Defeated Sanity | Imposed Corporeal Inhabitation | By Kevin Heiderich

[@jayt1791]

Defeated sanity was without no doubt the most brutal concert I ever seen

[@spacefogil]

Hi, I read the entirety of your video description, and I 100% agree with you on everything, there's something truly unhealthy with the social media demoralization contest and hero bands selling lots of useless things and make you think you will turn you into a guitar god over night. (plugins/amps/expensive guitars/pedals/amp sims/tutorials) In reality, It all comes to sitting down and practicing, some bands said that for the longest times they forced themselves to sit down and practice for 8 hours each day even when they don't feel like it. practicing simple songs from ear and trying to play them faster each time - was something that was really fun to practice for me for example. Love you and please know you are one of the undisputed gods of the genre, all the best.

[@XenoTravis]

Those are some "hopefully you have clean strings" riffs right there (from the fast rubbing)

[@KevinHeiderich]

Yeah, they were only 3 days old and already felt worn out after the video haha

[@deadplanets]

well said. Maybe one day I'll stop making excuses and start practicing the fundamentals so I can finally take my playing to the next level. Maybe. haha

[@Johnny_Bunz]

Hell yeah I just covered Naraka

[@mikejames5743]

Love your videos especially the Defeated Sanity stuff because it sorta humanizes the riffs for me

[@DreamPurpleFloyd]

Such a delight to see someone play those guitar parts. With some bands you can feel a little disappointment when you see a playthrough because it kinda demystifies the whole thing. "Oh it's just some 3nps stuff with a small twist". But with Defeated Sanity the guitar vocabulary is so unique it doesn't happen at all. On the contrary, it's pretty inspiring. Same stuff with Gorguts.

[@davideaston_]

honestly mind blowing, i will never not be impressed by your ability to learn stuff so quickly yet be so clean, i spent a good week tackling this one and gave up haha, killer!

[@KevinHeiderich]

It's a tricky song to be honest. There's a certain difficulty in every part of it. And then some. Because it features the typical Defeated Sanity timing whackiness. But it also has a lot of Defeated Sanity trademarks. It almost feels like a best of song, because I've seen variations of all parts in other songs before. The only "new" thing were how they play with the harmonics. But the fingerings of the legatos after that are regular ol' DS. So for me it was not hard to get into it because I learned songs from every album, and there's also some Dharmata in there :)

[@davideaston_]

@@KevinHeiderich totally! it’s really inspiring seeing the way you look at it

[@iLLuzion1st]

@@KevinHeiderich like learning a language wow

[@hideousinfirmity]

Killer! But why not the second natural harmonic at the end? That sounds a bit plain, u could hit the other one at the same time, it's fun. Also the ringing octaves during the slam...why noone ever wants to play the slow tasty stuuuuff? lolol There you go, constructive criticism lolz.....of course those are "to be solved in 5 minutes" kinda things for you wizzard

[@KevinHeiderich]

Laziness! I only spent a day and a half on it. Also weren't the harmonics at the end not shared between both guitars? Hehe yeah I knew there would be some things that had to be "Lille Approved" before a rehearsal or something like that :D But yeah the main reason is that the song didn't get the special "I'll have to play it live (with you)" treatment but just the regular KZbin cover treatment, which means a day or two max for preparation and recording. I got lazy, you know haha If we'd rehearse it we definitely had to work on that part in the ending section with the displaced rhythm. And I can imagine that the slided power chord part could have issues even if it's straightforward. Starting into is kinda weird :D

[@hideousinfirmity]

@@KevinHeiderich dunno if ur going public make it as tasty as can be....2 guitars yeah....but DS is a 1 guitar band live so u gotta combine the best things. But hey ur right, things like that are easy to include when asked for

[@NeonMeateDream]

Man just like all your vids the playing is exceptional. DS are always my favs 🤘. Really glad you decided to write a description too. Always interesting and helpful to hear how great musicians think

[@KevinHeiderich]

Haha this time it was just a rant description, but you're welcome :)

[@SylverANGL]

That song is neat. Pretty original guitar motives. I wish the transition around 1:48 were a whole repeating part Also thx for taking the time to write a description. Not easy to be a guitar teacher/coach these days, that's for sure. Personnally I was pretty guilty of the 1 BPM increment thing, but facing the sloppiness is hard psychologically, haha. To be perfectly honest, that one video of your learning process for the Cognizance song was eye opening to me.

