Happy New Year Synners

2021 has been a massive year of change for Synner! We've had the re-branding, the release of the app and the streaming platform. These are but the first steps towards the evolution of this marvellous platform and we cannot wait to share what will come next with you all!

Now I know that for some, it hasn't been the easiest. The world is still undergoing a lot of challenges and it's often difficult to think about the light of day in the middle of the darkest night. While it's true that we cannot do much in the grand scale of things, what we can do is take care of what we can control. And very often, the smallest choices can bring the biggest difference. It works with both the good and the bad.

So with that in mind, I want to invite you all to keep at it. To keep at working on yourselves, to keep helping each other, sharing with each other; to keep giving it your best shot. I sincerely believe that you all have the potential for greatness and I want to tell you all how much of a great appreciation I have for each one of you and I am looking forward to ride into 2022 by your side.

And so may the year 2022 bring you all closer to happiness and health
Sincerely yours,

Rad

:syngates:Yo Family! This month’s(and the last) #AOTM(s) is the iconic double album Use Your Illusion 1 & 2 by my favorite rock n roll band of all time, Guns n Fuckin Roses.

The depth of songs like November Rain, Estranged, and Coma make this such a unique and deep rock record. The video for November Rain was the catalyst for my devotion to practice. Slash’s solos and lines are as singable as Axl’s brilliant melodies.

Izzy Stradlin’s vocals on 14 Years and Dust and Bones are so fuckin gritty and raw, they really compliment and push back the high production value that producer Mike Clink and mixer Bill Price absolutely nail on these recordings.

Don’t Cry is one of my top 5 favorite ballads of all time and I strongly prefer the alternate version on UYI II. Curious as to your favorite.

All in all, they don’t make em like they used to. This record scares me when I listen to it. You can feel the intensity and punk rock DNA coming through the speakers to knock you on your ass. These guys didn’t give a flying fuck about anything except the music and that’s extremely rare these days. You wanna make a great record, you gotta go to the depths of hell to pull it out of you and you can clearly see that that’s exactly where they were.

Gimme some thoughts my people. I’m sure a lot of you know this record but listen to the production. The drums are incredible and gigantic. Duff’s bass lines and tone are second to none. There’s a lot going on with such a huge sound yet there is SO much fucking space. It feels like there’s room to poke your head in there and look around at all the different elements and see things so clearly. Amazing.

Hope you enjoy even a fraction as much as I do.

All my love,

SYN
:syngates:

I Apple
II Apple
I Spotify
II Spotify

I was jamming on Riff Raff by AC/DC today and realized the main riff is pretty much the same notes as All in the Name Of by Motley Crue. Slightly different timing but they’re really close.
What other songs or riffs from different bands sound similar?

Hey Synners! As the hours are ticking away closer to midnight here, I just wanted to take a moment to wish you all a very happy New Year! 2021 has really been a wild ride for us all, huh?

To end this year on a high note, I wanted to ask all of you… What’s been your favourite moment (or moments!) from this year? Have you discovered something new, or maybe made progress on something you’re already working on? Share them all, I'd love to hear what you're all proud of!

And of course, here comes the age-old question… What do you want to work on for 2022? These could be anything at all! Maybe you want to make small everyday changes, or maybe you want to learn something you’ve always wanted to try. Whatever it may be, just know that I believe in you - You got this! And if things don’t go as planned, please don’t be too hard on yourself. Remember that we all progress at different speeds and we all have our own circumstances going on.
Just do your best, that’s all anyone can ask of you

For me, my favourite moments have been rediscovering my passion for creating art and improving my photography, as well as creating so many new friendships and connections in different communities (Craniums, Deathbats, I see you). For next year, I have two guitar related tasks I want to set myself: learning the majority of Lost by A7X, and as much as I can of the final Bowser Fight from Super Mario 64. I’ve picked them as they’re certainly a challenge and require me to practice a few different skills, and they're some of my fav tracks. I’ve only set two as to not overwhelm myself - If I can do more, great! I also have some art-related goals, including getting more comfortable using After Effects and Photoshop! I'll be sure to share my progress with you all!


Wishing you all the very best! Cheers!

I can’t believe it’s real and I have a Syn custom … in a coffin case!! My boyfriend bought it off the rhythm guitarist of his band and surprised me with it - I was completely speechless and I still can’t believe I actually have it! It sounds amazing.

I knew you guys would understand my excitement, so I wanted to share it here first! Now I must PRACTICE to be worthy of the instrument I’m working on a cool little chord progression I made up so I’ll post that soon!

