Bands' Unique Sound, What makes a certain band immediately identifyable? Options

[kevvyg]

Hi guys,
I put this question as a video comment, but it was suggested that I put it on the main board too, as it's an interesting question (so I say so myself...).
The Queensryche lesson is absolutely in the style of Queensryche - very Operation Mindcrime. You can identify it's them from about the 2nd note! But why is this possible? It is true for many bands, but considering the fact that they all use the same notes and chords, what is it that makes a certain band stand out from the rest, musically speaking?

KG
ps. I don't want to get off track, but this is a guitar site. I know people are entitled to their beliefs but I find it a bit annoying when people keep going on about 'God'. My own opinion is that 'God' doesn't exist - how can he if loads of bad stuff keeps happening, like earthquakes, bombs, volcanoes, planes crashing, etc etc, and innocent people get killed. And why did 'God' kill off the dinosaurs, then wait for 65 million years before doing anything else?!! Anyway - I promise not to mention it again, - can we just stick to music?!!!

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[OrganisedConfusi...]

Steer clear of the god talk if possible. It can raise lots of arguments. I think you can spot a band from firstly their tone which is important and their musical style and of course from many vocalists. Many vocalists have a very distinctive singing voice that is easy to spot. It's down to many factors though to be honest. Like Iron Maiden's harmonised riffs are easily seen to be Maiden. Each band has certain traits and these mixed with how they make them sound give their uniqueness. The bands you can spot from 2 or 3 notes tend to be the bands that get signed as they have something original and unique about them.

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[Ivan Milenkovic]

The answer to your question is - everything. Everything is important when i comes to a distinct sound of a band. Bands are formed by different types of people, each one with different preferences, influences, techniques, gear etc. Also each bend develops different image, appearance, contact with the audience, energy. This all have a lot of impact on how people will react to them.

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[Ian Bushell]

Generally the bands that make it big all sound unique from one another, It's a unique sound that spark a certain group of people to buy your records. If you lucky that group of people in numbers will be large.
Generally bands that sound like other bands/artists never really crack the big time for that exact reason no matter how good they are. This happened to a personal fiend of mine...great band but when it came to international labels no one was interested because they already had signed bands that sounded like them. There was no space for them in the market.
Just goes to show spending all that time practicing to play and sound exactly like someone else may not be the best idea, be yourself be creative:)

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[kevvyg]

I know where you guys are coming from, but take the Queensryche lesson for example - that opening riff shouts 'Queensryche!!' Those chords must have been used before by others so why do they sound SO Queensryche?
Could it be the combination of the chords and guitar sound perhaps? Maybe just a tweak of either would alter the sound just sufficiently to tell our brains that this must be another band. It's a question that I've never really found the answer to. It's like the question - why do certain kinds of music alter our emotions? - you know like when you get that 'shiver'?
I don't think anyone actually knows for sure.
Right - time to do some work. I hope some of you have got some nice weather! The rain hasn't stopped here in the UK for months!!

KG

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