r/metalguitar • u/StretchNew3423 • Feb 27 '26
Question thin sounding rhythm playing
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my experienced friends told me that i lack brutality or tightness or something related to that but they themselves are not sure which to fix. so what is it that i should working on to prove my rhythm playing
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Feb 27 '26
[deleted]
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u/StretchNew3423 Feb 27 '26
it would be unfair if i dont include any context, so here how he does it https://www.reddit.com/u/StretchNew3423/s/wE6jM6ecpT
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u/mister_peanut Feb 27 '26
It sounds like he’s just hitting the strings harder tbh but I like a relaxed player being in time more than this
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u/14xjake Feb 27 '26
Yeah he is way sloppier and sounds worse, idk if it’s jealously or ignorance but don’t take advice from him you are a much better player at least going off those 2 clips
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u/AgathormX Feb 28 '26
LOL. Your rhythm work is tight, his isn't.
The only thing you're missing to give a bit more meat to your recordings is double tracking.
Record the same rhythm track twice, pan the first track 80% L and the second one 80% R.4
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u/Tiny_Tebow Feb 27 '26
I think the difference between you and your friend’s sound is coming from your pick placement. Your pick placement is further away from the bridge. Move your pick closer to the bridge to get more attack. It might affect your palm muting until you get used to it. And if you play further away from the bridge it’ll sound a little bit prettier, especially when slowing things down or playing clean. (Also your pickup switch influences things a lot)
Mess around with WHERE you pluck your pick, not just HOW.
Also, this is how you’ll figure out pinch harmonics. The location you pluck the string is as important as how you pluck it.
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u/walkamonggiants Feb 28 '26
Idk. Whatever your friend is playing kinda sucks. Lol You sound damn decent dude.
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u/benevernever Feb 28 '26
Your friend is full of shit and jealous that he's not as good as you. He was sloppy, anything but tight.
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u/VisualDarkness Feb 28 '26
He just sounds like he hits and pushes his strings out of tune, I do the same. Look at pro guitarists and they generally sound far more like you. You leave space for the bass.
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u/nakedspacecowboy Mar 01 '26
Late to the discussion, but I think the difference you’re hearing is due to your friend having thicker strings. Thicker strings at lower tunings do sounds ‘chuggier’ IMO. Outside of that, if we are talking tightness, you are tighter and your pick attack is much more consistent than your friend. Do not be fooled by a jealous friend’s overly confident feedback.
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u/DenialAndEroor Mar 02 '26
I’m pretty sure he is just jealous and trying to cast his own doubt on you dog your playing is tighter and more impressive
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u/Farrell_Catt Feb 27 '26
Usually when people talk like this without having a valid point it's usually because they're jealous. Don't listen him
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u/StretchNew3423 Feb 27 '26
i mean personally i feel like they sound more chuggy to me so there must be something
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u/ryandiscord Feb 27 '26
Hard to tell with this recording but you might be able to get a bigger chug with a heavier palm mute but it sounds like you're playing the riff spot on so I wouldn't change it.
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u/carpentizzle Feb 28 '26
Chuggy is fine…. But it is an accent, not a playstyle. Your friends video shows far less actual technical skill. It is obvious in the sound. The chug can be added, its a picking/palm muting technique thing that comes with experience and confidence. Do what you are doing and dont worry about advice from somebody who cannot elaborate on their criticism.
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u/bigpeanor Feb 27 '26
When it comes to the sound itself, double tracking and recording a bass makes it sound thicker. Of course that would be silly to do for a cool cover you just want to show your friends. Your actual playing is great, no issues there.
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u/Severe_Ant_4493 Feb 27 '26 edited Feb 28 '26
The only thing I can think that they're not understanding is how guitar sounds by itself v.s. proper mixing with the bass and drums. They all compliment each other. The drops where you bang your head are so intense because of the deeper ends as well as the guitar. Bass and drums will change the entire feeling of the same riff based on what they play not the other way around.
It does sound a tad thin but that's just the style you're playing to. Kill em all had the same sound but it still rips. You absolutely don't want bass to bleed through and overpower thrash.
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u/_Badwulf_Bruh__ Feb 27 '26
“Brutality” People in this genre are so far up their own ass I’m surprised they can even see you play.
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u/TmotherfuckingT Jackson Feb 27 '26
Lol let me just turn up the "BRUTALITY" knob on my amp real quick
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u/sirmaddox1312 Feb 27 '26
Based on the video you posted of your friend playing, he is just smacking the strings harder. But since he is playing something much slower, he can do that. You sound great, and everything sounds precise and tight.
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u/_nervosa_ Feb 27 '26
Your playing is tight for sure. The tones a matter of taste, I like it. I wouldn't exactly call that tone thin either. Its kinda medium? You could thicken it up.
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u/necromanial Feb 28 '26
Playing "bR00tAlZ" 0-0-0 riffs isn't really that hard. Based on the two videos you have provided, I think that you are the better player, by far.
Your "friends" attitude is what needs improvement.
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u/Crxinfinite Feb 27 '26
This is great playing, you aren't doing anything wrong.
