RotM #6 - Voting

Antique_Guitars · January 2015

Howdy beautiful people

Welcome to the voting thread for Riff of the Month #6

Voting closes on the 31st of January at 11.50 pm.

Feel free to vote and comment in this thread.

Same deal as the main Fretboard Challenge, vote for your top 3 entries!

1st choice gets 5 points

2nd choice gets 3 points

3rd choice gets 1 point

You can find all the entries on this playlist

Have fun!

Fretwired · January 2015

I listened to them all three times. I think a riff has to be memorable, repetitive, get your head nodding or your foot tapping [or both] and have a good tone, so on that basis I award my points as follows:

@PolarityMan .. 5 points
@Hobbio .. 3 points
@Antique_Guitars .. 1 point

I thought the overall standard was very high. And making a decision was tough.

There was one track I could single out, @DesVegas song 23 Swans, for a special mention. I thought it was an excellent track and very Robin Guthrie-like, but I didn't think it a riff. It should be entered in a Fretboard Challenge. And @Antique_Guitars .. very brave playing just an acoustic with no distortion or drums - I think it works.

Antique_Guitars · January 2015

The voting is going to be really hard for this one as all the submissions are amazing, I think im going to have to listen to all of them about 4 or 5 times to decide

samzadgan · January 2015

my votes go to....

1. @judasvigilante

2. @antique_guitars

3. @desvegas

PolarityMan · January 2015

Thanks to @Fretwired I think that's my first ever 5 pointer!!!!

Fretwired · January 2015

PolarityMan said:

Thanks to @Fretwired I think that's my first ever 5 pointer!!!!

@PolarityMan .. your welcome .. it stuck in my head from the first time I heard it. You should turn it into an instrumental track. There's a Satriani vibe going on there .. :-)

PolarityMan · January 2015

Well just listened to the lot jotting down first impressions, I reckon Ive got it narrowed down to 7 tracks for my votes but I said in the other thread I would comment on all of them so here it is, literally jsut my first impression of each track.

Steam Abacus - Steve the loopy drummer

Lovely guitar tone but the "drumming" in the background I found really distracting, to my mind gentle cymbal swells would have been order of the day here

Downsideup11 - Tele riff

Very status-quo but the tone was very thin and harsh...a phone recording I guess? I reckon this riff would shine alot more in a higher fidelity recording

Spark240 - ROTM Jan 2015

Nice interplay between the "lead line" and the strums. Could easily imagine this as an intro or refrain to a singer-songwriter type piece

Simonbeckwith - 3pc1

Nice indierock piece, unusual repetition structure which remind me vaguely of someone like Biffy Clyro

Anonymous1 - Tiger Toight

Excellent production but I though the riff while typiying djent it was stil a little bit unmemorable

PVO Dave - Riff

Forget the guitar this one is all about the bass! The slap / pop bass in this is great. Nice to see someone not making guitar the vocal point of their track for a change.

SamZadgan - Rotm

Dooooooooommmmy has some of those classic sabbath feel elements to the riff, filthy, filthy tone.

Das Vegas - 23 Swams

I liked the kind of pulsing feel to the bass in this but this sounds more liek a sound texture to me than a riff and while it's well executed doesn;t really tick my boxes personally

Hobbio - Jan 2015

Classic rock stuff, nice crunch tone and very well recorded. Wouldn;t sound out of place on an ac/dc or zz top record

TTony - with bass

More classic rock riffing and while I think the guitar tones are a little lacklustre i really like the little fills/flourishes on the bass drums

Bingefeller - February riffing

Like the post rocky feel of this one, i feel this opne could use a second guiatr part though to really shine

Rocker - Christmas Star

It feels like this is about 15 bpm too slow for the part, reasonably well played riff but with no context it's hard to compare it to some of the more polished entries

JudasVigilante - ROTM

The drums really grab me on this one, and I cant really put my finger on why, I think it might be the feel of the production which in some ways reminds me of the drum sound on Relentless by Pentagram.

Kin - First go

This was really really quiet, and split into 2 sections, i found whatever was making the percussive noises quite confusing in the first section and i felt the second section was really a lead piece over a vamp rather than a riff. Other than the volume nothing wrong with it just didnt feel like a riff to me.

