G Major stuff by Bach or Mozart. While these are masterpieces in their own right, they aren’t for us. Chopin came about a hundred years after them and was on our side. He’s the John Petrucci of the 17th century. He used massive chords, searing left-hand runs, complex chord progressions, key changes, and had a keen understanding of major/minor/augmented/chromatic scales, even tritone, as every good metal guitar player should. I say from experience, this stuff expands your musical imagination like nothing else, and you will see it in your playing. If you wanna see what I mean, copy/paste “Revolutionary Etude” to YouTube. Listen to the whole thing (c'mon, you’re reading this; you don’t have anything better to do).

Yo Mama is so bad at the cello, but Yo Yo Ma is not. Sorry, too easy, I know, just trying to get your attention. But this guy understands his medium in a Dimebag-esque fashion. Every note is played with lucid attention to detail. They both capture the attention of the listener and keep you begging to hear the next note. Remember the part of Master and Commander where Russel Crowe is string-syncing (lip-syncing? ) to that kick-ass cello ballad? Ya, that’s our guy. I can't help but think of the guitar solos of "Walk" or "Psycho Holiday." By listening to people who understand every nuance of sound their instrument makes and use each one to their advantage, we learn to do the same. Understanding how this is done this with different instruments is essential to this process.

Musical skill comes from practice. Musical talent comes from understanding. Both are equally important, but the extent of the latter separates the good from the great. You want to be a great musician. Understand classical music will bring you one step closer.

Comments

[ronoh55]

First!

good article, thanks for the recommendations on who in the classical world to listen to.

[candysars]

Mahler is a awesome "Metal" composer. He wrote a symphony called "Dead Baby Songs".

[Echoplex]

Beethoven was an angry old man (like Lars Ulrich)

But did Beethoven ever sue anyone?

[3rdHorseman]

Your also forgetting about Wilhelm Richard Wagner he was also a very destructive composer you can comper him to Dave Mustaine in a way. he wrote Epic songs that are fairly easy to play.

If you want to examine the influence of classical music on modern rock and metal, look up Ritchie Blackmore.

[jeowy]

other than beethoven, very little of what you mentioned is considered "classical music". Romantic music, yes; but romantic music is much easier to listen to and appreciate if you're the average open-minded musician. There isnt really much difference between romantic music and modern "intellegent genres" like metal, post-rock, prog, etc.

[.QOTSA.]

Listen to it 5 times at full blast in your car and pay close attention. You’ll see.

No, you'll crash.

[tehREALcaptain]

your style of writing bugged me, but I can see why people would enjoy it. However, your understanding of what you are talking about sounds tenious at best--have you ever played any of the pieces your talking about? seen them performed? listened to them and followed the score?
Its a cool idea for an article but it seems like your trying to persuade metalheads (verbally) to listen to classical music; why not just have them listen to it? Moreover, classical music is not for everyone and most metal has very little in common with classical music (yes they both use the harmonic minor scale, however the great classical composers didn't write to a scale, they wrote and figured out what it was later). Moreover, what unifies classical music to me, is the instrumentation and development of melodic ideas, both of which are oftentimes sorely lacking in metal.

[Jondy]

in an article about how classical music helps influence metal, I think paganini's work merits a mention don't ya think? I mean, metal guitar is basically paganini with 2 extra strings.

[A7x_1993]

Interesting article,seeing as metal players are completely oblivious to classical music.I'm leaning lead and i wanna improve and make myself play with a little more feel.But i got a question.I've mastered classical music,i guess i need to hit the FORWARD button,but the question is how?What should be done for me to achieve that level of playing?

[Lord_Vhailor]

Don't forget about Antonio Vivaldi .

[madguitrist]

huh beethoven was an early form of metal looks like a won a bet i made a while back

[The_String_Man]

boring,pre-fab G major stuff? Bach? Mozart?

just because those are "not for you" does not mean they are boring.

