black sabbath style

7/25/2019 Black Sabbath Style

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The Original Masters Of Metal

81ack Sabbath are often seen as being the irst true

metal band and are cited as being a major influence by

the likes of Soundgarden, Metallica and Pantera. The

band was formed in 1967 in Birmingham, England, by

Ozzy Osbourne (vocais), Tony lommi (guitar), Terry

'Geezer' Butler Ibass) and Bill Ward drurns). originally

starting life as Earth, a jazz/blues band, but later

changing their na me and adopted a heavy sound. The

band stormed into the charts in

1970

with their self-

titled debut album, and from the

start

they were thrust

into the rock super league, alongside Deep Purple and

Led Zeppelin.

Throughout the

7 05,

Sabbath produced

hit

after hit

following lhe release of

Paranoidin

1970, which included

the hit single of the same title, a track that, along with

Deep Purple's 'Smoke On The Water' , has to feature as

one of the most famous and most copied guitar riffs of

ali time, The album also included the live-crowd pleaser

'War Piqs'. which was later covered by die-hard Sabbath

fans Faith No More. Ozzv's stage antics SOOI1 became

legendary, along with his alcohol and drug excesses. He

even bit the head off a bat while onstage, and lhe whole

band had to be treated for rabies

Wilile

Paranoidwas

seen as Sabbath's peak, they

followed its release with

Masters Of Reality

in 1971

and

Volume IVin

1972, the tatter containing tne baneo

'Chanqes. which showcased Ozzy's vocal abilities

bnlliantlv.

1973

saw the release of

Sabbath B oody

Sabbath

which was hailed as a metal masterpiece

and the title traek of which is possibly one of the best

Sabbath tracks ever written.

Sabbath also took the US by storm and in 1975 they

released

Sabotage.

Although Ozzy left briefly in 1977,

he was back in the driving seat for the 1978 release

Never Say Die. However, the band became unstable,

as did Ozzy himselt. and soon after this he let the band,

going on to have a turbulent yet incredibly successful

solo career, especially in the US, leaving Sabbath the

job of trying to relive their former glory with a string of

new frontmen.

The first in the hot seat was Ronnie James Dio.

Originally with Ritchie 81ackmore's Rainbow, Dio had

a style of

his

OWI1

and studiously avoided copying Ozzy.

With him

at

the mie, Sabbath released just two studio

alburns.

Heaven And HeI

in 1980 and

Mob Rules

in

1981, although Dio also appeared on the classic live

album

Live Evit

reeased in 1983, He later returned for

the

1992

alburn

Dehumanizer.

The other notable frontman to join Sabbath was

Deep Purple's lan Gillan, although Gillan's vocais

weren't real y suited to Sabbath's style and this musical

relationship was short-Iived.

More reeently, Ozzy has reunited with his old

bandmates and has embarked on a string of successful

tours. Sabbath have also joined Ozzy for a double-

headline gig with Ozzy's solo band on the incredibly

successfulOzzfests.

Although some periods of Sabbath's career could,

have sliqht tinges of Spinal Tap about them, for the

most part Black Sabbath have remained at the forefront

of lhe heavy metal scene. This band is possibly the

biggest influence within the heavy metal genre, and

with an ever-growing fan base their influence is

unrivalled to this day.

23


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Giants Of Metal

Suggested Listening

Paranoid

Sabbath Bloody Sabbath

Masters Of Reeiitv

Sound Advice

One of the most important things to remember about

Tony lommi's style is his fairly straightforward approach

to writing riffs. For a r iff to be great. it doesnt have to

be complicated:

it

has to grab the iistener's attention

and be memorable. lornrni's riff technique is very

heavy, and his playing is powerful, yet simple. whiie

his lead technique is also fairly basic. (He ost the tips

of two of his fingers in an accident and had to make

new fingertips himself ) His style rel ies mainly on the

minor pentatonic and blues scales.

In terms of equipment. Tony favours Gibson SGs,

which he used to run through Orange amps, often

aided with a fuzz pedal, although these days he

prefers to use Laney amos. For the track on the CD,

I used an Emie Ball/Musieman Axis Sport run into a

Cornford MK50 head. This went into the desk via a

Palmer Speaker Simulator and a Joe Meek mie pre-

amp. I also used a Line 6 distortion modeller to add

some fuzz to the solo, plus a toueh of eeho from a

Line 6 Echo

PO.

The thing to remember is that this is vintage metal,

so the sound is 00t as distorted as vou miht think. A

lot of the sound will come from how hard vou pick, so

remember to play quite hard.

4

Performance Notes

For this track, I tried to look at as many facets of Tonv's

playing as possible. The whole tune uses drop-D tuning.

The opening riff is very slow and powerful and is inspired

by the classic Sabbath track 'Into The Void'. The tempo

jumps

up to 145bpm for the seeond

riff.

After a short

intro, Tony launehes into a power-chord riff that is similar

to lhe riff from

'P arano id ',

and when

p laying m eta l th e

power ehord (first. fifth. first) is a very important tool.

The chord here is ambguous and can work over major

or rninor tonaiities, as it has no third. (The third often

sounds muddy vvhen payed with distortion, and a power

.

.. , : ,-

chard without one has a elearer, crisper sound.)

The solo here includes many of Tonv's signature

licks and is based pretty much around the D minor

pentatonic scale. The solo itself is fairly straiqhtforward

and uses some of Tonv's classie pentatonic sequenees.

Tryto study lhe string bends closely, as in some plaees

I have played them slightly flat in arder to add a little

tension. Also, take care with the pre-bend phrases.

The track ends with some arpeggios based around

Dm7 and Cm7. This section is inspired by the outro of

'VVar Pigs' and is pretty simple - just make sure the

notes of the chords are left to sustain and aren't ehoked.

Style Notes

Main scale used: D minor pentatonic - D F G A C D

Don't use too much distortion: try to rely instead on

a powerful pieking hand

Piteh some of the bends slightly flat


3/7

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Giants Of Metal

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black sabbath style

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