2010 Ibanez Guitar Clinic by HERMAN LI
- Francis Fu
Event Review
In the last few years, London-based guitarist Herman Li has established himself as one of the most recognized and influential guitarists of the new generation. Born in Hong Kong, Herman is a guitarist, songwriter and producer of the Grammy nominated metal act DragonForce. However, ‘Ultra Beatdown’ is the album that has taken DragonForce to new heights, crashing into the Top 20 national album charts in the UK, USA, Canada, Australia, Taiwan, Singapore and the Top 10 in Japan.
Accolades starting pouring in, starting with the 2005 ‘Best Shredder’ award at the annual Metal Hammer Golden Gods. Herman also won four categories in Guitar World’s 2007 Readers Poll for ‘Best New Talent’ (winning by 70%), ‘Best Metal’, ‘Best Riff’ and ‘Best Shredders’. Outside of DragonForce, Herman has been invited to perform with guitar legends such as Joe Satriani, Steve Vai and Paul Gilbert, just to name a few. Not long ago, Herman won for the second time the ‘Best Shredder’ award at the Metal Hammer Golden Gods 2009.
On 16th July 2010, more than two hundred metalheads learnt the secrets of the guitar metal through technique and talent of Herman, who presented some of his most important passages of his latest artistic effort in DragonForce's album “Ultra Beatdown” at Tom Lee Academy Hall, MegaBox.
The evening is a raging success. The axe-maestro shared his approach to riff writing, album production, soloing and leading a successful metal band. Herman, who delivered the clinic in both Cantonese and English, was excited about the overwhelming response from the local crowd. “It was way beyond my expectations!”
Knowing what fans are here for, he instantly proceeded to give a fiery guitar pyrotechnic demonstration with Heroes of Our Time, scorching the fingerboard to produce a blazing barrage of melodic notes. Apart from his speed-limit breaking runs and licks, Herman is best known for his creative and entertaining sound effects. Adding to his huge inventory of guitar sound effects like the classic Pac-man noise and elephant noise, he has recently invented a new trick that mimics the blast and explosion of a laser gun, as seen and heard in Star Wars. “Well, I have no idea where I learnt these weird stuff! There are so many of them and I can’t recall some of them.”
On stage, Herman plays his new Ibanez signature guitar EGEN18 with Hot Hand, a new secret hi-tech weapon in his guitar rig since 2009. The cool-looking ring he had on his right hand is in fact is a wireless motion-based MIDI controller. The signal-processing talents of it add new dimensions to Herman’s already-established tone and sci-fi cacophony of pitch and speed effects.
After a wide-ranging question-and-answer session, Herman brought the house down with an apocalyptic demo of Through the Fire and Flames. The shredder’s wild live performances offered many unforgettable moments, for his fusion of technical facility, compositional prowess and wit allows him to consistently deliver fresh material that both excites and challenges his listeners. That is why you will never get bored even if you have seen him onstage countless times.
Last year, DragonForce played 256 concerts across the continents and taped 19 British shows. Tracks appearing in the forthcoming live album Twilight Dementia are recordings hand-picked by members of the band.
Excerpts from Q&A
1) How did you learn to play guitar?
By watching instructional videos. I watched Frank Gambale, Steve Morse and Marty Friedman’s videos. I also learn from live footages. You can pick up some live techniques. The truth is: instructional videos are quite boring to watch. The guy on TV did something and you just followed. But you have to admit that, whether you’re a beginner or advance player, sometimes you just feel like banging and smashing the guitar like a rock star. That’s why live footages could help.
2) How do you develop speed? Do you use any special picking method?
I used to play lots of thrash stuff so it’s natural for me to play with speed. When you practice, always play with a metronome.
I started with a 1.2mm pick but later, I learnt from Paul Gilbert that it’s easier to pick with a 0.88mm because it is more elastic. That way, you don’t have to pick as hard. I also use the flat-picking technique. But I would say no single method is right. You’ll have to find a technique that suits you.
3) Your signature model has 2 versions, EGEN18 and EGEN8. What are the major differences between these 2 guitars?
EGEN18 (prestige version) comes with DiMarizo pickups whereas the EGEN8 is made with Ibanez pickups. EGEN18 is made in Japan so it’s relatively more expensive. The EGEN8 is made in Indonesia.
4) How do you write songs?
For most of the time, somebody writes the first half of a song. Then we work together to finish the second half. Sometimes we’d record the drum track into the computer, then Sam, our guitarist will record the melody with his guitar. I’m sure you don’t want to hear Sam singing in the demo. Without inserting strings, choirs and other elements, if the melody and chords sounds good, it is good. That’s our theory.
5) Some people label DragonForce as a ‘studio band’. Any thoughts on that?
The first six months of 2006 were not great. At that time we were also dealing with management by ourselves. For the past few years we had some bad shows and that’s what people uploaded to the Internet and watched. When we had our very first world tour, we were so excited and partied way too much!
6) What changes has DragonForce gone through in the last couple of years?
Everything is evolving- the way we record, how we work together as a band, how we sound, so on and so forth. In terms of sound, I don’t think we have a very original sound in the first album. But we found that when we started to work on our second album. The first album was not masterfully recorded and it sounds horrible. We spent too much time on recording and at the end we only had two days to mix! At that time, I was still learning how to of record. That’s why we are introducing the remixed versions, which will be available off the shelf in September 2010.
7) Through the Fire and Flames is featured in the multi-million selling game Guitar Hero 3 –Legends of Rock. Did you approach the game developers or did they find you? How well did you score in that number? Will there be more DragonForce numbers in the game’s future releases?
The developers approached us and Through the Fire and Flames is a track that won’t appear unless you’ve completed every track on the regular play list. It is gamers’ ultimate challenge. I didn’t play that song because I have heard it so many times. But my favorite track from the game is Cliffs of Dover by Eric Johnson. You’ll find Fury of the Storm in Guitar Hero 6, and may be in Rock Band 3 too, I’m not sure.
8) DragonForce is auditioning for a vocalist. Who is filling in for ZP? What qualities should this person possess?
Several hundreds submitted their videos to us. We’ve narrowed down our list to three or four guys and we’re still considering. When I return to London from this clinic tour, we’ll start recording our next album in August. We’ll make the decision then.
We are looking for someone who is hungry, wants to do it and willing to work hard. Some people are very enthusiastic about it, but they may not have the techniques. So our vocalist must be able to check everything on the list.
9) What’s next on DragonForce’s / Herman Li’s agenda?
I haven’t planned ahead but we’ll keep writing and release more albums. We haven’t finished writing everything yet but we have enough ideas to cover three more albums. We’ll do it as long as we enjoy it.
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