Chino, Stef Guitar Showdown

[alividlife]

I have read articles inwhich Chino himself says that Stephen is a better guitar player... Guitar World something..  Can't remember the year.

I kinda trip on Deftones guitar playing, because as Musings has stated, they are a very easy "guitar" band, but it's the sonic texture.
I taught my girlfriend how to play Digital Bath in a couple seconds.  .. It's just 4th fret, and then open on drop-d.  Over.. and over .... until the bridge.
Also, Stephen Carpenter has even stated in magazines that he wrote Shove it, so it could be played on only 1 string.  That's pretty easy lol.

Things I really like about the bands guitar setup is:
Stephen Carpenter is known to not even use a typical valve guitar amp, but instead a 5000 watt Marshall power amp with loads of speakers.
ALSO, I know for a fact, that on the song "This Place is Death" on the new album Diamond Eyes, uses a complex method of speed shifting various filters on harmonic intervals which can be only done with computers.  Native Instruments Guitar Rig 4 has a preset for this sound, along with other complex Virtual Studio Technology plug-ins for sound modification from the guys over at Cycling '74 programming.   I really like that about deftones.  They are almost on the verge of complete reiterations of the guitar, and the style is very sparse, focusing much more on mood and feel.
Even back in '96 you can see Stephen Carpenter with his foot on a Voodoo Lab ground Control MIDI foot controller (probably to control his processor)
Tell me how many bands out there have been using MIDI and doing metal.
Probably 7.  At best.
Deftones being the most well known.

Chino is most definitely more of a "indie" player as the above posters mentioned.  Very loose, focusing more on the rhythmic strumming.
Steph is typically more down-picking and very precise "up" "down" strokes if there are any.

So it's kinda Apples and Oranges for me.  A great Songwriter and a very atmospheric lead guitar player.   Very interesting how they came together to create such a tight and forward thinking band.

Stephen is "technically" better.

[from_musings]

Very interesting how they came together to create such a tight and forward thinking band.

yes but chino was mainly a singer the first 12 years or so... stephen wrote like linus,adrenaline and around the fur... it wasn't until like 99,2000 when chino picked up the guitar and started to write songs because stephen wouldn't. so it wasn't that weird at the beginning, steph the guitarist wrote some songs and chino the singer sang em  

[Robotsatemygrandma]

Silly question. Both of them approach the instrument differently, even though they can generate the same result. Like... I'm going the 1+1=2 route, well I'm gonna go 5-3=2 route. If that makes sense.

But Chino's little melodic layering to Steph's monstrous rhythm playing is always interesting. I'm sure Steph can bust out a huge Halen style tapping fury of a solo, but I have never heard any of their songs approach a point where that would fit.

[yeah]

FYI, they are both great drummers... Steph did drums on Anniversary of Uninteresting Event and SNW Instrumental...



P.S. Check out Step --->>> Deftones Ft. System of a Down (Jam Session - Benefit Concert For Chi Cheng ) [2009] -

[DEFinatelydeftones,fsho]

I believe Steph wrote the landscape for these records but Steph did not write the lyrics. Chino has written ALL of the lyrics and has done a great job writing his guitar melodies on his own, Steph IS THE guitar player for Deftones, but Chino doesn't exactly suck either. He may not be skilled to the gills but he could write insane melodies for Stephen to crush on a record and I'm sure he has.

[deftoner664]

From my experience as a musician and playing the deftones songs.. Like everyone else said they are not very hard to play, but i dont percieve them as novoice musicans. Steph  obviously has been playing longer and has a very unique style, but he is for sure not a musical god. In the last interview in Guitar World magazine steph admitted that he has no background of music theory and has learned to play the guitar by learning other band's songs. I mean look at simple man for instance, steph did not do the solo on this song. They had a fill in come in and do it for him. I dont think i've ever observed steph playing an actual guitar solo, but i'm not refuting him as being a terrible guitarist. He has his own voice and it sounds good... It's deftones. Chino however indeed has his own voice and the last show I went to and watched them play change chino fucking owned the end of that song he added way more bends and intensifed the melody, I was locked in on chino not stef.. Sometimes they do different things on the guitar that catch my ear in a special way. Chino has for sure improved his playing capabilities and has been adding that specific touch to the deftones ever since white pony.

[vinsanity]

Stephen Carpenter on Guitar Rig

stef does a lil solo here but i love those riffs before

[deftoner664]

haha nice... I like how he put the tapping in there..

[Vesanic]

Songwriting Battles with Deftones' Stephen Carpenter Guitarist Magazine

[deftoner664]

Great video man, thanks for sharing. It was tight listening to him and chino's approach to song writing..

[pinkmaggit]

I hate how everyone claims it's so easy but then you watch people attempting Deftones songs on YouTube and they all suck - they're just too pleased with themselves that they've got it 'figured out' to realise ''hey maybe it's not so easy and I can't play for shit''.

