New Polyphia Single - Playing God

[c7spheres]

I wonder if Tim does the tabs himself since it links to their official tab page from his personal page on that video. If he does them himself for that song and with that video of him playing it'd be worth the $5 they want to study it. Lots going on in this one. Looks like the hardest part is that harp guitar technique (if that's what it is) and just fingering the chord shapes that fly by. Excuse to by nylon string guitar brewing.

So….what are the odds that those guitars come out at NAMM?

There not for sale? Did Ibanez do it again?

 

[MemphisHawk]

Idk man, at 1:53 - 1:54 you can hear that what the guitar is playing does not line up with what his hands are doing. At least I'm hearing a hammer-on/pull-off thing that I'm not seeing.

I have no doubt that the guy can play it well, but I'm assuming the take has been edited, and is probably not as inhumanly tight and articulate as what we're hearing. Bummer, I was looking forward to hearing what it sounds like without any editing at all.

That's literally the easiest part of the whole song. It looks like it's all there to me but there's all kinds of tricks out there. If you listen to the fast run that takes you to the end of the song on headphones, there is some definite "slop" in there. I use the term slop only as a way to point out that it sounds like some unintended notes are being played and he left it. More specifically he misses two notes that are in the recorded song at 2:43 - 2:45 and it sounds like he biffs another one shortly there after. If he was going to edit it, he would have fixed that up I imagine.

 

[Lorcan Ward]

Looks and sounds legit. Set the video to 50% and it all lines up with slides and string noise, it doesn't have chords ringing out when fingers are lifted or midi sampled runs which is the give away. This kind of guitar style is mostly mimed/faked on IG but Tim is the real deal. He has to play these songs live so it is no surprise seeing him nail a play through.

2.2 million views on their new video in a week. I didn't realise they were that popular.

 

[Emperor Guillotine]

They're LACS variants based on the old Talman Intermax TMX nylon string.

It'd be cool to see them come back, even as Polyphia sigs after this song blows them up.

You sure that they are not just custom thinline solidbody nylon-strings (like what so, so, so many big-box brand offers nowadays) but just with a FR body shape? Nothing about the guitars looks particularly interesting or noteworthy.

 

[ItWillDo]

You sure that they are not just custom thinline solidbody nylon-strings (like what so, so, so many big-box brand offers nowadays) but just with a FR body shape? Nothing about the guitars looks particularly interesting or noteworthy.

The fretboard has the typical Tim-LACS vine inlay:

 

[NoodleFace]

I wonder if Tim does the tabs himself since it links to their official tab page from his personal page on that video. If he does them himself for that song and with that video of him playing it'd be worth the $5 they want to study it. Lots going on in this one. Looks like the hardest part is that harp guitar technique (if that's what it is) and just fingering the chord shapes that fly by. Excuse to by nylon string guitar brewing.


There not for sale? Did Ibanez do it again?

I read or heard that Tim often writes all the guitars on his PC first then learns them. Can't say if that's the case for every song, but if so it'd make sense he tabbed it.

 

[SCJR]

Excuse to by nylon string guitar brewing.

Just a heads up you'll probably have to file the bridge a bit to get the action to where these kinds of lead runs are doable. Even though it was slightly lower action than a conventional classical guitar out of the box, my Godin Multiac needed some filing to get it to where I wanted it. Somewhere between kinda low/standard electric action and really low acoustic action is where it now sits.

Also I'll assume you'd be looking at something you can plug in and you probably already know this - but if you bring the action way down on a nylon you're going to reduce the volume and overall quality of the unplugged/acoustic tone. Doesn't matter if you'll mostly be plugging and the Godin still sounds pretty good unplugged but just a thought.

 

[neurosis]

I agree with pretty much all you guys are saying. They have a vibe that can come across as "bratty".

But it's all intentional and they don't care to alienate who doesn't "get it". I appreciate the commitment to a vision these guys have. The musicianship is off the charts and they are actually doing something of their own which not much music getting attention out there can claim. I also do not care much for hip hop but think it's really cool how they are adopting some of that workflow and using programming to push what you can do with the guitar. They are in a class of their own and will go only go further. I'll take three Polyphia songs I don't like for every one I do. Any day.

I hate the new video but I love the song. Then again what Polyphia video hasn't been a fancy backdrop to the music.

 

[c7spheres]

I read or heard that Tim often writes all the guitars on his PC first then learns them. Can't say if that's the case for every song, but if so it'd make sense he tabbed it.