Daveww - Riffyriffrif

I really liked what I guess is the second bar of this riff with some nice unusual note choices in the ascent. I'd have really like to hear this with some context, ie/ bass drum and possibly bass as certain parts of it feel a bit abstract opn their own but I have a felling that in a whole track it would fit really well.

Last Mantra - Dopesick

Great groove on this one, not entirely sure about the flange(?) on the guitar but I think the feel of the track more than makes up for it.

Antique_Guitars - Scratchy Scratch

Being a big opeth fan Im really into this kind of melencholy finger picking. Love this one.

PolarityMan · January 2015

Fretwired said:

PolarityMan said:

Thanks to @Fretwired I think that's my first ever 5 pointer!!!!

@PolarityMan .. your welcome .. it stuck in my head from the first time I heard it. You should turn it into an instrumental track. There's a Satriani vibe going on there .. :-)

Ha! I think my shredding ability will take some serious work before even the idea of producing something satriani-esque is plausible!

TTony · January 2015

Thanks for all the comments @PolarityMan - think I'd better try to do likewise now!

PolarityMan · January 2015

TTony said:

Thanks for all the comments @PolarityMan - think I'd better try to do likewise now!

I think one of the things that will keep people coming back is getting comments and discussion around their entries.

steamabacus · January 2015

Wow. 18 entries!

I've had a listen through once but it'll take a couple more (with the help of pen and paper) to extract a top 3.
Well done to everybody who entered.

JudasVigilante · January 2015

Here are my votes for the ROTM challenge.

I have listened to then all 4 or 5 times each over this past couple weeks. Thought about it long and hard this past hour or so with another couple listens to several tracks. Such a high standard and variety too. Everything from rock, to metal, to trippy to beautiful accoustic.

1st: samzadgan (5 points) Deadly riff, moody, brooding, evil (in a good way) with real MONSTER tone too. This was my favourite from the moment I heard it.

2nd: This was close and very tough: PolarityMan (3 points) Lovely intricate picking, rockin' riff. Very well performed. I can really appreciate this as it's the kind of riff I find hard to write/perform.

3rd: Antique_Guitars (1 point): I love this riff. Most of the stuff I've recorded and released this past 18 years has been accoustic, so I can appreciate what it is to get an accoustic riff to stand up against electric or highly distorted riffing. It's a beautiful piece of playing.

That's it. I wish I had the time to give everyone a mention, there where another 3 or 4 Iwould liked to have voted for, but alas we're limited to 3. I liked the Bingefeller riff and the Anonymous1 riff too. Maybe next time guys/gals. I will say this though. I liked every single riff, all different, all very good, all original. What more can one ask for.

Can I just make a point that I'm simply not voting for Samzadgan because he voted for me. I'm not that pathetic. His riff is right up my street and I loved it from the minute I heard it. I do not know thia guy/gal at all, but his riff was MONSTER to me anyways! Well done to all.

horse · January 2015

Record number of entries? Some great stuff in there. I'm going for:

5 points @simonbeckwith - I like those wondering ty tabor type riffs

3 points @steamabacus - I also like some of that wes Montgomery octave action

1 point @polarityman - liked how the chords progressed over the riff at the start

hoping to be back involved myself next month

simonbeckwith · January 2015

Thanks for the kind words @PolarityMan and @horse

daveww · January 2015

PolarityMan said:

Daveww - Riffyriffrif

I really liked what I guess is the second bar of this riff with some nice unusual note choices in the ascent. I'd have really like to hear this with some context, ie/ bass drum and possibly bass as certain parts of it feel a bit abstract opn their own but I have a felling that in a whole track it would fit really well.

Props to @Polarityman for the full set of comments.

I agree with your comments but strangely it works for me. I think it would have been better with a bit of an intro as well but next time I'll probably go for something a bit more traditional.

I'll have good listen to all over the next few days and try, like you to give some constructive comments with my vote.

kin · January 2015

5 points @desvegas

3 points @steamabacus

1 point @Spark240

I could've happily had @Polarityman and @antique guitars in there too.

