Nile Guitar Lesson

In this Guitar World exclusive, Nile's Karl Sanders and Dallas Toler-Wade teach you how to play "Black Seeds of Vengeance."
This lesson continues only at guitarworld.com

[@imthemetalguy1]

I love Karl. I met him at Namm twice. Got to talk to his wife and how he keeps telling people he doesn't have a degree in egyptian history and folklore. Really down to earth

[@billymonroe1884]

I used to play in a band with Dallas from 1990 to 1993 when he was 16. We lived in North Carolina. I knew from the time I met him he was going somewhere. He's the most talented musician I've ever known personally. A really great guy and still a true friend.

[@petepetrich7828]

Billy monroe Y’all lived right down the road from me. I’m from Chatham county and also lived in Sanford. I always remember Fayetteville because I got lost every time. Still do! Dallas is a huge inspiration to me and is indeed an amazing person. A true ambassador of metal!

[@HabAnagarek]

Fayetteville inspired his new band lol

[@lordfatcock]

@@HabAnagarek yep. Good ol narcotics. Everybody loves them some pain pills and meth

[@Metalmanic6896]

"If it sounds like Slayer, it must be cool" Words to live by, my friends.

[@eyesrightout]

Got to be.

[@andresperiodista]

6:17 important part

[@raakareiska9804]

But then Slayer stopped sounding like Slayer and it became shit

[@Zullia]

"The point... is much more... pointy..." Spoken by a true Death Metal god.

[@myquest666420]

Wonder what he’d have to say about his pointy guitar

[@avsky837]

this video is so unintentionally hilarious

[@brunosouza2303]

I love when this happen

[@metalmopar7]

I thought i was the only one! Dude this video is gold!

[@WEAREALLJUSTMEAT]

I'm pretty sure Karl is on the spectrum he's just so fuckin awkward in every video

[@joesandoval3741]

“With more balls!”

[@big_hat_logan]

@@WEAREALLJUSTMEAT He also has the classic encyclopedic knowledge of an obscure subject that he’s absolutely, completely obsessed with. Definitely a “special interest” like ppl on the spectrum who get so much enjoyment out of obsessing over an obscure subject. I’ve talked to him a few times at old shows in Atlanta. Nicest guy ever but can tell he doesn’t like the attention

[@Bortsch_]

0:18 DTW: So what's up, this is Dallas from Nile. Karl: ... DTW: *Looks at Karl* Karl: ... DTW: ... Karl: (huh?) Karl: ...and this is Karl.

[@bluntforcetrauma2141]

You two were such a force to be reckoned with. I was saddened to hear that Dallas and Karl split. And im not at all taking anything away from Vile Nilotic Rites or Narcotic Wasteland, as those are great to listen to as well. I just miss your harmonies on the axe and miss Dallas' vocal addition to Nile.

[@hazardeur]

A fender practice amp....for nile....you gotta be kidding me guitar world. respect to the nile guys for doing it anyway and not walking straight out of the room

[@petepetrich7828]

That’s how I look at it. Staying true and getting that shit done no matter what.

[@lukeforrest9878]

Nile are killer, went to my first museum the other day and checked out the ancient egypt section, the whole time i was thinking the exhibit needed a bit of Nile in the background..

[@jawz3102]

A little Amongst the catacombs for you sir?

[@Quarkwano]

Karl Sanders officially uses the Jedi Power: force push At 7:38 here.

[@NecroComet]

You're God, i will never look at Sanders, as a normal human now xD

[@judasiscariot383]

He has a black belt...

[@Quarkwano]

But the force is a little stronger i guess

[@MrJeezus]

Egyptian-centric South Carolina death metal good ol' boy Jedi.

[@SharkDawg32]

Hahaha!

[@humphreyaugustus2932]

Nile should make a Papyrus Scroll tab book!

[@juvedoo99]

That would be fucking awesome.

[@cthulhu6697]

That would be appropriate.

