Be The Producer of Maiden

Mosh said:
It’s not impossible, it just requires more critical listening. El Dorado is a good example of the three guitarists’ contrasting style with three solos in a row. Adrian is much more melodic and the note choices are more modal than the pentatonic stylings of the other guitarists. Much more rhythmic and syncopated too. Dave’s solo is much more legato and “smooth” sounding. It’s still melodic but bluesier and less precise. Janick’s solo is totally manic. Lots of bends and fast runs of notes that don’t always fit the chords underneath. Their tones are also distinct. Learning to differentiate their playing styles is simply a matter of identifying the common traits of each guitarist and learning to hear those traits in their solos.
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Yes. Also from the more production standpoint, Janick's tone is almost always pretty dry. No other effects than a bit of reverb. Davey usualy has a bit of chorus on everything, a delay with one repeat and is a bit compressed (note: Davey's TBOS tone is completely different than before, because he used Gibsons into Victories and Fenders). Adrian is usually very compressed and uses a lot of delay.

That are the main points how to differentiate the tones.


At 9:13 there is H playing the melody. Janick comes in at 9:20. Very different tones.

Also another interesting point of EOTC. During the first part of the song, Janick is the one playing the most of melodies (before 9:13) and then H takes over and does most of the work until the end. Is it possible that they did guitar arrangments for half of EOTC each?
 
I don't think it's very difficult to differentiate between the three, even if you didn't know the members, as mentioned their tones/styles are so different. The only times I've struggled were in Revelations - the tones were so similar I thought Dave played the whole solo - and The Apparition. Janick using a Wah pedal threw me totally off.
 
Edington said:
I don't think it's very difficult to differentiate between the three, even if you didn't know the members, as mentioned their tones/styles are so different. The only times I've struggled were in Revelations - the tones were so similar I thought Dave played the whole solo - and The Apparition. Janick using a Wah pedal threw me totally off.
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Actually on The Apparition, I think Jan and Dave used eachother's gear.
 
I would love it if we were not supposed to guess the different tones but that the guitars played different things. And I am not talking about one of them playing an open chord while the other one is palm muting. We got a 18 minute song with EOTF and the guitar harmony occupies 30 sec or something. And even then it is a double guitar harmony. Talking about wasting some perfectly good guitar players.
 
Mosh said:
It’s not impossible, it just requires more critical listening. El Dorado is a good example of the three guitarists’ contrasting style with three solos in a row. Adrian is much more melodic and the note choices are more modal than the pentatonic stylings of the other guitarists. Much more rhythmic and syncopated too. Dave’s solo is much more legato and “smooth” sounding. It’s still melodic but bluesier and less precise. Janick’s solo is totally manic. Lots of bends and fast runs of notes that don’t always fit the chords underneath. Their tones are also distinct. Learning to differentiate their playing styles is simply a matter of identifying the common traits of each guitarist and learning to hear those traits in their solos.
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They are all different and I like them all. I just don't get the Janick hate, but then people like Blaze and I don't, so......to each his own I guess.
 
I can absolutely tell each of the guitarists apart based both on tone and style of playing, but I don't particularly care when it comes to solos as long as the solo itself is good. I do feel like it's a bit unfair Janick only has a handful of solos on the more recent albums while Davey and Adrian basically have one in nearly every song (in the case of TBOS, in every song for Adrian and for every song except IESF for Davey) but I figure it probably doesn't bother him all that much, he seems happy playing rhythm or harmonies in songs where he has no solos.

Overall, they're all great in their own ways. Yes, Janick's soloing style and playing is less precise and more manic, but that's just his style. He can be very precise when he wants to, so it's not down to sloppiness. Now, his most recent live improvisations on the other hand... oof.

Hocus Pocus btw is another song which really highlights the difference in the guitarists' tones. Just listen to the intro where they come in one by one. Davey is a little obscured since the drums and bass come in at the same time, but you can still hear how different his rhythm tone is to Janick and Adrian's.
 
Ruflux said:
I can absolutely tell each of the guitarists apart based both on tone and style of playing, but I don't particularly care when it comes to solos as long as the solo itself is good. I do feel like it's a bit unfair Janick only has a handful of solos on the more recent albums while Davey and Adrian basically have one in nearly every song (in the case of TBOS, in every song for Adrian and for every song except IESF for Davey) but I figure it probably doesn't bother him all that much, he seems happy playing rhythm or harmonies in songs where he has no solos.

Overall, they're all great in their own ways. Yes, Janick's soloing style and playing is less precise and more manic, but that's just his style. He can be very precise when he wants to, so it's not down to sloppiness. Now, his most recent live improvisations on the other hand... oof.

Hocus Pocus btw is another song which really highlights the difference in the guitarists' tones. Just listen to the intro where they come in one by one. Davey is a little obscured since the drums and bass come in at the same time, but you can still hear how different his rhythm tone is to Janick and Adrian's.
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Actually, the whole TRATB is one big solo for Jan. He rarely plays rythm guitar in that song.
 
Ruflux said:
I do feel like it's a bit unfair Janick only has a handful of solos on the more recent albums while Davey and Adrian basically have one in nearly every song (in the case of TBOS, in every song for Adrian and for every song except IESF for Davey)
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I agree. On TBOS, they probably could have taken away Adrians WTTRD and TMOS solos and not really lost anything. I really wish they had shaved some of the repetition from EOTC and given Janick a solo just before the "Here lie their dreams" part. Janick's great when he slows down, he could've done something really special.

Though, as matic said, Jan does do a lot of lead on that album, even on songs that aren't his, so I guess it all balances out somehow.
 
I'd just like to get the current incarnation of Maiden to re-record VXI, because I love those songs but the album isn't "dark" like X Factor so I'd prefer Bruce's voice. Maybe then Nicko would use both arms when drumming and the guitars wouldn't sound like they're being held underwater in a bathtub. Actually a full studio recording of Paul/Blaze classic redone by the current lineup would be good for me. I know they do a lot of that live as it is, but I'd like to hear what the band could do in the studio with some of that material and their collected experience.
 
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