dragonforce?

2

Comments

  • Hebejebe
    Hebejebe Posts: 108
    Jellyrolls wrote:
    Play with soul? Lol.

    Anyways on the flipside.. I'd like to see these 'all time greats' play some of the shit herman li does. I will be the first to tell you that I am not really a fan of Dragonforce at all.. actually I agree with the stuff being said about them such as being lame, but I can get past that stuff and tell that they have 2 truly amazing guitarist.

    I would probably be right to say that half of you think that Mccready is a better guitarist than Herman Li. Not taking away ANYTHING from Mike, but no.
    It's all subjective and opinion. Sure Mike wouldn't be able to (as far as I know) play the stuff Herman does but straight technical ability doesn't make you a better musician and I'm not knocking Herman here.

    All to often people say stuff like "B.B King can say more with one note than <insert guitarist here> can with a thousand". It's certainly true that B.B. King can express himself fairly simply but he wouldn't be an apt replacement for Herman of he left the band :) Nor should technical ability be sneered at.

    It often appears that guitarists like Herman can't play with restraint, but then I've only heard him in Dragonforce, perhaps he is an incredible blues guitarist too.

    One of my friends is a huge Satriani fan, on one of the G3s he plays Red House and he makes a mess of it because of the fact he played stuff that simply didn't fit the song.
  • keeponrockin
    keeponrockin Posts: 7,446
    Jellyrolls wrote:
    Play with soul? Lol.

    Anyways on the flipside.. I'd like to see these 'all time greats' play some of the shit herman li does. I will be the first to tell you that I am not really a fan of Dragonforce at all.. actually I agree with the stuff being said about them such as being lame, but I can get past that stuff and tell that they have 2 truly amazing guitarist.

    I would probably be right to say that half of you think that Mccready is a better guitarist than Herman Li. Not taking away ANYTHING from Mike, but no.
    Better guitarist? I don't know.

    Better MUSICIAN? Hell yes.
    Believe me, when I was growin up, I thought the worst thing you could turn out to be was normal, So I say freaks in the most complementary way. Here's a song by a fellow freak - E.V
  • Sian-of-the-dead
    Sian-of-the-dead Posts: 8,963
    OUTHOUSE wrote:
    Dragonforce is lame.

    They all look like a bunch of dorks. Their lyrics are shit and there mastebatory guitar solos while fast are still boring.

    HAHA!!! GENIUS! I honestly couldn't have put it better myself :D

    I've unfortunately seen this band play live, twice, and they were abysmal.
    Been to this many PJ shows: Reading 2006 London 2007 Manchester & London 2009 Dublin, Belfast, London, Nijmegen & Berlin 2010 Manchester 1 & Manchester 2 2012...

    ... and I still think Drive-By Truckers are better.
  • transplant
    transplant Posts: 1,088
    Hebejebe wrote:
    It's all subjective and opinion. Sure Mike wouldn't be able to (as far as I know) play the stuff Herman does but straight technical ability doesn't make you a better musician and I'm not knocking Herman here.

    All to often people say stuff like "B.B King can say more with one note than <insert guitarist here> can with a thousand". It's certainly true that B.B. King can express himself fairly simply but he wouldn't be an apt replacement for Herman of he left the band :) Nor should technical ability be sneered at.

    It often appears that guitarists like Herman can't play with restraint, but then I've only heard him in Dragonforce, perhaps he is an incredible blues guitarist too.

    One of my friends is a huge Satriani fan, on one of the G3s he plays Red House and he makes a mess of it because of the fact he played stuff that simply didn't fit the song.
    really good post. You are right, technical ability shouldn't be sneered at but it is. This thread alone proves it. Somehow if you are known as a technical guitarist, all the sudden you aren't a good musician. I sure hope you are not implying that Satriani can't play a blues lick :)
  • MCG
    MCG Posts: 780
    I find Dragonforce to be impressive, however I don't dig their melodies. If you just like to listen to crazy fast guitar shit they are the band for you, just don't expect to be singing along.
    Which came first,
    the bad idea or me befallen by it?
  • i am a target
    i am a target Posts: 808
    Django wrote:
    They can play, but the music is just ridiculous.