[@cmd_f5]

I hear you about all the guitar / drum clickbait. It's more about selling and supposedly fast progress vs actually just putting the work in. Being a good musician doesn't happen over night. I'm a lazy ass when it comes to guitar, but I at least acknowledge it haha. Excellent vid. The rapid chord switches and general craziness is what I love about DS. Also, I appreciate your analysis in the description.

[@KevinHeiderich]

Here's the thing: I'm not even a fan of too much practice. I'm a big defender of less is more, and shorter more efficient sessions. I work around my own laziness these days. But even short efficient sessions are too much ask for, for a lot of people. They don't commit.

[@FreepowerUG]

Hard to tell whether the performance or description is stronger. I was a guitar teacher for years, and I had similar experiences. In my experience, if you can build on some kind of enthusiasm and get them to put in some work (e.g., emulating a favourite guitarist or some particular song they love) then they experience the magic of putting in the work and are hungry for more forever. Even more so, learning that hard work pays off is probably the most critical life lesson you can get as a young person. Someone who has experienced the fruit of discipline is more likely to succeed at whatever they try, not just music. Anyway, lots of love to you and the channel, you're a beast. 💪

[@SkateSmokeAndDrum]

Forever wishing I could play like this! Killin it as always

[@gianlucanimis7230]

wonderful song, an increadible mastery, compliments, enjoy all Fans like me !!!!!!!!

[@ampliquency1921]

Nice rant about the general content creation bullshit. 100% agree, but not only in the guitar/drum/musicianship universe, but also everywhere else. Watch TV or other parts of the more general society and there is just an overflow of information, bullshit information and general overstimulation in every possible way. Paired with the "speed" of living these days and peoples poor time management (which is not exactly 100% fair, some people just don't have time or much time) it is no wonder that they seek easier ways and end up getting nothing done. I was also a long time like "what do I have to to do pick like Paul Gilbert" and tried to mimic his hand positioning and so on. I think I got a bit better, but only because I actually tried it. If I look at my picking hand today I can still see some parts where my thumb moves where I immediately think "that does not look right" and get the urge to fix it, but then again, this stuff is hard to control consciously and in my opinion the best way is to spend time practicing and trying until you get a way which feels comfortable for you. And after that, spending time. It took me years to learn that. But that is the point after which I got somehow good. At least I can play stuff like Stabwound, although not perfectly, and I constantly try NOT to think about stuff like pickslanting and instead do what feels right and naturally. If anything is holding you back at all, it is your brain. The brain is the strongest muscle you have imo. Dude, you should definitely receive more attention in the guitar community. Not only for your excellent playing, but also for your extensive and helpful statements you put in those descriptions.

[@torreskev]

I really like this album, to mortal people is tricky see the compex of a technical band and how hardest can it be!!

[@winstoncarter2119]

Incredible dude!

[@deathmetal5156]

really clean playing!

[@vincecarpenter661]

How can Lille play both drums and guitar like that?

[@isaackmojica8302]

Years of pure practice and some theory i would say

[@ac130kz]

Defeated Sanity sounds so nice in this album! Btw on your thoughts about current education problem, my guess is that people aren't able to postulate and learn the basics, they would rather commit to a shorter path

[@KevinHeiderich]

The funny thing is, they spend so much time overthinking their shorter path that it would've been a lot less time-consuming to just sit down and practice. I get it, the brain wants to preserve energy and thus we always want to do the faster and easier way, but it's still interesting how people fool themselves

[@diabolusabsconditus]

gonna do any more? last 3 tracks are nasty.. great video!

