According to Mårten Hagström (Meshuggah): "There was this guy called Tim Stevenson. He had a forum called Tandjent Forum. He was an old-school fan. Me and Fredrik [Thordendal, Meshuggah guitarist] were really drunk after a show, and we were talking to Tim. Fredrik was trying to explain his guitar tone. Tim asked, 'Where do you get that chug from? What is it that makes it so special?' Fredrik said, 'You gotta make it go DJENT! DJENT! DJENT!' He was slurring and spitting all over the place."
This exactly. I’m glad they opened with Meshuggah but probably could have actually got into them a bit because it’s literally >Dimebag embraces solid state and Pantera makes Far Beyond Driven >Machine head exists >Meshuggah comes into being as some kind of groove/thrash/prog/industrial metal god of a band, invents djent, and completely changes all metal that exists after them
@@swarthygiant1463lol no, there's so much more and far more influential bands on so many other subgenres that had far more that shaped metal today, especially since a vast majority of metalheads hate djent with a couple of exceptions like mushuggah and Animals as Leaders. Hell the few 90's death metal bamds that made it and Nu Metal had wayyyy bigger impacts of metal than all of Djent combined.
@@jasonlauritsen5587I’m talking about the evolution of djent not metal as a whole. This video is on djent specifically they could have lingered on meshuggah longer
@@jasonlauritsen5587metalhead, here, that grew up on Cannibal Corpse. I wouldn't say most metalheads hate djent. It does find it's way into a lot of metal subgenres. I, personally, love all metal and I definitely enjoy the djent grooves.
The best part of Ian coming to the channel is the chemistry he and Scott share. The videos are just so fun to watch because they are clearly enjoying themselves.
if you like Clay Gober's playing you NEED to check out Antecedent by the Omnific, it's two bass player's and a drummer with a guest solo by Clay on the track
@@trebmto me the Bongo will always be their tone, but it’s cool because I see a lot Toby uses his dingwall whereas Matt will use the Bongo, also Matt is a huge fan of John Myung so that makes sense that he loves his Bongo
@@fnarglerI honestly think they look so stupid, but only when it's just a picture of the bass. The moment someone is holding/playing it, it looks sick
It's awesome that you're covering this genre. There are some amazingly talented musicians across this growing genre. Really great to see Simon get some love, too. Thank you for this.
You‘re absolutely right, Dingwall and Darkglass are the goto Equipment for such a modern sound. But there is so much more that you can do with a Dingwall, just listen to Leland Sklar. As a Dingwall owner I must say these instruments are very very special and of the highest quality.
Dingwall and Darkglass is the biggest bandwagon in recent years when it comes to gear. Yes you can do various things with them but the sad thing is the majority don't...
I am happy you chose Umanski, his work in intervals blows my mind with how fun, crazy, and melodic it can be. All of his techniques just seem effortless. His bass playthrough for 5HTP shows it
The genre name is indeed a reference to the sound of the palm muting. A band that could be considered pre Djent is SiKth. Amazing English band. James Leech is a monster bassist
I'm pretty sure lots of the older Djent guys like Misha Mansoor have mentioned being super into Sikth and Sikths music being shared all over on forums back in the day. Personally I'd say Sikth were more proto Djent than even Meshuggah in the early 2000s
The technique goes way back, probably even before the jazz era, the real difference is that they used it in short passages, or just one instrument in a verse or chorus... often for not having percussion instruments, so like an all guitar quartet or the like, but using it throughout the song with both guitars and bass all djenting pretty much the whole time came with the fast power metal verities. And well if they didn't you would just get mud, and djenting puts empty space between notes you wouldn't get at those speeds. Everyone used to say, and many still do, that Eddie Van Halen "Invented" tapping, but Stanley Jordan was doing it when eddy was in diapers, and plenty of others including Hendrix used a few taps here and there, but more to add notes to a chord you just couldn't reach any other way. There's a grainy old BW film of some Italian guy in the 20's playing most of his music tapping with both hands, and only using other styles sparingly to break up the monotony, and daaaang do his fingers fly!
@metalheadblues aye meshuggah were the biggest influence on the chug sound of djent and syncopation, but sixth were the influence on the widdlier riffs and stranger chords and tonalities of bands like Periphery
By a funny coincidence couple of weeks ago there finally appear the definitive CAFO bass cover, on a proper 8 string bass, with extreme tapping and everything.
Great to see Clay on here. I feel like he sometimes gets overshadowed by the guitarists in Polyphia. Not saying they aren’t amazing but Clay just blows my mind
I've never been more proud of my generation of musicians. I remember all the old heads hating on modern music as the mainstream was moving away from punk and grunge into nu metal and eventually metalcore. "It's all trash," "they have no skill," blah blah blah. Fast forward to today, and you have bands like Periphery, Animals as Leaders, Polyphia, Intervals & Plini who are some of my favorite bands of all time, and what they're able to do with their instruments just blows away what people thought was even possible 20-30 years ago.
Having watched Scott's videos since 2014 when it was just him doing jazz videos, this is such a change. I don't doubt that Scott's true love is jazz, but it's great to see him diversify into other genres these days despite it not being his "thing".
Great video! The intro and outro showing Meshuggah pushes me to kindly request something: what about a video on Dick Lövgren, and his sick bass lines! He is such a beast, so technical and accurate, and sooo relaxed even when playing crazy lines. He is also jazz musician. His contributions to Meshuggah song writing are from another planet. Bassists community doesn't give him enough justice... One of my basses is permanently tuned to practise his lines. I am learning so much thanks to him.