    I'm amazed that younger rock fans take it seriously. Its sooo corny.

    who said anything about taking them seriously?
  • facepollution
    facepollution Posts: 6,834
    As talented as I think they are, I think their songs all sound too similar. Listening to a whole album of theirs in my mates car bored me to tears.
  • Rhinocerous Surprise
    Rhinocerous Surprise Posts: 4,423
    It's like they write music specifically for Guitar Hero games.
    Smokey Robinson constantly looks like he's trying to act natural after being accused of farting.
  • Jeremy1012
    Jeremy1012 Posts: 7,170
    transplant wrote:
    Somehow if you are known as a technical guitarist, all the sudden you aren't a good musician. I sure hope you are not implying that Satriani can't play a blues lick :)
    See my previous posts.

    Steve Vai, John McLaughlin, Sonny Sharrock, Paco De Lucia - some of the most capable musicians who have ever lived and can shred with the best of them.

    Dragonforce - A joke, which they are in on and probably laugh at anyone who doesn't see it. Yes, they can play fast. Are they musicians? No.
    "I remember one night at Muzdalifa with nothing but the sky overhead, I lay awake amid sleeping Muslim brothers and I learned that pilgrims from every land — every colour, and class, and rank; high officials and the beggar alike — all snored in the same language"
  • prytocorduroy
    prytocorduroy Posts: 4,355
    I don't know what to say about these clowns. Talented. But, yeah. The lyrics are so cheesy. Let's play a million miles a second. I'd much rather be defined by tone (which they have but it's lame) than speed/endurance (which is what they're known for).
  • Django
    Django Posts: 152
    pjalive21 wrote:
    you must think the same of Iron Maiden then...so embarassing let me tell you..please


    Yeah I do actually.
  • fall by the wayside
    fall by the wayside Jericho, VT Posts: 759
    These guys suck. They may have great guitarists, but definitely don't have any great songwriters. Their whole schtick is corny and contrived. And there is a key-tar in the band. Not impressive.

    On a funny side note I saw them live at Ozzfest a couple years ago. Me and my brother were in about the tenth row. The douche bag lead singer (who had a fan in front of him to blow his hair like he was in a bad 80's music video) was trying his best to get everyone in the crowd (which was only at about 30% capacity at this point) to stand for their set. To make a long story short we had a long day and didnt particularly like Dragonforce so we stayed sitting. Apparently we were the only ones in the vicinity of the stage who elected to stay seated and it caught the singer's eye. He walked to our end of the stage and motioned to us to stand up. Being respectful, we shook our heads no and remained seated. The singer then took the microphone and pretended it was his penis and made a stroking motion with it at us. Needless to say we decided to give him the finger. For the remainder of their set the singer would flip us off any time he came to our side of the stage. At one point he even got one of the guitarists to partake as well.

    It was amusing to say the least.
    9/13/98, 10/4/00, 4/29/03, 6/29/03, 7/2/03, 9/28/04, 9/29/04, 9/15/05, 9/16/05, 5/12/06, 5/13/06, 6/27/08, 6/28/08, 6/30/08, 10/30/09, 10/31/09, 5/15/10, 9/11/11, 9/12/11, 10/19/13, 10/21/13, 10/22/13, 10/25/13, 10/27/13, 9/26/15, 4/28/16, 4/29/16, 8/5/16, 8/7/16, 8/13/18, 9/2/18, 9/4/18, 9/26/21, 9/1/22, 9/2/22, 9/14/22, 9/18/23, 9/19/23, 9/7/24, 9/9/24, 9/12/24, 9/15/24, 9/17/24, 5/16/25, 5/18/25
  • keeponrockin
    keeponrockin Posts: 7,446
    Guitar playing isn't a sport.
    Believe me, when I was growin up, I thought the worst thing you could turn out to be was normal, So I say freaks in the most complementary way. Here's a song by a fellow freak - E.V
  • Them-Bones
    Them-Bones Posts: 518
    Dragonforce is really really bad
    "If my thoughts, dreams, could be seen, they'd probably put my head, in a guillotine, but it's alright ma, it's life and life only."
  • transplant
    transplant Posts: 1,088
    Jeremy1012 wrote:
    See my previous posts.

    Steve Vai, John McLaughlin, Sonny Sharrock, Paco De Lucia - some of the most capable musicians who have ever lived and can shred with the best of them.