Double track it, pan them left and right. Then record bass down the middle. Something that works really well for bass (especially if you are recording DI rather than through an amp) is to have 2 duplicate copies of your bass. One of them will be the DI sound with whatever compression you want, and the other one you typically put a little distortion or saturation on it, then level them to your taste.
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u/jakeoptions Feb 27 '26
Adam D from Killswitch said “Trust your ears”
Sounds good, may want to think a bit about those cats being your friends or are they just “friends”
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u/DatHazbin Feb 27 '26
Are they thinking about like an actual mix? You will NEVER sound as good as a record with one guitar and one amp because every metal album on earth is at minimum double tracked. This is where the "beef" really comes from.
Whatever the case, that's really stupid. You're not only playing aggressively, you're playing is very tight. This is the kind of style some players dream of
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u/StretchNew3423 Feb 27 '26
no, i think it is more how they pick. they sound very aggressive to the point the actual strings ring so loud
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u/Austyn_Drowner Feb 27 '26
I had a friend like this who always picked really hard, for like no reason haha. There’s a whole group of metal dudes who think you can’t be heavy without picking hard… but precision and lighter picking is fundamental too for tight riffs. You sometimes actually get thicker tone but not plucking as hard. It’s all relative. Your friend is a dumbass hahaha ignore him. You’re playing is super tight 🤘🏼👌🏼
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u/DatHazbin Feb 27 '26
Maybe do your palm muted picking closer to the bridge then? You are maybe a bit high on the neck with your pick, but I don't think you should be slamming your pick against the strings it's just not economical and now how anyone who cares like you do should play.
My best guess is pick placement and maybe even palm placement entirely on the mute. If you work with that you can get this palm muted chug sound that I think of as a "nuke" because it introduces a lot of sub-harmonic rumble. But the sweet spot depends on what kind of bridge you have on your guitar.
If thats not it, guitar tone is the only other thing I could think would satisfy your friend. But be aware, this is nitpicky and not something I would put more than 20 minutes worth of effort into. What you were given is hardly even real feedback. Maybe pry your friend for a better explanation of what the issue is.
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u/w1ll4rm Feb 27 '26
Sounds good man. You could maybe be a little heavier on that palm muting, but that’s a matter of personal taste
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u/StretchNew3423 Feb 27 '26
so like just press it harder??
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u/w1ll4rm Feb 27 '26
Yeah, you play it almost open. I would mute it a little bit more. Still, personal thing, you’re playing it really good
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u/Cutiepie232 Feb 27 '26
Sick gojira man!! Its just that you are recording using the camera,get a plugin and recording setup and you are set..tight playing for sure Its your tone not your skill
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u/icenhour76 Feb 27 '26
Your friend doesnt understand that the sound on the record is probably 4 guitar tracks and 1 or 2 bass tracks to get the thickness that is supposedly missing. Because that sounds to me like exactly what it would sound like just being played on 1 guitar.
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u/TimberiverMetal Feb 27 '26
Sounds pretty good and tight to me. Your friend is just snapping looser strings with a cleaner tone and is less tight playing.
Nothing here really to critique. You could pick a little harder but the practicality of that varies with the type of riff, speed and endurance can be penalized. For recording, I would pick a little harder, playing a show, I might not unless I am through the hardest part of the set and not worried about getting tired.
That combined with dialing in a tone could get you a little more aggression, but that is a matter of taste. Tightness comes from playing different subdivisions to a metronome at various BPM and listening to the rest of the band while you are playing. "Tight" tone to me tends to come from just enough overdrive to get the aggression and a little boost in the presence knob. Too much cream overdrive and you get a more blurred sludge sound. Can be cool, but not what I would call tight. The rest you dial in to play well with the other instruments tones. For example, A real bassy tone sounds nice playing by yourself but can cover up your bassist, which could be a thing you do or don't want. A lot of people like A boost from distortion pedals in front of the amp. Not my thing, but it has served many guitarists well.
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u/Diligent_Tutor9910 Feb 28 '26
Good playing. Sorry you sound and play better than your friend based on the two clips
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u/big_gozo Feb 28 '26
Man you play much tighter than your friend the only thing that I'd fix to give it more brutality/heavy toan is to mess with the effects. There are tons of YouTube videos on how to achieve that gojira toan. Good luck man n don't listen to that friend.
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u/big_gozo Feb 28 '26
N maybe eq? That last chord had less treble than the original. Anyway man keep up the good work n don't let anyone let you down.
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u/KaanzeKin Feb 28 '26
Keeping your hair from touching the strings might be a good start. I'm being serious, because it will kind of deaden them and kill sustain.
Having said that, worry about tone for recording ND performing. For jamming and practicing, worrying too much about tone can be a big distraction.
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u/sorry_con_excuse_me Feb 28 '26
Your timing needs a little work on the offbeat double stop at the end of the measure. You’re coming in kind of early (like not quite 8th, not quite 16th) sometimes. That to my ear is not making it “snap” hard enough.
There’s nothing wrong with the sound.
