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hardcore style

As much as you guys want to still believe "real" hardcore only exists in 1985, whether you like it or not hardcore has changed and encompassed a lot more than just one minute chugga chugga songs. There's only so much you can do with that format anyway, which is why bands like Husker Du, Bad Brains, and Black Flag went onto other things.

That's not at all what I think, I like alot of modern hardcore bands, it's just what alot of people consider "hardcore" is so far removed from original hardcore it just doesn't really warrant the name.
 
That's not at all what I think, I like alot of modern hardcore bands, it's just what alot of people consider "hardcore" is so far removed from original hardcore it just doesn't really warrant the name.

I hear ya man, and my statement wasn't really directed towards you. I can get pretty anal about genre classifications myself. (Just read any "emo" thread that passes by.) I just think that a lot of us just argue so much about semantics without helping at all, and sometimes the posts can be just as ignorant as the so-called "misinformed." Take for example this one:

if the devil wears prada is your bands favorite band, it's not hardcore.

just listen to any metal records. that will give you tips on what will work with that type of style.

So any metal works, huh? Wow. Talk about a can of worms.

The poster gave examples of what he's looking for as far as help, so it makes sense to try and provide him with similar examples and tips. Who cares what hardcore is. That's not what the original post is about, though he was pretty vague in the beginning.
 
To me, what differentiates hardcore and metalcore has always been the drums and the guitars. If it has blast beats, gratuitous use of the double bass pedal and tricky guitar pyrotechnics, it's not hardcore to me. Hardcore is more like a more aggressive form of punk rock.
 
Hardcore is more like a more aggressive form of punk rock.

Heheheh, interesting irony in that statement. Your right though, most Hardcore punk has ALOT more conviction in it.

Any Metal is a pretty silly thing to say though yeah, Metal as a sub-genre of Rock has become pretty diverse in itself now, there's a world of difference between some pirate metal with epic accordion parts and slurry singing about rum, and the most morbid Scandinavian black metal known to man.
 
The lovely thing about playing bass in metal, hardcore, metalcore, xwhatevercorex or what have you, is your first job is to mate the guitars to the drums. You're going to use the chord structures and riffs of the guitars, played to the rhythm of the drums (especially the kick.) Anything you do beyond that is extra credit. This holds true for just about any style of rock, but ESPECIALLY in busier styles like breakdown-heavy *core, or any kind of grind.

You want to learn your drummer in and out, and learn to pick out his kick through a super dense mix. When you're writing or rehearsing songs for the first few times, stick close by him and watch his feet - it can be a lot easier to see the rhythm than trying to hear it through a wall of guitars with too much murky low-end on them.

Speaking of guitars overdoing the lows, they often scoop their mids out as well. If your guitarists don't smarten up quickly and decide that their place is up in the mids and lower treble region, feel free to take it from them with a mids-heavy tone with a lot of attack and clack. Somebody's gotta fill that in, and since they're taking up your region, might as well move over.

Practice playing songs faster than they're recorded. A lot of musicians (especially over-energetic drummers) have a tendency to push the beat to the extreme when they get on stage, especially on songs that have snappy tempos already. Since you're going to be topping out on speed as it is, you won't be able to keep up. Expect to have the tempo pushed on you, and be ready to A) push back, if everyone can hear you, or B) play faster and hope your wrists don't fall off.
 
Speaking of guitars overdoing the lows, they often scoop their mids out as well. If your guitarists don't smarten up quickly and decide that their place is up in the mids and lower treble region, feel free to take it from them with a mids-heavy tone with a lot of attack and clack. Somebody's gotta fill that in, and since they're taking up your region, might as well move over.

Yup, although you don't wanna sound too weak, so as well as having mid heaviness make sure you have plenty of sub bass going on, guitars won't be able to get that low easily without some silly octaver pedal or something. Use some aggressive mids to be heard, and sub bass to be felt, you eon't hear the lows like you do with bassy guitars, but you'll be going alot deeper then them.
 
Just throwing in my two cents here:

There's actually a HUGE christian hardcore music selection... it's one of the most popular genres among teens back home. Yeah a fair amount of it is "me too" bands but you can't deny that it's there and it's thriving.

Secondly, the few hardcore bands I listen to typically eschew complicated bass lines and just go for freaking fast bass lines with a lot of attack dialed in. Just work on your speed and your power, slap your finger against the strings so that it ricochets from the fretboard.
 
Hey guys! I forgot that i had started this thread, but having created it over a year ago, i thought I would give an update.

First as for the hardcore/metal topic. Around here, we call shows with heavy music "hardcore shows". Obvious this doesn't cover all heavy music and it highly controversial on here but it just easier than saying "I'm going to a hardcore/death metal/metalcore/thrash show". So, around here, the word "hardcore" is acceptable for metal genres. I refuse to get in an argument about genres though. I think its stupid and pointless...sorry guys.