I listened to an interview with Simon Grove a while back. Not only is he the bassist for Plini, but he produces Plini's albums (as well as many other bands in the genre). He also has a very realistic sounding virtual bass instrument from Submission Audio. A very talented and interesting person.
Absolutely ! Dick Lövgren's technique is flawless, with groovy vibes despite the mechanical accuracy of his playing. He is a real monster, in the positive meaning of the word. At a Meshuggah concert, I always stand right in front of the stage a bit on the right to watch him playing. He definitely deserves more attention.
Haha, I found a tiny (bit more than a matchbox) pedal called a Djent. I bought it because i figured it to be the best pocket fidget thing ive seen. And now you introduce me to this incredible genre of music. So much to learn and thank you.
I always thought “Djent” was an onomatopoeia as you said Ian. My fave player has gotta be Eugene Abdukhanov from Jinjer. Absolute monster player, tone, groove, chords, melody, tapping…. The works.
I think doing a video on Fieldy from Korn would be a great one! I've heard some people rag on him but his percussive element adds so much to the bands' sound.
Totally agree! I came up in the new metal era and say what you eant about Fieldy, but his style was heavly imitaded by ALOT of bands of that era. Super underrated imo.
So happy to see a bit of more "extreme" Metal on the channel! This is awesome!!! And even happier to see you jam and nod your head to it! Hope one day you'll showcase some of the great technical Death Metal bassists, some are just outrageously good such as: Steve Di Giorgio, Dominic "Forest" Lapointe, Jared Smith, Colin Marston, Sean Malone, we could even include Alex Webster on this list. Keep the great work guys, your videos are amazing and your joy so communicative! Edit: start with Aninmals As Leaders, who don't have a bassist, still finding it good, great way to keep an open mind! :)
Strange but true. You know who has a signature Dingwall? Leland Sklar. Perhaps the furthest from djent of any human. It's a testament to how good the build is, no matter what you're doing with it.
I've been a fan of the channel for a long time, and have gained a TON of value over the years just listening to you talk Bass, but this has to be one of my absolutely favorite episodes of all time!!! 🤘😝🤘
I think you're right in that Clay is essentially using a double-thumbing technique with a pick / hybrid picking. Scott / Tim use double-thumbing (thumping) all the time, so Clay would need a way to do that technique when doubling the parts, but with a pick.
That first video of Nolly literally changed my life. That tone blew my mind when I first heard it and I've been chasing it ever since. I can't afford a Dingwall but I think I've found a great tone of my own with what I have. I use a Darkglass Harmonic Booster into a SansAmp and then into a Darkglass Photon. It gives me a ton of clarity and it's so heavy.
I never realized this until now, but I think Peter Steele from Type O sortof did a precursor of Djent in the way he played, especially live, and with his distorted bass often taking the role of the rhythm guitar (which essentially comes down to down tuning an octave). A very percussive, groovy, powerful, whipping style of guitar picking on bass in a rock/metal setting. Can't point to a specific song off top, but Type O fans will know what I mean I think.
"Djent is not a genre." - Periphery 🤣🤘 Djent, in all honesty, did start out as a joke name. Really, these bands were trying to play Progressive Metal, and that's what they did and still do. Periphery is the perfect example. Heavy riffs and jazz sax solos? Hell yes.
Saw Amos live with tesseract a few months ago. He played the whole show on a dingwall and mostly with a pick. Not what I expected but still a stellar show
As an NG3 owner, dingwall +darkglass or neural parallax x are the go-tos for this sound. Parallax and X have custom presets for Umansky, Toby Peterson-Stewart (The Omnific) Nolly, and Killian Duarte. Dingwall has basses with darkglass tone capsules with their active preamps. Combine all of this with their stainless steel strings and i can tell you first hand that the pieces fit perfectly together, the entire puzzle fits soooo well. Dingwall's craftsmanship is unlike anything ive ever seen, felt or played. Their multiscale was engineered for tuning low and playing low without the buzz or noise you would get on a similar multiscale instrument. You cant feel any sort of fret sprout, no fretboard seams, right out of the case it needed no set up. Intonation was spot on. Action was dialed in. All i had to do was plug it in and rip it. Easily hands down best bass ive ever played in my 20 years of bass. Its unlike anything ive ever played before. Sorry if this came off across as an ad for Dingwall but its now a daily driver of mine and its soooooooo good to play.
What I'd like to applaud is you guys is stepping away from what is familiar to you and actually learning new stuff. I thought Nolly is just a freak you show to your jazz-blues-funk oriented audience and here you are with modern metal bass chops harnessed
I've been listening to Grorr in the early 'tens, never thinking about them as "Djent". To me it "just" was a progressive rock/metal band using the aggressiveness and somewhat style of Korn, but also being much more melodic and intricate, like classic progressive rock bands from the 70's on, throughout the decades until now. Great video, absolutely loving it! And, yes, Allison is killing it with that T-Bird-Jazz-Bass thingie. Absolutely nailing the sound.
Awesome video. Alot of dudes I haven't heard of,, I'm a bit of a tourist in this genre. Djent is meshuggah to me at its core I hear it as anti groove. Turning simple rythems on their head. Twisting the intuitive way we think of groove. Like a 3d eye puzzle for the brain. Possibly to be seen as reinventing groove in the future, to be hopeful.
Great video, it's nice to see all these great players being mentioned! Now you got to talk about the Omnific, two great bass players with a drummer for one of the hardest djent bands there is 🤘
Warwick basses are also great for that djent sound. I own two Dingwall basses and I also own a Warwick. Slightly different attack, but highly effective from both brands of bass. Darkglass amps really push the djenty sound, or a Darkglass Microtubes pedal through a punchy but warm amp like an Ampeg would also give you that wicked sound. Great video...
