Thanks for learning What Makes Gojira HEAVY!!!! Those French Bois sure know how to make NOIZ!!! My Patreon supporters are enjoying TABs for all these riffs and an extended AD-FREE cut of the video right here right now: www.patreon.com/posts/extended-and-ad-109300694?Link&
Infant sausage is one of their best. Another example too of the opening riff becoming the closing riff, when they play it half time. One of my favourite Gojira moments.
Totally agree about Mario and it was cool that Ben pointed it out. For every simple thing that Joe or Christian is doing Mario is doing some of the most technically insane drumming I've ever heard. Pray is a really good example of them all doing cool complicated stuff together though. That triplet pattern is really hard to wrap your head around but once I figured it out it instantly became my favorite song to play.
I want to add 2 ideas here: 1.) The drums add complexity to these simple riffs that make them sound super heavy, and at times complex. Mario Duplantier gets all the credit he deserves when mentioning best drummers for metal these days. 2.) Lyrics from Gojira have a similar amount of despair and thought that other metal bands have, but in a way that isn't campy or cheesy. The perspective is empathetic and makes you think. Just my thoughts on the matter!
I saw Gojira open for Opeth. They were so punishing, yet the music was accessible, and the guys were engaging and receptive. I've loved them ever since.
The thing I love so much about Gojira is how unconventionally they use their instruments. A lot of songs on the link and the song Toxic Garbage island come to mind, with weird palm slides, harmonic choices and pinches that set them apart from everyone else in my mind
I can't really say enough about how much I love Gojira. Learning their songs has really transformed my rhythm ability as a guitarist. Used to be all about the shreddy stuff but they really opened my eyes to the importance of groove and simple = more better.
Some of my favorite bits of gojira is how they use simple riff formulas but they do it in such a unique way it still feels fresh, favorite band I’ve ever seen live
They're brutal live, saw them a couple years back at an indoor theater-setup venue. Loudest show I've ever been to, I wore good concert earplugs and it was still loud, it was more the deep, visceral bone shaking loudness that reverberated through the building. I'm seeing them again this October with Korn.
My favorite Gojira riff is the final breakdown in Backbone. And the final breakdown in Rememberance. And the main riff in Toxic Garbage Island. And the main riff in Space Time. And the entirety of The Art of Dying. And....
Gojira always brings it when it comes to killer riffs, also I love that Jackson Pollock analogy; “You could’ve done that exact same thing, but you didn’t” and I’m now going to use it myself, great vid as always Ben, stay awesome and much love from Canada \m/
Recently I’ve found myself listening to a low of Gojira and this video answered EVRY question I had about what made me love Gojira. It was like you took this indescribable feeling I had towards our favorite French boys and put it into words. I know I’ve got a lot of practicing to go do now, thank you Uncle Ben!
There's a perfect synergy in their rhythm. Also their vocals have a somewhat unique pitch center not too common in metal. It's half singing half screaming instead of fully one or the other.
Wayne Static mentioned that he didn't understand his own band's popularity due to the simplicity of the riffs. But it worked excellently in that context and does as well with Gojira.
Right, listen to their song Dirthouse. It's one of the simplest, most repeatetive songs ever, but it's awesome. Works for Rammstein, too. Their riffs are brutally simple.
YES YES YES! In The Wilderness is SO underrated. One of the heaviest tracks to roam the Earth. Every time I hear that chorus I feel like I could topple a skyscraper.
Fortitude is my favorite album, mainly because every song feels so emotinal. Ah ca ira is just another example of how Gojira makes listeners experience emotion, rather than just listen to a song.
@@KtheSouthernWolf Terra was great, wild child was basically their pinnacle for me. Hard to get better after that. Magma is really good just not great for me. They went through a hard time and some changes were going to happen. Fortitude just lacks balls for me and is more about the message they want to send. That’s fine, good on them. Just not for me
I love that they've evolved their sound through every album, making each one unique. The huge sound on an album like Magma is amazing to hear, but Terra Incognita, or even The Link Alive (their live album of the same name) have such heavy death metal riffage and inspiration and it brings a raw feeling that other albums don't quite strive for, yet they are just as heavy doing their modern riffs all the same
Joe/Christian: guys I have this simple riff Mario: makes some complex patterns that suprisingly always work. Love how these guys have groove and cool melodies but still can be heavy and progressive as fuck
Last time I saw Gojira, on tour with Mastodon in Nashville, they played first and my heart almost stopped a few times. Felt like I was getting blasted in the chest with an auto shotgun throughout the set. Mastodon didn't really hit the same way. The physiological effect of being in that venue was dramatically different between the two bands. Gojira was just a fkin unit.