[@KevinHeiderich]

Na I think that's it for now

[@jsl21]

Madness as always. I've been wondering for a while why you use cheaper/lower end guitars for your videos these days? You used to play that purple Michael Romeo-esque ESP M-II back in the day, nowadays you're featuring Harley Bentons and this Ibanez quite a lot. I'm sure they must be comfortable/sound good for your needs but I was just curious. It's inspiring anyway how much you can burn on basically any guitar. You're ridiculously good!

[@KevinHeiderich]

I don't have that M-II anymore. I sold it because at the time I had more use for the money. And to be honest I'm not a person who appreciates expensive guitars. If playability and sound is good then I'm fine. I'd play the biggest turd of a guitar if those two apply. That's why I stick to those cheaper guitars. They just work. Also, another more personal thing: I don't own any premium items. Apart from my car which is old and was also cheap I don't own anything that cost more than €1000. I think the axe fx II and laptop/pc are the most expensive items I have. And they didn't even cost €1000. So that might show that it's a conscious personal choice.

[@jsl21]

@@KevinHeiderich that's a really cool approach, so many yt guys are clearly loaded/using super expensive gear and that's part of the appeal of the vids, but you're able to rip on basic stuff. Just goes to show tone is in the fingers. More Black Dahlia Murder btw!

[@SkateSmokeAndDrum]

Would love to see you cover Algorithmic Savior by The Zenith Passage 😎😎😎

[@UroboricNate]

So sick dude, really like the tone too, that axe fx?

[@KevinHeiderich]

Yeah that was the axe fx II. I personally don't like the tone too much here haha. But mixing Defeated Sanity videos is always a pain in the ass anyway :D

[@vincecarpenter661]

What honestly is bugging me on this song is trying to nail all those tritone sweeps. Similair in one section of 43%burnt by dillinger. They are just played ridiculously fast. I wish Jacob would release a full bass playthrough of this song.

[@KevinHeiderich]

So I actually have a weird tip for you! And please don't think of it as discouraging or anything. But it might help if you don't think of those tritone sweeps as ridiculously fast. Because they are actually not that fast. It's just a weird form of those shapes with that sweep picking on that tempo. But the tempo itself is just 170 bpm with them played as 16th notes. Which again is not that fast. I'm sure you could push those sweeps a lot, like almost 50 bpm and you could still play it almost as clean. What I'm trying to say is that if you're already thinking that it's unplayable or ridiculously fast then of course you'll have trouble, just from a mental standpoint. And that will carry over to your hands, in that they will perform sloppy. Just work on your hand coordination because those are not the regular sweep pattern everyone is practicing and you'll be fine :)

[@variola2135]

question: how to learn to play the guitar in 1 day? answer: no way Defeated Sanity 🤘

[@DreamPurpleFloyd]

About the bit at 0:56. I'm wondering why you would play that with tapping instead of classic hammer-ons/pull-offs? I would think that the second option would be easier to play. Maybe it sounds different? I know you're very familiar with Defeated Sanity so I'm sure if you play it that way Lille must have done the same. I'm just wondering why he would do that.

[@theabsolute23]

I don’t know many guitarists who can do trills that fast with one-handed hammer-on/pull-offs

[@KevinHeiderich]

Yeah you might not see or hear it but it's not actually 16th notes but they are twice as fast, so 32th notes at 170bpm. It would be impossible to just play them as regular trills. Even if you'd change it to sixtuplets it would be on the brink of playability. If you look closely, it's a tapped note with the right hand middle finger and after that it's a pull off with the left hand middle finger, as if they take turns. It's not just the middle finger tapping all the notes, like you often see in other bands doing super fast trills. But this where Defeated Sanity show they still got it, it's still faster than all those other bands. I did have an alternative fingering for just the left hand, but I didn't really bother with it since I personally seldomly play trills, and I never really liked them either. But it would be ring finger pull off, then middle finger pull off. That one also works for that tempo, but would take some time getting used. The synchronisation is pretty hard, because each finger somewhat blocks the other one. Also at first I did play the left hand pull-offs with my ring finger, because the overall song is pretty hard on the middle finger. When I reached the tapping part, I already felt too much tension in it. That's why I play all the pinch harmonics in the song with the ring finger instead of middle finger, to save some stamina for the tapping part, so I can actually play it with the middle finger.