Those Lollar T-bird pickups are some of the punchiest growliest pickups ever! I played a Strandberg California with Lollar T-bird pickups two or three years ago and my jaw was glued to the floor the whole time. I was this 🤏close to clearing out my tiny student bank account and buying that bass right there and then, but fortunately I had a friend with me who managed convince me that food and rent goes before buying a new bass.
Great Video! Of course Meshuggah is in there lol, but I wish you spoke more about their bass tone. Up until their last record, Dick would always tune his E string up to F. With the 8 strings tuned down to F, the bass and guitars are playing in the same octave. I always thought this was huge for their sound. The bass sound was always so metallic and cut so hard.
I'm glad these new bassists are getting the recognition they deserve! I learned so much from these guys that I love incorporating into my own music! #newera
Thanks guys another great video ! Some wicked playing going on ! House subsidence insurance questionnaires will now include a 'Djent bass player resident inclusion clause' !
I was there for the djent scene while it was happening, and while I’m pretty over it, you just can’t deny how sick those damn grooves are! Even though it’s a little overdone, the sound made an overall pretty cool impact on heavy music on the whole!
Simon Grove is an absolute beast. Saw Plini with him last week and can confirm he was playing the Le Fey. His sound and groove is amazing. As much as I love Plini (being a guitarist primarily), Simon's playing is the most impressive part of seeing Plini live to me.
I think you guys touched on it... djent is the new 80's fusion. Now, like then, it means so many different things! Plini is so very different from Periphery. One of my favorites was Adam Swan in Monuments ("The Amanuensis" is such a jaw dropping album!). To be honest, the bulk of the djent I listen to (and maybe the bulk of the music I listen to... period) is Animals As Leaders. While AAL doesn't have a "bass player", their bass lines can be WONDERFUL! It took me years... literally years... but I eventually learned how to slap the main riff to "Physical Education" and to this day it is one of my favorite grooves. When I think of djent my first thought is AAL, and from there I have heard many, almost all quite good, but AAL is what I listen to... almost every day. This is likely my inherent musical snobbery, as I haven't heard much, if any, other music in the last 10 years that reachers the level they have. And that, right there, tells you everything you need to know about my musical tastes! BUT.... even this old dog can learn new tricks... I do hear new things that entice the ear and get the creative juices flowing. Karnivool... I'm looking/listening at you. Opeth...OMG Opeth... where have you been all my life, and why am I just finding you now? I find quite a lot of crossover between some djent and prog metal, and clearly I blur the lines between the two, and there are clearly bands that can, and do, do both. Anyway... my brain has too many bass lines coursing through it right now. I need to stop and enjoy them.
I remember when I was a kid and a beginner at guitar, I came up with the hybrid picking technique. I think I even called it hybrid. I just could never play the technique well. Fast forward about a week after I came up with the concept, I was on UA-cam at the public library looking at videos and came across someone doing the technique and was blown away. I was kind of bummed that the technique already existed, but floored at the possibilities it opens up as a musician. 25+ years later, still can't hybrid pick to save my life, but I think i'll give another go at practice with it once I get my bass and guitar repaired next week.
The word "djent" became popular in the 2010s to describe the sound of palm muting on a guitar where you would choke up on the strings (about an inch towards the neck from where you would normally palm mute). For bassists "djent" is basically Dingwall + Darkglass distortion lol.
There are some incredibly talented musicians in djent. It's like prog rock and jazz combined. So many techniques all rolled into one genre or even the same song. My primary bass is a Modulus Graphite Quantum QSPi 6-string, which has a 35" scale, which is long enough for a clear tone on an open B. In one of my projects my tuning started out BEADGC, but by year 5 or 6 my tuning had changed to ADADGC, so it was essentially Drop A + Drop D over standard tuning.
Thanks so much for doing this video, guys! I don't often venture into this particular neck of the musical woods, but you took me straight to the fun part :) So much new music and cool players to check out. Cheers!
Fantastic job covering the genre. Do check out Conner Green's work for Haken as well he is probably my fave prog bassist of the moment with his super tasty playing.
The thing about a Dingwall, having now owned a 5 string combustion 3x for the last 6 months, isn't about the longer scale length providing more tension for down tuning...but it's the way the string rings and the overall tone of the longer scale that makes the lower strings respond in a way that is overall more punchy and clear vs a standard 34 or 35 inch scale bass. There's a spector bass shootout on YT between a standard scale 5 string and a multi scale 5 string of the same model bass and it solely compares how scale length affects the clarity of the lower strings. It solidified that if I want that clear sound, I needed to go multiscale. I was really skeptical about a Dingwall, to be honest, that I held out getting one for a few years because the high price tag made me dread the potential "buyers remorse" in case I didn't like it. I played quite a few examples of Dingwalls in the past but couldn't justify spending over $2K USD on a "crafted in china" bass. I had bought my first really expensive bass, a EBMM Stingray Special, almost 2 years ago in late 2022. I had so much buyers remorse from getting that bass, even though it felt, played and looked wonderful (for the most part), it just never sounded the way I pictured it would. It failed on me when I needed it most at my first gig, particularly the finish in the neck, had my hand glued to the neck because of the humidity my hand wouldn't slide on the neck. My two other basses (Ibanez and Cort, which I still have) did not have that problem that night, both that had slightly more gloss finish necks. Anyways, having dropped $2.5K USD on a bass that I didn't like gave me the financial opportunity to trade it in and get a bass I was really longing for, longer than the Stingray, which was the Dingwall. I traded my EBMM Stringray Special in for way under what they ended up selling it for as it provided a substantial down payment to get a dingwall. Forget about the multiscale for a second; this is hands down the best sounding bass I've ever picked up. Yes, it does the "modern metal" bass tone that is so desirable, but as mentioned in another SBL video with a dingwall, it does way more than just position 2 (bridge and middle in series; think MM stingray). Position 3 is a great J bass (both pickups) sound and position 4 is a lovely split pickup P Bass sound. It really is a desert island bass, as in, you don't need anything else as it covers so much tonal ground with the use of 3 pickups. The only buyers remorse I have is not getting one sooner. My personal experience aside, a multi-scale bass is an advancement in instrument technology that has improved the clarity of the lower strings in applications that need it most. It looks intimidating to play and most bassists say there isn't a learning curve. In my experience, the first few frets of the low string is an adjustment, especially if you have small fingers and need to stretch between frets you normally could reach, and any sort of chord becomes significantly more difficult if you're not at or near the 7th fret, but that is about it.