[salival111]

wierd. My ma listens to that kind of classical stuff. 5 years ago she would never listen to my music and i would never listen to hers. But now she listens to soilwork and in flames and i listen to her stuff. I understand that connection with the music your talkin about

[DukeFame]

this article is pretty weak , calling metalheads to listen to classical is pretty lame coming from a kid who listens to Mastodon and compares Beethoven to Lars Ulrich. Classical is good for all musicians to listen to no matter what genre, the author of this article spend more time listening to better metal.

[We'realltoBlame]

candysars wrote:

Mahler is a awesome "Metal" composer. He wrote a symphony called "Dead Baby Songs".

Do you happen to mean Kindertotenlieder? a better translation would be "Songs on the Death of Children".

[pistols]

don't try to block out ANY aspect of classical music. my favourite composers are vivaldi and tchaikovsky, and i love their 'lighter' work. and it has helped me a lot with my neoclassical work. and it's not the kind of neoclassical that fits in only with power metal, it could be used for anything.

[A7x_1993]

Come on people,after all music did come from the past and as time goes by,it evolves into the kind of music we hear today.

[Adarsh]

Nothing's nearly as grim as Stravinsky....

Now THAT guy was hardcore...

[Sedin]

I hate when people say that metal origins from classical music. It does origin from classical music in someway, since rock comes from blues, blues comes from jazz and jazz comes from classical.
They have alot incommon, and I personally love of em both, but metal does not origin from classical music. Listen to Beethoven's fifth piano concerto, 2nd movement, has got nothing to do with metal, but I love it!

Checked.

There's a thread in the metal forum about the similarities and differences between metal and classical. It's a couple weeks old at this point, but there's some decent reading there for people who want to check it out.

[teachmeviolence]

Metal is based way more on blues than on classical IMO.

[JTruex]

Great article. I can really connect with the point that when we first heard metal it just sounded like noise, but then we grew to understand the mechanics and work that goes into it. I'm sure to some people, Classical music just sounds like sound. Music is only music, and not sound, if you take the time to understand it.

[EdawMail]

He speaks the truth!

[MealsOnWheels7]

Classical music was very formalistic, first of all. And Tchaikovsky and Chopin are considered Romanticist, a far cry from the music of Mozart, Beethoven, and Hadyn. These forms of music used forms other than the song, while metal mostly uses it, with some exceptions. Even then, I doubt some intrumentals could be called a sonata, or a symphony movement.

That being said, don't let me discourage you from giving classical or romanticist a try.

[Bbauer]

hahahaha i laughed my ass off at the beethoven lars ulrich reference so true so true

[pwrmax]

the boring, pre-fab, G Major stuff by Bach or Mozart

Correct me if I'm wrong, but Yngwie Malmsteen is a HUGE fan of Bach. Even I am, I find baroque to be a good basis for metal.

[isaacjnowland]

thank you shimaroller3, im, a 16yo guitarist and ive been wanting to uhh, "expand my 'musical vocabulary" if you will, experiment more with music etc and this gives me so much to study, once again thanks

[Metal_Rich]

I'm horrified you didn't mention Vivaldi.

[OMMad]

any music that wasn't written in the 20th century and was composed for an orchestra is generally considered "classical" nowadays... i think the works of baroque composers are a greater influence on modern metal than any classical composers... especially power metal

though in general i think "classical" music is a secondary influence at most. metal has always been a genre with its roots in the blues and only since the rise of guitar afficionados like paul gilbert, marty friedman and yngwie malmsteen has the connection between metal and classical music been made. and even in the cases mentioned, the extent of its influence was arpeggios in a solo. their songs as a whole are standard rock/blues affairs.

mastodon is an example of this: one could hardly say their music is derived from a classical influence.

[Metalocalyptic]

Great article. I play cello And guitar an i mostly listen to death metal...classical is cool, especially Wagner.

[TormentedRx]

Rock on man!

[Vabolo]

Beethoven was deaf,and Lars Ulrich is deaf to criticism!

[Unforgiven87]

teachmeviolence wrote:

Metal is based way more on blues than on classical IMO.

lamb of god uses the blues scale alot.