Today is the day the entire deathbat community comes together and remembers one of the greatest drummers and human beings in history. To Syn and Papa and their whole group of family and friends. We're thinking of you today and sending you all lots of love. Rest in rock, Jimmy

One of the most beautiful (and sometimes frightening) aspects of music is the depth to which it can effect us, speak to us, and touch our souls. Be it though a songs lyrics, sonic sound, memory attachments, etc etc, the relationship between song and listener is a totally individual and unique one. With all that being said, what song or songs touch your soul? What songs have helped shape you into who you are today? Feel free to be as detailed as you wish

Starting it off: I think the Beach Boys are among the greatest of the greats, I personally put them up there with The Beatles. I also think a lot of people today have this very dated idea of what The Beach Boys were, and yes, while they have some square bear songs like “Be True to Your School”, when you dig into what those dudes were doing musically, it’s unreal. Obviously songs like “God Only Knows” and “Wouldn’t it Be Nice” are some of the greatest ever, but what saddens me so much about the history of The Beach Boys is how often Dennis and his songs are forgotten about and overlooked.

To be honest, my two favorite songs from the group are both songs written and sung by Dennis, those two being “Forever”, which is think is one of the few songs I’d consider near perfect, if not perfect, and “Baby Blue”. I’m not sure if anything else musically has ever touched or moved me as much as those two songs (with an edge to Forever because like I said, pretty much perfect in my humble or not so humble opinion). “Forever” reaches into a very deep and probably slightly ignored part of myself and brings out such powerful emotions every time, I don’t know if I’ve ever listened to it without at very least getting the feeling of tearing up. Musically, lyrically, emotionally, it just hits differently.

This live version of “Forever” is possibly my favorite version of the song. It’s well documented that Dennis was pretty fucked up here and this was around when he was really starting to damage his voice. Unfortunately that adds even more impact to this version of the song. This dude is sitting there, struggling with all of these personal issues and chemical dependencies, all while belting one of the most beautiful, and emotionally touching songs ever. It’s unreal. Truly an underrated genius.

Brian Wilson once said that “Forever” is the most harmonically beautiful song he’s ever heard, and I agree with him 100%

“Forever” live 1971: Login to view embedded media
Album version: Login to view embedded media

First of all, I'd love to thank @Radu-Cristian Perde for the endless back and forth private messages about helping me get this solidified. I've never streamed in this way before, and there's a lot more going on behind the scenes than I thought. So thank you Radu for being my training wheels with this, and for all of your hard work and support!

My stream is on December 30th at 7:00pm CST and it will cover the following:

-The importance of sitting in the groove and how to do it
-Playing against the backbeat
-Constructing strumming patterns and spicing up the dynamics in a song
-Anchor finger work for faster chord changes
-Practice technique for faster chord changes and fretting hand strength
-Building up the thenar eminence *thanks @Holly Vin Gruinelle for the correct muscle term!* for better barre chord strength
-Developing a practice schedule you can stick to
-Finger exercises for wider reaches

If you struggle with rhythm, are a beginner, or feel you have weak hands or difficulty changing chords, this will be a great stream for you! Looking forward to seeing you all! Much love!

Anyone here have a Floyd rose they’ve blocked to allow for easier tuning? Thinking of picking up another Jackson (Rhoads V or Soloist) but want to have something that can cover multiple tunings (been playing a bunch of Drop B and Drop C lately). I know there are a few options, but curious what others have done.

I know the vast majority of musicians in here are guitarists so I thought I'd open up a bit of a think tank about what is drumming? It is a massive question like what is life? I'm not going to try and answer that question but simply give some points about how one goes about playing/writing/etc.

Drums/percussion as a whole are the oldest instrument known to man (apart from the voice) and come from all around the world, however I'll mostly be talking about the drum kit to start. The drum kit is an instrument that lacks one key element of music that guitar, voice, bass, keyboard all have....pitch. Yes you can tune and "pitch" toms, snares etc, but as a whole they are usually tuned for tone rather than pitch. So a drummer has to utilise other elements like rhythm, timing, dynamics and timbre (sound texture/type of sound) to create music. Rhythm is the heart of drumming, what you use in terms of which note values you decide to play, will determine what that groove, verse, fill will sound like. Switching to double time or half time as a variation to a last chorus or a bridge, comes straight from the snare position changing. That rhythm change is also directly related to timing. If that timing isn't right, the whole piece of music will move the wrong way.

