Obsidian is the gateway to the dark art of extreme metal rhythm guitar. Abandon all hope ye who enter!
From the blistering speeds and brutal precision of thrash and death metal, to the atmospheric foreboding of black metal, Obsidian decodes the technical foundations and musical vocabulary of rock’s most extreme musical mutation.
Written, played, and hosted by John Taylor, Obsidian is a comprehensive and meticulously sequenced introduction to extreme metal rhythm guitar. Core topics include muting and downpicking, alternate picking technique, foundational patterns like the gallop and reverse gallop, pedal tone riffs, and more. The seminar also provides an in-depth exploration of John’s astounding hyperpicking technique, capable of alternate picking speeds exceeding 300 bpm sixteenth notes. The analysis includes specific insights from John and Cracking the Code research to help you unlock this ability in your own playing.
The lessons are supported by four of John’s expertly crafted and seriously catchy full-length songs and etudes, and over 70 musical examples with tablature.
Is Obsidian right for you? Watch the introductory chapter below and find out!
Dive into the fascinating funtion of one of the most fundamental joints in instrument technique: the wrist.
We sat down with Dr. Aviva Wolff at the Hospital for Special Surgery here in New York for a conversation about the inner workings of the wrist. Dr. Wolff is a member of the Leon Root Motion Analysis Laboratory, where they use high-speed motion capture to study motor function for research and rehabilitation. She’s also an occupational therapist with extensive experience treating elite musicians through a parternership with the famed Juilliard School.
In our coversation, we discuss the group’s research on everday human activities which use transverse or “in-between” axes of the wrist known as the dart thrower motions. Although traditionally less well described than the axes of deviation and flexion/extension which feature prominently in orthopedic study, it turns out that the dart axes may have a trick up their sleeve: strength, stability, and speed.
Tantalizingly, these wrist motions may offer greater performance to the musicians who use them, going at least part of the way to answering age-old questions about differences in ability from one player to another. In our conversation, Dr. Wolff explains the group’s fascinating work in research, in particular their applied focus on rehabiliation of musicians.
Dive into harmony and technique with a boundary-pushing metal stylist
Brandon is one of the most exciting players in modern metal. As lead guitarist and key songwriter of the band The Black Dahlia Murder, he mixes a decidedly retro appreciation for the classics (and neo-classics!) with an adventurous sense of harmony that adds excitement at every turn.
Within a metal context Brandon has developed an almost jazz-like harmonic sensibility that incorporates adventurous arpeggiated sounds and clever modulations. In the conversation we visit a number of these inventive ideas, from the use of major add2 arpeggios and the melodic minor mode in metal, to borrowed classical harmony like Neopolitan and augmented sixth chords.
Mechanically, Brandon is not just a great player but also a uniquely intuitive observer of his own technique. Unlike most Cracking the Code interviews where we observe through conversation, in this one we explicitly discuss topics like joint motion and escape motion. More often than not, the Magnet footage reveals that Brandon’s guesses about what’s happening are indeed what is actually happening, even when it comes to the kind of subtle changes that occur during high-speed, high-gain playing.
Tie all this together with Brandon’s relentlessly hooky melody writing and signature swoopy vibrato, and it makes dropping the needle anywhere on a Black Dahlia Murder record one of the most engaging and entertaining guitar listening experiences you can have.
The 1-hour-and-twenty-minute interview features 67 musical examples with tablature, including a complete transcription of Brandon’s rhythm parts and solo on “How Very Dead” by the Black Dahlia Murder.
