About a song: Diamond Sleeps Tonight (2)

November 29, 2007

So, in the first installment I talked about the song’s origin and song structure.

Today, let me tell you about one of my favorite subjects — guitar parts.

As with any guitarists, I, too, dream of being recognized as a guitar player. And a big part of it lies in concocting your “signature sound.” A guitar player’s “sound” comes from many places — his touch, his equipment, his choice of notes, his sense of rhythm, and so on. But the most obvious part is the actual sound — guitar tone.

For all of this album, I used my vintage-style Fender Stratocaster and Laney LC50II guitar amp. A couple of years ago, I bought the Laney amp for — you guessed it, its tone. Marshall amps are synonymous with rock ‘n’ roll, but obviously I didn’t want to tread the same ground as everyone else. Or Mesa/Boogie amplifiers, which are more favored by modern rock players. You know the sound I’m talking about — thick, crunchy guitars that are very in your face. Some call it “nu metal” sound.

This song features an almost nu metal riff, so I had to be careful not to go for the same nu metal guitar tones, to differentiate myself from everyone else. A desire to be unique is very strong in me, so I genuinely lose interest in something when I realize that it’s already been done. (Though I also realize that everything’s been done — what I’m dong is simply a variation of what’s been done, not breaking a new ground)

All in all, I feel that my guitar tone on the album is about 60% of the way there. I managed to sound good (considering severely limited resources) and un-generic. But my tone is not unique or distinct by any stretch.

That said, I really love how Diamond sounds. I managed to avoid the nu metal trap but yet this song is brutal and heavy. I’m using chords and voicings I can’t recall hearing anywhere else — the song has a lot more than just pounding on the main riff over and over.

Another thing that’s not obvious is the bass’ relationship with the main riff. The bass never plays along with the main riff — a very obvious thing to do — for almost the entire song, until the very end. That’s why the outro has a real power, because that’s when finally the guitars and the bass are playing together to give the riff the extra punch.

The long middle instrumental section was also a lot of fun — and I plan to expand it even more when we play this song live. There’s a lot more room in there for exploring those riffs and stop-and-go material.

The solo shows my obvious influences from 80’s hard rock/hair metal. I’m a big fan of Richie Sambora’s playing, to tell you the truth, and I feel like this solo shows that influence quite well. His solos are always melodic and well-structured, but contains some flash. What I’m doing here is nothing very difficult, but I did want a sense of energy and urgency to come through. I had a lot of fun going for those big vibratos (a must for giving a solo a sense of passion) and tapping (for that flutter effect in the middle).

All in all, this song was very fulfilling for me as a guitar player. As I said the last time, I think this song gives an indication of where I want to go, instead of where I’ve been, which is most of what this album is based of.

Next week, I’ll tell you about the lyrics. Stay tuned!

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