MARCH 2020 TOTAL GUITAR35
creatinga soundwithbigreverbsand
delaycombinations,”saysIhsahn.
“Itsoundsbeautiful.”Asidefrom
anoccasionaldelay,Ihsahn’ssignal
islargelydry,withleadtonesrunning
alittlehotterthantherhythm.
As forguitars,in thelastfewyears
IhsahnhasmovedfromusingIbanez’s
RGSeriesto a varietyof six-,seven-
andeight-stringcustomelectricsfrom
Aristides.Anavant-gardechoice,
Aristidesuseinjection-mouldedarium
bodies,a lightweightcompositeresin
thatis injectedintoa glassfibreand
carbonexoskeleton.Aristidesuse
Richlitefretboards,an eco-friendly
materialmadefromrecycledpulp.
“Imakesurethattheyhavedifferent
pickupsanddifferentsetupsso that
theyhavethispersonalitywhere
Icanpickthemup,andit is partlythe
instrumentsthemselvesthatinfluence
howI write,”explainsIhsahn.“I read
somewherethatJackWhitelikesguitars
thatarereallycumbersometo play
becausehe likesthestruggle.I amthe
opposite.I justwantinstruments
thatfeellikemyguitar,andthatI am
comfortablewithso thatwhenI need
itto do somethingit justdoesit.”
HARMONYCORRUPTION
Andthereinis a lesson:choosingthe
righttoolcanmakethejoba loteasier.
Saveyoureffortsforthestrugglesthat
matter.Playinga progressivestrain
ofextrememetalpresentsits own
challenges.Bigideasleadto more
complexcompositions.As Ihsahn
maintains,youdon’thaveto haveto
shred,butit helpsif youknowyour
wayacrossthefretboard.In thatsense,
musictheorycanhelp.Ihsahnpicked
uptheoryalongtheway,butthereare
abundantresourcesforplayerslooking
to gettheirheadsaroundscales,chord
progressions,whateverticklesyour
modalfancy.“I wouldabsolutely
recommendgettingat leasta basic
graspof musictheorybecausein my
everyuneducatedapproachto this
Ihavehadsomegreata-hamoments!”
saysIhsahn.“I hearthisamazingchord
structureor arrangementandI have
absolutelynoideahowpeoplecould
manageto go downthatroad,and
thenlateronI learnedthatthese
kindofcompositionaltechniques,or
arrangementtechniques,thathave
eventuallyledmeto similarresults,
andit is justvery,veryrewarding.”
A littlecango a longway,too
- especially in extreme metal, when
borrowingsimpleconcepts
fromother genres can put an
almighty slice on your sound.
“EverytimeI comeacross
somethinginteresting,
aconcept in the jazz world or
in modern orchestral music
that’s totally basic, in my
world it becomes a whole new
thing!” laughs Ihsahn. Right
now,he is tryingto wraphis
headaroundtheconcept
ofnegativeharmony–
“reharmonising,butacross
anedgeof thecircleof 5ths”–
andchecking in on Jacob Collier’s
YouTube page to get a bead on it.
“YouTube is full of them,” he
laughs. “The information and the
skillsthatyoucanacquirefromjust
usingtheinternetnowis amazing.
Onthe other hand, I am very, very
pleasedthatI grewupwithoutthat
becauseinsteadof playingguitar
Iwouldendupwatchingall the
stupidthings.If youarea kid
today,youcaneasilyget lost
inallthebullshit.”LOW-END THEORY
Ihsahn on how his extended-range
guitarshelphimthinkoutsideof thebox
“S
o manyguitaristswill
approachaneight-
stringtobasically
dowhattheydoon
asix-stringbutlower!Forme,lower
is whatyouhavebassesfor.It is
notthatinterestingforme.The
mostimportantthingaboutgetting
a seven-string– andespeciallyan
eight-string– is thatit skipsmy
musclememory,soI canwrite
onguitar but not feel like I amrepeatingmyselfbydoingwhat
myfingersdowhenI pickup
asix-string.
“With the eight-string you can’t
be doing the same chord voicings in
that register so you have to rethink
how you approach it. There are
other colours there. You have to
rethinkhowyouwouldarrangethe
bassparts.It changesthetimbre
ofthe instruments and the
arrangements.”INTERVIEW