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Black Sabbath Album Discussion Thread

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Offline metaldams



Ozzy Osbourne, vocals.  Tony Iommi, guitars.  Geezer Butler, bass.  Bill Ward, drums.  These four men make up the classic Black Sabbath line up and would appear on the first eight albums, released from 1970 - 1978.  Only Iommi would be around for the entire band’s history and yeah, once the eighties begin, so do the line up changes!  The majority of the catalog I enjoy, but that original line up had a very unique chemistry where all four men contributed greatly to the sound.  I’m sure you all know what Ozzy sounds like, a very unmistakable voice.  Iommi had such a monstrous heavy tone with an identifiable solo style and more importantly, riffs for miles, several of them downtuned.  Geezer Butler’s distorted bass tone doubling those riffs, throwing in melodic fills in the empty spaces - one of my bass playing heroes.  Bill Ward was a very orchestral and jazzy drummer, not the kind of guy content playing straight 4/4 beats.  Basically, all their parts felt like they were part of the composition, like The Who, like Led Zeppelin.

       The band started in 1968 as Earth and had to change their name once they found another local band with the same moniker.  Geezer thought of the name Black Sabbath after the Mario Bava directed Boris Karloff Italian horror anthology film.  I’ll now address the devil thing.  The first album, by far, has the most devil references, but even then, it’s more so fear of the devil.  In a few albums you will even see some Christian themes.  They start with horror movie stuff, but the lyrics get more earth bound in their darkness starting with the second album.  Themes of depression, nuclear war, dishonest managers, the military industrial complex, drugs, bad relationships, and loss of loved ones, amongst other things.  Very rarely will this band sing about sex and love the way so many other bands of the era did.  The times they do can be counted on one hand.  During the Ozzy era, Ozzy chipped in the occasional lyric, but the main lyricist was bassist Geezer Butler.  Geezer’s lyrics, as the seventies wore on, became both a warning of the evils of the world and catharsis for a bunch of us outcast teenagers.

      I will also address the heavy metal thing, which will segue into the first album.  The narrative for the past thirty years has been Black Sabbath are the first heavy metal band and the self titled debut album - released Friday, Feb 13th 1970 in the U.K. and June 1970 is the U.S., is the first heavy metal album.  Do I agree?  I don’t believe heavy metal formed out of thin air one magical day, as elements of it were bubbling up in the sixties.  However, I do think Black Sabbath more consistently than any other band played what we now know as heavy metal until Judas Priest came along in the mid 70’s.  As far as the first album goes?  The most metal album to date, but also steeped in older traditions.  As far as metal invention, it would musically get surpassed by the release of DEEP PURPLE IN ROCK a few months later and then again by Sabbath’s own sophomore effort later in the year.  The first Black Sabbath album, while helping usher in metal, is also steeped in the latter part of the British blues rock boom that started in 1963.  While the earlier people of the scene like Brian Jones and Eric Burdon listened to all those great black blues artists from America, I get the feeling while I’m sure the Sabbath guys appreciate the originals on some level, they were more influenced by the likes of Cream and the other British bands who were influenced by the original source. 

      The recording circumstances for this album were unique in that it was all recorded in one day!  10/16/69, Regent Studios, the same studio The Rolling Stones recorded their first album.  Sabbath never released a proper live album back in the 70’s (LIVE AT LAST fiasco aside), so this is the closest thing to it as these are live performances you are hearing.  This is basically a live set, complete with tons of random guitar soloing from Tony Iommi.  That aspect of this album is very much a staple of the British blues scene I was talking about.  There are a few overdubs in the vocals and dual guitar solos, but beyond that, this is all live.

      The first Sabbath release was actually a single released only in the U.K.  “Evil Woman (Don’t You Play Your Games With Me)” and the b-side “Wicked World.” The a side opened side two of the original U.K. release and the b-side opened the North American version.  I never heard the a side until I was a fan for over ten years because it was a while before that song was on CD in the U.S. and this was before YouTube and streaming services.  The a side is a cover from the band Crow that management pressured the band to record.  It’s a heavy blues based rocker with a catchy chorus about a girl who gets pregnant and wrongly accuses the singer of being the father.  The b side is the first song the band ever wrote and I like it much better.  That instrumental intro is totally jazz based  (and fun to play on bass) and the singing and riff structure pretty bluesy. Yes, Iommi goes into his off the cuff soloing and the song is about how man can go to the moon yet can’t feed some children on Earth.  Recorded around the time of the moon landing.