[@hideousinfirmity]

@@KevinHeiderich yep....this is inhumanly fast. And to be honest I had a very hard time to track this right. I wish I would have made the tempo for this a bit less so I could have made it more clear sounding. In this case it sounds waaaaaaaaaay sicker a little slower, cus the insane speed drowns - as this conversation proves. In a new song I fixed the problem, way slower tempo, way more clear 32nd note insanity. Love it. Indeed THE fastest thing u can ever do...although it's a "cheap trick" I guess. And yeah haha I hate the one finger always blocking the other....of course u play that shit better than I ever could btw...

[@KevinHeiderich]

@@hideousinfirmity I actually wondered how much difficulty you had with tracking some parts because I definitely had some issues with me being on point to the record. In the intro riff I was sure I play strict 16th notes but something always felt off. When I listened back closely to the record I noticed that there's a certain micro rushing and dragging around the sweeps (the return sweep was always faster for example). But both guitar tracks on the record seem to be so conistent that it's still super tight. Don't know if I could've recorded it this tight in the studio, so kudos man! To the trills. This is how I would've altered them: just play sixtuplets. The impression will still be the same, super fast trills, but it will be more playable. Sixtuplets at 170bpm is still super fast, even Archspire are not going faster hahaha.

[@DreamPurpleFloyd]

@@KevinHeiderich Thank you for your answer. I actualy slowed down the video and I thought you might be doing two-handed tapped trills, but I wasn't sure. It's hard to tell just from listening. And you are totaly right, it wouldn't be doable with one hand. I was only asking because I assumed you were doing 16th notes trills, but you were doing 32 notes. And to be frank even 16th note trills are not easy to get clean and consistant at higher tempos (especially on lower strings). Even with good technique, your hands can only do so much before getting tired.

[@4BFF9]

thanks for the text in the description! a great reminder, but it also leaves my clackbait-overloaded brain with the (probably stupid) question: what exactly do you consider to be the fundamentals?

[@KevinHeiderich]

Hehe I knew the term "fundamentals" would bring up questions. I know, we don't have a definition of guitar fundamentals, but the point is, that it's so basic, that you don't have to think about it. What I mean, for example is just basic right hand technique. I mean really basic. How to do some down-picking, some rhythm alternate picking, that's it. And then stick to that. No going into details, no overthinking it, just stick to it. Do it, stick to it, commit. I know I sound a bit vague here but that's the point. Get comfortable with your technique. Along the way you'll gain more control over it. You just have to spend time with it. I know that technically you have to know how to pick first. So for this I assume either someone showed you, or that you're just trying to copy the technique of your favourite guitar player, probably from a video like this one. But that's also just it. That's all I did, look at videos of guitar players that have a camera angle like this and then I tried to stick to one and copy it. It's not about perfection, it's about doing something. I'm going to make this statement now, and maybe I'll make a pinned comment too. It's actually an observation. So it actually doesn't matter if you have bad or good technique. I mean who decides that anyway? If all the people would just stick to their technique and practice, they would be able to get so good that they can play most of the more advanced guitar stuff. (Like Necrophagists Epitaph and above). Look at all the different techniques of great guitar players, and how they all differ. And here's the point I want to make: people don't even reach the potential of their "bad" technqiue. They quit before that. Here's my observation: I've had people ask me about right hand technique and they showed me theirs, or different hand postures they tried out. Here's the kicker: all the techniques I've seen were alright, nothing fundamentally wrong and they would've progressed a lot if they'd just sit down and practice and played. But they didn't.