I think my favorite little thing Gojira does is swapping up into a triplet feel to tag a riff section (Backbone is a classic example). It's probably the main thing I took from them over the years. Also saw them with Opeth almost 20 years ago in Atlanta. Had no idea who they were at the time... crazy they're so huge now! I also saw Opeth again up in Knoxville around that time at the Bijou. Fun times. Great vid, uncle Ben!
"Slayer did that back in 1962" 🤣 Jokes aside, simplicity is the key here when comes to riffs, but I think the secret sauce is "evil" mad Mario kicking it into overdrive.
Ben, you never disappoint. I absolutely love your instructional and presentation style. I'm far from a professional level guitarist these days (though I've been playing for 41 years) but I do professionally make a living managing training for a large company and am responsible for around 10,000 students, our training curriculums throughout North, Central and South America, and the development of over 100 instructors. I know a great instructor when I see one, and what it takes to effectively educate. Not only are you the real deal as far as musical talent, but in my opinion, your instructional skills are equal to your exceptional playing.
This video is as cool as Gojira is. The most important lesson from both is to focus more on the rythm. If you are listening to a music with smart scales but flat rythm, you will forget it in a minute or so. If you listen to a chunky riff using 2 notes but a characteristic rythm, it will pop up in your ears even tomorrow. I love how tight they play, and how ruthless they are when it's time to get rid of waste notes. Only the neccesarry notes are played, nothing else. That must be a true Gojiraism.
Only time I've ever seen Gojira was my first introduction to them. Walked in to the o2 Academy in Glasgow to see Trivium and turns out Gojira were supporting. Walked in to the venue as they were playing Ocean Planet. To this day, hundreds of gigs later I still remember that moment of hearing that simple yet in your face riff. It was also the clearest tone out of any live band I've ever seen. Became an instant fan there and then. Annoying I've never seen them live again but one day...
And that type of simplicity for great crunchy riffs got me into High on Fire too Mario and Brann made me having a urge to learn drums, but Matt Pike did that for guitar ~ Stuff High on Fire does video idea!!!
You hit the nail on the head with this one. Simple riffs are the heaviest, the catchiest, and the most difficult to write well. Specifically in Gojira (and you pointed this out too), Joe's riffs give Mario, the virtuoso in the band (IMO), the room to go off. Same reason why Michael Anthony's simple, solid bass playing was perfect for backing up Eddie.
Seeing Gojira live and hearing the opening riff of Backbone gave me the feeling that I could run through a brick wall. Just immense, crushing energy. They rule.
Uncle Ben consistently has the best tone from any guitarists I watch on RU-vid. The amp demo midway through this one is just astounding. Sounds amazing.
I love how they combine morbid angel influenced riffing (lots of chromatic inverted power chord passadwa) with more 90s sounding groove. Ocean Planet's opening riff
Inverted power chords are underrated. They make a distorted guitar sound way lower tuned than it is, without that pesky low end. Really nasty grinding sound.
@@Patrick-857 my favorite use of them is by the band Coalesce. Incredibly chaotic, angular sounding riffs. Way sloppier playing than most bands in the mathcore genre but it suits the songs so well.
First and (sadly) only time I saw them was in a castle here near my home town. It's like I saw the beta testing for the Olympics. My favourite band ever, and kickass lesson Uncle Ben.
I flew all the way from Finland to NYC last August, to see Mastodon. Gojira were there as well, but I didn’t bother and left after Mastodon had finished. Possibly a mistake.
Ben, I'm a drummer with no interest in learning how to play guitar, and honestly very little interest in guitar in general. But I love your videos because I love watching talented teachers share things they're passionate about. Your enthusiasm is infectious and you make me remember why I love this music so much. Thanks for doing what you do and encouraging so many others to make art of their own.
