7-string guitars on it and kept it heavy and
brutal but still melodic and catchy. That
was one of the ways we let the fans know
we haven’t gone in a completely opposite
direction here. We still have the classic,
fast DragonForce songs like the opening to
“Holding On” and “Heart of the Storm.”
Did you use 7-string guitars for the
rhythm part of that tune?
Totman: Yeah, we have always had them
here and there on albums. All of “Fallen
World” is on the 7-string, because that is the
way the key turned out. It panned out by
accident actually because it wasn’t supposed
to be on 7-string. Once we figured out what
key suited Marc’s voice, we kept finding we
were coming up on this low B chord.
Li: There is a section of “Cry Thunder”
where we just bring the 7-string in really
quickly, which I think is just before the solo
kicked off just to add a little power. The
heavy riff on “Give Me The Night” is on a
7-string.
GUITARS: Ibanez EGEN18 Herman Li signature model, 30-fret Ibanez RG2011SC
Limited Edition, custom Ibanez 7-string EGEN18 Herman Li signature
Herman Li’s Gear
EFFECTS: Rocktron Prophesy 2, Digitech Whammy, Dunlop Cry Baby Wah Rack
Module DCR2SR, Roland GR- 55, Boss ST- 2 Power Stack, Boss CE- 5 Chorus Ensemble,
Source Audio Hot Hand Wah and Hot Hand MIDI-EXP controller, Rocktron Hush Pro+,
Rocktron PatchMate Loop 8,
AMPS AND CABS: Mesa/Boogie Stereo 2:Fifty power amp, Peavey JSX 4x12
straight cab
STRINGS, PICKS, AND ACCESSORIES: D’Addario EXL125 .009-.046 (.059 on
7-strings), Samson wireless system, MIDIjet PRO wireless MIDI, AKG IVM 4 in-ear
wireless monitoring system
GUITARS: Two Ibanez STM2 Sam Totman signature models (the blue one
contains DiMarzio D Activator pickups and the white one has DiMarzio Evolution pickups), Ibanez RG7620
Sam Totman’s Gear
EFFECTS: Rocktron Prophesy 2
How did you approach your guitar tones
for this album?
Li: We try to make the two guitars sound
slightly different so they complement each
other. One has a bit more low end and the
other backs off on that and maybe adds
more mids. Also the pickups are different.
On Sam’s guitar, he has a neck-through
body with DiMarzio Evolution pickups.
AMPS AND CABS: Mesa/Boogie Stereo 2:Fifty power amp, Peavey JSX 4x12
straight cab
STRINGS, PICKS, AND ACCESSORIES: D’Addario EXL125 .009-.046 (.059 on
7-strings), Samson wireless system, MIDIjet PRO wireless MIDI, AKG IVM 4 in-ear
wireless monitoring system
What guitars did you use on the album?
Li: We used the usual Ibanez signature guitars, the EGEN18 and Sam’s STM model.
He had two of them, the white one had the
DiMarzio Evolution pickups and I think
we put a pair of D Activator pickups on
the blue one. My guitars were pretty much
stock but we did add some 7-string guitars
on this album, so Ibanez made a 7-string
version of my signature model and Sam
used an Ibanez RG7620.
be, I wanted to get to a certain note and I
found that this guitar was very useful.
Li: It was mostly used to do the high harmonies. In the old days, we would do a part
and then tune up the strings, but now with
this 30-fret Ibanez RG it really helped us to
try some things out. It worked great for some
crazy high notes, tapping, and things like that.
The last solo on “Fallen World” you can hear
some of that and on “Heart of the Storm.”
Is the 7-string model a prototype for an
upcoming model?
Li: No, I just got a custom one. No plans
to release a 7-string model at the moment.
Tell me about how you used the 30-fret
guitar on the album.
Totman: I used that quite a lot, in fact. I
would wind up doing some lead or something and the way the key happened to
What’s the most difficult part about playing those fast tempos?
Totman: The rhythm guitar. You might do
a lick in a solo on a ballad and it’s just as fast
as something you might play in a fast song.
Those fast songs, especially “Fallen World,” it
was just doing the rhythm with the backwards
and forwards picking at that speed. That was
on 7-string guitar as well, which is quite hard
to get the sound clean without it turning into
a mess. I couldn’t do that straight away. In
fact, we have to put in the middle of the set,
because I need warming up for that, definitely.
Do you guys take different approaches to
your pre-gig warm-ups?
Li: These days I do a one-hour warm-up before
the show, but not by playing fast because then
my hands would be tired. I just relax and play
through my little Boss BR- 80. It has all the
songs pre-loaded and I just plug my guitar and
in-ear monitors right into it and play along. I
do that for about an hour and then just unplug
my monitors into my stage pack and there we
go. Even when there are people around drinking, I can carry around and practice.
Totman: Yeah, I just sit there and practice a
bit, I suppose. I don’t do a lot of warming up.
The way I see it is you aren’t going to have
to play a lead until halfway through the first
song, so by the time I get to the first lead I
am warmed up because I have been playing
rhythm for a few minutes. I pretty much
don’t bother.
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