Being "in the pocket" is what a lot of musicians talk about, and without a solid drummer that becomes a difficult task. The best thing to be is a solid drummer and to execute the basics well, rather than being the flashiest but sloppiest drummer throwing timing out the window. We've all seen it, gone to a bar or local show and the band is all over the shop playing as individuals rather than a band...all trying to show off at the same time that pocket, is practice, practice, practice, especially with a metronome, playing everything you know at every possible tempo.

Then there is dynamics and timbre, which drum or cymbal you decide to use and how loud to play it. How different would "paradigm" sound if that verse groove wasn't on the toms, or the little hi-hats on the left hand in the "gunslinger" "bat country" "scream" chorus'. If the drums for "dear god" were played with the same intensity as "beast and the harlot", it wouldn't sound nearly as nice.

Overall drummers have to use these elements to choose what groove, which drum/cymbal and what fill to play at any part of a song, or is it best that nothing at all is played in a certain spot?? We can't use chords or change a note in the melody or harmonic structure. Just like any instrument can change how a song sounds/feels, the drums are sometimes an overlooked but crucial part to any composition. This is just the very tip of the iceberg, and just some info to spark thoughts of composition and performing. As a drummer who also plays guitar, there is nothing more that I love than when all parts of the band are working perfectly together.

Anyway that's enough from me for now, take it easy everyone and I look forward to hearing everyone's thoughts or questions on this!! Feel free to reply whatever comes to mind and continue this conversation
Cheers.

Hey everyone, I have a quick question. I see all of the account upgrade options but I am confused about what all they entail. I see they have lists underneath each plan of what they offer but they aren't very clear. Is there a way i could be let known what every option exactly entails? just want to help and support!

I have been trying to do the intro for several days but I can't seem to improve in speed i just can't do it fast enough. Any tips?

What's up, everybody! I'm thinking of topics to cover for my stream on Saturday, January 1st at 12pm CST on SynTV, and I've been wanting to explain something theory-related about the guitar or even help people understand how to do something easier/better/quicker, etc.

• Do you have any questions you feel need real-time answers/explanations?
• Are you having trouble understanding specific things about chords, scales, visualization, whatever, on the guitar?

Respond with a summary of your greatest marvels, be sure to tune in on Saturday to get extensive explanations, and I'll answer all of them there!

See you then,
jooshellis

This might be the absolute best one musically yet

Login to view embedded media
...right after our Synner Collab of course

In this lesson we show you how to change between two different pentatonic scales over their correlating chords.

Hey all,

I am sure you have seen it if you are active on the official discord, but if not......Avenged has airdropped a free ticket NFT (includes a plus one)! Check out the announcements on the discord for this message:

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year @everyone – As many of you have figured out, our family photo was a snapshot of all Deathbats Club holders on Christmas Eve. If you had a bat in your wallet, then you would have received an Avenged Sevenfold concert ticket to any headlining show in the future. This ticket will not expire and can be used at any time. If you had 5 or more bats in 1 wallet, then you received 2. We only did this because some of you had overextended yourselves with bats and we felt this was a nice gesture. In the future, however, we will not be rewarding people for holding multiple bats. If your hold multiple bats because you love them, want the IP or as an investment… that’s on you! If you can’t see your tickets and you were holding on Christmas Eve, please find the hidden tab and “unhide” them. People in discord can help you out.
For anyone new to NFT’s, it needs to be pointed out that the artwork is from none other than “Popwonder.” He is an absolute legend in this game and you all now own a piece from him. We want to thank him for taking the time to thoughtfully put this artwork together. Please follow him and tag him on twitter if you decide to post about your tickets. Now the fun part. There will be 50 spots (100 people) available to use these at any particular show. Logistically, we can’t have 1500 of you show up with free tickets to any show based on capacity issues etc. So, we have worked with our people to set the number at 100 people per show (50 tickets). This will not be a problem for 99% of shows but if you live in LA, London or anywhere were there could be a lot of people using these, then you will have to RSVP early to hold your spot. It will be like any other situation where you will have to claim your spot so that we can confirm you are coming. This will make sense as we roll out the back end in the coming months. The last caveat is an evil one, but it's very much in line with the fun of NFT’s. If you use the ticket, we burn it. So, if you redeem and go to the show, then your beautiful Popwonder piece goes away. As people redeem, then the scarcity of the Popwonder goes up because less of them exist. So have a good time making that decision when the time comes!
We hope everyone can relax the next couple days with their families, hang in the discord and get ready for the new year. Lots of fun to be had here and we are looking forward to seeing you all very soon.