      The second song the band wrote opens the album.  It is the song “Black Sabbath” on the album BLACK SABBATH from the band Black Sabbath.  A total metal classic.  The three note riff is iconic and uses an interval known as the diminished fifth or the tri-tone.  Basically, take any key on a piano and play six keys higher or lower.  This interval was literally banned in the medieval church because it sounded so sinister.  The lyrics are about a run in with the dark one himself and people getting the Hell out of dodge.  Basically the musical equivalent of an atmospheric horror film.

      “The Wizard” has Ozzy Osbourne wailing away on the harmonica!  The guitar and bass play heavy chords in the verse on beats four and one and leave the other spaces for Bill Ward to do his drum magic.  Lyrically it’s about some wizard performing white magic and healing people, they say inspired by Lord of the Rings.

      “Behind the Wall of Sleep” another heavy blues rocker that has a really swinging rhythm section and a few musical mood changes.  Lyrically, the song has always been a bit obscure to me, but through the magic of search engines, it appears Geezer based the song on a Dennis Wheatley novel of the same name.  Yeah, more horror based stuff as Wheatley was a horror author and even had a couple of novels adapted for Hammer Horror Films.  I’ll have to check the novel out.

      “N.I.B.” is another metal classic.  Starts out with a bluesy and wah-wah drenched Geezer Butler bass solo and goes into a classic riff in the tradition of Cream’s “Sunshine of Your Love” and Iron Butterfly’s “In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida.” Lyrically it starts like a typical love song until it’s revealed Lucifer is the one in love with the girl!  Catchy as Hell song with fantastic guitar playing throughout.  Love the mellow bridge as well.

       “Sleeping Village” starts out with some cool clean guitar tone mellow playing from Iommi and a mellow verse sung by Ozzy about waking up in a serene nature situation.  In then quickly goes into these monstrous Iommi chords, a freak out jam from the band followed by more soloing from Iommi, sans band.  This segues into….

      “Warning.”  Total twelve bars blues stuff about being ditched by your woman.  When people act like this is a pure metal album that invented the genre from scratch, I point them to songs like this and Ozzy’s harmonica and the blues structure of so much going on.  I enjoy all this stuff, but it’s not pure metal.  This is another cover from Aynsley Dunbar and once again, the band checks out for several minutes so Iommi can solo.  Very much like live bands were doing in the late sixties.  You will never hear this kind of thing on any other Sabbath album. 

      So yeah, BLACK SABBATH is a classic album and also unique in the Sabbath catalog.  More metal than anything else in February 1970, but still lots of blues and occasional jazz elements.  Tons of guitar soloing from Iommi, off the cuff, recorded in a day and bits of horror thrown in for good measure.  The opening title track is by far my favorite, by I do like every song here and totally appreciate the uniqueness of this album.  While most people rank this among their favorites (well, at least before the days when random dudes on YouTube started claiming HEADLESS CROSS and TYR as the best Sabbath albums), it’s actually my second to least favorite of the eight albums from the original line up.  Not a bad thing, though, as Black Sabbath are my favorite 70’s band the way The Beatles are my 60’s band.  I just think the songs get more focused and I’m a fan of when they incorporate more progressive rock elements in the mid seventies.  Hope you guys enjoy the ride.
- Doug Sarnecky


Offline Umbrella Sam

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I’m the first to admit I know almost nothing about heavy metal music. I never really grew up with it and for some reason, it never really occurred to me to seek it out until recently. But, hey, I’m up for listening to something new, so I’ll give this a shot. Just please be easy on me because, again, this perspective comes from someone still relatively new to the genre.

Overall, I like a good portion of this album. I really like the harmonica playing on “The Wizard”. I can definitely hear the blues inspiration there. “Behind the Wall of Sleep” has a really cool bass part; in general, I often find myself not really noticing bass parts on first listen and having to look out for them specifically on later listens. Here, though, for whatever reason the bass playing stood out on a lot of these songs. I don’t know if it’s mixed in louder than most albums or if Geezer Butler really is that good of a bass player, but whatever it is, it really works. “N.I.B.” is my favorite song of the bunch. It’s got a really memorable riff and the structure of that with Ozzie’s vocals creates this really unique song style that really works.