"Giant distorted piano!"-yes, exactly what i was thinking. Used to be big into metalcore (old PWD, As I Lay Dying, Killswitch) but past few years djent has grown on me. Love Born of Osiris, listen go check 'em out if you haven't!
I just picked up the new Zoom MS-60B+ and it has a djent setting that absolutely kills. It keeps the low end clean and fat but the upper end is so nasty. Great videos guys
I'd love to see you guys do an episode on Interpol. I don't see that style of music on your channel very often, and they have really interesting creative bass lines, especially in songs like Obstacle 1 or The New.
Another phenomenal bassist in the genre is Jared smith of archspire, very similar to Jacob umanski, I think he started as a guitarist before joining the band but pickup up finger style and mastered it, the other guitartists say he’s the best guitarist in the band lol
My favorite metal bass tone of all time is Jeff Matz with High on Fire. Would be awesome to see you guys breakdown his tone and experiment with the clean/dirty dual amp combo a lot of doom metal bassists use.
Would've loved to see a Jon Stockman shoutout on this video. He definetely was one of the godfathers of the modern metal bass tine all the way in 2009 with the production of the Sound Awake record!
i love how you guys cover all genres, not just the typical blues or jazz bass playing, love the content
🧡🧡🧡
Big time
First time see such approach. I`m in love with it hehe
According to Mårten Hagström (Meshuggah):
"There was this guy called Tim Stevenson. He had a forum called Tandjent Forum. He was an old-school fan. Me and Fredrik [Thordendal, Meshuggah guitarist] were really drunk after a show, and we were talking to Tim. Fredrik was trying to explain his guitar tone. Tim asked, 'Where do you get that chug from? What is it that makes it so special?' Fredrik said, 'You gotta make it go DJENT! DJENT! DJENT!' He was slurring and spitting all over the place."
This exactly. I’m glad they opened with Meshuggah but probably could have actually got into them a bit because it’s literally
>Dimebag embraces solid state and Pantera makes Far Beyond Driven
>Machine head exists
>Meshuggah comes into being as some kind of groove/thrash/prog/industrial metal god of a band, invents djent, and completely changes all metal that exists after them
@@swarthygiant1463lol no, there's so much more and far more influential bands on so many other subgenres that had far more that shaped metal today, especially since a vast majority of metalheads hate djent with a couple of exceptions like mushuggah and Animals as Leaders. Hell the few 90's death metal bamds that made it and Nu Metal had wayyyy bigger impacts of metal than all of Djent combined.
@@jasonlauritsen5587I’m talking about the evolution of djent not metal as a whole. This video is on djent specifically they could have lingered on meshuggah longer
@@jasonlauritsen5587metalhead, here, that grew up on Cannibal Corpse. I wouldn't say most metalheads hate djent. It does find it's way into a lot of metal subgenres. I, personally, love all metal and I definitely enjoy the djent grooves.
This is the comment I was going to type if I didn’t find it.
The best part of Ian coming to the channel is the chemistry he and Scott share. The videos are just so fun to watch because they are clearly enjoying themselves.
Appreciate that, it's always great fun talking music with Ian!!
The best part of this channel is they'll touch literally every style of music. No judgment.
@@ifgwelf that’s Djudjgement..🤣🤣🤣
No judjent whatsoever
if you like Clay Gober's playing you NEED to check out Antecedent by the Omnific, it's two bass player's and a drummer with a guest solo by Clay on the track
This is the comment I came to make! Long live the Bongo!
@@trebmto me the Bongo will always be their tone, but it’s cool because I see a lot Toby uses his dingwall whereas Matt will use the Bongo, also Matt is a huge fan of John Myung so that makes sense that he loves his Bongo
@@trebmbig bongo fan here. They're super underrated. Probably on account of their controversial design.
@@fnarglerI honestly think they look so stupid, but only when it's just a picture of the bass. The moment someone is holding/playing it, it looks sick
It's awesome that you're covering this genre. There are some amazingly talented musicians across this growing genre. Really great to see Simon get some love, too. Thank you for this.
Growing genre? It had its peak years ago and is a genre of the 2010s.
Simon is an absolute monster, LOVE his work with Plini!
You‘re absolutely right, Dingwall and Darkglass are the goto Equipment for such a modern sound. But there is so much more that you can do with a Dingwall, just listen to Leland Sklar. As a Dingwall owner I must say these instruments are very very special and of the highest quality.
I use them for everything from reggae to J-pop to thall lol
Amazing basses
Dingwall and Darkglass is the biggest bandwagon in recent years when it comes to gear. Yes you can do various things with them but the sad thing is the majority don't...
