Jack here, jbf music and guitar lessons, what I’ve got for you here is what I consider to
be Dimebag Darrels greatest contribution to guitar, or probably more specifically metal.
Is it his unique blend of country infused southern rock with metal riffs? No!
how about his blues shred licks? No!
alright the whammy bar stuff? Nope!
Exotics scales??? Nah, not that either.
Now, you are more than welcome to disagree with me on this one, so any flaws in this or something
I’ve overlooked leave a comment. I think it’s his left hand, more accurately his left hand muting.
Ok, to put this in context- born in to one Jerry Bob Abbott; don’t worry I’m not padding the time
out with needless filler; haha, his dad is an American country music songwriter and record
producer; he actually produced Pantera’s the first four albums; you know the more hair metal ones,
people like to pretend don’t exist? When the guitarist in question was “Diamond” as opposed to
“Dimebag”. Some fun stuff on there if you ask me. But this means, it’s safe to assume Dime grew up
around a lot of musicians; Not just that, but probably very good musicians. See, relevant
backstory not simply filler to trick or distract you with; we’re staying firmly on track here!
If you know about the country music scene in Nashville and the calibre of session players
in that genre it’s safe to say the Abbot brothers would have picked up a lot of tricks and ideas-
maybe directly, maybe just via osmosis during their formative years.
I mean even the song and album title ‘Cowboys From Hell’ suggests this mashup of country and metal.
A technique that hadn’t really been heard much in hard rock or metal,
but is essential to the country standard ‘Texas Shuffle’ more on
that with the little I up there;
Stevie Ray Vaughan’s ‘Pride and Joy’ being a great point of reference; is left hand muting.
This is so common now, it almost seems stupid to mention; this technique is so pivotal that
has more or less spawned an entire genre, any djent band is gonna use this. Nu metal songs
were full of it as well, post-rock bands, or modern metal groups like periphery,
maybe even Mastadon, Gojira or Polyiphia use this dead stop sound.
Now, I’m not saying Dimebag Darrell invented this; we already know the country guys had
been doing it in their shuffle grooves; what I’m saying his playing in Pantera really, and I mean
really popularised this technique- for metal. If we want dive into subgenres
it’s a pretty crucial component to industrial and groove metal as well.
So there’s my case: several sub-genres, loads of bands and countless players. If there is another
player who you reckon popularised this more than Darrell Lance Abbott, then let us know.
On that note, Cowboys From Hell was released in 1990, Metallica’s ...And Justice for All
came out in 1988; the reason I mention that is because of the bridge in the song One;
probably using left hand muting to make the stop sharp and pop out a bit more.
But still not integrating it in to the riffing for a more rhythmic, tight groove; like Darrel did.
But that’s why I think this technique, likely appropriated from country
musicians is his biggest, and easily overlooked or undervalued contribution.
And to draw a line under that let’s have a look at it in action, break it down
with some Pantera riffs! To clear it up; I’m doing these all in E standard because it’ll
save myself and you guys having to tune down for the sake of a handful of riffs.