The opening and closing tracks are the weak points here to me. “Black Sabbath” starts off fine; the three-note riff is nice, but they rely on it a bit too much before really doing anything interesting and the song comes off as really repetitive. And “Warning” just drags on forever. I love guitar solos as much as anyone else, but this one felt way too excessive. Reading your comments, I’m glad to learn this is not a common thing on these albums. The A-side/B-side pairing of “Evil Woman”/“Wicked World” is decent, but I prefer the B-side. “Evil Woman” does sound kind of out of place so it doesn’t surprise me to learn that management picked it for them.
“I’ll take a milkshake...with sour milk!” -Shemp (Punchy Cowpunchers, 1950)

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Offline metaldams

I’m the first to admit I know almost nothing about heavy metal music. I never really grew up with it and for some reason, it never really occurred to me to seek it out until recently. But, hey, I’m up for listening to something new, so I’ll give this a shot. Just please be easy on me because, again, this perspective comes from someone still relatively new to the genre.

Overall, I like a good portion of this album. I really like the harmonica playing on “The Wizard”. I can definitely hear the blues inspiration there. “Behind the Wall of Sleep” has a really cool bass part; in general, I often find myself not really noticing bass parts on first listen and having to look out for them specifically on later listens. Here, though, for whatever reason the bass playing stood out on a lot of these songs. I don’t know if it’s mixed in louder than most albums or if Geezer Butler really is that good of a bass player, but whatever it is, it really works. “N.I.B.” is my favorite song of the bunch. It’s got a really memorable riff and the structure of that with Ozzie’s vocals creates this really unique song style that really works.

The opening and closing tracks are the weak points here to me. “Black Sabbath” starts off fine; the three-note riff is nice, but they rely on it a bit too much before really doing anything interesting and the song comes off as really repetitive. And “Warning” just drags on forever. I love guitar solos as much as anyone else, but this one felt way too excessive. Reading your comments, I’m glad to learn this is not a common thing on these albums. The A-side/B-side pairing of “Evil Woman”/“Wicked World” is decent, but I prefer the B-side. “Evil Woman” does sound kind of out of place so it doesn’t surprise me to learn that management picked it for them.

Yeah, the extended guitar solo thing is only here.  I have a feeling the situation was they had one day to record this thing and only so much material, so they had to fill the album somehow.

I know you don’t know metal well, but there are a couple of songs on the next album that are extremely famous.  I won’t say the titles, but I’ll be curious as to your level of familiarity.
- Doug Sarnecky


Offline HomokHarcos

1970s rock will always remind of my aunt and uncle and staying with them during the summer in the Detroit area. Black Sabbath, along with with Led Zeppelin and Steely Dan were the bands they listened to a lot. Black Sabbath will always remind me of them and the Detroit area as a whole being in the car, going from thrift store to thrift store, visiting family and eating out. They have a cat named them Ozzy! Despite hearing several of their songs I never actually went through their discography. The first album starts off their career with a bang.

"Evil Woman" was a song I haven't heard until today. I haven't heard the original song either, and would almost certainly think of the Electric Light Orchestra if those words were brought up. It is groovy and catchy. "Wicked World" has a great bass riff at the beginning and I do like the jam session sound the track brings. As far back in the 1920s blues and jazz were associated with each other, it's a terrific sound when they are also thrown together with rock.

"Black Sabbath" was a trivia answer my brother used to tell me about a self-titled song being on a self-titled album. It's an  awesome setup, the way the song buildups to the end of the song. Reminds me of the way "Rock Lobster" the B-52's goes, repetitive but great before the even better finale. Hearing "The Wizard" the nostalgia really started kicking in. Harmonicas and a great blues influenced riff.

"N.I.B." might be the song I've heard the most from this album. The main riff certainly is recognizable, and it has also a great guitar solo. Is that a didgeridoo in the beginning of "Sleeping Village"? Both times I listened to it I thought I heard one. I'm surprised "The Warning" is a cover, I assumed it was an improvised jam session that they recorded together.