[@SacredSerpent]

Awesome idea

[@ericc6718]

lol

[@kimasailo6629]

😂😂😂

[@GarotMichaelConklin]

that was hands down the best Death metal tutorial I have ever seen... covered everything, very intelligently from top to bottom... kind of blown away. Thank you.

[@viki2133]

4:24 "Hm, that ain't so hard" 4:32 "HOLY FUCK"

[@dan-3268]

-"son, can you play some guitar for the guests?" - "sure dad". 3:36

[@hexxsmith]

i love how these guys harmonize

[@gabeszh.2496]

From that harmony at 7:30 I always get goosebumps even after million listening :)

[@Leukoblast2396]

Yep. The point is much more... pointy.

[@SeedOilFitnessOfficial]

Best part

[@L0cK0n7412637]

"The point is much more... pointy!" Hahahaha love it. You guys rock

[@metalboto]

i can feel the love ,coming of of these guys......the love to play metal!!!

[@DorinBusu]

True that!

[@KnightOfTheGoods]

7:31 is such a good musical technique

[@borna1231]

"... the point is also much more... pointy" Thank you, oh great sage, for showering your disciples with such luminous knowledge! It´s great to see that these guys are down to earth and, well, normal, when they had every opportunity to turn into arrogant pricks.

[@benmiddleton9984]

Love Nile. Annihilation of the wicked is my favorite album

[@jsullivan2112]

5:30 those harmonies just sound so goddamn vicious.

[@saskwotch19764]

I love what these guys wrote together. Both incredible musicians.

[@zacintoshplus]

hanging an sm57 over a practice amp is how Nile actually records their albums.

[@thetyrant1]

Except it sounds nothing like this; even their first two albums (which were of decently low fidelity) sounded a lot better than this. This just sounds like fucking mud.

[@rickhartman6277]

Dude! The sm57 is a nice little tool. Great for recording or live stuff too. Used it at practice alot. Can't say enough good stuff about this mic.

[@Haxprocess]

@@rickhartman6277 the sm57 is what kills a lot of people's tones. Think about it. Yes the mic gets the job done, but everyone uses it. So your tone is going to sound somewhat similar to everyone else's. Experimenting with different mics/ mic combos really takes your tone to the next level.

[@JordonBeal]

@@Haxprocess Lol utter nonsense.

[@blackmetalgolfer6007]

Say what you want to say about these guys but at 3:55 when Karl comes in with the octave harmony it just takes you straight to Cairo haha

[@loopedchopped]

Karl voice is so high when he’s talking, yet he can sing lower than I can...

[@GeorgWilde]

yeah, these combos have really terrible distortion.

[@herculesbrofister265]

Static x used mg's professionally. Col. Sanders just doesn't know how to dial it in.

[@Mr.JaysBigAdventure]

Hercules Brofister Guitar World Techs probably set it up. Sanders just plugged in most likely.

[@SApcGUY]

Nile is easily one of the best, if not, the best death metal band out there. Certainly not as generic as most these days.

[@judasiscariot383]

6:40 Karl demonstrates sorcery he learned from Osiris.

[@jjs8426]

I mean it's meh

[@joehowell979]

The way these guys harmonize some of there stuff and the riffs they come up with are so cool

[@PatrickHalferty]

These dudes are hilarious while explaining things

[@Hammersmashed68]

Dallas: "what notes should we play in these songs?" Karl: "yes"

[@ArcticChonk]

Cardioid microphones needs to be pointed TOWARDS the sound source...ffs...omg...srsly....lel.

[@Marol2137]

I guess they just didn't have stands for them

[@lancepage1914]

I guess they just didn't give a shit. They're fucking death metal band.

[@ArcticChonk]

@@lancepage1914 You are correct sir.

[@cannibalcorpse6664]

Watch this every few months, love this miss you dallas

[@jaybrown8592]

Karl is so wasted. But he still kills. I love Nile 🔼

[@SiGhast]

7:42 Couldn't in a million years have explained that, but I noticed it, thought it was awesome, and spent a minute rewinding to hear it again and again, so it sure did the trick.

