What are some cliches in guitar dominated music that you can't stand?

[rectifryer]

Insincere, uninspired music. Pretty much everything in this thread can be done tastefully but, more often than not, ends up being abused.

I love shredding, but I don't like most shredders.

I love polyrithyms, but I don't like most djent.

I love breakdowns, But I don't like most core bands

I love great singers, but I don't like most prog singers.

etc.

The point I am getting at, is that most bands are one trick ponies that fail to expand their toolbox to the point of being capable of writing a song. I know that sounds harsh, but I remember a time when bands were expected to do all of the above and do it well without awkward transitions. The only difference is that today everyone is playing ERGs and singers are just another rythmic tool.

GET OFF MY LAWN!!!

 

[JustMac]

Wearing ANY kind of dress-up

Makeup or facepaint

The CrabJump/CrabHeadbang thing
Breakdowns

clean guitars that drone in the middle of djent songs

Really AmericanEmo clean vocals

Doing a bandpic by looking glum or 'metal' in dark clothes in the middle of a foresti

 

[oompa]

Too much Djent and Polyrhythms. It is so obviously mal-placed and forced sometimes I just wonder: when did metal become figure skating, where there are a few moves you have to include in your run to pass.

And by now nearly all the mathematical combos of pauses and notes in 3-7/4 have been covered It seems so desperate and it just oozes of non-creativity. It was cool with Meshuggah and Fear Factory about 20 years ago, now it is a cliché imo. Get rid and start making something unique and creative instead.

 

[Stuck_in_a_dream]

Several things annoy me, the most annoying are in the composition of songs or solos. A glaring example, when a song takes a sudden stylistic detour that was not at the least expected or implied. To me this is anticlimactic, and to borrow a Wooten's phrase, it's like breaking the groove, you just don't do it

A more specific example of this situation, and it's actually from one of my beloved guitar heroes, John Petrucci. In this one song, damage control, out of his solo album, here:


The song starts with the most evil, sickest sounding dissonant melody I've ever heard, developing really nicely until the middle section, when I suddenly feel like being hit in the face by a truck (check at 5:23 in youtube video) with a straight AC/DC, ZZTop, hillbilly section. I can bet real money it was inspired by Steve Morse, but I digress. Without this silly middle interlude, the song could have been easily the sickest I've ever heard from JP.

This reminds me a little bit with the ending to Rush's "La villa strangiato", check at 6:15 mark, where they over indulge themselves on one of the licks that I thought sounds silly and it completely contradicts, even negates, the mood of the song up to that point IMHO. This song has, IMHO, Alex Lifeson's best solo, and aside form the ending, could have been just epic.

 

[TheKindred]

...we love physics and astronomy, and tend to write a lot of lyrics about them.

...you may consider writing about more universally understood/felt topics.

How much more Universal could he get?

 

[Insinfier]

This thread makes me feel bad about liking metal.

 

[InfinityCollision]

When someone who can't play a solo/shred says "That guy is just paling scales". Well no ....ing shit!!!

There is so much more you can do besides just "playing scales".

 

[Given To Fly]

Several things annoy me, the most annoying are in the composition of songs or solos. A glaring example, when a song takes a sudden stylistic detour that was not at the least expected or implied. To me this is anticlimactic, and to borrow a Wooten's phrase, it's like breaking the groove, you just don't do it

A more specific example of this situation, and it's actually from one of my beloved guitar heroes, John Petrucci. In this one song, damage control, out of his solo album, here:


The song starts with the most evil, sickest sounding dissonant melody I've ever heard, developing really nicely until the middle section, when I suddenly feel like being hit in the face by a truck (check at 5:23 in youtube video) with a straight AC/DC, ZZTop, hillbilly section. I can bet real money it was inspired by Steve Morse, but I digress. Without this silly middle interlude, the song could have been easily the sickest I've ever heard from JP.

Same thoughts exactly! I'm glad he got Jaws of Life right!

 

[Necris]

Needlessly complex riffs that seem to serve to stroke the ego of the guitarist rather than the song itself. Sometimes simpler is better.

Lots of guitarists have this problem and I'm certainly not immune to it, occasionally I'll catch myself and dial things back a bit.

 

[gh0Zt]

Sweep picking.. THERE ARE OTHER TECNIQUES IM JUST SAYING

And screaming in a song coz you know your band doesnt know how to play heavy enough

 

[coreysMonster]

Random-ass chromatic solos.

I'm looking at you, Kerry King.

EDIT: Also, not playing the solos live the way they are on the album. I love Meshuggah and Fred Thordendal, but man the solos he plays live sound so awkward sometimes.

