Ibanez Guitars | Herman Li Abuses the Ibanez S470

Herman Li Abuses the Ibanez S470

Posted on January 26, 2008
Filed Under Guitarists |

Previously I mentioned that Herman Li of Dragonforce plays the Ibanez S Series S470. You can see him demonstrating some silly sound effects that he does on the latest Dragonforce album in the YouTube video called: Herman Li video game guitar effects.

In the vid he says “we do all kinds of strange noises on the guitar and we give it kind of video game names because it’s cool!” Well I disagree. It is not cool. In fact it sounds like crap. What a stupid use of an Ibanez guitar. I mean who wants to listen to these sounds, they are annoying. It’s one thing to fool around with your wammy bar but to put the annoying sounds on a record?!?! Give me break. Honestly, the Pac Man noise. The motorbike noise. This is crap. This is what you do when you first play a wammy bar. If you want to hear neat sound effects on the guitar that are interesting , creative and fit within the context of a song, listen to Joe Satriani. Herman's sounds from this video should have remained in the bedroom in which he appears in the video. Honestly this is a poor demonstration of Ibanez S Series Guitars.Now Herman certainly has decent chops and shred his way around his Ibanez guitar just fine. But really, guitar playing is maybe 1/10 technique… the rest is creativity, originality, feeling, and tone. Unfortunately Herman can elicit precious little of these from his Ibanez. The idea of being the fastest power metal band in the world is fine as a marketing pitch but it’s no fun to listen to. Their songs are just so friggin’ repetitive and rehashed textbook power metal. Faster is not better. Guitar is not a sport, it’s an art.

Comments

15 Responses to “Herman Li Abuses the Ibanez S470”

  1. Jakeizzy on February 22nd, 2008 5:50 pm

    I was just wondering, what creative things have you discovered on your guitar? Made any bands? Sold any records? By the way, what your seeing Herman do is just what you spoke so honorably about. Creativity. Originality. Feeling. Tone. Come on, who else plays like Herman? No one. You should let go of your envy and really appreciate someones talent. I didn’t say you have to like him, just appreciate him for being the artist he is.

  2. Ovidiu - GuitarFlame.com on February 27th, 2008 5:15 pm

    They are kind of a guitar school, if you master the whammy bar, it’s ok, and they give dynamics to a song. Don’t you think?

  3. The 5 stupidest reasons to start playing guitar | Ibanez Guitars on February 28th, 2008 12:28 pm

    […] News flash: Fastest is not best, heaviest is not best, most brutal is not best, most extreme is not best. These are stupid gimmicks. Don’t try to be a gimmick. […]

  4. u guys are retards on March 11th, 2008 3:15 am

    You guys are all retarted. You obviously havent listened to the fire and flames, he makes all thes noises match the song. Just cause you guys suck doesnt mean you have tobash people that are good.

  5. hi on April 12th, 2008 2:56 am

    you guys r dumbasses. herman li is a beast!

  6. Dave on May 2nd, 2008 7:40 pm

    I am sick and tired of idiots who think that just because dragonforce play fast as hell, they’re great. I am also sick and tired of people who are supposedly into shred and have only ever heard of dragonforce who go on and on about dragonforce being the best band out there, despite the fact that all their songs sound the same.

    Go and listen to some Paul Gilbert. He can kick Herman Li’s ass at guitar, and can play in more styles than ‘GO REALLY REALLY FAST UP AND DOWN THIS SCALE 30 TIMES, THEN CHANGE TO ANOTHER SCALE, WOW!’

  7. admin on May 5th, 2008 8:38 am

    Thanks Dave, finally a commenter that doesn’t have dog crap in their ears. You nailed it. right on. Li fans… if you want to hear someone shred and do something interesting that’s worth hearing try Tony MacAlpine, Jeff Loomis, or Michael Lee Firkins. Try Satriani, try Malmsteen, try Marty Friedman, Jason Becker, etc etc.

  8. Razor on May 7th, 2008 2:14 pm

    Awesome Dude your albums rock and so does through the fire and the flames. Also what type of guitar do you use ????????

  9. blackhell on May 9th, 2008 2:55 pm

    the only comment i guess i have to say to Herman Li is that he plays well in a record studio rather than in a live concert, he commits definite obvious mistakes which is not likely in the record they made on the song. yes of course He plays well in a record studio because they can edit it when they commit mistakes, so meaning they try to perfect the recording but when they get to a live concert stage, Herman Li doesn’t really get what he had recorded, but not all i guess, there are some part of the songs i guess. Peace!!!

  10. Jake on May 17th, 2008 2:37 am

    satch, malmsteen, EVH, vai, batio, and li are all good, but EVH and satch sound better than all of them, thats just my opinion

  11. duq' on June 5th, 2008 9:33 am

    i mean i’m not sayin Li is a bad guitarrist , he is a good player in the studio, i mean what thing in music its better than a live concert I think u shoul record only what u r capabile of really play live the sounds r ok to me you can not say hes bad cause of that , but yes I like more the style of gilbert and mclpine rather than hermans but its ur call also u can not caompare guitar players thats just stupid …

  12. Funk on June 9th, 2008 11:11 pm

    wow. you realize you just come off sounding bitter that you’ll never be able to pull off the kind of chops herman plays, right? pathetic.

  13. Masterchieflol on July 8th, 2008 2:49 am

    to the first bozo who replied… you said “Come on, who else plays like Herman? No one.”

    And that is actually right! cause he plays like crap for fucks sake. how can so many people think hes great, any 16 years old kid can do this at home with a 15 watt amp and like 6 months of practice.

  14. solow culo on July 31st, 2008 11:16 am

    jacob (jakeizzy) lil bro, you are so right on

    (punk) it means thinking for yourself

    if its so easy mastercheiflol
    where is your band ?? too busy playing games to actuallky put forth an effort

    sht, you suk AND blow

  15. W on August 13th, 2008 10:52 pm

    dude anyone hear Herman Li and appreciate him
    I mean really he is the best I repeat BEST guitar player. You people see anyone else as famous and as good as him?

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