Seeing as mine was pretty much inaudible and had an extra bit tacked on that shouldn't have been there , I don't really feel qualified to comment other than I thought the standard was really high overall and i'm looking forward to giving it another go next month.

DesVegas · January 2015

Good evening London, Sweden here. May i just say you all look great tonight and I'm really enjoying the show.

Our points are as follows

@Polarityman 5 points

Anonymous1 3 points

@Rocker 1 point

I'd also like to add @JudasVigilante I love you guitar sound and I'm looking forward to @Kin next effort, it's a shame I couldn't really hear what you were playing but I liked what I heard.

Well done to everyone who entered and thank you to @Antique_Guitars for hosting this event .. buy a bloody distortion pedal mate : )))))

Note: I wrote this before i read anyone's comments.

hobbio · January 2015

Tough to narrow it down to 3! I've tried to restrict myself to those entries that match what I think of as a riff, rather than some of the lovely textures that are there.

5 points - @Polarityman - Love this, it's right up my alley. Great tone too.

3 points - Tiger Toight - I'm very selective when it comes to djent, the rhythm has to engaging rather than just complex for the sake of it and this absolutely is.

1 point - @TTony - Again, this is right up my alley. I would really have liked to hear a snare in there to drive the beat a bit more, but that's just me.

@Antique_Guitars and @Spark240 Pleeeease turn these into full tracks! I really, really enjoyed them and they deserve to be heard as completed pieces. The only reason they didn't score was because I don't think of them as being "riffs", rightly or wrongly I don't know but I have to go with my gut feeling. Bloody love them though!

EDIT: I forgot to thank @Fretwired for the points, I've never entered anything like this before and even if they're the only points I get it's nice to know that at least 1 other person likes what I wrote. Also, @Polarityman - top work on the comments mate, thank you for the feedback.

bingefeller · January 2015

1, Simonbeckwith (5 points)

2. Desvegas (3 points)

3. Antique_Guitars (1 point)

Cheers!

lloyd · January 2015

I'll vote having totally forgot about the deadline...

1. Spark240

2. Simonbeckwith

3. bingefeller

Good work chaps

TTony · January 2015

I've had a listen, or 53, and conclude that we create some really brilliant stuff.

Steamabacus

Liked it immediately. I can definitely imagine the rest of a track around this riff ... well, I would imagine it if I was good enough, so Steamabacus should really turn it into the full track so we can all enjoy it. Great stuff.

Downsideup11

A Tele you say??

Spark240

Liked it immediately. Eagles-y? (sorry!).

PolarityMan

Liked it immediately. Energetic. Clean riff. Got my foot/leg going. And a proper ending too.

Simonbeckwith

I found myself listening to the drum work as much as the guitar - nice work on both though.

Anonymous1

Sounded like an almost pro-level production - big sound I wanted the riff to do something more though - perhaps I don't understand the genre well enough (at all). For a 10sec fill - great, but as a 30sec+ riff - I wanted more.

PVO_Dave

I liked it, but ... I thought it was a bit too predictable to really grab me as something new and exciting. Sorry.

SamZadgan

Liked it immediately. It's really difficult to assess against some of the more produced entries though, particularly when others have got drums and multi-guitars on them - I was trying to imagine what this would sound like with the "rest" of the band playing on it.

DesVegas

Have you been looking through Steamabacus' idea drawer (that's not any form of criticism)? Just a bit short ... I wanted more to be able to properly get into the riff ... just started to think I knew what was coming next, and it was all over.

Hobbio

Liked it immediately. Felt Lizzy-ish to me, but from when they were good. (I was a big Lizzy fan back in the days when they were good).

TTony

Listening back to this against the others in the playlist, mine goes on too long with not enough happening. Don't know what happened at the end either. All recorded on an iPad (JamUp Pro), including the inaudible bass, and then exported into GB for me to add the drum track.

Bingefeller

This could be a riff from so many different genres (though possibly not folk). Liked it, but not enough to make it top 3.

Rocker

Liked it immediately. Play more ... make more music ... submit more riffs to the challenge ... More, more, more!

Judasvigilante

I was expecting a big intro when the cymbal started ... but it didn't really happen, and I really wanted it to!

