In 1969 lead vocalist Ozzy Osbourne, guitarist Tony Iommi, bass guitarist Geezer Butler and drummer Bill Ward pioneered the iconic heavy metal band, Black Sabbath. Sabbath quickly came to embody the very essence heavy metal music and are considered by many to be pioneers of hard rock.
With roots in Aston, Birmingham, England, Black Sabbath has achieved global recognition with songs like Iron Man, Paranoid and War Pigs. Today, Osbourne, Iommi and Butler complete the bands lineup.
To replicate the dominating chords of songs such as Paranoid or Electric Funeral, the most important factor is your equipment setup. Two incredible guitars from Iommi’s arsenal include a Epiphone Riviera 12-string or the ultra-rare Barney Kessel by Gibson. To reduce the stress of playing with a hand injury that he sustained as a teenager, Iommi began downtuning his guitar from E to D#. Shortly thereafter, he took it down further to C#. One of Iommi’s main guitars, the Jaydee Custom S.G, has only three out of four functional control knobs, with the fourth intentionally disconnected. Bridge pickup tone control is disabled on all of Iommi’s guitars. Since 1990, Tony has only used La Bella guitar strings.
Effects pedals are a must-have for bassist, Geezer Butler. He uses the wah-wah pedal for the bass solo intro of NIB, resulting in the subtle wailing sound. To match Iommi, Butler was also one of the first bass players to downtune. Butlers characteristic sound comes, in part from high middle equalizer tones. Turn up the middle on your equalizer to emphasize this audio component.
As lead vocalist, Ozzy Osbourne infuses his spectral tone with the reflective cut of Butlers lyrics. Ozzy’s vocals, the radiating beats of drummer Bill Ward, Iommi’s brash riffs and Geezer Butler’s audacious lyrics come together to form the languid, super-loud tunes of Black Sabbath.
If you want to sound like Black Sabbath, tune it down, crank up the volume and keep in mind the remarkable, unfettered and elemental tone that marks full Sabbath rhythms.
Keep Rockin’!
Black Sabbath by Bueno (Fabio) taken on November 5, 2011
Black Sabbath The Album by badgreeb RECORDS taken on November 30, 2011
