HEVYDEVY FORUMS

Hey Guys, i saw a video of Devin solo n hes pretty amazing. Does he have any bands that he does lead guitar in?? Like i like his stuff, and he has a great voice, but i wanna see him work the fretboard more like he did in the video ;v).

He shreds on The New Black. And a little in DTB - see the Synchestra DVD for all your your shredding needs.

I second the Synchestra-DVD-hint. Also you may check out the album version of "Deep Peace" (on the album Terria).

But the best bit about Devin's playing is that although he has some great shredding skills, he uses his power for the forces of good, not the forces of evil and only does so tastefully

To be honest I don't think that he writes the best solos. He can play good leads, but there is more to writing solos than sweeping, shredding, tapping, etc. Maybe it's just not something that he has worked on as much as his other songwriting skills. Of course, he is still better than a ton of other guitarists, and his solos are all the better because he doesn't do them very often. I think his solo on "Wrong Side" is a step in the right direction. Sounds a little more pre-meditated to me...

I remember reading in an interview that Devin was more interested in rhythms than improvised lead stuff. The only Devin guitar solo I really like is the one in Deep Peace =\

fragility wrote:But the best bit about Devin's playing is that although he has some great shredding skills, he uses his power for the forces of good, not the forces of evil and only does so tastefully

Exactly.

I recommend that anyone who likes Devin only for his 1337 gu1t4r sk1llz digs deeper into the music and they will be up for a pleasant surprise

danceswithchickens wrote:To be honest I don't think that he writes the best solos. He can play good leads, but there is more to writing solos than sweeping, shredding, tapping, etc. Maybe it's just not something that he has worked on as much as his other songwriting skills. Of course, he is still better than a ton of other guitarists, and his solos are all the better because he doesn't do them very often. I think his solo on "Wrong Side" is a step in the right direction. Sounds a little more pre-meditated to me...

The middle part of Deep Peace is some of the best rock music I've heared in the past 15 years. Simply outstanding.

He's no Kerry King though.

True, "Deep Peace" is an obvious exception. But it's also relatively simple. His more complex solos seem to have less form and more flash.

danceswithchickens wrote:To be honest I don't think that he writes the best solos. He can play good leads, but there is more to writing solos than sweeping, shredding, tapping, etc. Maybe it's just not something that he has worked on as much as his other songwriting skills. Of course, he is still better than a ton of other guitarists, and his solos are all the better because he doesn't do them very often. I think his solo on "Wrong Side" is a step in the right direction. Sounds a little more pre-meditated to me...

I remember reading an interview with the Dev where he stated that he doesn't consider himself to be that good at improvising and writing solos, so there ya go.

I totally agree with you, there's more to a solo than just playing fuckin' fast and using all the techniques you mentioned. And that's what I love about "Devin the composer": The SONG is what matters. The Synchestra DVD showed me that this guy can sweep like hell, but instead of using it as often as possible just because he CAN play it, he thinks of the song first, and that is one of the things that set him apart from other guitarists with guitar skills on a comparable level. He doesn't play that much lead, but when he does, it normally really adds something to the song.

I like guitarists who use leads sparingly because it makes you notice them more. Like on Zero Hour's Towers of Avarice theres only one real solo on the whole album and it just copletely stands out, whereas if you have a band like Soilwork or Arch Enemy who just throw 2 solos into every song it doesn't really matter how good they are because they dont really completement the song and there are so many of them.

Riffs are so much better than solos. A riff can make or break an entire song, whereas a solo is only temporary and can be ignored. I hardly hear any solos in any song, because when I listen to music, I focus more on the riff.

For example, take Let Go, a song by Chimaira. The song itself is not that special, not that good. But that riff! God! Brilliant, makes me come back to the song over and over! I've never had a solo do that!