Kin

I think it could be very interesting ... turn the record level up because I want to hear it properly, and more of it.

Daveww

Always like Daveww's riffs, but this one felt a bit half-finished to me? Still good, but

LastMantra

Liked it immediately, although I'd have preferred a cleaner guitar sound - I thought the effecting of the sound took attention away from the riff itself.

Antique_Guitars

Liked it immediately. Another great piece of acoustic work from Mr A_G. Nice and clean note picking too (I'm jealous).

So my top 3 are ...

1st place @Antique_Guitars

2nd place @PolarityMan

3rd place @Spark240

On a different day, with my ears in a different mood, those placings could easily be different though.

Brilliant though - we could be musicians ...

downsideup11 · January 2015

Well done everyone - I've really enjoyed listening to all of these riffs and was really difficult to narrow it down to a top three but them's the rules so here goes;

1st DesVegas

2nd Spark 240

3rd Rocker

PolarityMan · January 2015

I didnt have a chance to re-listen to my shortlist for votes places but I'll get to it over the next few days.

samzadgan · January 2015

so...now for some notes:

Antique_Guitar: lovely finger picking and underlying melody. Its simple yet, so many intricate parts to it and played very well.

Dopesick: big rocky riff and good backing track...not sure on the flang, i think the guitar lacks a bit of punch with that effect on.

Daveww: I like it...i can imagine this being played slower and a lot more delay and reverb, and that would be perfect to my ears.

Kin: nice proggy vibe to the first part and i liked it a lot, not sure about the second part being a riff though.

JudasVigilante: i liked this a lot as I voted for it...love the tone, the riff and the beat...my only suggestion would be to slow it down a little.

Rocker: sounds great...i can easily see this as an intro to a song

Bingfeller: I really liked this and this was probably 4 or 5 on my list.

TTony: love these kinds of riffs...i thought it sounded ver ZZ Top style...i would have like a little less gain on it. But love the groove of it.

Hobbio: great tone and rock feel to the riff. Could easily see this as the main riff with a second guitarist doing some licks over the top of it.

DesVegas: love the atmosphere of this track...i liked it and voted for it...and the best part was the outro!!

Samzadgan: @JudasVigilante, thanks for the vote, and i'm sure no one thinks you voted for me because i voted for you...i think our styles are similar...for the record, i am a guy

PVO_Dave: This one got my head nodding to it, had a bit of a G&R feel to it...the good era!

Anonymous1: Not easy to play these kinds of riffs and maintain groove, but you're obvioulsy from the land of southern steel!

Simonbeckwith: indie rock but a bit smarter and more interesting than the regular indie stuff that i've heard

PolarityMan: very groovy and head nodding riff and the production was great too. This was on the fringes of my top 3.

Spark240: This made me feel nice when i listened to it...it put me in a good mood. But i'm a miserable bastard and i like to feel sad! but honestly, it was a great track.

Downside11: nice intro to a song, but very trebly for my likings

Steamabacus: I did like the guitar work...but the drums in the background kinda too over, i wanted to block it out and listen to the guitar.

Rocker · January 2015

The sound on my iPad is poor, my computer is being upgraded. Hope it will be operational in the next day or two....

daveww · January 2015

Here goes my pre-vote review. There's quite a few to listen to so I hope I've not been to terse.

I think the Riffs should be about the guitar and shouldn't need drums and bass etc. Pressure to do a full production will put some people off. So I'm trying not to vote on the production, mix, drums and bass etc. We'll all have different views of what a riff is as well.

@Steamabacus - Steve The Loopy Drummer
Cool Jazz. Nice and simple and the drums reminded me faintly of early Santana Caravanserai

@Downsideup11 - Tele Riff
Nice rythmic tele chordy riff. Would like to hear a better recording with a more biting tone. Like it a lot though.

@Spark240 - ROTM Jan 2015
Nice good chilling vibe about this one & melodic too. Again like it a lot.

@PolarityMan - ROTM - January
Excellent stuff. Nice riff, well played, very rythmic and catchy. Again like it a lot.