[@addisonlewis723]

The amps tones are horrible.

[@XHellPriest]

I think they use those amps for this video only

[@JulianoCyborgDaemon]

Agreed!

[@manicmurph]

Yeah I agree, there's like no clarity at all. sounds like way to much reverb or something.

[@addisonlewis723]

downfan1 I love your Superjoint Ritual profile picture. One of my favourite bands.

[@manicmurph]

Addison Lewis Thanks! Yeah there my favorite too! I'm not to happy with there new song though. I don't think it sounds like the other Superjoint stuff.

[@Ozzie9877]

What's with all the negative comments, this is fucking awesome!

[@DrakosLord]

So Amon Amarth, Children of Bodom, As I Lay Dying and even fucking BvB got a decent, even good tone... but you give these guys a Frontman and a fucking MG. There is no respect in this world. PS: Yes, I know it is a 2010 video. The ones I mentioned were around the same time. A fucking Marshall MG, for fuck's sake.

[@thelordofdarkcheese]

+DrakosLord not to mention just hung a 57 over it

[@DrakosLord]

Joel Turley Exactly! If the mic wasn't enough, they really kill it by hanging it.

[@Realitydenizen]

+DrakosLord I thought the tone was surprisingly good considering.

[@swedisheinherjer]

+DrakosLord Even though they got shitty amps from GW, they still sound better than my own amp... :pI think if you can handle a guitar in the skill as Nile do, you can shred the shit out of anyone other guitarist who uses the same type of rig as you ;)

[@imnotverysmart2862]

bvbs riffs still suck

[@Outward777]

the point makes it more pointy

[@ThorRising]

The amazing thing about Nile is how well the music conveys emotion. In their songs you can hear the despair of the slaves and the anger of the gods. That is what I love to hear in my music.

[@ericc6718]

2 guitar gods. wrote some of the most amazing riffs i've ever heard

[@9klasK]

"its fun to do, it sounds evil. its very slayer-like. if it sounds like slayer it must be cool" - karl sanders epic

[@jobzagudn]

As much as my music taste has developed and grown as I've become a man ive never ever gotten sick of listening to Nile

[@conflicttv1153]

Shit amps, amazing guitar players. Guitar World are making them sound terrible.

[@Outward777]

it's guitar world what do you expect...those are probably the only amps they have for musicians to play on

[@conflicttv1153]

Justin McNeil Lol.

[@NightPaddle]

Sounds like trve Norvegian Black Metal :D

[@Penguin772]

I see a Marshall MG - probably the worst amp in existence.

[@NightPaddle]

A MG and a Fender Frontman. The only kind of music recordable on these is black metal. (Burzum used a MG for filosophem).

[@BenHBX]

playing one note along with another to give it a different sound is called counter-point, and Nile are one of the few bands I know of that make significant use of it. (btw, it's not just a jazz thing, Bach is known as the king of counter-point)

[@Ukidukins]

I want to play dnd with these dudes

[@bretward6187]

I know this was recorded an ancient time ago.....but wow thanks for posting !!

[@Brendanlikesthis]

I'm not really into these guys yet; my tastes haven't extended this heavy yet, but I love the way the guy on the left explains the workings behind the noise. For example: during his solo he explains how the one note "takes on different meanings" depending on what chord it's played against. Like, this should be a simple concept for a lot of musicians, but I hear plenty of bands who discard all these simple concepts which, I think, is bad musicianship. I respect these guys.

[@nicholase985]

Their albums come with liner notes, going along with the lyrics can be a history listen. Eventually it grows on you, one of the heaviest bands I've ever heard. User Maat Re

[@saltpeter7429]

@@nicholase985 I just started listening to them. Ordered a couple of discs on sale on the Relapse Records site. Look forward to getting them, I'm old school, like to own the physical CD or album.