    Dragonforce - A joke, which they are in on and probably laugh at anyone who doesn't see it. Yes, they can play fast. Are they musicians? No.
    It still doesn't make sense to me (how they aren't musicians) however, we can both agree that yeah, they are a joke and one they are clearly in on. oh, and I wasn't really referring to you in my earlier statement.
  • Jeremy1012
    Jeremy1012 Posts: 7,170
    transplant wrote:
    It still doesn't make sense to me (how they aren't musicians) however, we can both agree that yeah, they are a joke and one they are clearly in on. oh, and I wasn't really referring to you in my earlier statement.
    I see no musical value in playing fast for the sake of playing fast. That's the difference between Dragonforce and other technically accomplished but more musically worthwhile guitarists. As I said earlier, I am not opposed to flashy guitar playing if it is actually doing something in the song. Musical virtuosity is admirable only in so far as it is able to make beautiful music more impressive, not making emotionally vacuous nintendo music more impressive.

    Think how much technical skill and practice it took to compose and play this and yet it doesn't come across as self-indulgent or fancy for the sake of it, it comes across as beautiful but also technically impressive.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ddn4MGaS3N4

    Music is more than just sounds. Music is supposed to be sound created to stir the listener's emotions. When the only emotion stirred is contempt at how ridiculous it all is, is it really serving a purpose?

    Don't get me wrong, Dragonforce are fun for about 10 minutes and I doubt they take themselves seriously at all but people saying stuff like "these are some of the best guitarists ever and could beat any of the greats" is just ludicrous. I'm by no means the biggest Hendrix fan around but I wonder if we stacked up the guitar solos from Through the fire and the flames and All Along the Watchtower and see which one more people can sing along to. Music is not an expression of physical prowess or mechanical ability. Michael Angelo Batio is probably the fastest guitarist on earth. He is also probably one of the few who has never recorded a worthwhile note. He is an athlete, not a musician.
    "I remember one night at Muzdalifa with nothing but the sky overhead, I lay awake amid sleeping Muslim brothers and I learned that pilgrims from every land — every colour, and class, and rank; high officials and the beggar alike — all snored in the same language"
  • transplant
    transplant Posts: 1,088
    Jeremy1012 wrote:
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ddn4MGaS3N4
    that was pretty awesome.

    My point I am trying to make is that Dragonforce play power metal. They play to a fringe audience. there is no room for anything other that what they play. We both agree 10 minutes is about all we can take. However for somebody to play that technical, I cannot dismiss they can't play the pants off anybody as I simply don't know. What I do know is that there is extreme talent there (IMO). I would like to hear something outside their power metal comfort zone. I cannot dismiss them as musicians, I just can't. Most people in this thread have based on a YouTube clip (though to be fair, it all sounds like that :D).

    If I mention say Buckethead, people that don't have a clue wouldn't know that he covered Miles Sketches of Spain (and it can damn near bring a tear to my eye). They see some masturbatory solo on YouTube and dismiss him as a noodler. He has no soul blah blah blah when that simply isn't the case. I don't know your feelings on Satriani however Always With Me, Always With You is probably the most gorgeous guitar playing I have ever heard. I don't think there is one ounce of shred on Not Of This Earth.

    Michael Angelo is an ass clown. Hilarious you brought him up.

    Who ever thought a Dragonforce thread would go 3 pages?
  • fleahorse
    fleahorse Posts: 50
    no buckethead is a genious

    on the otherhand instead of listening to dragonforce i might as well listen to the harry potter theme over and over and over and over and over and over again
  • pjl44
    pjl44 Posts: 10,594
    I think they're a lot of fun. Saw them open for Killswitch a while back and really enjoyed their set. That said, it's tough to get through one of their albums...really dense...feels like a workout.

    It doesn't all have to be art, people. Sometimes I feel like Fantomas, sometimes I feel like DragonForce.
  • Jeremy1012
    Jeremy1012 Posts: 7,170
    pjl44 wrote:
    I think they're a lot of fun. Saw them open for Killswitch a while back and really enjoyed their set. That said, it's tough to get through one of their albums...really dense...feels like a workout.

    It doesn't all have to be art, people. Sometimes I feel like Fantomas, sometimes I feel like DragonForce.
    No one is saying there's anything wrong with harmless fun music. The only dispute here is between those who are saying the guys from Dragonforce are the best guitarists around and those of us who think that's ludicrous because hyper speed and video game effects does not a good guitarist make.
    "I remember one night at Muzdalifa with nothing but the sky overhead, I lay awake amid sleeping Muslim brothers and I learned that pilgrims from every land — every colour, and class, and rank; high officials and the beggar alike — all snored in the same language"

Categories