Townsend, Devin - Lessons Lyrics

Isn't this the strapping young lad guy

How do I find more material on him.

What the hell is the amazing opening song?

job interview for busboy position being held in the back

Had no idea he plays in open tunings. You wouldn't normally associate those with metal, but he makes it work with his brilliant songwriting.

I play for 25 years now, and never in a million years have I would have discovered open chords, til now! Believe me, it’s a whole new ballgame to be learned, talking bout muscle memory and finger positions

A wall of effects...a very cool way to cover Steve Vai

5:53 Was anyone else instantly thinking of Hyperdrive?

slap_my_hand me

Devin is becoming my new favorite musician and I've only seen him on the livestream where he wrote "stars" and a guitar clinic. I don't even know much of his music either, just seems like a cool motherfucker that has a lot in common with me.

Holy shit, never saw Ravi Shankar coming.

Just now discovered Devin, thank you..

Genius Canadian guitarist. Strapping Young Lad

10:30 Ki arpeggio

Devin: "I don't really know theory, like at all"

Seconds later: proceeds to play major and minor scales.

Yea, makes sense...

Basically he just doesn’t play the fourth of whatever scale he chooses. That’s how the scales become just a repetition of six notes instead of 7. Just my observation, would be curious if anyone else thinks of it in the same way.

I love listening to this guy, everything he has to say is just so damn interesting.

His current Stormbender blows this Peavy outta the water.

Amazing chops. So underrated as a guitarist. WOW.

the guy sitting in the back is getting a free devin townsend concert

6:27-7:08...please tell me that's an actual song of his. New to this guy and SYL and that series of riffs was fucking awesome.

That tone though.

I love Devin Townsend..he´s so damn funny! :D

Fucking camera changing angles every 2 seconds while his playing fuck offffff!!!!

"ya, ya, ya, yeah"

Bring back the skullet!

Awesome, wonderful, discovery!!!! Devin Master!!!!!

what's the name of the song at the beginning of the video? Thanks.

what is the intro song ?

Devin Townsend Project - Sumeria

I met him & Vai on the sex and religion tour. Devin kept asking me- "tell Steve that I sweep pick better than him". He also picked his nose on stage and ate it during the song "pig". He took a picture with friends of mine afterward with one on each side of him with a finger in each nostril. He then picked his nose again and wiped his booger on a book they had. I was 15 at the time and it mad a huge influence on me.

He ate a booger on stage when i saw him too.

We saw him that year as well in Memphis. Dude was crazy for the whole show. Met Via after the show as he came out of his bus. That was incredible talking to him. Sadly, didn't meet DT

I've watched this video about 10 times now.

6:29 Everlong

That fucking reverb is amazing

looks like a Bald Joe Bonamassa

only devin could get away with telling the orchestra "its the 7th fret"

shit is that his pad in van?

Just when I thought I’ve made really solid progress ....

did he mentioned ravi shankar?????

Neeraj Kumar Yes he did.

"Yeh yeh yeh yeyah." Lmao

I'm kinda new to Devin so don't kill me.
What's the first song? (The intro by him)
it sounds kinda operatic

Its called Sumeria. It's off of the album Deconstruction.

What is the name of the first song?

Sumeria

Whats the song at the beginning? It's amazing!

Sumeria

I want to sit around a camp-fire with him.

Thanks for your videos they are very inspiring and you are great. Saved me from buying a 8 string guitar someday I'll have to buy one

its so inspiring to hear that for even Devin, 27+ years of doing this, he says he doesnt really know theory. just comes to show that, you do NOT need theory at all, or fancy sweep arpeggio crap to make it in the music biz, just good solid emotion in your song writing :-)

also the fact that I just tried open B for the first time now I immediately wrote a song, its so liberating to see music through his eyes, no theory, no rules, no rules to break, I ran through the pentatonic scale on open B and it sounds alot like some kind of fancy mode :-), its easy harmonize any lead you're playing by adding a barre to a it, I just rediscovered guitar all over again, Dev youre my hero!

@Kaizze C How can someone claims not knowing theory, yet understands how intervals work, and know how to use chords and scales, and play in key? This is exactly what theory is about.

Absolutely like no other. And that sweep! GOOD GAWD!

Devin is a genius. Not just musically but more genius in general.

The riff at 5:15, is it off of a song? If is, what song is it from?

Erik Jonker Yeah! It's from the Song 'Stand' on his DTP album Deconstruction.

Cody Reeves thanks!

Looks like he's so fond of the lydian mode.

I'm loving your videos. Keep it up guitar messenger!

Devin is bigger than Jesus

Pretty sure I have those same pants!

you don't play why ??? you speack only ???????

10:30 that ending arpeggio series of "Ki" is out of this world, such a beautiful, ethereal piece of music...

Love you bebe

I think it's hilarious how even Devin's guitar playing is worlds ahead of most guitarists and that's not even what he'd consider his strength.

No wonder I like him and his music so much, we think about/write music in extremely similar ways, haha.

Anyone knows which Peavey model is that? I'd like to know

I want this guitar

I love the bends that Dev does. It's so beautiful

How to cheat and rely on effects vs. skill and theory. Yay?

hes mainly usent emg pickups? I haunt seen him play without. but they def have the 81 sound very distinct. damn a steghato sound so clean on those pups.. geez

Yeah, fishman makes a Devin Townsend pickup so not sure if he uses those now but these EMGs sound great in this video.

6:45 secret Deftones song

YES! It's actually like an actual Deftones song, which is a down tuned version of the Foo Fighter's Everlong, which when I researched, found out they both came out with their respective songs in February of the same year. The Deftones song is called Be Quiet and Drive.