[@bluntforcetrauma2141]

I love the fact that Karl shows his pride of what he rights, as he should because it kicks so much teeth down our throats

[@bluntforcetrauma2141]

*writes

[@Jack0D87]

quote of the day: "the point is much more pointy!" NILE FUCKING RULES

[@baggymangler]

This is off topic but anyway. I've recently got obsessed with Nile n then Sir Dallas leaves right a way. He was the main lyricist n riff creator on the "newer stuff". I'm a big fan of history. Can someone recomend some documentarys of egyptology in the spirit of Nile?

[@1997Piro]

''If it sounds like Slayer it must be cool lml''

[@bakedbean1232]

Nice tone bro. Good to see Guitar World went all out with the amp choices :P

[@RealPartZ]

"If it's sounds like Slayer, it must be cool" Hell yeah, that's right!

[@adgennings]

All bullshit aside they are great guitarists in my personal opinion.

[@6672rock]

They use drop A tuning on a standard scale-length guitar? Seems like it would be easier to use a baritone guitar for that tuning since getting proper intonation would be easier. You'd have to do too many adjustments on a standard guitar to handle a tuning that low. I'll give them credit where credit is due, because you need some serious picking-hand stamina to play their riffs!

[@LightningJackFlash]

Is standard scale length a 25,5'' ? I think these guitars are even less, the Gibson scale 24,75 " ;) Yeah, also I never looked at their stuff from the "musical" perspective, other than the egyptian runs and chord progressions, but this is nice, they showed some interesting things.

[@miaouew]

Such an insightful deduction.

[@jeffarab4947]

I play drop A and standard neck scale no issues just need the energy to play this style on my Jackson

[@Opethianaut]

SAw them in January. These guys are IMMENSE live! Can't wait to see them again and the new album is INSANE!

[@ijOkErStAr]

if it sounds like slayer, it must be cool! \m/

[@chongli8409]

yeah I've been listening to Nile lately and the one thing I was constantly having in mind is that this shit sounds a lot like Slayer, like, Slayer's younger even angrier brother

[@vicehenriquez]

WHAT A NERD AOJJAOAJOJA

[@lakshanelikewela350]

awww karl sounds cute when he talks normally

[@smjjohnson]

THESE GUYS ARE RIFF MASTERS, AND THEY'RE COOL TOO..

[@tobiasjones1721]

It's cool that they keep playing their harmonies in unison without counting off.

[@DreamPurpleFloyd]

7:29 That's some truly evil shit right here

[@petesorensenguitar]

"What's up....this is Dallas from Nile." Karl: ... OH YEAH IT'S KARL.

[@sleepingturtle8888]

Thank god Karl is endorsing ENGL Amps!

[@vlogi1132]

one of the best duos in the HISTORY of ''heavy'' music

[@golz9785]

I remember when Karl played a yellow Strat with a Floyd Rose

[@AngelHernandez-lb9cm]

Nile one of my favorite bands. Thankyou nile one day i will learn to play like y'all

[@Thatmetaldude590]

"There are some bendy things going on" Hahahaha, these guys are so cool

[@Dread_Naught_But_The_Dark]

(part 1) It all depends on what MODEL of guitar amp you buy, not just the BRAND. As well as the style of your playing. Most people prefer mesa boogie triple rectifiers, but I find them to be somewhat muddy, so faster, technical stuff won't always translate well on one. Engl makes all-round good amps, with plenty of tone options, but frankly cost way too much. A good peavey 5150/6505 is well within budget however. But otherwise I would recommend a Line 6 DT50, a very surprising amp I might say.

[@MrBRUCELEE98]

This is the reason I am a dabbler and not a badass....I dabble, but these dudes are on another fuckin' level and it shows in the ears of the listener....people really don't see how intricate and amazing metal music is!!! \m/ \m/

[@Conscious-7-7-7]

@kvetonp yes, all of karl's electric guitars are scalloped

[@Malice197]

If you ever see an eighth grader with this precision and speed, get his autograph and save it for when he becomes a legend.

