One of the hottest bands in Heavy Metal today, Gojira have created a unique sound and style. In this video, Joe Duplantier will show you how you too can play with a similar sound.
I came here to say this! Any idea how he got such a fat tone? Heavy strings maybe? I was thinking about putting EMGs in my tele to give it a heavier tone but that would be a last resort
Gojira is one of the most simplistic yet complex sounding band I've ever listened to. They focus more on how the music meshes together as a whole, rather than making a fancy riff to lay over generally basic rhythm sections.
That literally been my major complaint about newer metal. So much complexity rather than just writing good songs. Gojira, Mastodon, Ghost, Volbeat, and a few other modern bands write good songs. I don't think they're really concerned with how many notes they can cram into a bar.
Those riffs were so fucking dope. Definitely a voltron-effect, where the sum is great than its parts. Anothe classic band that is like is Korn. They all add up flawlessly.
Gojira is pretty much the ideal band: you need every single element to get that massive wall of sound that they are. Remove any one of these parts and you lose some of the power
I saw these guys in 04 as an opening band and no one knew who the fuck they were. They opened with Ocean Planet and proceeded to blow my mind. They were for me the best band that played. I had no money to buy a T-shirt or merch of any kind so after several beers and several joints my mate and I left the venue and headed for home. We naturally talked about the gig and I asked what the name of that opening band was. My friend had no clue much to my dismay. This was before everyone on earth had wireless internet and I was rocking dial up so I didn't bother to search for the band online. About a year later I had high speed internet and began to search the depths of the web for this band that had totally blown me away. Finally I found a link to the album From Mars to Sirius and the opening riff was that same riff that blew my hair back. Gojira, fucking Gojira. Thats the band I've been searching for all year. Needless to say I never forgot that band name again and promptly purchased the record. Had it been 25 years ago I may never have found the band that had so thoroughly destroyed me. Thank you internet and thank you Gojira.
+Kris Ross Same exact situation. I saw them in 2006 I think it was, With Lamb Of God. First song was Ocean Planet. Absoluetly fucking amazing song and record.....
+Kris Ross Awesome story Kris. My life was similarly altered when I went to see In Flames play in San Francisco in 2006. Gojira was one of the opening acts and of course, my girlfriend and I were late. Turns out even chicks who like metal take forever to get ready. Anyway, at the time I had never heard of Gojira, but my jaw hit the floor when i heard From The Sky. Then the place imploded when they played The Heaviest Matter In The Universe. Without exaggeration, that live Gojira set changed my metal path in life haha. I knew none of the songs, let alone their names, but I found out the band was from France and they were called Gojira. I went to Barnes and Noble the next day to look them up on those red box / digital music libraries with headphones and listened to every 30 second song clip they had. Somehow they had From Mars to Sirus in stock. Utterly blown away, I drank that album down. Then I got copies of The Link and Terra Incognita, consuming those as well. Years later, I would hear The Way of All Flesh for the first time on a long drive home, right after breaking up with that same girl who went with me to that In Flames show. She had gotten the album for my birthday, but it became a parting gift. I don't think I've ever felt so cold and warm at the same time. So when you say "thank you Gojira," I totally hear you. I am so glad to have found them, and from a live gig no less. Even as I write this, L'Enfant Sauvage is in my car CD player.
Saw them live in 2002, they were playing in a bar with less than 100 people in their hometown in southwest France (as I'm from there too), I hated metal back then and was only listening to Hip-Hop, but some friends liked it so we went in this bar. I didn't like the concert and spend most of the time outside smoking joints lol. But 10 years later, i began to listen to new types of music, and fell in love with Gojira since then. Also I can't believe how far they have gone since I saw them in this small pub. Lol they have american fans now. They were already really famous in Bayonne back then though, they had many local fans (my friends were die hard fans) but it was 2002, and no one outside southwest France would knew them.
Conan O'Brien great story man! gojira is amazing! my profile pic is a shot of mario’s drum kit at a concert this past october. fantastic band live, blew the roof off the place
Suqdis Dique imagine if the meet and greet was like 50 bucks. insane amounts of people would buy and there would be a shit ton of work, not only the managing of the band time but all that safety stuff + they need to have their own time for themselves too, they are humans, they cant be "band mode" all the time
To all the people saying that this is simple, you are missing the whole picture. This riff is perfect for this song and fits perfectly with the other instruments. That is not a simple task folks!
Awesome. Its all so simple with each part out of context, but the genius is in how it all comes together. I think its much more masterful to be able to do so much with very little. I think their focus on, not how many notes you can pick, but how many ways a note can be picked is why they sound so unique compared to other metal.
James Burwell Indeed, it is just songwriting. Good songwriting though. I guess I'm just praising it because so many metal bands rely on how flashy or technical their playing is, but its often just a novelty, many can't genuinely write songs very well.
Nicholas Mahoney I whole heartedly concur. When joe is playing an individual riff I'm thinking "any jabronee can play that". But Nicholas is correct putting it all together, therein lies the challenge.
One of the best things about Gojira is how *tight* they are as a band. It's "simple", but absolutely airtight without any kind of over-eager gate. Such a great band
I like how he showed the opening riff for the first half of the video and is probably the easiest one so beginner learners could definitely learn that one more. And than progress on
Thank you so much for sharing this! These are one of my favorite metal riffs I've been wanting to use in a bootleg track I'm creating. Very useful sounds in this video!
Proof that a lot of making a great song is playing with good feel. These riffs are simple, but with them combined and the drums, that song goes fuckin hard.
I'm not musically inclined and this riff always fucks with my head. It almost sounds like it's being shot out of a cannon only to be stopped briefly, and then feels almost like it's being played in reverse. It's simple enough but sounds very engaging and unique.
I am HUGE fan of Gojira and fucking love what Joe calls "third riff". If you play guitar and/or want to learn this do yourself a favor: Pause right before he starts playing/explaining the third riff and cut the playback speed to .5. There is so much more going on with what appears to be a very simple riff. If hadn't been moving around so much while playing it I never would have slowed it down and been able to see what was actually going. He just says its a "strange chord" but there is way more than a strange chord and some chugging. Thank you All Axess for an awesome video.
"Iv'e never heard a tele sound like that before" I have to put this comment to rest. My comment wasn't based on: Is this a real Fender? No it is based on, This Musician is tearing it UP!!! and on open strings, DanggGG! This dude is a up and coming slayer in my book. i would like to see these guys live. So my apologies to all that misunderstood me and to Mr. JOE (Mr.: added to give respect)
Why didn't they make the chuggy guitar part in the verse riff alternate between the first fret and open string so that it matches up with what the higher guitar is playing?
You know, if I already didn't think Gorjira was one of the coolest metal groups out right now.. This and the Mountain biking video prove it (at least to me!)