[Unforgiven87]

OMMad wrote:

any music that wasn't written in the 20th century and was composed for an orchestra is generally considered "classical" nowadays... i think the works of baroque composers are a greater influence on modern metal than any classical composers... especially power metal

though in general i think "classical" music is a secondary influence at most. metal has always been a genre with its roots in the blues and only since the rise of guitar afficionados like paul gilbert, marty friedman and yngwie malmsteen has the connection between metal and classical music been made. and even in the cases mentioned, the extent of its influence was arpeggios in a solo. their songs as a whole are standard rock/blues affairs.

mastodon is an example of this: one could hardly say their music is derived from a classical influence.

i was thinking the same thing, because mastodon is one of my favourite bands. They're from the south, and they have alot of bluegrass-y roots because their lead guitarist used to play banjo before he played guitar.

[3 days grace14]

S&M, Apocalyptica lol theres bout as close as i get

[DuffMcKagan7179]

+1 to the guy who mentioned Stravinsky above. Check out the Rite of Spring. THAT is what metal is about.

[LucasGtrGod]

MealsOnWheels7 wrote:

Classical music was very formalistic, first of all. And Tchaikovsky and Chopin are considered Romanticist, a far cry from the music of Mozart, Beethoven, and Hadyn. These forms of music used forms other than the song, while metal mostly uses it, with some exceptions. Even then, I doubt some intrumentals could be called a sonata, or a symphony movement.

That being said, don't let me discourage you from giving classical or romanticist a try.

Um Beethoven was also considered a romanticist, well his later work was. He pretty much acted as the bridge between Classical and Romantic styles.

He is also forgetting about a number of other important elements, I mean seriously for metalheads, who would want to skip Vivaldi's four seasons winter section, Mahler's fifth symphony, Stravinsky's everything.

[The_Raven]

haha, laughed at the beethoven comparison
very true, nice article

[decayingdave]

Seems like a good enough article, even funny at times.

Myself, I wouldn't listen to classical music for inspiration just yet, no doubt it's a good resource but at the age of 19 I find it all abit too ''dusty'' for my liking. Maybe when my beard's abit more respectable...

[ZealXarah]

This article kiks ass. period.

[ScareTheCrow]

Good, article. I have a college course class right now, Music of Western Civ, and it covers music from the middle ages up to contemporary. I must say the music is not terrible to listen to, and it has helped develop some new ideas for my own guitar playing. Those who don't like classical music have not listen to the right stuff.

[IRONMAIDENTLICA]

Beethoven was an angry old man (like Lars Ulrich)

HAHAH nice, except while beethoven may have been angry he was not a giant douche-and thats coming from a lifelong metallica fan.

speaking of metallica i definatly agree, i still remember when i first heard ride the lightning in like 2nd or 3rd grade and thinking it was just a lot of noise, but i kept coming back trying to understand more and more, i also agree with ScareTheCrow, i took the same class at my school last semester, classical music is definatly worth listening to, and definatly helps u develop new ideas, great article

[IRONMAIDENTLICA]

also i noticed ur mentioned u wear mastodon t shirts...you as pumped as i am about their new cd, out tomorrow?

[FireBirdKing]

If you like stravinsky, listen to the firebird suite. its pretty epic. this article is pretty good but really the only metal band ive seen that has a pretty complete influence from classical is Symphony X. Im wrong, and i know it but Im just saying that its the only band ive seen where its noticable. Metallica uses alot of blues scales. lamb of god for certain does. most metal is based off of blues.

[FireBirdKing]

also (sorry for the double post) Joe satriani used a hungarian chord is his song musterion. if you want some dark sounding stuff try it. its deliciously and refreshingly different sounding.

[Regression]

Decent article.

I think it's true that most people get turned off by classical music because it's usually stuff in major keys. We can blame all the attention Mozart gets for that.

His 40th Symphony is very good though, he only wrote 2 symphonies in minor keys I believe, that being one of them.

[blackguitars]

Man, Good article I like it

[ratlr]

no matter what your viewpoint on this article, we all can agree that metallica's live in san francisco album that they did with the san francicsco symphony orchestra, is absofrickenlutely amazing!!!

[Undrgrndmlita]

alot of russian composers were pretty metal, especially soviet influenced, that brought out alot of minor, sad stuff.