A Halloween look at Black Sabbath
with the song example track

"Iron War Pigs from HELL"
(instrumental for instructional purposes only)

Play

Track notes:  This track is a fun little mix of Iron Man eque parts and War Pig eque parts.  It's all about timing in most cases.  The riffs themselves though not difficult on paper, are a little tricky as far as technique goes sometimes.  This is due the the "little things".  Sliding into chords and or off time hits etc....

We recorded this song with myself and Erica Reese my long time friend and co-transcriber on guitar, and Mick the Mixer on bass.  We pretty much played it live except for one part in the middle where I went back in later and added some switch flicks for an air raid effect...  And of course the evil voice that opens the song was tracked as well.  That voice by the way is Erica, slowed and detuned.  Female voices often are the best for slowed down EVIL sounding things.  Male voices tend to be too low to begin with and come out muffled.  Just a tip for your Halloween festivities should you want to record something EVIL...

I think the effect of us sitting in the same room and playing live really adds life to the song track I think.  I always enjoy doing as much live recording as possible.  Tracking has its plus sides but sometimes lacks the vibe of a good live jam...

I encourage everyone to take the advice that I give on the video lesson and try your hand at mixing some modes and tweaking your favorite power chord riffs much the way I did with the Iron Man riff on this song track..  I give a great example of this at the end of the video lesson.  Where I take the Iron Man riff and re-write it on the spot using the Phrygian mode instead of the Aeolian mode that it's typically played with.. 

This track and these lessons that I do in general are all about exploration and you messing around with stuff.  So have fun, and I hope everyone enjoys the song and the lesson...  Oh and Happy Halloween, stay safe everyone, we need you back here for our tweaked Holiday music lessons in November and December.... - Jeff Fiorentino, JFRocks.com