Once again, thanks for giving the historical view behind the art. I think you do an excellent job at that


Offline Umbrella Sam

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Is that a didgeridoo in the beginning of "Sleeping Village"? Both times I listened to it I thought I heard one.

No idea, but I couldn’t resist the chance to make this reference:



I too thought of ELO when hearing the title “Evil Woman”.
“I’ll take a milkshake...with sour milk!” -Shemp (Punchy Cowpunchers, 1950)

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Offline Umbrella Sam

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Yeah, the extended guitar solo thing is only here.  I have a feeling the situation was they had one day to record this thing and only so much material, so they had to fill the album somehow.

I know you don’t know metal well, but there are a couple of songs on the next album that are extremely famous.  I won’t say the titles, but I’ll be curious as to your level of familiarity.

It’s possible I could recognize some stuff from the radio. At the top of my head, though, I only know some of Ozzy’s solo stuff (“Crazy Train” in particular).
“I’ll take a milkshake...with sour milk!” -Shemp (Punchy Cowpunchers, 1950)

My blog: https://talk-about-cinema.blogspot.com


Offline HomokHarcos

No idea, but I couldn’t resist the chance to make this reference:



I too thought of ELO when hearing the title “Evil Woman”.
I love early SpongeBob. Possibly my all time favorite TV show.


Offline HomokHarcos

My uncle put on Paranoid before and my brother asked him if it was the greatest hits album because of all the famous songs on there.


Offline metaldams

We’ll get to PARANOID in detail next week, but Sam, even if you don’t know a couple of songs on here consciously, I have a feeling a guitar riff or two you’ll hear and instantly recognize.  Like Homok said, this feels like a greatest hits album.  I’ll get into my thoughts about that for sure.

As far as Electric Light Orchestra, believe it or not, drummer Bev Bevan played for Sabbath on the 83/84 tour, but that’s far in the future.  Both bands are from Birmingham, England and the same age, so they know each other.
- Doug Sarnecky


Offline metaldams



For as long as I’ve been a Sabbath fan, I’ve never seen this footage until a few days ago.
- Doug Sarnecky


Offline Umbrella Sam

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For as long as I’ve been a Sabbath fan, I’ve never seen this footage until a few days ago.

Didn’t recognize it, but already I think that’s a cool song. Looking forward to hearing the rest of the album.
“I’ll take a milkshake...with sour milk!” -Shemp (Punchy Cowpunchers, 1950)

My blog: https://talk-about-cinema.blogspot.com


Offline metaldams





     Album number two from Black Sabbath and it is indeed, as has been stated, their most famous album ever, PARANOID.  Their biggest seller, certified four times platinum in the U.S.  The album hit number one in the U.K. charts and number twelve in the U.S. Black Sabbath’s three most famous songs, “War Pigs,” “Paranoid” and “Iron Man” can all be found here.  I think you guys who are Sabbath newbies are going to like this one and it’s objectively a great album.

     As a hardcore Sabbath fan for close to thirty years (mercy), there is that bit of overkill for me personally.  Any reunion era Sabbath concert set list leans very heavily on the first three albums and especially PARANOID.  For the geeks like myself who love the mid seventies Sabbath albums as well, it can get frustrating.  Think of an artist you love deeply and know the catalog pretty well.  When you talk to the casual person and mention this, they name the most predictable hit song and in your mind you know you like dozens of songs better.  That is my feeling with PARANOID.  But ignore my old man ramblings, still a great album, nonetheless.

      One thing not discussed about the first album is the producer, Rodger Bain.  He actually is the producer for the first three albums.  The first album only took a day but with PARANOID they get six days.  Still not much time.  But with Rodger Bain, besides the first three Black Sabbath albums, he also produced the first two Budgie albums and the first Judas Priest album.  What do these bands and albums all have in common?  All the bands are from Birmingham, England and these are the most lo-fi sounding albums of these band’s careers.  Not necessarily a bad thing for early heavy music and they’re all good albums, but the point is Rodger Bain just works with local bands just starting out with quickly done recordings.  After the first three albums, the rest of the Ozzy era albums are self produced - really by guitarist Tony Iommi and sound like they have a bigger budget.  It wasn’t until Dio joined the band that Black Sabbath worked with a big outside producer.  OK, onto the songs.