@cd0u50c9 they will be like Tesla's in the near future, f-ing ugly, outdated, and no one will want one.
Someone once asked Amos Williams what he thought of TesseracT being desribed as Djent,
His reply...
"I dunno, it's better than being called a c*nt."
Man of class.
based Amos
Clay Gober has one of my favorite sounds/styles in bass. It’s absolutely insane to listen to and fail miserably trying to replicate.
I am happy you chose Umanski, his work in intervals blows my mind with how fun, crazy, and melodic it can be. All of his techniques just seem effortless. His bass playthrough for 5HTP shows it
The genre name is indeed a reference to the sound of the palm muting. A band that could be considered pre Djent is SiKth. Amazing English band. James Leech is a monster bassist
I'm pretty sure lots of the older Djent guys like Misha Mansoor have mentioned being super into Sikth and Sikths music being shared all over on forums back in the day.
Personally I'd say Sikth were more proto Djent than even Meshuggah in the early 2000s
I would love for SiKth to get some love from these two. Some monster bass lines
The technique goes way back, probably even before the jazz era, the real difference is that they used it in short passages, or just one instrument in a verse or chorus... often for not having percussion instruments, so like an all guitar quartet or the like, but using it throughout the song with both guitars and bass all djenting pretty much the whole time came with the fast power metal verities. And well if they didn't you would just get mud, and djenting puts empty space between notes you wouldn't get at those speeds.
Everyone used to say, and many still do, that Eddie Van Halen "Invented" tapping, but Stanley Jordan was doing it when eddy was in diapers, and plenty of others including Hendrix used a few taps here and there, but more to add notes to a chord you just couldn't reach any other way. There's a grainy old BW film of some Italian guy in the 20's playing most of his music tapping with both hands, and only using other styles sparingly to break up the monotony, and daaaang do his fingers fly!
@@daved2352Meshuggah were djenting in the 90's
@metalheadblues aye meshuggah were the biggest influence on the chug sound of djent and syncopation, but sixth were the influence on the widdlier riffs and stranger chords and tonalities of bands like Periphery
Love how you guys choose Animals As Leaders... the band WITHOUT a bassist! 😂
By a funny coincidence couple of weeks ago there finally appear the definitive CAFO bass cover, on a proper 8 string bass, with extreme tapping and everything.
They do have bass tracks, recorded by, you never guessed it, nolly!
There's bass on the records and backing tracks. Nolly did most of it I think
I love AAL but they're not Djent... There's way better examples than them
@@vichaon yes they fucking are djent lol
Great to see Clay on here. I feel like he sometimes gets overshadowed by the guitarists in Polyphia. Not saying they aren’t amazing but Clay just blows my mind
So great you guys covered Simon Grove! I've seen him with Plini several times and he's just so impressive.
He's incredible. And on top of his playing, he did (does?) a lot of mixing for Plini's stuff
He does indeed, in fact I believe he co-produced the Mirage EP!
The outro to New Millennium Cyanide Christ is impossible not to want to mosh too. Its so groovy.
🤘🏻🤘🏻🤘🏻
My favourite Meshuggah groove is the opening groove before the pre-verse bass riff kicks in on ‘Humiliative’
I've never been more proud of my generation of musicians. I remember all the old heads hating on modern music as the mainstream was moving away from punk and grunge into nu metal and eventually metalcore. "It's all trash," "they have no skill," blah blah blah. Fast forward to today, and you have bands like Periphery, Animals as Leaders, Polyphia, Intervals & Plini who are some of my favorite bands of all time, and what they're able to do with their instruments just blows away what people thought was even possible 20-30 years ago.
Having watched Scott's videos since 2014 when it was just him doing jazz videos, this is such a change. I don't doubt that Scott's true love is jazz, but it's great to see him diversify into other genres these days despite it not being his "thing".
Great video! The intro and outro showing Meshuggah pushes me to kindly request something: what about a video on Dick Lövgren, and his sick bass lines! He is such a beast, so technical and accurate, and sooo relaxed even when playing crazy lines. He is also jazz musician. His contributions to Meshuggah song writing are from another planet. Bassists community doesn't give him enough justice... One of my basses is permanently tuned to practise his lines. I am learning so much thanks to him.
I listened to an interview with Simon Grove a while back. Not only is he the bassist for Plini, but he produces Plini's albums (as well as many other bands in the genre). He also has a very realistic sounding virtual bass instrument from Submission Audio. A very talented and interesting person.
Thank you for mentioning this re: Simon. Great bassist and producer
Do you know what song he was playing in that clip? That synthy wah thing was unreal
+1 for the Nolly course. Never heard of this style until then, and it was one of the classes that made me think the most.
🧡🧡🧡
Sad to see Dick Lövgren (Meshuggah's bassist) not mentioned by name. Not the flashiest player but still exteremly good (and underrated).
Djent on bass is just so satisfying.
Clay's hybrid picking inspired me to finally practice bass with the pick, and oh boy it's a lot of fun.
The line 6 tone is gnarly.
FINALLY!!!!! I’ve been anticipating this!!!!! Dick Lövgren (Meshuggah) is my all time favorite bassist!
Absolutely ! Dick Lövgren's technique is flawless, with groovy vibes despite the mechanical accuracy of his playing. He is a real monster, in the positive meaning of the word. At a Meshuggah concert, I always stand right in front of the stage a bit on the right to watch him playing. He definitely deserves more attention.
