Selkies the Endless Obsession

Hey guys,

This is a song that's one of my favorites of all time. Mainly because of the solo near the end. One reason I like it so much is because it's a perfect example of how fast playing and sweep picking can evoke just as much emotion as anything else.

A lot of people say things like: "Yeah fast playing is impressive, but it doesn't sound good," or "It doesn't have any feeling."

Well this solo evokes a ton of emotion and gives me goosebumps every time. And in fact, the technique that gets talked down on the most (sweep picking) is the part of the solo that evokes the MOST emotion. But one reason is because he doesn't just sweep up and down through each arpeggio, but he doubles up on some notes, and uses different variations of the arpeggios. It's a great example of why it's important to come up with variations of your sweeps. Have a listen: (if you want to go straight to the solo, start at 4:42)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=19UZd_DKs2Q

Thanks for sharing! This is actually a personal favorite of mine. These guys are from my hometown in NC and I've been a fan for a while.

James
GT Admin

Awesome! I used to live in Southern California and there was this small venue (Chain Reaction) that they would come play at all the time. I met them briefly while they were out back. Seemed really cool!

Bands like them, and Suicide Silence, the Faceless, Elysia, Born of Osiris, Job for a Cowboy, etc. used to play there all the time, sometimes at the same show even. Those were the days!

This is a great song...but the vocals ruin it for me :(. Opeth is the same for me...the music is awesome, but I can't get past the death metal cookie monster vocals.

The instrumental totally puts me in mind of some kick ass Dream Theater from the late 90's early 2000's. You are right...it's a tasteful use of a sweep that adds to the music rather than just a "hey, look at me, I can sweep!".

I like the nod to King Crimson's Discipline in the beginning. DT and KC, pretty impressive influences.

Glad you enjoyed it.

I used to listen to death metal and hardcore all the time. But now I'm kind of over the vocals. But every once in a while I'll still listen to it. Those kind of vocals are an acquired taste; no one likes them at first!

In Flames is a good band to kind of transition to those kind of vocals. They have some awesome solos and instrumentals as well.

Anyway, I'm going to try learning the solo from this song, but it's played it C#. Instead of bothering to put heavy gauge strings back on my Ibanez, I'm just going to tab it out in standard tuning. And I'm sure it will take me a while to learn. So maybe look out for it in the listening section in a year or so! lol