 

[Abaddon9112]

I don't get why so much of the "melodic" metal out there is based around the same old cliche chord progressions. Example: there's a progression I hear in a lot of metalcore that I'm sure most are familiar with. It's basically the same progression as the intro to the Offspring song "The Kids Aren't Alright", only played on the ubiquitous Schecter tuned to Drop C. I've heard that, or some variation, SOOOO many times that I can't bear to listen to it anymore, and will immediately skip to the next song if it's in a song on Spotify or Pandora or whatever. It's what I instantly associate with "melodic" metal whenever someone mentions that term, and is the main reason why I dislike that genre as much as I do.

 

[groverj3]

People who dislike melodic music because it doesn't have enough "br00tz" for them.

People who dislike shreddy solos, even when there's melody in them and they're well composed (blues nazis, etc.).

People who prefer their music to be produced like shit. I understand nostalgia for a band and sometimes their early work isn't well produced, but I'll never get why some people actually dislike clear production.

People who say "serve the song" all the time. Sure, you don't need to draw attention to yourself as the guitarist constantly, however, if you can play well... then play well and blow people's minds. I think this is mostly from jealousy that most people can't play very well.

I think I just hate people. Just my opinions of course.

edit: I just realized I had already posted in this thread over a year ago

 

[wat]

Z----0-3-2-1-2-1-0-1--
Q----0-3-2-1-2-1-0-1--
Z----0-3-2-1-2-1-0-1--

^^^^^^These type riffs, usually palm muted. Just terrible. If it's diminished chords it's even worse. Such trendy, awful bullshit.


95% of sweep picking just sounds dumb

95% of tapping just sounds dumb

Pentatonic shredding- becausefewer available note choices is better! Thanks kirk hammett

Overuse of 3rds harmonies- there are more ways to harmonize than just using major and minor 3rds, just sayin'

Chugga-chugga, meedley meedley

 

[TheHandOfStone]

Sus2 chords - Technically they're fine, but people who don't understand music theory use them as a crutch for unleashing canned melodic tension. Also, because they're so ambiguous, people just chain them together in these exotic-but-not-really-exotic passages we've all heard by now. The slightly less annoying variation is to throw in some easy 153 minor and/or major chord voicings if you're in drop tuning.

Unneccessary Tapping Fills - When you run out of morse code patterns to chug through, and you still want to sound ca-rayyy-zeee, just weedle out some dissonant nonsense. Be sure to have some really odd note groupings that some double-blind experiment confirmed as the most annoying permutation possible. Also, make sure you stay as far away from "keys," "modes," or "scales" as possible.

Diminished Scales/Arpeggios - The former is also known as the Octatonic Scale. These things are cool in moderation, but goddamn it, people just use them as the backbone of entire songs. I really don't like this: nothing ever resolves, everything just stays at MAXIMUM TENSION all the time, which of course means there's no tension. Death metal has been churning out these style riffs for almost 30 years now - it's time to find a new scale to

Tritone Breakdowns -

 

[Asrial]

I love me some seriously heavy riffing, but a lot of guitarists nowadays seem to confuse and/or mix "groove" with "riff".
Also, I know you can do tappy noodly stuff and you listened to one Allan Holdsworth album, but your binary "riff" (which isn't even a riff) isn't getting better by a small phrygian tap-noodle.
Lastly, I know it might hurt your artistic merit, but can you PLEASE add a common theme to your pieces? I get you like to be prog, but there's a reason the big league guys are so memorable; they got a memorable, common theme in their songs! Not saying chorus, just a "repeated element" in some sense, like a sequence of riffs or a repeated phrase.

 

[InHiding]

There is so much more you can do besides just "playing scales".

I would assume that when people say that they mean staying within a single scale (when background allows you to switch) and mostly playing scale patterns progressing up or down, not really utilizing stuff like bends or vibratos to make it more interesting. Just guessing though.

 

[bschmidt]

for me its sweep picking. sure its a tricky show-boaty technique, but the do-weedle-do sound it makes adds nothing 99.998% of the time to a song.

secondly, excessive wah pedal. Thanks kirk hammett.

 

[tedtan]

How much more Universal could he get?

 

[blaaargh]

People who prefer their music to be produced like shit. I understand nostalgia for a band and sometimes their early work isn't well produced, but I'll never get why some people actually dislike clear production.

People who say "serve the song" all the time. Sure, you don't need to draw attention to yourself as the guitarist constantly, however, if you can play well... then play well and blow people's minds. I think this is mostly from jealousy that most people can't play very well.

When people say serve the song it doesnt mean dont play fast. it just means make it enjoyable. Compare Brain Drill and Origin, for example. Both have crazy technical guitar parts, but Brain Drill is unlistenable compared to Origin because the guys in Origin know how to write songs with more going on than 250bpm meedleys.

Regarding production, its all about what fits. Sometimes if you've got ugly, grimy music you want ugly, grimy production to go along with the atmosphere you're trying to create. I personally tend to prefer those styles of music, and I'm not as interested in styles like tech death which tend toward super polished production - not necessarily just because of the production, I just don't find the music that compelling, though I'm sure production has a role in that.