[bodywars9000]

Haha i agree with you pinkmaggit. Me n my buddy used to sit around for hours on end watching all the Deftones "covers" on youtube, and laughing our asses off. Pretty much every single one is terrible at best. People should have more respect for Stephen, imo. He is a great player,  just in his own way. It's easy to see how many people could overlook this, until they try to play his riffs, and, even while knowing the chords and structures, still something is missing. This is because he plays in a very particular way, which he himself developed over a decade of playing and writing. Now here we are another ten years later. A song like my own summer, is it "difficult to play"? Not really, but record yourself playing it and compare it to the record. Most likely yours will sound slightly different, even if you've played it correctly. And i'm not talking about the fact that he doubles his tracks. I

[from_musings]

I hate how everyone claims it's so easy but then you watch people attempting Deftones songs on YouTube and they all suck - they're just too pleased with themselves that they've got it 'figured out' to realise ''hey maybe it's not so easy and I can't play for shit''.

they might be lousy at guitar to begin with? I suck at skateboarding, sure i can film myself trying to do an ollie and fall on my ass, post it on youtube and everyone laughs .. but does that mean that ollies are difficulty to make in general? no not at all.a person who can skate won't think so. same with stephs gutiarr skillz. if youre normally skilled at guitar, I don't think that guitar players find deftones especially difficult.never met one. only if they at the same time are blind fans who boosts up everything deftones does to the skies because they love their music.

but its cool, in fact i love deftones fans that stand up for the band no matter what. I think they're kinda cute    (no homo).
they are also the same persons that read in too much into chino's lyrics and think the lyrics are genius, although chino just throws in words here and there trying to make it sound cool  

[deftoner664]

Good point from_musing...It's all about perception and experience and the eyes/ears of the observer.

[Oldnewtype]

Stephen Carpenter on Guitar Rig

stef does a lil solo here but i love those riffs before

cool i used to use guitar rig all the time

[There Will Be Blood]

chinos a bitch

[pinkmaggit]

I hate how everyone claims it's so easy but then you watch people attempting Deftones songs on YouTube and they all suck - they're just too pleased with themselves that they've got it 'figured out' to realise ''hey maybe it's not so easy and I can't play for shit''.

they might be lousy at guitar to begin with? I suck at skateboarding, sure i can film myself trying to do an ollie and fall on my ass, post it on youtube and everyone laughs .. but does that mean that ollies are difficulty to make in general? no not at all.a person who can skate won't think so. same with stephs gutiarr skillz. if youre normally skilled at guitar, I don't think that guitar players find deftones especially difficult.never met one. only if they at the same time are blind fans who boosts up everything deftones does to the skies because they love their music.

but its cool, in fact i love deftones fans that stand up for the band no matter what. I think they're kinda cute    (no homo).
they are also the same persons that read in too much into chino's lyrics and think the lyrics are genius, although chino just throws in words here and there trying to make it sound cool  

I'm not making the argument at all that Stef is the most gifted, technical guitar player around. I don't really play the guitar enough to be able to make that judgement in any case.
Even so Stef does have a special gift for really getting a good sound that I think is not that easy for anyone to just pick up a guitar and imitate.
To be honest it doesn't bother me that Stef is not as technically good as say Slash for e.g. (is Slash good technically? - just guessing really)
I think Stef is the riffmaster! - he just has a way of laying down the hardest,coolest riffs ever.
I love the sound of his playing - that is the most important part of all - to me you can be the most technically gifted player around and still come up with complete shite (Eric Clapton).
Some more things I love about Stefs playing are:
- his refusal to do cheesy 80's solo's
- his enthusiasm and joy: you can see he loves his guitars and he loves playing them. You can see in interviews how excited he is about all his gear.
  This is a guy that loves his craft and you can hear it! (unlike pricks like Billy Corgan for e.g. whose boredom for the guitar and probably music altogether became so apparent post '95)
- pushing boundaries: Stef always wants to take it to the next level: lower tunings, more strings, harder riffs etc - to me this keeps Deftones so unique - their song structures are like no other - for me a result of
  Stef's innovation and Chino's knack of finding the least expected melodies.
And yes Musings, I do think that Chino's lyrics are genius but not because I read all these deep meanings into them but because I can apply my own interpretations and meaning to them. They're kind of like Michael Stipe's lyrics off early R.E.M. albums in a way. It is as Chino says like 'painting a picture' - Chino is the Dali of songwriters!
Geez Musings I do sound like a bit of a fanboy here! - I can't explain it but this band just brings joy to my senses, technical or not, and for that I proclaim them the greatest ever! 

[Lhabia]

Id have to say Buffalo... so sick.. And the Eros riffs sounded dank

[bloody_liver]

Listening to Diamond Eyes you get the sense that Chino had to step off from Stef a little more and not get involved as much on guitars.

In many ways Stef is the ultimately underrated member of the band. Because when you think about it, his guitar riffs are the sonic heart of their music and without those riffs Chino wouldn't have anywhere to start.

Is Chino the one who wrote the melodies like Minerva, Good Morning Beautiful, and Sex Tape? I kinda like how he hits one string at a time in these soft melodic intros and stuff. But it wouldn't be the heavy metal shit without Stef's chunky riffs.

[fuzzylogics]

It's safe to assume if Chino is playing guitar on a track he came up with the melodies or idea for the song. There is no way Steph is going to say hey Chino, if you added this or that...etc.