A7X



What a crazy way to kick off the DBC!

Can I stream on SynTV through the app on mobile?

Captain @Ed Seith keeps talking about the replays of past streams but I can't find any. All I have is "categories" and upcoming streams. Probably I am just stupid and overlooking something.

Post some pics of your gear (guitars, drums, keyboards, pedals) and your other awesome stuff!

Hello everyone!
Hope you guys are all coming back from your Christmas rested and that y'all had a good time!

So I want to start this week of SynTv content strong with something that has become an essential in my playing: Downstroke picking!
I will be going live later today at 18h EST!
Metallica has been a HUGE influence for me particularly as a Rhythm guitar player. James Hetfield has influenced thousands of people with the riffs he created using this technique and while it is very easy in concepts, it can become really frustrating when trying to get it up to speed.

Which is why I want to do a little stream on it to show how I went around and learned how to do it. I also want to talk about Metallica live VS studio to showcase certain things, the importance of starting slow and to use a metronome, etc...

So yeah! You're welcome to join if you feel like it!

See y'all around!
Rad

Hey everyone....

I'm really considering throwing in the towel with lead guitar and I'd like to say why.

As a guitarist, I've ALWAYS been more heavily rhythm inclined. Even when I was learning, I'd spend HOURS and HOURS on the simplest solo, only to still struggle with it after a year of working on it. The Hail To The King solo is right back at 80% bpm, and even after working on it for almost two weeks it's not comfortably any faster. I'm struggling. My bends always feel weak, and no matter how much I try to strengthen them, my hands just feel like they're lifting a hundred pounds and have been weak for almost my whole guitar life. There's so much pressure to being considered a "great guitarist" by how well you can play lead, so I'm sitting here busting my fucking skull into the wall with 3-4 hour practice days and I can barely get that time in because I'm mentally tired of it. Learning lead and playing lead exhausts me.
A while ago, I made a post about "Is it time to move on?" because I had been practicing a part of a solo for almost two weeks to barely only improve by about 15 bpms. And honestly, it's getting to a point where it's discouraging and I feel like I'm beating a dead horse.

My heart is broken because I have dreams of playing my favorite solo alongside Syn one day on stage, playing in Trans Siberian Orchestra, and having the ability and skill to compose amazing solos full of rich harmonies. But it just doesn't seem to happen. I've been fighting with lead guitar, playing it religiously for 4 years and nothing seems to TRULY be moving forward. I'm always fighting with something. I'm always sucking. Never truly comfortable.

I feel like my time could be better spent on writing amazing songs. Solidifying my rhythm work to play classical, bossa nova or even the amazing thrash shit I've been wanting to do for a long time now. It's just like, it literally consumes 80% of my guitar practice time and I'm not seeing a lot of real, true and consistent growth. I'm exhausted. I hardly have any time to work on solidifying my own work or writing new things.

-OR-

I had this thought. Am I playing stuff that's too hard, therefor getting myself discouraged? I'm trying to play Northtale shit, attempting to mimic someone's skills who's been playing religiously for over 20 years. Should I try to find solos that are within my abilities to do? I've seen improvement yes. But I dunno. Maybe I'm being too hard on myself. Any words of advice are strongly appreciated

Hi, Synners! I'm an absolute BABY in the guitar world. I started wanting to learn guitar because of syn and well, i bought a beginners one (low budget) cuz alot of reviews said it was a good guitar to start with.

But im having trouble with pressing the strings. I have to put alot, ALOT of pressure.

My boyfriend also just started guitar but he went and tried to play mine to compare mine with his guitar. He said one or two strings feel too "stiff" and are hard to press. He doesn't know whats the cause of this cuz he's new to this too. The shop i got it at is closed because of lockdown.

I will put some pictures and i hope someone can help me! ❤

So I need some help, I have a g1x four zoom multi effects processor and I’m try info to get a good avenged sevenfold tone. Can someone tell me what pedals I need to use? Thanks

Merry Christmas and happy holidays to all of my Synner family!! The secret Santa has chosen the recipient of the gift, and it's none other than our very own veteran member, @Chris Johnston !!!!

All I can say Chris, is that the secret Santa is super proud of all that you've done here and is eternally grateful to have you.

Now my job as your personal elf, is to tell Santa what you want from the new Synner launch! It'll be made at the shop and shipped in a few weeks!!

Much love, everyone!!