@Simonbeckwith - 3pc 1 13.12.14
Again excellent stuff. Very orginal and nicely played. Like the wide note range used and the way it resolved.

@Anonymous1 - Tiger Toight
Nice riff but not really my bag. Nothing wrong with it at all but a bit repetive for me and not a style I'm in to.

@PVO_Dave - Riff
Again not really my bag. Well played but a bit familiar and predicatble.

@SamZadgan - Rotm - Sz
Nice riff and as others have said very Iomi like. Took me back to Boris The Spider time.

@DesVegas - 23 Swans
Nice ambient composition. Liked it a lot but not really a riff in my book.

@Hobbio - Jan 2015 ROTM
Nice riff and well played. Bits of it put me in mind of Steppenwolf.

@TTony - with bass
Nice simple rythmic catch riff. Well played and nice tone.

@Bingefeller - February Riffing
Great stuff nice riff, well played, very catch and nice tone.

@Rocker - Christmas Star
Nice composition, liked it a lot.

@Judasvigilante - ROTM
Good playing and tone, a bit predictable but again not really my bag.

@Kin - First Go
Sorry Kin couldn't really hear it well enough. Might be fantastic but needs more volume.

@Daveww - Riffyriffrif
Well mines probably a bit random but sounds ok in my head. Probably means there's something wrong with my head... Would perhaps have benefited from another loop and a bit of silence or intro noise at the start.

@Last Mantra - Dopesick
Nice riff, well played and nice tone. Liked it a lot but not as orginal sounding as some of the others.

@Antique_Guitars - Scratchy Scratch
Nice naked riff. Liked it a lot. Perhaps not hugely orginal sounding but nice composite and put me in mind of early CSN&Y.

Hope I haven't been harsh. I'm perhaps not the best critic but I know what I like. It's all very subjective at the end of the day and a nice bit of fun. Others views will be widely different.

Now I've narrowed it down I'll have another listen before my vote.

steamabacus · January 2015

Right, I'm going to sit down with pen, paper and a cuppa and get these listened to properly tonight. Votes should be up later.

daveww · January 2015

Hard to choose. Narrowed it down to 5 and then down selected. Have to admit if I listened again I might change my mind.

@PolarityMan - ROTM - January - 1st Place

@Spark240 - ROTM Jan 2015 - 2nd Place

@Antique_Guitars - Scratchy Scratch - 3rd Place

Well done to all that entered.

steamabacus · January 2015

Well, it took several rounds of listening, much scribbling of notes and two cups of tea but the votes are in. After the initial round of listening there were half-a-dozen tracks that particularly caught my ear for one reason or another. All the submissions had something interesting about them but these six tracks just had 'something different'. After a second round of listening I had a top three (in no particular order as yet) but the listening was then interrupted for several hours by the small matter of a League Cup Semi Final second leg.

Bolstered by Spurs successfully negotiating their way to the final (and against my brother-in-law's club too!) I returned to try and sort out the top three places.

But, before I get to the top three, some honourable mentions - as I said, I had half-a-dozen entries that stood out from the pack for me. So well done to @JudasVigilante , @Antique_Guitars and @TTony for three great 'riffs' that didn't quite make my final cut. Good stuff, guys.

So the top three...

3rd place (1 point) - @Spark240 'ROTM Jan 2015'
Very well arranged and recorded, confidently played and with a laid-back easy-flowing pace to it. Very nice.

2nd place (3 points) - @SimonBeckwith '3pc 1 13.12.14'
I loved these proggy, twisting lines - you manage to keep things locked with the drums, though, which keeps it grooving tightly. With a snappier track name it might even have risen to the top of the podium.

1st place ( 5 points) - @Last Mantra 'Dopesick'
Great raw chuggy vibe, spacey fx and solid playing. Instantly appealed to someone like me with an enduring love of Hawkwind. All it's lacking is the lightshow. @-)

JudasVigilante · January 2015

Thanks for the mention steamabacus, glad your team did you proud. Against your in-laws too. Way to go!

TTony · January 2015

steamabacus said:

Bolstered by Spurs successfully negotiating their way to the final

Fellow Spurs-sufferer fan! COYS

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RotM #6 - Voting

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