Thanks. That sounds like the hard way to write a song to me, but he's like a music genuis and can probably read/write well. Probably hears it in his head or something.
- I gotta look into his history more. I'm more interested in the HOW they look at things/guitar/writing and learned stuff and do techniques than learning the song but this one looks like it'd be fun to try. - Sometimes you get those 'lightbulb' moments and it makes you better. - I remember a long time ago some Guitar World lessons that were supposedly passed down from Hendrix to a freind of his of something like that and it was a huge evolution in my own way of looking at everything on guitar. I imagine theres a bunch of stuff like that in this song, especially for nimbly stuff.
- I always warm up by playing Bouree in E min by Bach (one of the few things I still remember) and it has similar hand stuff going on. If I play it really light and nimbly it's like this songs type of hand movements going on. This song is way harder than that though. Probably a level 10 on the classical rating system (it only goes to 8) and I think Bouree is rated a 6 or 7 or something. I only have my 7 string though and I think with this one I'd need the real deal nylon to pull it off. I don't think I could play this song clean or up to speed at all, but at least I'd have a nylon string! : )

Just a heads up you'll probably have to file the bridge a bit to get the action to where these kinds of lead runs are doable. Even though it was slightly lower action than a conventional classical guitar out of the box, my Godin Multiac needed some filing to get it to where I wanted it. Somewhere between kinda low/standard electric action and really low acoustic action is where it now sits.

Also I'll assume you'd be looking at something you can plug in and you probably already know this - but if you bring the action way down on a nylon you're going to reduce the volume and overall quality of the unplugged/acoustic tone. Doesn't matter if you'll mostly be plugging and the Godin still sounds pretty good unplugged but just a thought.

Thanks for the info on that. Always been interested in the Multac, the Keisel one's and pretty much any 7 string versions. I like the thin body stuff too. I want a 7 string but this one has that high access and thin body, plus for this work the low string may not be missed. What I really really want for an acoustic/ nylon someday is an Emerald though.

 

[Emperor Guillotine]

The fretboard has the typical Tim-LACS vine inlay:

Oh, I was solely talking about the nylon-string things.

 

[Tegara]

No memorable riffs but their technicality almost overcomes it. It's just a different sound.

 

[OmegaSlayer]

Tried to study GOAT a little bit
The dude is the master of the subdivisions
If you learn to solfeggio/count the song before learning to play it (or you can use Konnakol) the study the of the song is way easier
Saying that, I watched an interview with Tyler from Music Is Win, the dude gave me that vibe of kid drinking, doing acid, etc...I'm not to condemn the behaviour, but I don't like people that make a character out of being eccessive, as I think we had left the 80s from a while

 

[SCJR]

I don't think anyone here is overly-condemning this kid for his personal aesthetic or the general attitude of the band. But if we can be honest with ourselves we can admit that the majority of those who find Tim or Polyphia as a whole to be compelling - not on their instruments but as personalities - are probably not that far north of 18 years old, if at all.

 

[Jonathan20022]

I don't think anyone here is overly-condemning this kid for his personal aesthetic or the general attitude of the band. But if we can be honest with ourselves we can admit that the majority of those who find Tim or Polyphia as a whole to be compelling - not on their instruments but as personalities - are probably not that far north of 18 years old, if at all.

There's not much downside to that, one of my best friend's little brothers has an interest in drumming because they thought it was "cool" that the other Tim was combining trap beats into his playing, even if just in writing.

Kids these days think this kind of aesthetic is cool nowadays, so whatever the individuals do is also considered "cool" to them. As far as I'm concerned, there's been more musicians resulting from musical families but it's typically your dad with classic rock roots. It's almost predictable the kind of journey the kid will take learning guitar and shifting interests musically before ending up where they want to be sound wise. (AC/DC -> VH -> Ozzy -> Metallica -> etc).

I'd think it's almost way more interesting hearing a slightly older musicians jump from Hip Hop/Rap/R'n'b into the prog-sphere just by virtue of a band like this and where their journey takes them.

At the end of the day, there's probably more net-positive effects to this kind of mish mash than the opposite. You don't have to like Tim or his music to really admit that.

 

[SCJR]

There's not much downside to that, one of my best friend's little brothers has an interest in drumming because they thought it was "cool" that the other Tim was combining trap beats into his playing, even if just in writing.

Kids these days think this kind of aesthetic is cool nowadays, so whatever the individuals do is also considered "cool" to them. As far as I'm concerned, there's been more musicians resulting from musical families but it's typically your dad with classic rock roots. It's almost predictable the kind of journey the kid will take learning guitar and shifting interests musically before ending up where they want to be sound wise. (AC/DC -> VH -> Ozzy -> Metallica -> etc).

I'd think it's almost way more interesting hearing a slightly older musicians jump from Hip Hop/Rap/R'n'b into the prog-sphere just by virtue of a band like this and where their journey takes them.