As for the band, I am no longer in it but the experience was good. I think we were a little before our time for the genre in our area. Heavy music, for some reason, is more popular with kids who are 15 years old right now.

Our music, which started as trying to be like The Devil Wears Prada, ended up being a lot heavier (started at drop D and ended with drop A :eek:) and closer to death metal. And though guitarists already think that bass players are useless, in this genre it is more so. They never told me what to play (which guitar players love to do) but there is not much else you can do other than either play roots or follow the guitar. I choose to follow the guitar when I had to, so everyone thought i was amazing cuz i could play what the guitars were playing note for note :D. But when I could I elaborated (i.e. I slapped a breakdown :D and was able to have a groove every now and then). Basically, if you play bass in a metal band, you have to play guitar...on bass :(. Therefore there were tons of bad bass players that i played shows with that were just playing bass to be in a band and had no passion for the instrument, so i ended up EQing for bass players all the time and telling them what they should or could be playing.

So when it came to recording time, the guy recording sucked and had no respect for bass but loved drums. So the drums were really loud, then vocals, then guitars, and you can barely hear the bass. After we broke up our lead guitar player recorded our songs that we didnt get to record before and quality was much better, but again the bass is low.

So from this I learned that metal is really fun and exciting, but I cant progress much as a bass player playing it. So I recently started up a new band that is on the funky side and is geared more to jamming, and i really like it.

In case you want to listen to the metal band. Its called "The Positive Place for Kids". The myspace url is: Link Removed .
 
+ 1 and agreed with 6pack John. Listen to LOTS of old-school hardcore: Sick of it All. Bad Brains. Minor Threat. Agnostic Front. Warzone, Crumbsuckers. Judge, etc. Then listen to some new hardcore and metalcore: Hatebreed, Underoath, Unearth, etc. Then listen to some straight-up punk, old and new. Then listen to some stuff that could be hardcore but is difficult to categorize, (old and new) like Quicksand.

Oh, and listen to some Ska. Operation Ivy, The Bostones, etc.

Do a search on Wikipedia. Their lists for 'hardcdore,' 'metalcore,' etc are really good. Just let your fingers do the walking. (Hey, a pun!)

Technique-wise, in IMHO, it's about being able to play fast and consistently for a long time with even tone, and providing a solid foundation with a good drummer. Luckily, if you're playing hardcore music live and it sounds good, you'll have so much adrenaline going that you won't get fatigued.

If you want to learn how to play more meldocially, with nice fills and some solid walking lines, listen to Rancid. Their bass player is a master at this.

Having said all this, to me, the whole idea of 'harcdore' music is more about emotion and content than it is technique. Like any other music, if you play it long enough and isolate your problem areas, you'll be blazing in no time, regardless of genre.

Good luck, and have fun!
 
Okay...

Hardcore: Bad Brains, Minor Threat, DRI, Black Flag, Circle Jerks, Charged GBH, Crass, Subhumans, Agnostic Front, Battalion Of Saints, Bikini Kill (Riot grrl scene is still hardcore IMO), Bleach Boys, Choking Victim, INDK, Leftover crack, MDC, Corrosion of conformity

Metal: Corrosion Of conformity (had to put this there because a lot of people don't know it started as a hardcore punk band), Finntroll, Anthrax, Slayer, Oakhelm

I don't know a lot of metal but i know a lot of punk and its commonly confused.

As for hardcore technique its relatively simple. If its considered technique. Most early punk bands (and still to this day) were started by kids picking up a guitar and learning three chords and playing them really fast. Same with bass. For example

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Simple eh? But this does not mean you want to limit yourself to being basic. As punk ranges all over the place. Even hardcore punk. Look at some choking victim bass lines. Its nothing amazing but it shows that punk bassists do spend more than 10 seconds making a riff.

Also who cares if its christian or not? A lot of Athiests have ****ed up viewpoints and a lot of christians have ****ed up viewpoints. Now i draw the line on creating a band solely to recite gods word. But whatever. Not everyone christian is a bible thumper. People can't be generalized.
 
Guys, he's not in a metal band anymore...

Anyway (to mullet) there is some metal where the bass is challenging and there are actually some good basslines going on as opposed to just following the guitar all the time, it's just a bit of a rarity, can see why there wouldn't be alot of opportunity to do cool bass stuff in alot of metal styles though what with it all being so riff centred.
 
I've been playing in bands like your old one for 5 years now. With the recording, the drums are insanely fake and the guitars sound muddy. Sorry. Other than that, the music is fine. Basically sounds like everything I listen to. As I Lay Dying, Between The Buried And Me, Unearth, Lamb Of God, Whitechapel...etc. I do have to say you have some nice breakdowns though.