Funeral Metal - how to play it?

[Thunderbird90DB]

Im just wondering how to play funeral metal. i like Swallow the Sun a lot and have been playing a lot to their songs. i own a five string so thats gotta be good for those low notes. is downtuning a good idea? any good bands i should try and learn the songs of?
id like to do a style of slow and heavy crushing funeral metal, not anything too fast. i play a lot of minor scales too, which must be a good base to work on?

 

[Hiromakuta]

I think the most important thing is to have a good sense of rhythm, so I think working with a metronome on really slow tempos like 30 BPM or less might help.

 

[RONQUITO]

Funeral What???

Is this a sub-Genre?

 

[matthiasss]

AKA doom metal.. Check out -Candlemass' "Epicus Doomicus Metallicus" album, Amorphis' "Black Winter Day" album and the band Katatonia for some KILLER doom metal.

 

[dj150888]

Funeral is doom only even slower. Painfully slow when done badly, Piledrivingly heavy when done well.

My tips would be get used to VERY slow temps on a metronome, learn how to subdivide your beats, like ONE 2 3 4 TWO 2 3 4 THREE 2 3 4 FOUR 2 3 4 for a nice, slow 4/4.

For me, intricacies are best done very subtly, so if you're playing scales over your chord changes, don't make them too flashy or stand-outish

 

[AshenBassist]

Check out the German funeral doom band AHAB. Call of the Wretched Sea is a wicked funeral doom album.

As for playing, I think it'd be the same as most doom. Tune down, fuzz out, and play at half speed! Kidding though. Tuning down can help, as can a fuzz pedal. I think you should really try to concentrate on getting some really sick sustain out of your gear. Using fuzz and a pick could possibly assist you in this area.

 

[kjs]

Check out the German funeral doom band AHAB. Call of the Wretched Sea is a wicked funeral doom album.

As for playing, I think it'd be the same as most doom. Tune down, fuzz out, and play at half speed! Kidding though. Tuning down can help, as can a fuzz pedal. I think you should really try to concentrate on getting some really sick sustain out of your gear. Using fuzz and a pick could possibly assist you in this area.

Ahab is fantastic!

I don't agree with with the pick comment, but a fuzz or some type of harsh overdrive would help achieve a typical sound.

Cult of Luna is another band to check out, not funeral doom, but they have some similar sounds and tempos as Swallow the Sun and their bass player has a great tone and some interesting playing. I suggest the album Somewhere Along the Highway. (the track Dark City, Dead Man is a personal favorite)

 

[NKUSigEp]

Can we stop creating stupid sub-genres of sub-genres? There is absolutely NO need for it! And FYI, metal that is slower-paced than doom has already been labelled "drone". It's been that way for years.

Im just wondering how to play DRONE metal. i like Swallow the Sun a lot and have been playing a lot to their songs. i own a five string so thats gotta be good for those low notes. is downtuning a good idea? any good bands i should try and learn the songs of?
id like to do a style of slow and heavy crushing funeral metal, not anything too fast. i play a lot of minor scales too, which must be a good base to work on?

Sure man, to play DRONE all you do is go buy the first three or four Black Sabbath CD's, learn the basslines to those songs, and then slow them down to about 10 BPM. It's truly as simple as that. I'm not trying to be condescending or down-play the technicality of the music at all. It's good stuff and takes a lot of discipline to play that slow. But there's no secret to it. Hell, if you can't learn the songs when they are played that slow...might be time to take up basket-weaving.

And please stop calling it "funeral metal". It's gotten so bad that any 12 year old with 5 CD's and a computer can create his own sub-genre of metal.

 

[theavondon]

Can we stop creating stupid sub-genres of sub-genres? There is absolutely NO need for it! And FYI, metal that is slower-paced than doom has already been labelled "drone". It's been that way for years.

Okay, I thought I was the only one that thought this too, and I was very confused when they described drone to a T. Thank you.

 

[backline112]

Can we stop creating stupid sub-genres of sub-genres? There is absolutely NO need for it! And FYI, metal that is slower-paced than doom has already been labelled "drone". It's been that way for years.

+1

 

[LaklandBass]

Im a big fan of the viking metal myself. Gotta love metal you can swing a beer stein to.

 

[Tylos]

Im a big fan of the viking metal myself. Gotta love metal you can swing a beer stein to.

Now that is metal

 

[BlackMetalAkaz]

Funeral Doom?

Sub-genres of sub-genres help one find bands with a very specific sound and style.

 

[Joe Gress]

Funeral Doom?

Bon Jovi.

 

[Ayliffe]

Swallow the Sun play everything in Drop C, and use a **** ton of octave chords. Their bass player also does a few things that most metal bassists wouldn't, just to put a little spin on the music.

Ahab is a great Funeral Doom Band if you want slow, heavy and crushing. And yes, Doom is always minor, if it was major it'd be all happy sounding and we don't want that

Tri Tones are also awesome for Doom.

 

[Valerus]

Funeral Doom?

Sub-genres of sub-genres help one find bands with a very specific sound and style.

Exactly. I don't see the problem with it.

 

[RBrownBass]

It's gotten so bad that any 12 year old with 5 CD's and a computer can create his own sub-genre of metal.

It's their genre. Get off their lawn.

 

[Implosion]

Can we stop creating stupid sub-genres of sub-genres? There is absolutely NO need for it! And FYI, metal that is slower-paced than doom has already been labelled "drone". It's been that way for years.




Sure man, to play DRONE all you do is go buy the first three or four Black Sabbath CD's, learn the basslines to those songs, and then slow them down to about 10 BPM. It's truly as simple as that. I'm not trying to be condescending or down-play the technicality of the music at all. It's good stuff and takes a lot of discipline to play that slow. But there's no secret to it. Hell, if you can't learn the songs when they are played that slow...might be time to take up basket-weaving.

And please stop calling it "funeral metal". It's gotten so bad that any 12 year old with 5 CD's and a computer can create his own sub-genre of metal.

Sorry that the youngster ruined the world of music for you, but the music he is talking about isn't drone, not by far.

 

[JanderVK]

Sorry to be drudging up such an old conversation (I was looking up what the OP had asked), but there is an obvious reason for Funeral Doom being its own sub-genre of Doom Metal, which despite the cries of "Why is this new subgenre even a thing?!", has been its own subgenre since the early '90's from the Funeral Doom bands Thergothon & Skepticism. If you can't tell the difference between say Mournful Congregation (Funeral), Anathema (Death/Gothic Doom), and Pentagram (Trad Doom), you might want to get your hearing checked. Funeral Doom is closest to being described as really really slow Death Doom. It's also quite a bit different than Drone Doom ala Sunn O))), in the fact that there usually isn't electronics, and has melody and vocals.

 

[Deleted member 264575]

The best bass for Funeral Metal?

I'm dying to get this;

Sorry, couldn't help myself.