      “War Pigs” is one of the famous ones and concert staples and for my personal tastes, one that would probably make my top ten Sabbath songs.  It’s worth the hype.  Musically it starts with those slow, doomy Iommi chords with Geezer ably filling in all the spaces on bass.  The verse has those iconic Bill Ward high hat hits the crowd claps along to at shows and a very impassioned Ozzy vocal.  The instrumental sections are a band on fire, very improvisational in parts and towards the end, some very composed and melodic Tony Iommi guitars.  Lyrically this is one of the great anti war songs.  Sabbath played for Vietnam soldiers at the time and Geezer Butler saw the Hell (PTSD) some of these soldiers went through.  This song is an attack on the war profiteers and speaks of the judgment and damnation coming to them.  No flowers in your hair hippie stuff, this is anti war in reality and is a pure masterpiece in my mind.  One other song inspired by Vietnam to come.

      “Paranoid,” the title track and probably the most famous Black Sabbath song ever.  You will not hear a single Black Sabbath or Ozzy Osbourne show without this song being played.  It was written as a filler track.  The other seven songs were done, they needed a few extra minutes to fill the album so they came up with this in about five minutes.  The machine gun style guitar is inspired by Led Zeppelin’s “Communication Breakdown.”  A fantastic heavy pop song I enjoy hearing?  Yes.  The greatest heavy metal song of all time, which I’ve actually seen this declared in polls?  Not even the greatest song on this album.

      “Planet Caravan” is total chill and mellowness.  Very subtle and clean guitar tones from Iommi, beautiful guitar soloing, a nice rhythm from Geezer and some cool jungle rhythms from Bill Ward.  Ozzy’s voice is given some real cool effect and the lyrics are about some astral space trip.  Nice peaceful music.  The first version I ever heard was Pantera’s 1994 cover from the extremely brutal FAR BEYOND DRIVEN album, so it sounded really left field there.  I bought that album as a brand new release and heard Sabbath a few months later, so 1994 is when I got into Sabbath.

      “Iron Man.”  That opening riff, along with “Smoke On the Water” and “Enter Sandman” I think everybody and their grandmother knows.  Another classic song.  Sci fi lyrics, about three great riffs throughout, a great solo section and an ending coda where Geezer and Bill play real fast and there is some epic guitar soloing.  Homok will appreciate this - the first Sabbath song I ever heard back in the 80’s because The Road Warriors went to the ring with it as their theme music.  A classic for sure.

      “Electric Funeral” has more great riffs throughout and some great rhythms.  Real slow doom metal here.  The middle section is more syncopated and bass wise, has Geezer bending the strings and doing some cool stuff.  Lyrically this is about the horrors of nuclear disaster and Sabbath doesn’t sugar coat things here.  Read these lyrics, somewhat graphic and really depicts the horrors - keep in mind this is Cold War era (which is coming back).

      “Hand of Doom” continues the real life horrors.  It is about a traumatized Vietnam soldier who turns to heroin to ease his pain.  Very graphic depictions of addiction, including the dizziness and nausea and death that comes with it.  This song, more so than any school program, kept me off hard drugs.  Musically begins with a cool bass riff that builds in dynamic with clean Iommi guitar tones, subtle drumming from Bill Ward and then busts into heaviness.  Very blues based Ozzy vocals.  The middle part, like “Electric Funeral,” has some cool rhythms and I love that quarter note heavy stomp part.

      “Rat Salad” is in the tradition on Cream’s “Toad” and Led Zeppelin’s “Moby Dick” where they play a few riffs to start and then let the drummer take a solo for a few minutes.  Bill Ward is awesome here and is one of the great drummers in that era of fantastic hard rock British rhythm sections.

      “Fairies Wear Boots” is lyrically a weird acid trip.  Musically it has some really cool jazzy playing to start and goes into some powerhouse riff when the verses begin.  More great blues based vocals from Ozzy and that guitar lick at the end as the album fades inspired Metallica’s “For Whom the Bell Tolls.”