At the end of the day, there's probably more net-positive effects to this kind of mish mash than the opposite. You don't have to like Tim or his music to really admit that.

I agree with all of this. I'm not proud of my mid-2000s swoop haircut (think Alesana, early Blessthefall, etc) and way-too-skinny jeans but I certainly had a great time in high school and don't regret them either. Every age group has its version of this.

I was speaking more to the extremes of the spectrum, one side being something like blindly bashing his choice of tattoos and hairstyle with the get-off-my-lawn mentality and the other being the present day paradigm of feeling the need to be apologetic for your opinions, especially if they lean traditional.

Am I reading too much into it? Maybe. But I can't exactly deep dive on Polyphia and the like with the average citizen so I do it here

Edit: Well upon retrospect, maybe one or two guys here were being overly critical lol.

 

[Protestheriphery]

Full of those zoomer harmonics I keep hearing about

I hear a lot of this stuff all over Veil of Maya's tracks, too. All these robotic buzzes and beeps, and just a glitchy, choppy vibe. I dig it, but I'm noticing a pattern, specifically with the fanbase.

Nice composition and insane playing but it really sounds quite similar to their other stuff, just with semi acoustic nylon string guitars. I'll listen to it more of course as I like their tunes!

Since they make so much effort for the drums to sound like trip hop drums, why not have the dude play an electronic kit? Because acoustic drums certainly don't sound like that lol.

On another note, I think Tim's style is now transitioning to a Japanese metal band/starring in an Anime kind of thing lol.

The first thought I had was "D00d is a whole Korean boy band member, it's all good tho".

 

[neurosis]

Thanks. That sounds like the hard way to write a song to me, but he's like a music genuis and can probably read/write well. Probably hears it in his head or something.
- I gotta look into his history more. I'm more interested in the HOW they look at things/guitar/writing and learned stuff and do techniques than learning the song but this one looks like it'd be fun to try. - Sometimes you get those 'lightbulb' moments and it makes you better. - I remember a long time ago some Guitar World lessons that were supposedly passed down from Hendrix to a freind of his of something like that and it was a huge evolution in my own way of looking at everything on guitar. I imagine theres a bunch of stuff like that in this song, especially for nimbly stuff.
- I always warm up by playing Bouree in E min by Bach (one of the few things I still remember) and it has similar hand stuff going on. If I play it really light and nimbly it's like this songs type of hand movements going on. This song is way harder than that though. Probably a level 10 on the classical rating system (it only goes to 8) and I think Bouree is rated a 6 or 7 or something. I only have my 7 string though and I think with this one I'd need the real deal nylon to pull it off. I don't think I could play this song clean or up to speed at all, but at least I'd have a nylon string! : )



Thanks for the info on that. Always been interested in the Multac, the Keisel one's and pretty much any 7 string versions. I like the thin body stuff too. I want a 7 string but this one has that high access and thin body, plus for this work the low string may not be missed. What I really really want for an acoustic/ nylon someday is an Emerald though.

I can't find the video where he breaks down some of his flow in Ableton but here's a sample.



Much of it is writing on the computer, then trying to emulate the midi for whatever parts are relevant on the guitar. He combines synth, keys, pads, drums... whatever feels right and incorporates some of that into his approach on the instrument.
I like the flexibility of Ableton and do similar stuff for bears and noise with my projects. Most of my guitars are looped. I have done processing back and forth of sounds because I am interested in how sound degrades and what artifact come from it but the way he does it, where he will take what's in the computer and transpose it for guitar is definitely new. Intuitively he's found a workflow that is partly informed by what the machine can do and then he takes the challenge of forcing the guitar to do the same. I think that's really cool and quite frankly shows the potential of what computers can do int he right hands. He's definitely really creative with his approach.

 

[DiezelMonster]

I guess I just don't like music anymore.

This is the funniest thing I've read today, and the most relatable.

 

[DiezelMonster]

it might be that I'm old but this is incredibly boring to me. I also haven't heard a lot of Polyphia because I'm just not interested, but after watching this I watched a few other videos and I'm just bored......

 

[ItWillDo]

I don't think anyone here is overly-condemning this kid for his personal aesthetic or the general attitude of the band. But if we can be honest with ourselves we can admit that the majority of those who find Tim or Polyphia as a whole to be compelling - not on their instruments but as personalities - are probably not that far north of 18 years old, if at all.

I think that probably applies across all generations. Kids around 16-24 are quite impressionable and still searching for a way to express their identity and (non-)conformity:

I think for every one of these pictures, you can probably make a fairly educated guess on the what the associated music style is they listen to, purely derived on aesthetic.