So, I'm in a bit of a dilemma. I love the texture-rich, percussion-less chord drones of bands like Sunn O))), but I'm unsure how to recreate such an atmosphere with my own playing.
The thing is, I can't figure out how to make it sound good without either using a click track or keeping the beat in my own head. I don't like either or these options, because I feel having an actual beat, either real or in my head, takes away from the experience. My style is slow, repetitive riffs, like in "Defeating Earth's Gravity". My stuff sounds great if I'm keeping time somehow, but it's boring to play. It's more fun to play without keeping beat, but it sounds a bit shitty. Drone that's not riff-based sounds fine without keeping time, but the repetitive stuff...no so much.
What ever shall I do?
Drone played without percussion
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SoylentGreenIsPeople
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Drone played without percussion
Life's but a walking shadow, a poor player, that struts and frets his hour upon the stage, and then is heard no more; it is a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.
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endsjustifymeans
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i have to use a metronome, especially for stuff as slow as drone. i can't keep time to save my life on my own.
i treat recording as though it's a performance. i record guitar parts standing up playing as though i was on a stage, it makes the fifth take of a seven minute song where you're playing the whole time a bit less grating.
i also tend to use a riff i've got on standby (i always have a bunch of riffs knocking about in my head) but then during the first guitar part i'll improvise a bit. since i'm usually doubling it means i have to keep on my toes a bit for the second part.
every single time i play the bottom three strings open on a guitar tuned to drop a through some heavy fuzz it makes me smile. i could personally play three chords in drop a for seven minutes and not get bored.
turn the amp the fuck up and drown in the sound.
i treat recording as though it's a performance. i record guitar parts standing up playing as though i was on a stage, it makes the fifth take of a seven minute song where you're playing the whole time a bit less grating.
i also tend to use a riff i've got on standby (i always have a bunch of riffs knocking about in my head) but then during the first guitar part i'll improvise a bit. since i'm usually doubling it means i have to keep on my toes a bit for the second part.
every single time i play the bottom three strings open on a guitar tuned to drop a through some heavy fuzz it makes me smile. i could personally play three chords in drop a for seven minutes and not get bored.
turn the amp the fuck up and drown in the sound.
I'm a fan of drone, and once played for a 1 gig 1 time load blower drone duo on bass. what i found worked best was (it was kind of free form with loose riffs (like a lot of drone))
turn up real loud so you really feel the sound all throughout your body and just kind of using a sloooow rocking back and forth as kind of an inner body metronome. It doesn't really feel like you are keeping a rhythm, but all combined notes have a beat property and you can really feel when its time to hit the next big one.
slightly hard to figure out how to explain it now, but that all I can give you until I can think it over better.
turn up real loud so you really feel the sound all throughout your body and just kind of using a sloooow rocking back and forth as kind of an inner body metronome. It doesn't really feel like you are keeping a rhythm, but all combined notes have a beat property and you can really feel when its time to hit the next big one.
slightly hard to figure out how to explain it now, but that all I can give you until I can think it over better.
I would just play the drone chord as a metronome the first few times, like 1 2 3 4 in a picking pattern, hitting the chord on every beat, until you start to get it in your head, then just take off from there, trying to, but not limiting yourself, follow the pattern and you get a good atmosphere going.
Droen+Chorus+Cranked Volume= Paradis
Droen+Chorus+Cranked Volume= Paradis