When I first heard Gojira I was hooked immediately. Heard them about 2008 and have never looked back. They drop banger albums after banger albums. I love the early stuff as much as the new. God tier band! 🤘
I really enjoyed this Ben. I wasn’t aware you previously made any vids on their material. Such an amazing band. I also think what makes them so awesome is no gimmicky imaging. Just ordinary looking guys not trying to chase their tail
Mario is the answer 😉🤘 Seriously though, the simplicity of Gojira's riffs actually got me out of a sort of "guitar depression" where I just couldn't play any of the songs I loved. I'm a pretentious prog snob who chose hard mode emulating Petrucci and Akerfeldt, but I caught Gojira opening for Mastodon on one fateful night and was both blown away and inspired. I had never heard anything as heavy yet melodic as "Heaviest Matter," and looking at Joe's hands... THAT LOOKS PLAYABLE!!! After learning that song and Gift of Guilt, I fell back in love with my guitar and I haven't put it down for a single day since. Gojira will always have a special place in my heart for that.
I can't recall at the top of my head any music that's as heavy but pleasant and relaxing to listen to. Heard a few songs from them over the years but after the Olympics performance I gave them a proper listen. Gojira fucking rocks.
The olympic performance did wonders indeed. The monthly listeners on Spotify went from 1.8m to 2.8m. It's probably temporary, but I'm still so happy for it.
I've been a fan of them for nearly 20 years too. I remember being blown away by the sheer heaviness of Vacuity. I never thought they would become as big as what they are today.
I had a blind spot for Gojira for a long, long time, but that all changed in '21. I heard Amazonia on da satellite radio and was like "WHAT THE F IS THIS?!?". Instant fan and I've made the journey back in time to listen to their prior work. You're spot on about the simple yet, impeccably executed riffs which help to re-enforce the heaviness. And like you said without Mario behind the kit it would not be the same. He is another level of technical prowess, power and sophisticated grooves. Top tier drummer regardless of the genre.
That first riff, Silvera, is what turned me on to them the first time I saw them live. The way they sync the stage effects to the riff live is awesome. Also, Code Orange opened for them at that show (The Factory in Deep Ellum, TX). Incredible.
Dude, that banana creeped me out. Ghost monkey? And yes, completely agree, Gojira is INCREDIBLE live. Funny, but "Stuff Gojira Does" was the first Uncle Ben video I ever saw.
Gojira was my.first gig when I was a teenager in France when their first album came out, I lived in the main city if the area they are from. What I liked at the time were those powerfull drums even back them. The heavyness with big riffs (and the pick scrape thing) followed by haunting arpeggios (one of their trademark from the very begining). When there first and second album came out it was quite a revolution on the local death metal and even some old bands that inspired Gojira first reformed and were inspired by them. The most famous exemple is Loudblast with the album Planet Pandemonium in 2004. If you don't know Loudblast Ben check them. You will see their evolution from old school thrash death ala Sepultura from the very begining, evolving to a more classical death sound and evolve in the 90s etc...
100% agree with you re their live sound! I've seen them live in tiny clubs, festivals, arenas etc. and their sound has always been ace! Definitely some of the best sound crew on the planet.
Gojira never fail to put on a huge show. Have seen them in festival and concert settings and their sound was massive and they were so fkn incredibly tight both times. I will be seeing them every time they come to Australia
Love this. Hearing what other people like about different artists gives me new ears with which to hear them. I'd definitely be up for more stuff like this, not even necessarily restricted to how heavy a band is, but just stuff you like about them with examples like you have here. Idk if other people would dig it, or if it'd be worth the effort what with the heavy use of other people's music, but just throwing my two cents out there.
Gojira are such a killer band and as you say, songs that are great on the records take on a whole new dimension in a live setting. Right up there with my favourite live acts. Incredible that they got to perform at the Olympic opening ceremony; I didn't see it live but what a phenomenal performance. There can't be many better bands to showcase metal to a mainstream audience.
A band that works in a similar way is AMENRA, when I play their songs I am impressed by how "simple" they are, but their style is so unique and their own which makes them great, live they are also a beast.
