Iron Maiden are one of the bands I have chosen to research into, because they have both elements of the Metal rhythms that I want to write, and the guitar melodies with harmony parts.
As with Metallica, this group have had a big impact on the way I play my guitar. ‘Maiden are recognised as one of the biggest metal bands in the industry, and have their own unique sound that sets them apart from other groups.
Over the years of actually learning and playing a few of their songs, I have noticed that they really like using arpeggios rather than scales. this is particularly apparent in the introduction to the song ‘Aces High.’
Iron Maiden are known for having harmonised guitar melodies as well as the shapes that they play in. My favourite example of this is the song ‘The Trooper’ where the band go as far as having an entire harmonised guitar solo:
This is the main factor that set Iron Maiden’s guitar melodies apart from other bands, and what helps is that they have three guitarists. This allows the band to create full layers of 3rd and 5th harmonies and so on. This makes the band sound bigger and more pronounced. I want to give this a go in my own work, as I feel as though it makes the melody lines much more entertaining to listen to, and adds to the heavy sound of the tracks.
Iron Maiden’s rhythms consist most commonly of power-chords and double stops, with these being rung out wile chugging on an open A or low E string. A perfect example of this is their song ‘2 Minutes to Midnight’ as this has sections of both chords and double stops.
I like the way their rhythms feel in general, and will be taking note of the rhythm patterns and structure when listening to their music. Some of the albums I will be listening to for inspiration are:
-The Number of the Beast,
-Powerslave,
-and Dance of Death.