      A great album overall and more focused than the debut.  Commercially this may be the peak, not that the albums after did bad, going simply platinum or gold instead of multi platinum.  But artistically, if you ask me, as good as they are here, they’re going to get even better.  More adventurous.  Next up is the final album of what I feel is the first phase, the mighty MASTER OF REALITY.

     

     
- Doug Sarnecky


Offline HomokHarcos

Wow, my number one thought when listening to this album is how great Tommy Iommi's guitar work is. Some of the best I've ever heard. This is clear right from the beginning with "War Pigs". Excellent song all around, my favorite part is the end of the song that is mostly instrumental. I will never get sick of ending riff. I agree about "Paranoid" being a bit more poppy. It's more accessible than the rest of the songs on the album, but I will concede that the main riff is very catchy.

I happen to really like Pantera's music, but I prefer the Black Sabbath original of "Planet Caravan". It's a great mellow track, almost has a smooth jazz/Latin influenced feel. "Iron Man" is another song that shows how great Tommy Iommi was. Perfect guitar riffs for the verses and chorus, in addition to the solos that make up the middle and end of of the song. I heard that the Road Warriors used this as their theme song in the 1980s. Unfortunately, dubbed it over on the WWE Network for copyright reasons, so I wasn't aware of it when I first watched those JCP and WCW shows. In 2000 when Vince Russo became a wrestler (oh boy) he used a song that was obviously a ripoff of "Iron Man". It's so bad that it sounds like somebody is trying to do a straight cover but doesn't know how to play.

"Electric Funeral" is a slower paced song that reminds me of some 1990s bands like Kyuss and Monster Magnet. There is one part of the song where it get quicker and yes, the bass is great here. "Rat Salad" sounds like a jam session, one you would hear when they are playing live. I wouldn't be surprised if it was recorded in one take. "Fairies Wear Boots" has a great instrumental section at the beginning. I'm hoping they continue these instrumental sections, those are my favorite parts of the albums so far. I think Ozzy is a good vocalist for the band, but it's the instruments that make the music as great as it is. After the opening we get another satisfying Tommy riff.

Another album that's a straight thumbs up the whole way. A huge shout out to Tommy Iommi.


Offline Umbrella Sam

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Well, having listened to this, I can confirm I did recognize at least one song on this album, “Iron Man”. I had no idea that that was Black Sabbath.

Overall, a mostly good record that seems more focused than the first. Whereas the first had that ridiculous ending solo with “Warning”, here the solos seem much more well timed and more playing off of everyone else. One thing I noticed is just how much on these songs they change pace for part of the song only to return to the main theme. It works pretty well for the most part, and in the case of some songs (particularly “Electric Funeral”), they’re my favorite part of the song.

Alright, the highlights. As I mentioned previously, “Paranoid” really caught my attention, and I can see why it’s one of the more popular ones. “War Pigs” had an especially great first minute with the bass playing, and “Iron Man”’s riff really is very distinctive. My two favorites here are “Planet Caravan”  and “Hand of Doom”. The former was very laid back and had a really nice guitar part. Very atmospheric with that vocal that sounds like it’s underwater. And that riff to “Hands of Doom” was extremely catchy. I can definitely hear the blues influence on this one, and I like all the sudden changes, like how the riff kind of quietly plays then suddenly everyone comes back in, or when they again go into a completely different direction in the middle. “Rat Salad” is probably my least favorite; it kind of felt like filler more than anything.

So, yeah, an improvement over the first. I liked it, and can see from the crazy guitar work particularly why it’s so popular. Tony Iommi’s guitar style here sounds really familiar. Did his style have an influence on any ‘80s guitarists, because it kind of sounds to me like something from that era.
“I’ll take a milkshake...with sour milk!” -Shemp (Punchy Cowpunchers, 1950)

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Offline metaldams



So, yeah, an improvement over the first. I liked it, and can see from the crazy guitar work particularly why it’s so popular. Tony Iommi’s guitar style here sounds really familiar. Did his style have an influence on any ‘80s guitarists, because it kind of sounds to me like something from that era.