You know who doesn't get enough love here? Alex Webster; when is his video coming? ;)
I'm still hoping they'll do a video on death metal (or extreme metal in general) and cover Webster and Di Giorgio.
We may well do at some point, both Alex and Steve are absolute titans of metal bass and are incredible players/musicians!
@@devinebass Unfortunately, it's to late to get Sean Malone on board. The guy was from another world.
Haha, I found a tiny (bit more than a matchbox) pedal called a Djent. I bought it because i figured it to be the best pocket fidget thing ive seen. And now you introduce me to this incredible genre of music. So much to learn and thank you.
I always thought “Djent” was an onomatopoeia as you said Ian.
My fave player has gotta be Eugene Abdukhanov from Jinjer. Absolute monster player, tone, groove, chords, melody, tapping…. The works.
I think doing a video on Fieldy from Korn would be a great one!
I've heard some people rag on him but his percussive element adds so much to the bands' sound.
Totally agree! I came up in the new metal era and say what you eant about Fieldy, but his style was heavly imitaded by ALOT of bands of that era. Super underrated imo.
I would love to see a Clay Gober bass breakdown! That pick hybrid thing deserves a bass lesson!
So happy to see a bit of more "extreme" Metal on the channel! This is awesome!!! And even happier to see you jam and nod your head to it!
Hope one day you'll showcase some of the great technical Death Metal bassists, some are just outrageously good such as: Steve Di Giorgio, Dominic "Forest" Lapointe, Jared Smith, Colin Marston, Sean Malone, we could even include Alex Webster on this list.
Keep the great work guys, your videos are amazing and your joy so communicative!
Edit: start with Aninmals As Leaders, who don't have a bassist, still finding it good, great way to keep an open mind! :)
I really like these formats and energy. It makes me pick up my bass while the video plays. Always a good thing.
Strange but true. You know who has a signature Dingwall? Leland Sklar. Perhaps the furthest from djent of any human. It's a testament to how good the build is, no matter what you're doing with it.
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Extremely fun video! Thank you!
I've been a fan of the channel for a long time, and have gained a TON of value over the years just listening to you talk Bass, but this has to be one of my absolutely favorite episodes of all time!!! 🤘😝🤘
Much appreciated, glad you enjoyed this one!!
Thanks for including Simon Grove, and Plini
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that picture of a PALM tree in the introduction part had me laughing way more than it should have :D
I think you're right in that Clay is essentially using a double-thumbing technique with a pick / hybrid picking. Scott / Tim use double-thumbing (thumping) all the time, so Clay would need a way to do that technique when doubling the parts, but with a pick.
Love the energy, always good vibes
Me, a bearded bald bassist watching two bearded bald bassists reacting to bearded bald bassists playing djent
Danny from veil of Maya is another great one
I remember their longtime OG bassist The Higler lmao
dude is crazy with it
HOT DAMN! Finally someone makes a good video about my favorite genre! Guess I gotta get a Darkglass now 😂
That first video of Nolly literally changed my life. That tone blew my mind when I first heard it and I've been chasing it ever since. I can't afford a Dingwall but I think I've found a great tone of my own with what I have. I use a Darkglass Harmonic Booster into a SansAmp and then into a Darkglass Photon. It gives me a ton of clarity and it's so heavy.
I never realized this until now, but I think Peter Steele from Type O sortof did a precursor of Djent in the way he played, especially live, and with his distorted bass often taking the role of the rhythm guitar (which essentially comes down to down tuning an octave). A very percussive, groovy, powerful, whipping style of guitar picking on bass in a rock/metal setting. Can't point to a specific song off top, but Type O fans will know what I mean I think.
Love this channel. Still requesting more of these kind of videos but for modern reggae bassist.
It's interesting seeing you guys look at music that i actually listen to regularly.
"Djent is not a genre." - Periphery
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Djent, in all honesty, did start out as a joke name. Really, these bands were trying to play Progressive Metal, and that's what they did and still do. Periphery is the perfect example. Heavy riffs and jazz sax solos? Hell yes.
Saw Amos live with tesseract a few months ago. He played the whole show on a dingwall and mostly with a pick. Not what I expected but still a stellar show
As an NG3 owner, dingwall +darkglass or neural parallax x are the go-tos for this sound. Parallax and X have custom presets for Umansky, Toby Peterson-Stewart (The Omnific) Nolly, and Killian Duarte. Dingwall has basses with darkglass tone capsules with their active preamps. Combine all of this with their stainless steel strings and i can tell you first hand that the pieces fit perfectly together, the entire puzzle fits soooo well. Dingwall's craftsmanship is unlike anything ive ever seen, felt or played. Their multiscale was engineered for tuning low and playing low without the buzz or noise you would get on a similar multiscale instrument. You cant feel any sort of fret sprout, no fretboard seams, right out of the case it needed no set up. Intonation was spot on. Action was dialed in. All i had to do was plug it in and rip it. Easily hands down best bass ive ever played in my 20 years of bass. Its unlike anything ive ever played before. Sorry if this came off across as an ad for Dingwall but its now a daily driver of mine and its soooooooo good to play.
I've always played that way. I usually use a .73mm tri-tip triangle and play metal. Always play through the string with punch and attitude :)
Finally!!! Been waiting to see you guys react to this style 😂
You guys have great chemistry between each other. It's a pleasure to share a laugh and passion for music through the screen with you.
Cheers, appreciate the warm words! Glad you're enjoying the videos!
Clay Gober’s solo on GOAT is my new milestone.
lets not forget the master piece that is The Omnific's Antecedent. Clay has a solo on that too and its sooooooooooo good!!!!!