What is the song starting at around 5:03? I think others have suggested it is Stand from his 2012 album Deconstruction however I don't hear that part in the recorded version.

My god I want that sound!! Jesus how does he get it, what's he using? Anyone know if his new Mooer Ocean Machine would get you close?

rubenzall for this tone I would say get a guitar with a EMG 57/66 set, a Mesa cab or something similar, and a lot of echo and reverb to be quite basic

Back then he used an Axe-Fx for his dry sound (on the left) and the echo you're hearing on the right is the Roland GP-100 which he's been using since 1995. Later on he tried reproducing its sound on the Axe, but that wasn't still the same thing, so he finally got a guy from Fractal Audio to analyze Roland and make a patch for him, which he uses currently for live shows (Kemper for dry sound, Axe with copied Roland sound) but he says he still prefers the Roland for general use. Get a GP-100 and you'll get close :)

9:37 is awesome!

devin is such a unique being, so talented... he's like from another universe, just has an otherworldly vibe about him, like a mysterious artifact that landed on earth from space

Devin is so humble, he's an amazing human being.

Saw him last week in New Orleans, Incredible show!!! When the set was over he didn't even go backstage, just walked out to greet the crowd.

I have no idea how someone can compose songs like Devin. No theory and shit, and still create masterpieces that can split your soul in a half.

Vinnie I think we’ve come to an all round agreeable conclusion. Congratulations we’ve had reasonable, respectful discussion, we’ve broken the internet.

@Moe Syzlak Exactly! I see so many people fighting on the internet, especially on youtube. I don't know why some people go overboard, I think it's an ego war, more than anything else. I always stay sane and nice on those discussions, because that's exactly what I am in real life. Anyway, thank you either for the good tone here!

Not knowing much of it does not mean he isn't using it or working out of it. His work is well defined in tonal system and Devin clearly masters it, you may be confusing the fact that he is not a nerd rat just reading books for the sake of it..... didnt you see him in the video breaking down scales, modes and calling out intervals? That is music theory, along with rythm codification

I have recently realized...Almost ANY guitar player that has been playing...let's say 10+ years, and has spent a lot of time learning other people's music
..(as we all have) knows a decent amount of music theory. You might not now how to put it into words...but you know WAY more theory than you think. You know technique...you know the relationship between notes. You might not be able to vocalize exactly what that relationship is...but you know it

@quantum enigma Theory needed if you want to really encompass everything, People seem very afraid of it. But Devin will know far more theory on a intelligent level than many others or even more than he thinks, because of playing as a pro for so long. you can't hide from it. He know time sigs = theory, he knows tunings and intervals = Theory etc. I would say the best way to learn is a little theory playing by ear mostly, then after several years go theory. You would be a BEAST!

that thing he did at about 8:00 had such a strong steve vai vibe :o

I might get some flame for this, but God, he looks choppy when he plays.

9:40 prepare the planet smasher

6:30 is he playing a particular song?

It sounds a lot like Foo Fighter's Everlong

"I have no idea what I'm doing"

Dev, I fucking love you lol.

Did he just admit he's in ghost?

+Joshua Karpowich he's referring to his album ghost

+Joshua Karpowich deconstruction and ghost are his albums

just saw them last weekend it was amazing as fuck

Nowhere near as amazing as a Devin Townsend Project show though :)

I did watch another clinic where he dropped something that he was “ in the studio with the guy who was playing drums in ghost .”

Shining T-shirt!

emg 81 85?

+Alonso Rodriguez 81 81

Alonso Rodriguez I think on the EMGTV stuff he uses a 57/66 set (or something along those lines) and now he uses his signature set of Fishman Pickups

So is this guy a guitarist or a singer or what? He should just choose one thing and stick with it. All this multi shit is messing with my mind.

What echo delay is he using?

song opening up?

sumeria off of Deconstruction by the Devin Townsend Project ;)

Shinning Tshirt (not the movie but the norwegian band)

He's so fuckin' modest man for such a great musician!

what kind of peavey is that?

Devin can teach most of the notorius "so called" guitarrist in the scene.

That guitar... so simple, so stunning!

Awesome T-shirt, Dev. :)

B F# B F# B F# B F# B F#... Oh sorry, forgot D#. :D Such a deviant. I love it! XD

Is the part from 6:30 a real song? It sounds awesome =D

I think part of it is from Synchronicity Freaks

@RFR Films
You're right. Thanks =D Liked this version more though

devin, your scales are mising 4ths, otherwise great ideas!

Not really. Well yes, the 3 note per string patterns. But they're really all major scale patterns and when combined make up the diatonic scale, 4th included. When you play, you don't have to limit yourself to one 3 note pattern, you combine them, and you choose your root note based on what mode/colour you want.

I recommend his other instructional 'great average guitar' for diagrams.

what model peavey is that? so much nicer than a tele in my eyes and LTD/ESP's version

@Mooda Fooka Agree. There is something about that guitar that could my attention. very very nice

@Mooda Fooka Agree. There is something about that guitar that could my attention. very very nice

I've got a feeling it's one of his wacky part-caster jobs, combining all different parts together, I've not been able to find it online for the life of me so it's either very old and out of production (would be ridiculous to do so) or he's just used his musically technical abilities to wack this beauty together 

+Mooda Fooka It's a prototype that was supposed to go into production but never did. :/

that guitar looks like a kids drawing of a telecaster..

Love it when he shreds.

Bueno pero no es nada fuera de lo común :(, sweep picking, taping, pare contar.

i might have to give open b a try sometime, it sounds really cool especially with standard power chords turning into sus chords

that tuning definitely gives his music an overall brighter feel...

what is the tuning? :p c #??

devadatta gamen Open c or open b

the connection this man has with his instrument is unreal.