Neo-classical metal

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Neo-classical metal is a subgenre of the heavy metal music heavily influenced by classical music and can be considered a form of neoclassicism.

Contents

[edit] Definition

Neo-classical metal is a similar but distinct concept from neoclassicism in music. Neoclassicism refers to the movement in musical modernism in which composers drew inspiration from the Classical period, popular during the years in between the two World Wars. This type of music can be seen as a direct reaction towards the prevailing trend of 19th Century Romanticism, and of the music of Richard Wagner in particular. Composers such as Igor Stravinsky and Paul Hindemith fused elements from the music of Classical composers, such as a return to "common practice" harmony and strict adherence to form, with their own unique "advanced" harmonic vocabularies and (perhaps most importantly) rhythmic variety.

The classically trained Randy Rhoads displayed classical influences in his playing and was one of the first to actually incorporate Classical ideas to innovate his guitar playing and overall technique. The shredding movement was made popular by guitarist Yngwie Malmsteen, who would tranpose classical music onto the guitar. As a result, Neo-classical metal developed as a standalone metal subgenre.

Queen has also been cited as a major influence on the genre by Yngwie Malmsteen.

[edit] Elements

  • Pedal point (repetition of a note or group, with a scalic, melody line played alternately),
  • Ostinato (strict repetition of a single phrase or idea),
  • Scale sequence (a stylised way of ascending or descending through a scale or mode, where a set pattern is observed),
  • Arpeggio (the notes of a chord played individually)
  • Tritone (musical interval that spans three whole tones or six semitones). This common interval is common in many types of heavy metal music, due to its conflicting and evil sound.
  • 8 Finger Tapping The use of all fingers in the left and right hands.

[edit] Sounds

  • Harmonic minor scale (Aeolian mode with a raised 7th scale degree),
  • Melodic minor scale (Aeolian mode with a raised 6th and 7th scale degree),
  • Diminished (a series of minor 3rd intervals stacked one on top of the next),
  • cycle of fifths (a chord progression where each chord becomes the dominant of the next e.g.: Am, D, G, C, F, Bdim, E, Am),
  • suspensions (cadences or "chord progression endings" where the true harmony chord is pushed out or "suspended" by another, non-harmony note and then reasserts itself. Examples: 4th replaces 3rd; 6th replaces 5th; 9th replace 8th or octave).

The chord progressions, arpeggios, and fast scale runs of neo-classical metal are borrowed for the most part from Johann Sebastian Bach, Antonio Vivaldi, Niccolò Paganini, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Ludwig van Beethoven, particularly the first three. The virtuosos who perform in this style are sometimes dubbed "Guitar Gods".

Although Yngwie J. Malmsteen is probably the form's best known proponent, classical elements used in heavy metal and hard rock date back to Ritchie Blackmore of Deep Purple, Uli Jon Roth and Randy Rhoads's innovations in the late 1970s and early 1980s.

[edit] Neo-classical metal/Shred performers

[edit] Bands

[edit] Musicians

Heavy metal
Black metal - Classic metal - Death metal - Doom metal - Folk metal - Glam metal - Gothic metal - Grindcore - Industrial metal - Neo-classical metal - Nu metal - Power metal - Progressive metal - Speed metal - Symphonic metal - Thrash metal
Regional scenes
Scandinavian death metal - New Wave of British Heavy Metal - Bay Area thrash metal
Other topics
Fashion - Bands - Umlaut
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