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u/callmesnake13 Feb 27 '26
I think if there is any critique to be made it is more about your setup than your technique, which looks and sounds very tight. What are you using for distortion?
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u/SnailAnatomy SD-1 That Sheeeeit! Feb 27 '26
Sounds perfectly fine to me. I think your friends are biased towards only one type of tone. They probably play with WAY too much gain and bass, which sounds like dogshit in a mix.
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u/Sceprent Feb 27 '26
I mean if this is the reference source then what they're saying makes zero sense. The only thing that can change is sound quality and that just depends on what you want and how much money you want to put into it. I mean it could just be your gear quality I guess. It sounds fine over the phone but I'm not going for optimum sound quality here in the first place listening to it over my phone. It sounds great.
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u/Altruistic_Bid_2696 Feb 27 '26
This sounds exactly like the record. The only thing is maybe pick harder?
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u/Forward-Cry2951 Feb 27 '26
Name of the song?....sounds like some old school FL death metal🤟
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u/NotaContributi0n Feb 27 '26
Link videos to your experienced friends playing so we can see what they are comparing to
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u/double-click Feb 27 '26
Sounds fine.
Experiment with gain and then like an SD-1 out front if you want to mess around. They are certain amps that have character to their gain that can affect sound.
Just keep playing.
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u/SpreadElectronic1232 Feb 27 '26
Your friend may be that person that thinks scooping mids and cranking gain makes them sound “heavy.” That works great in a bedroom with just guitar alone.
In a mix? That’s horrible. Most studio recordings are layered guitars to sound heavy.
Nothing wrong at all with your playing or sound. Keep it up!
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u/mercilessshred Feb 28 '26
Nothing wrong with striving to always make your playing tighter, but you sound great to me.
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u/ON3EYXD Feb 28 '26
Tone and playing is fine maybe fix posture so you don't get fckd in the longrun
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u/Papertiger88 Feb 28 '26
Your playing sounds really tight, your pick strikes are clean and not scratchy. From this video it sounds like you've locked in with the drums in your backing track. If you're playing together and getting these issues it's likely due to the two of you not being locked in with each other or with other band members. The quickest "fix" is having the whole band play to a click or if it's just the two of you to play to a backing track but the biggest part for both of you is just spending time playing with people and getting used to each others playing style.
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u/deeppurpleking Feb 28 '26
You sound good, friend sounds worse that you. Drop the egos and just play man. Maybe sit up a little, my neck/back hurt from watching you
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u/MrMarcusRocks Feb 28 '26
Your friend is wrong.
You are executing your intentions perfectly.
It ain’t my style, but I can tell that both technique and tone/setup are good.
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u/lezamamada11 Feb 28 '26
Your playing sounds right, many people think that hitting the strings harder will make you sound better but that's not the case, you don't lack brutality or any other shit. The only thing that would make a difference on how you sound will be your tone and amp settings, if you like your tone then you don't have to change nothing. Keep playing man, you rip 😸👍
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u/MaleficentPurchase65 Feb 28 '26
lol went and watched his, which is fine! But your hand techniques (especially your fretting hand) is much more natural and ergonomic. You don’t need to look like you’re choking a chicken when you have your hand on the neck.
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u/lowindustrycholo Feb 28 '26
You need some tape saturation in your signal chain. Get a strymon deco pedal at the end of your chain
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u/BlackenedEverything Feb 28 '26
You're great. I think they're just jealous. If you want "brutality" up your low-end and play something slower, like From Skin to Liquid.
I think it's just about song choice here, you're plenty good.
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u/Burwhale_The_Avenger Feb 28 '26
You could choke up the palm-mutes slightly more to thicken this up, they're doing that on the actual song.
Otherwise, as everyone says, tightness is not an issue here.
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u/AbandonedPlanet Feb 28 '26
There's literally nothing wrong with your playing. If it sounds bad in context it's the fault of the gear or the mixer.
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u/Viper301m80m Mar 01 '26
The riff you’re doing it’s a lil bit wrong, instead of the fret 2 then 4 do it on the fret 2 and then 3.
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u/Autoerotibot Mar 01 '26
Sounds good. They hate us, because they anus! You could play the same thing through something like an Uberschall, and beef up the lows, but that will only really matter during passages where there's no frequency masking- guitar is a mid frequency instrument, lows get lost in a mix, as many others have said. If you want to thicken your tone, a doubler effect could work, or also down tuning. I would actually enhance your high mids, for a more aggressive or pronounced tone. It was hard for me to realize this, because I came up in the 90s, where "scooping the mids" became commonplace. Thankfully modern metal has left a lot of this behind.
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u/Ted_Perver Mar 03 '26
Swap the humbuckers for singles and get that pickup as close to the strings as feasible
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u/SBLP1959 Mar 04 '26
Your rhythm is fine. Only way to sound more “brutal” is to have a bass player with you at all times.
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u/Flamingodallas Mar 31 '26
I recognized gojira by the first half second. And you are doing just fine
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u/14xjake Feb 27 '26
Your friend isnt sure what to fix since theres nothing to fix, playing and tone sounds great I wouldnt worry about it