I've always wanted to learn OD
@@xxShadowxx-dy2wo I’ll go check it out. Thanks!!
It’s not too bad, the Goat bass part was one of the first complex basslines I learned.
slapping with a pick is dope. like Hetfield and Claypool had a baby (picture it!!😅)
What I'd like to applaud is you guys is stepping away from what is familiar to you and actually learning new stuff. I thought Nolly is just a freak you show to your jazz-blues-funk oriented audience and here you are with modern metal bass chops harnessed
I've been listening to Grorr in the early 'tens, never thinking about them as "Djent". To me it "just" was a progressive rock/metal band using the aggressiveness and somewhat style of Korn, but also being much more melodic and intricate, like classic progressive rock bands from the 70's on, throughout the decades until now.
Great video, absolutely loving it! And, yes, Allison is killing it with that T-Bird-Jazz-Bass thingie. Absolutely nailing the sound.
Awesome video. Alot of dudes I haven't heard of,, I'm a bit of a tourist in this genre. Djent is meshuggah to me at its core I hear it as anti groove. Turning simple rythems on their head. Twisting the intuitive way we think of groove. Like a 3d eye puzzle for the brain. Possibly to be seen as reinventing groove in the future, to be hopeful.
I am trying that Clay Gober shit man. Thank you guys so much! Love SBL!
Thanks ❤ fantastic show.Well done guys!!
Simon is one of my favorite bass players! He is SOOOOOOOOOOOO soulful in his playing.
💯💯💯 he also has monster recording chops too...and he gets to play with Plini!
finally Scott is exploring more on the harsher genres, nice!
I love that you guys included Nolly's renowned playthrough of "Prayer Position". It's still one of the most searched bass videos on UA-cam.
FINALLY Metal is getting some love 🙌🏽🤘🏽
17:25 - I'm like that when I watch literally any member of that band. The precision and skills on display are insane.
Great video, it's nice to see all these great players being mentioned! Now you got to talk about the Omnific, two great bass players with a drummer for one of the hardest djent bands there is 🤘
FINALLYY!!! IVE BEEN WAITING FOR YOU GUYS TO AGNOLEDGE CLAY GOBER FOR YEAAARRSSS!!! THANK YOUU!!!
Warwick basses are also great for that djent sound. I own two Dingwall basses and I also own a Warwick. Slightly different attack, but highly effective from both brands of bass. Darkglass amps really push the djenty sound, or a Darkglass Microtubes pedal through a punchy but warm amp like an Ampeg would also give you that wicked sound. Great video...
Those Lollar T-bird pickups are some of the punchiest growliest pickups ever! I played a Strandberg California with Lollar T-bird pickups two or three years ago and my jaw was glued to the floor the whole time. I was this 🤏close to clearing out my tiny student bank account and buying that bass right there and then, but fortunately I had a friend with me who managed convince me that food and rent goes before buying a new bass.
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Great Video! Of course Meshuggah is in there lol, but I wish you spoke more about their bass tone. Up until their last record, Dick would always tune his E string up to F. With the 8 strings tuned down to F, the bass and guitars are playing in the same octave. I always thought this was huge for their sound. The bass sound was always so metallic and cut so hard.
I'm glad these new bassists are getting the recognition they deserve! I learned so much from these guys that I love incorporating into my own music! #newera
I've thoroughly been enjoying the content you guys are creating! Excellent work gents!!
Please, do a video about "thall" 🙌 Man, I have never thought to watch them talk about this music
Thall is as popular as its ever been and is still so obscure to the masses
Thanks guys another great video ! Some wicked playing going on !
House subsidence insurance questionnaires will now include a 'Djent bass player resident inclusion clause' !
I was there for the djent scene while it was happening, and while I’m pretty over it, you just can’t deny how sick those damn grooves are! Even though it’s a little overdone, the sound made an overall pretty cool impact on heavy music on the whole!
pointed out the right goats of the genre! Hats off!
clay gober is amazing. polyphia are so talented.
Simon Grove is an absolute beast. Saw Plini with him last week and can confirm he was playing the Le Fey.
His sound and groove is amazing. As much as I love Plini (being a guitarist primarily), Simon's playing is the most impressive part of seeing Plini live to me.
I’m so grateful to see new names and new genres in the SBL. That’s the content I’m here for. Subscribe ⭐️
I think you guys touched on it... djent is the new 80's fusion. Now, like then, it means so many different things! Plini is so very different from Periphery. One of my favorites was Adam Swan in Monuments ("The Amanuensis" is such a jaw dropping album!). To be honest, the bulk of the djent I listen to (and maybe the bulk of the music I listen to... period) is Animals As Leaders. While AAL doesn't have a "bass player", their bass lines can be WONDERFUL! It took me years... literally years... but I eventually learned how to slap the main riff to "Physical Education" and to this day it is one of my favorite grooves. When I think of djent my first thought is AAL, and from there I have heard many, almost all quite good, but AAL is what I listen to... almost every day. This is likely my inherent musical snobbery, as I haven't heard much, if any, other music in the last 10 years that reachers the level they have. And that, right there, tells you everything you need to know about my musical tastes! BUT.... even this old dog can learn new tricks... I do hear new things that entice the ear and get the creative juices flowing. Karnivool... I'm looking/listening at you. Opeth...OMG Opeth... where have you been all my life, and why am I just finding you now? I find quite a lot of crossover between some djent and prog metal, and clearly I blur the lines between the two, and there are clearly bands that can, and do, do both.
Anyway... my brain has too many bass lines coursing through it right now. I need to stop and enjoy them.
