Current/Last Thing You Listened To?

[Dragon Lord]

Comatose - Skillet

[Moonface]

Endless Summer (Album) - The Midnight

Never heard of this band before, but I learned last night that one of the streamers I watch at night plays one of the songs from this album during their opening waiting room countdown, and I always liked the song but assumed it wasn't by a label artist because of DMCA so assumed I wouldn't find the actual song itself. Last night though I just decided to check the song with Shazam and was surprised it gave me a result. I didn't finish this album yet but I've enjoyed it so far and I'm definitely checking out their other stuff after this one.

[Maniakkid25]

Panic Attack -- Dream Theater

...Well, not really. I was listening to the isolated bass part of Panic Attack. Now, I'm no sound engineer, but I am a musician, and I take two things away from listening to this bass.

1. He's attacking the strings HARD because
2. He's playing REALLY fast.

I know, 7 years of music training well spent. But seriously, knowing a little bit of guitar mechanics, its impressive that the bassline is intelligible. See, John Myung is largely a fingerstyle player. That means that he strums the strings with his fingers rather than a guitar pick. This puts him WAY at a disadvantage playing fast metal lines, because there's so much more movement and coordination going into it. That's not to say it can't be done (just ask Iron Maiden), just that it's harder. This is why, when you see him live, he's often playing the faster parts with three fingers rather than the standard two; it's the only way he can keep the speed up.

Panic Attack is a relentless song that storms in with constant 16th note rhythms at 126 BPM. He's playing 8.4 notes a second in the intro alone. At those speeds, you're goddamn right he's gonna be attacking those strings! He needs to in order to get any note at all to register to your ear. And yet, when you hear the isolated bass part, it sounds sloppy to a layman. There is a LOT of string buzz in this part, specifically in the midrange of the instrument. But, clearly, the professionals thought it was fine, because that's the studio recording take. And knowing the small amounts I do, I think its a very impressive part.