Metal Analysis

One of my guitar / songwriter students is into metal, esp. Avenged Sevenfold. My roots are mainly in classical, hard rock, funk, “world” and avant-garde jazz, but I have a appreciation for metal.

To apply the music he’s been studying, i.e., scales, chords, harmony, soloing, etc., he has been writing material for his band (and his girlfriend!).

To put it all together we’ve been dissecting his favorite group, Avenged. As a point of interest, here are some common compositional elements Avenged shares with many classical greats, such as Beethoven, Mozart, Wagner, and many others.

• Main theme (motif)
• Theme and variation
• Dynamics through volume (loud, soft, in between)
• Dynamics through orchestration (shred – acoustic guitar: full orchestra – partial orchestra
• Tempo changes
• Rhythmic variation: simple, complex, spacious, dense
• Timbre (tone) variations through instrument attack or instrument changes
• Tonal center changes from relative major to relative minor and vice versa
• Different phrase lengths to increase contrast between sections
• Pitch contrast: smooth or extreme variations between high and low pitches
• Smooth sectional transitions: some change letting the listener know that something new is coming. This is accomplished in many ways, i.e., different chords, different rhythm, varied melody or accompaniment, space where there wasn’t any, sounds where there was space, no vocal where there was a vocal, etc

I guess these compositional elements are rather universal!

Marty B.
Email
(818) 242-7551
http://buttwinickmusic.com

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