[@cheyenneball2988]

These guys are talented, and everyone says Death Metal is just a bunch of noise and screaming, there is a lot more to it than that, these guys have been playing for years to get where there at now.

[@salottin]

And no... The lesson does NOT continue

[@KnjazNazrath]

Does that count as false advertising, then?

[@salottin]

YES! It USED to continue

[@maxeypad]

"The point is much more.....pointy" words of wisdom Karl..words of wisdom!

[@Kwert]

Not the biggest fan of Nile but how can you expect them to actually sound decent here with the amps they were given?

[@ZaktanVR]

Kwert It’s not the amps, it’s the mics.

[@Razwithz]

@Lopproj it's a dunlop sharp, and the purple one is a dunlop big stubby

[@lolian91]

Exactly, mate. I have seen them live - it was fucking amazing. One of the best bands I've seen live next to necrophagist and some others. :)

[@martyfischetti]

i play guitar cello bass upright bass piano drums and sing im 100% happy with the musician i am and how though ive only been playing guitar for 5 years that im better than most who have played their whole life. you dont even have a video up! id love to see your guitar abilities, please. and northern arizona... im going to either berkley or 5 towns :) so thank you sir, for arguing with a 17 year old and having no balls to back up your musicianship, and i dont need to better myself im just fine :]

[@Jorgetime]

"feels and plays like drop d with [quietlly] more bawls."

[@PoetryEmotion94]

it takes some time to get use to them. also try different gauges not just the wants they use. i've tried every one of the Tortex Sharps from white to yellow. the yellow ones are my favorites. .73mm

[@TheSaintberzerker]

These guys aren't bad at all...it's the setup in this vid. WTH was Guitar World thinking? I mean, look at the mics! Ha!

[@Retog]

These professional guitar lessons are not guitar lessons. They are demonstrations.

[@MrThrashmetal13]

guys, Nile are simply bad-fucking-ass.great talent from great playing to Dallas and Karl, guitar world just fucked them over

[@nathanielboren6246]

thanks for this I've been trying to figure out what kinda strings I should use

[@havokslayz]

5:04 hold on let me think about that 4 a second (exactly 1 second later) ok im in the right position LMAO

[@skibidijustinhorvaltoilet]

Well yeah, he thought about it for a second

[@cgoodiefunk]

I loved when he said “makes the point….more pointy”

A hanging a SM57 ? WTF Guitar World.

[@KalosPVP]

A guitar magazine that has these dudes use amps I wouldn't want to own at age 14.

[@RolodexEnigma]

"Here's the verse riff regular speed...." *CT4YNTN58TCN8TN5HT3 VY T53NTVGTHCGN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!*

[@CalebSmith576]

"Yo wassup, it's Dallas from Nile," *looking at guitar zoning out* ".........This is Karl!"

[@hanskarl2803]

"if it sounds like slayer, it must bee cool"

[@peppefrasca5179]

fokin sloyor

[@Samealtorn]

Barely know that much about nile, haven't much of their material but after watching this I have to say these guys are pretty awesome, both from a playing stand point and they seem like regular guys. Also pretty sure I have that amp

[@frost420ptbo]

hank iii ftw, nice shirt!

[@PoetryEmotion94]

i had the same problem too, it gets caught on the wound strings because of the sharp point. but once i kept playing it i felt my picking hand changed its picking style abit naturally. so just keep playing them and soon you'll get around it. or you could try the thicker ones. also check out 'Fearedse' recent videos. he uses the sharp yellow ones.

[@Deuterium52]

these guys seem very friendly lol

[@echogenetic2263]

I've met Karl, nicest guy in the world

[@hazardeur]

@@echogenetic2263 met him too, awesome dude.

[@Kentirir]

Their music is so awesome and well made, and they know it! Just look at their face

[@levmartynenko5199]

Misheard like "dark sins of virgins"

[@wolfey41]

I think it's great whan a father and son find a hobby that they can enjoy together...