Tony Iommi has an influence on just about anybody who plays heavy metal music.  His solos to an extent, but his riffs unquestionably.
- Doug Sarnecky


Offline metaldams



Fascinating story about how Tony Iommi overcame a handicap to play guitar.  Much like Harold Lloyd in that it shows a ton of determination.
- Doug Sarnecky


Offline metaldams

One more quick note.  Since I’m also going to be reviewing Led Zeppelin, to avoid review overkill, I will be going back and forth between Zeppelin and Sabbath.  So Zeppelin next week, Sabbath the week after, etc.
- Doug Sarnecky


Offline HomokHarcos



Fascinating story about how Tony Iommi overcame a handicap to play guitar.  Much like Harold Lloyd in that it shows a ton of determination.

Ouch that workplace injury was hard to stomach. It’s ironic that he was going to skip work that day but his mom made him go.

Thanks for sharing that video. I know it can be difficult to play an instrument with deformed fingers (I have some myself). It was hard to play bass when I tried.


Offline metaldams

Ouch that workplace injury was hard to stomach. It’s ironic that he was going to skip work that day but his mom made him go.

Thanks for sharing that video. I know it can be difficult to play an instrument with deformed fingers (I have some myself). It was hard to play bass when I tried.

If you don’t mind me asking, what’s the finger deformity?  Depending on the deformity, guitar might be easier since the strings are thinner.
- Doug Sarnecky


Offline HomokHarcos

If you don’t mind me asking, what’s the finger deformity?  Depending on the deformity, guitar might be easier since the strings are thinner.



I recorded a video of my fingers for you. I tend to pluck with my ring finger and middle finger (I don’t really use my index finger for anything). The thing is my middle finger is quite thick, so it's hard to pluck lightly. My uncle complained that I play like Lemmy. On a side note, I wonder if Harold Lloyd's looked like this.


Offline metaldams



I recorded a video of my fingers for you. I tend to pluck with my ring finger and middle finger (I don’t really use my index finger for anything). The thing is my middle finger is quite thick, so it's hard to pluck lightly. My uncle complained that I play like Lemmy. On a side note, I wonder if Harold Lloyd's looked like this.

Looking at your fingers and due to the fact it’s your picking hand, I would say you’d be better off using a pick - a lot of players use one.  You can take your ring finger and thumb and find a comfortable grip that way.  The rest would all be in the wrist.
- Doug Sarnecky


Offline HomokHarcos

Looking at your fingers and due to the fact it’s your picking hand, I would say you’d be better off using a pick - a lot of players use one.  You can take your ring finger and thumb and find a comfortable grip that way.  The rest would all be in the wrist.
Thanks, that's what my brother also suggested, surprisingly I never tried that. My mom's best friend cut off some of her fingers with a saw and continued to play piano after that. In case you're wondering, I was born like this, fortunately never had any serious injuries like that.

I'm looking forward to discussing Led Zeppelin, that's another band my family listened to when I was growing up. Will Coda be included? I don't think I've ever listened to that before.


Offline metaldams

Thanks, that's what my brother also suggested, surprisingly I never tried that. My mom's best friend cut off some of her fingers with a saw and continued to play piano after that. In case you're wondering, I was born like this, fortunately never had any serious injuries like that.

I'm looking forward to discussing Led Zeppelin, that's another band my family listened to when I was growing up. Will Coda be included? I don't think I've ever listened to that before.

Well, if you decide to play, let us know how it goes.  I see no reason why a pick should be a problem.  Yeah, we’ll do CODA.

….and what the Hell, I guess I’ll post it.  Me 4.5 years ago.

- Doug Sarnecky


Offline HomokHarcos

Well, if you decide to play, let us know how it goes.  I see no reason why a pick should be a problem.  Yeah, we’ll do CODA.

….and what the Hell, I guess I’ll post it.  Me 4.5 years ago.


I was half expecting to see W.C. Fields playing Black Sabbath on bass. Sounds good, do you learn by ear or read notes?


Offline metaldams

I was half expecting to see W.C. Fields playing Black Sabbath on bass. Sounds good, do you learn by ear or read notes?

I was sober when I recorded that video.  I look exactly like Fields after a few drinks.  This particular song I learned from a book I have, I can read music.  I learn some songs by ear too.  I learned to play long  before YouTube existed, there are a lot more resources now.
- Doug Sarnecky