[@4BFF9]

@@KevinHeiderich thanks a lot for answering! reading the description and this answer really made me rethink a few things and it also had a pretty motivating effect on me :) especially the last paragraph of your answer seems very valuable to me

[@palkabanych]

@@KevinHeiderich so in a nutshell you mean being able to play with maximum comfort ant being able to hit the right strings and frets with low effort, so it’d become a basis for future improvement. Totally agree with that, cuz I personally think that confidence in your physical abilities can motivate you even more than sticking to material you’re playing. Like it’s better to be confident while playing easier things at first and moving forward knowing that you can do a lot better without thinking about details like hand positions, fingerings etc than sloppily tryharding difficult parts and kicking the shit out of metronome beat by beat. As a self taught guitarist I can also add that rushing to learn shreddy stuff when you held guitar in your hands less than 1-2 years of not quite stable practice is the worst thing that could happen, because people often forget about learning to stick to the tempo and keeping the rythm. Also not paying attention to your left hand position can provide traumas as it happened to me haha, because my already fractured left hand joint got even worse and now it seems like I’m having a bit more serious trouble, probably carpal tunnel syndrome. I hope you pay a lot of attention to it with your students :)

[@KevinHeiderich]

@@palkabanych I'm sorry but that's not what I meant with "being comfortable with your technique". And I actually have the opposite opinion to what you're saying in the first line. Let me explain what I mean with being comfortable first. So I've seen a lot of people still wanting to change their basic technique, so hand posture, your basic picking mechanics, stuff like that, all the time, even years after playing. They always have the suspicion that it's their technique, not a general lack of progress, that keeps them back. I haven't changed my basic technique once. You can actually see it if you compare my earliest and latest youtube videos. Neither my right hand nor left hand technique look exactly the same but they still come from the same basic technique. I always stuck to that and made minor changes, some consciously, some not. For example, I started curling up my right hand more to a fist over the years. Before that I always anchored my pinky to the high E string for less noise. But that was actually not a conscious decision, not directly. At some point I noticed that certain movements, certain posture just feels more natural, and that's how I started curling my hand to fist, because I let my body tell me what's right. The curled fist has less tension in the top of my hand and that makes me more comfortable while playing difficult stuff. But it still originates from my original technique. And that's what I mean being comfortable with your technique. But comfort can have a different meaning as well. If you always doubt your technique or the effectiveness of it then you'll never be comfortable with it, just mentally, and that's where it all starts, in your head. For me comfort is still mostly about having a technique that doesn't feel alien to me and has a sort of naturalness. And how do you also gain comfort? By just playing a lot with the same technique, without changing it. A short disclaimer: technique doesn't mean a specific technique like sweeping, alternate picking and so on here, but refers to your basic posture and playing mechanics. Another example of a technique that doesn't feel comfortable for me but still shows how and that you can gain comfort: After 13 years of playing I started to finally look at different right hand postures for fast alternate picking runs. Because my regular picking technique actually didn't feel comfortable at over 220-230bpm 16th notes for lead runs. I also couldn't really break the speed barrier without being super warmed up or playing regularly. Then I adopted that more forearm prounced picking that I use for those runs now. But it just felt alien to me. I immediately get tension in the forearm, I couldn't control the speed/note values, I only could do it for a very short amount of time before being fatigued. So definitely not comfortable. But I just started spending more time with it. I didn't practice anything specifically, no exercises, no songs. I just spend time with it. I got to know it more, got to know how my hands/body respond to it and how to better control it. And over time I got more comfortable with it. It still has a bit more tension in the forearm then my regular technique, but it's now managable, I now can control the speed and note values, and I rarely fatigue from it now. What you might not see, but discomfort with your personal technique is an additional difficulty. Playing/learning challenging music is difficult enough, so it's about removing as many difficulties as possible to be able to focus entirely on the playing. What I don't like about the words in your first line: maximum comfort sounds wrong and sends the wrong message. Can you even get maximum comfort? By wanting maximum comfort you're probably not going to get it, because it's a passive thing, that's just there. You can't force it directly. To all the people, in general, don't aim for extremes! Maximum is an extreme that's hardly attainable. The other thing: "low effort". No I definitely don't play with low effort. I play with a lot of it. And that's a big point for progressing. You will not progress if you play something effortlessly. Getting good requires a lot of effort. Playing challenging music is hard. But you'll only progress if you play challenging but managable music. Too many people play or actually "practice" stuff they can already play, because it's easy, it doesn't require much effort. I think sports and weightlifting are an interesting comparison here. Only people who are really comfortable in the discomfort of lifting weights will progress. Some people also call it "embracing the grind". And even if playing the guitar is not the same, at some point you do have to embrace the grind when you hit certain barriers. Also don't confuse effort with forcing something. You can put in a lot of effort without forcing something. They are not the same thing. Last thing: playing effortlessly produces a sterile tone!