I remember when I was a kid and a beginner at guitar, I came up with the hybrid picking technique. I think I even called it hybrid. I just could never play the technique well. Fast forward about a week after I came up with the concept, I was on UA-cam at the public library looking at videos and came across someone doing the technique and was blown away.
I was kind of bummed that the technique already existed, but floored at the possibilities it opens up as a musician. 25+ years later, still can't hybrid pick to save my life, but I think i'll give another go at practice with it once I get my bass and guitar repaired next week.
You guys should do a video breaking down Clays solo in GOAT. The technique is crazy
The word "djent" became popular in the 2010s to describe the sound of palm muting on a guitar where you would choke up on the strings (about an inch towards the neck from where you would normally palm mute). For bassists "djent" is basically Dingwall + Darkglass distortion lol.
Horn's up for Nolly. A beast!
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There are some incredibly talented musicians in djent. It's like prog rock and jazz combined. So many techniques all rolled into one genre or even the same song.
My primary bass is a Modulus Graphite Quantum QSPi 6-string, which has a 35" scale, which is long enough for a clear tone on an open B. In one of my projects my tuning started out BEADGC, but by year 5 or 6 my tuning had changed to ADADGC, so it was essentially Drop A + Drop D over standard tuning.
About time you play some good stuff.
Thanks so much for doing this video, guys! I don't often venture into this particular neck of the musical woods, but you took me straight to the fun part :) So much new music and cool players to check out. Cheers!
It's absolutely an onomatopoeia
I never heard of this genre in my life. Interesting stuff!
8:32 The ms design allows uou to get the job done with thinner strings, which most metal players tend to prefer
Fantastic job covering the genre. Do check out Conner Green's work for Haken as well he is probably my fave prog bassist of the moment with his super tasty playing.
Love Umansky ! What a powerhouse ❤
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The thing about a Dingwall, having now owned a 5 string combustion 3x for the last 6 months, isn't about the longer scale length providing more tension for down tuning...but it's the way the string rings and the overall tone of the longer scale that makes the lower strings respond in a way that is overall more punchy and clear vs a standard 34 or 35 inch scale bass.
There's a spector bass shootout on YT between a standard scale 5 string and a multi scale 5 string of the same model bass and it solely compares how scale length affects the clarity of the lower strings. It solidified that if I want that clear sound, I needed to go multiscale.
I was really skeptical about a Dingwall, to be honest, that I held out getting one for a few years because the high price tag made me dread the potential "buyers remorse" in case I didn't like it. I played quite a few examples of Dingwalls in the past but couldn't justify spending over $2K USD on a "crafted in china" bass. I had bought my first really expensive bass, a EBMM Stingray Special, almost 2 years ago in late 2022. I had so much buyers remorse from getting that bass, even though it felt, played and looked wonderful (for the most part), it just never sounded the way I pictured it would. It failed on me when I needed it most at my first gig, particularly the finish in the neck, had my hand glued to the neck because of the humidity my hand wouldn't slide on the neck. My two other basses (Ibanez and Cort, which I still have) did not have that problem that night, both that had slightly more gloss finish necks. Anyways, having dropped $2.5K USD on a bass that I didn't like gave me the financial opportunity to trade it in and get a bass I was really longing for, longer than the Stingray, which was the Dingwall. I traded my EBMM Stringray Special in for way under what they ended up selling it for as it provided a substantial down payment to get a dingwall.
Forget about the multiscale for a second; this is hands down the best sounding bass I've ever picked up. Yes, it does the "modern metal" bass tone that is so desirable, but as mentioned in another SBL video with a dingwall, it does way more than just position 2 (bridge and middle in series; think MM stingray). Position 3 is a great J bass (both pickups) sound and position 4 is a lovely split pickup P Bass sound. It really is a desert island bass, as in, you don't need anything else as it covers so much tonal ground with the use of 3 pickups. The only buyers remorse I have is not getting one sooner.
My personal experience aside, a multi-scale bass is an advancement in instrument technology that has improved the clarity of the lower strings in applications that need it most. It looks intimidating to play and most bassists say there isn't a learning curve. In my experience, the first few frets of the low string is an adjustment, especially if you have small fingers and need to stretch between frets you normally could reach, and any sort of chord becomes significantly more difficult if you're not at or near the 7th fret, but that is about it.
"Giant distorted piano!"-yes, exactly what i was thinking. Used to be big into metalcore (old PWD, As I Lay Dying, Killswitch) but past few years djent has grown on me.
Love Born of Osiris, listen go check 'em out if you haven't!
I laugh when you both laughing during Clay Gober video chapter 🤣
I just picked up the new Zoom MS-60B+ and it has a djent setting that absolutely kills. It keeps the low end clean and fat but the upper end is so nasty.
Great videos guys
This is really cool, not my wheelhouse at all but very cool to see some people pushing the instrument forward in new and different ways
I'd love to see you guys do an episode on Interpol. I don't see that style of music on your channel very often, and they have really interesting creative bass lines, especially in songs like Obstacle 1 or The New.
I would LOOOOOVE to see an interview with Clay
Another phenomenal bassist in the genre is Jared smith of archspire, very similar to Jacob umanski, I think he started as a guitarist before joining the band but pickup up finger style and mastered it, the other guitartists say he’s the best guitarist in the band lol
My favorite metal bass tone of all time is Jeff Matz with High on Fire.
Would be awesome to see you guys breakdown his tone and experiment with the clean/dirty dual amp combo a lot of doom metal bassists use.
Would've loved to see a Jon Stockman shoutout on this video. He definetely was one of the godfathers of the modern metal bass tine all the way in 2009 with the production of the Sound Awake record!