guitar lines that support Bruce's vocals on Senjutsu question

Pibroch_Whistler

Pibroch_Whistler

Educated Fool
I've read many posts about how Janick plays lines that harmonize with Bruce's voice. These are especially noticeable on Book of Souls (Title Track), the pre-chorus to Lost in a Lost World, and the final stanza sections in The Parchment.

Is Janick solo responsible for all of these lines across the entire breadth of the Senjutsu album?

If this is true - and given that Janick solos just as much as H and Davey, wouldn't this make Janick - effectively speaking - Maiden's "lead" guitarist?
 
Over the years, the band members have said that when they go in the studio to record an album, they already have some "preconceived" separate ideas that they put together before rehearsing the songs. Each musician is only responsible for bringing melodies, riffs and solos. But, the conductor is Steve Harris himself who decides which part should be here and there and have the last word about this kind of stuff like the guitar melodies emphasizing vocal parts. I don't think that Janick found this harmonizing effect. IMHO it's Steve who went with this idea as he only knows and decides how a new Maiden album has to sound like.
 
The only thing missing in Maiden’s music, in my opinion, was great vocal harmonies. (They add so much to music from bands like Yes and Styx.) I guess Janick’s harmonizing guitar fills that void.
 
The Red and the Black said:
The only thing missing in Maiden’s music, in my opinion, was great vocal harmonies. (They add so much to music from bands like Yes and Styx.) I guess Janick’s harmonizing guitar fills that void.
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Clearly, Bruce can't do these vocal harmonies anymore as he can't reach easily highest notes. His voice is kind of tired nowadays. And maybe you're right saying that these Janick guitar parts are filling that void.
 
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I think most of it is Janick (for all Reunion albums too?).

In the title track and ''The Writing On The Wall'' is Adrian.
In ''Hell On Earth'' is hard to tell because all guitarists play different leads one after another.

Dave could be in ''Death Of The Celts''.


Janick: ''As for guitar tracks mirroring the vocals, sometimes we might put them down before Bruce and other times we’ll add them after. It’s different each time. It gives the guitars a higher octave and takes the sound to a different place, adding to the vocal line''.
 
Pibroch_Whistler said:
If this is true - and given that Janick solos just as much as H and Davey, wouldn't this make Janick - effectively speaking - Maiden's "lead" guitarist?
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@Forostar drew up a great table counting up the number of solos by the three guitarists since the reunion and, aside from Brave New World, he's always taken the fewest number of solos, by a fairly big margin. It's true that most of the lead guitar lines are from Janick though (usually in harmony with Adrian), even on songs he didn't write or take a solo in, look at "Empire of the Clouds" for example. You might find the discussion interesting, Here.
 
Empire of the Clouds is interesting since IIRC it's nearly evenly split on who's taking lead between Jan and H and I think this was literally down to who had the task of arranging each part on the guitar, leading to some remarks about the validity of marking it as a Dickinson solo composition, given that Kevin Shirley and Nicko apparently also were instrumental in getting that song into shape.

On Senjutsu, Hell on Earth is Dave for example so it's not like it's set in stone who leads the song. Based on interviews from the guitarists, it seems mostly decided by who happens to be around to interpret Steve's ideas into actual guitar parts.
 
Edington said:
@Forostar drew up a great table counting up the number of solos by the three guitarists since the reunion and, aside from Brave New World, he's always taken the fewest number of solos, by a fairly big margin. It's true that most of the lead guitar lines are from Janick though (usually in harmony with Adrian), even on songs he didn't write or take a solo in, look at "Empire of the Clouds" for example. You might find the discussion interesting, Here.
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In Dance Of Death and Senjutsu he is not with the fewest number of solos (equally with Dave).
I still can't believe that he is without a solo in ''Empire Of The Clouds''.
Ruflux said:
On Senjutsu, Hell on Earth is Dave for example so it's not like it's set in stone who leads the song. Based on interviews from the guitarists, it seems mostly decided by who happens to be around to interpret Steve's ideas into actual guitar parts.
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Yes, it's their choice.

Adrian: ''It’s funny – Steve will have these ideas and then look at me, Dave or Janick. The ideas are usually quite complicated, so sometimes you might see guitarists hiding away behind their amps, waiting for the others to take up the gauntlet and learn these super-complicated parts! But we all do our bit. Steve has a very different take on things, which for the most part is a real strength – because it makes us sound different to anything else. He’s got a knack for these time changes''.

Janick: ''There were so many melodies and riffs floating around in the studio. Sometimes we’d be playing three-part harmonies together. And there were a lot of tempo changes. Steve would have a riff and melody for us to memorise, then there would be a tempo change, then we’d be back to the melody but a different tempo! All you need, really, is a powerful chorus. Then you layer the guitars, it’s our job to make a tapestry underneath that enhances Bruce’s vocals rather than getting in the way.

Btw, I love this quote from Janick: ''We’ve always loved longer, more drawn-out tracks and even though we’re considered heavy metal we can also be folky, edgy, progressive and also very soft in places. In some respects, our way of looking at an album is everything’s possible! With Maiden, we love the imagery that comes through the music. We can take people places, and that’s the great thing about music and playing guitar. You think about what you’re playing and how you can transport the listener. That’s something magical''.
About ''Hell On Earth'': ''This is such a thematic end to the album, with so much power. It’s very cinematic and I love how all the guitars interact with each other. It’s heavy but it has so much soul to it''.
 
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