[@SylverANGL]

@@KevinHeiderich 🙏

[@haloelite11215]

sick cover as always man. quick question, After recording your playthrough, do you just lower the volume for the song, or do you do some EQ'ing to make your guitar stand out a bit more?

[@KevinHeiderich]

It's both. So here's my workflow for cover songs: first is creating a guitar sound that somewhat fits or using one from my personal presets. When I play along with the song, the volume of the song is already lowered, so I can hear myself. It's usually around -10db, depending on how loud my preset is and how loud the song is. When I'm done I make some eq changes to my guitar sound if I need to, and then further tweak the volume. But it's still usually a 10db difference in the final version. I also have a limiter on my master, just to keep things from clipping and raising overall volume. That's it :)

[@nanuksdrums]

"Joa." Das hat mir den Rest gegeben :D :D

[@KevinHeiderich]

Muss ja der Kamera irgendwie sagen dass das ein Take war, den ich verwenden könnte, der aber eben nur "joa" war :D

[@SylverANGL]

God please write a book on guitar ! Even if it's in freaking German, I don't care I'll learn German

[@XtremeKillah101]

Holy shit

[@Alex-yq2uy]

Imposed carpal tunnel haha

[@abefroman_sausagemane]

Lmao seriously

[@nikhilt9671]

Yeeeeeesh

[@gustanoid]

is that stock inf bridge pickup on that ibanez?

[@KevinHeiderich]

Yes, everything on that guitar is stock :)

[@lenol0315]

Godly

[@abdulghofur7144]

Keren bang Serrana full cover please

[@EmanueleFerro]

Chops from Hell!!!!!!

[@robflores5172]

I wish I could figure out how to hold the pick the way you do and pick exclusively from the wrist.

[@KevinHeiderich]

There's nothing special about how I hold my pick. I think I never even changed how I hold it since I started playing. Please don't get me wrong, but those two questions are exactly the reason for my rant in the description. You're overthinking things. It's exactly the "oh he has something I don't have, and that's why he is better" kind of thinking, which is just making excuses, and that is holding you back. Just play and spend time with your instrument! An example why the way you frame the question already leads to issues: "pick exclusively from the wrist". I don't pick exclusively from the wrist. It's not a rule. For the majority, yes, I play like that. But I don't mind using my arm when it's more applicable. The way I currently play fast alternate picking runs is not my regular wrist picking technique either. String changes in general are also a combination of arm and wrist. So by just asking the question like that you already set yourself up for failure.

[@robflores5172]

@@KevinHeiderich I love you bro! I really appreciate your approach and wisdom towards the idea. I truly do overthink a lot in my life. I’m grateful for you taking the time to respond and for all the times you’ve done that. It truly means a lot! I hope you know that!

[@palkabanych]

Kevin, what exactly do you mean by fundamentals?

[@4BFF9]

just in case your question get's overlooked: i asked him the same and kevin replied, you might check his answer there :)

[@palkabanych]

@@4BFF9 aw, thank you so much, I missed it somehow

[@DreamPurpleFloyd]

"höhö"

[@KevinHeiderich]

höhö

[@pradiptogitokusumo616]

Oh boy