Riff-Off 4.1: Burrito Joe

[Pink Unicorn Horsey]

PLEASE READ THE ENTIRE POST BEFORE VOTING!
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You are rating one of sixteen riffs in Round 1 of the March 2010 Riff-Off. Each of the other fifteen riffs can be heard and rated in the Tips and Clips room. More information about the Riff-Off can be found here.

As with last month, this month's Riff-Off has no bracket; each riff will be rated on an individual basis according to a seven-point scale. Once all of the polls have closed, the scores for each riff will be averaged, and the eight contestants with the highest average scores will advance to Round 2.

I encourage you to score each of the sixteen riffs. You may wish to listen to each riff before voting in order to establish a baseline. Of course, you are free to score riffs however you like, in whatever order you like. You could even give each riff the same score, if your impressions dictate so. It's all in your hands!

Because not all contestants have access to the same quality of recording equipment, your voting decision should be based first on the actual composition, second on the player's execution of the riff. Try to look past recording quality. Some questions you may want to ask yourself while considering which way to vote: What is the emotional impact of the riff? How original is the riff? Does the riff inspire me? Would I want to hear a whole song built off this riff?

Note that each contestant has chosen a battle name for the Riff-Off; their identities have been hidden from all other contestants and the voting public, and will be revealed at the end of the Riff-Off, when a champion is crowned.

Lastly, while comments are strongly encouraged, please realize that each contestant put personal time and creative energy into his or her submission. If you have any critique to provide in this thread, give the contestants the courtesy of making it constructive. This competition is built on the premises of fun and musical growth.

Here is a link to this contestant's Round 1 riff: Burrito Joe

If you run into any technical issues or have other questions regarding the Riff-Off, PM or email me (kgmessier at gmail dot com).

Have fun!

- Keith

 

[ImmortalSix]

Re: Riff-Off 4.1: Burrito Joe

I was bored, then the overdub saved it!

Ended up pretty cool!

 

[JollyRoger523]

Re: Riff-Off 4.1: Burrito Joe

I like the harmonies on this. I feel that they could have used a little more clarity, it seemed to get muddied up once they kicked in, but maybe it's just my laptop's speakers. Either way I didn't count it against you.

 

[GoDrex]

Re: Riff-Off 4.1: Burrito Joe

this didn't really do a lot for me. the harmonies kind of muddied it up IMO

 

[ex-250]

Re: Riff-Off 4.1: Burrito Joe

i quite like it until the overdubs, they made it very crowded and distracting

 

[Gamera]

Re: Riff-Off 4.1: Burrito Joe

It grabbed me, the doubled up guitar brought it home and reinforced the primary idea, then the third guitar lost me in a swirling mess of...something swirly and messy and noisy.

 

[tone4days]

Re: Riff-Off 4.1: Burrito Joe

yeah, i agree with much of what has been said here ... as a single line bouncy energetic riff, it hooked me ... for some reason, it had an EVH quality that i liked .. but then it devolved as it went on

 

[JordanM82]

Re: Riff-Off 4.1: Burrito Joe

repeating the same sentiment, the third overdub was too much noise... need more clarity in the tone for it to work with 3 parts... Still a good idea tho and execution was good so fair points...

 

[B2D]

Re: Riff-Off 4.1: Burrito Joe

one guitar = ehg... ok.

Two guitars = better

Three = no

The third part just didn't seem to fit.

 

[d1dsj]

Re: Riff-Off 4.1: Burrito Joe

Same feeling here.... 1 guitar was ok, sounded much better when the 2nd guitar kicked in but then went too far with the 3rd part. Cool idea though.

 

[Tor]

Re: Riff-Off 4.1: Burrito Joe

Well.. I'm not really into overdubbed guitars like this. When it's three guitars at once, it is just way too much for me. I think your point of the riff would be best communicated with maximum two guitars - that worked.

 

[DrNewcenstein]

Re: Riff-Off 4.1: Burrito Joe

Nice use of delay and repeat hold/sample. :friday:

However, perhaps if the harmonies were a little closer than dissonant?

While it's something I myself would do when goofing around with a delay, I'm not getting a sense of riffness from it.

 

[misterwhizzy]

Re: Riff-Off 4.1: Burrito Joe

The end sounds like a WWE Pay-Per-View event when there are too many wrestlers in the ring at the end of the match. If the tracks were all in sync to make the riff huge, it might have worked better. As it is, it gets very distracting at the end, and it definitely takes away from the riff.

Also, I was extremely disappointed this was not done in the style of Mariachi.

 

[Blue Calx]

Re: Riff-Off 4.1: Burrito Joe

It lost me once the 2nd guitar came in. With one guitar, it was very cleanly played, refreshingly major key, and made me want to open a window. Things just got really messy really quick though.

 

[daemon barbeque]

Re: Riff-Off 4.1: Burrito Joe

1 guitar part is very cool, after that, it get's lost. No groove, no emotion.

 

[Redmist]

Re: Riff-Off 4.1: Burrito Joe

I quite liked the second guitar coming in for depth.

The addition of that third may have cost dearly, yet added nothing to the riff for me.

 

[Lazarus1140]

Re: Riff-Off 4.1: Burrito Joe

I think the basic idea was great and the single guitar line would have been enough for me.

It seems like there is a slight timing issue when one phrase ends and the next one begins. It feels like there is a slight shift.

The first harmony part was good, but the second seemed slightly out of phase .... like there were latency issues.

This submission makes a great first impression, but the muddiness towards the end spoils it for me. Even so, it is obvious that you are a gifted player.

 

[DankStar]

Re: Riff-Off 4.1: Burrito Joe

additional guitars didn't add to the general concept. would make a nice bridge riff though with just a couple of guitars, hehe.