# Flight of The Bumblebee at... 600bpm.



## Alberto7 (May 8, 2011)

...

PS: The guy has a couple other videos where he's supposedly done it at 400, and, later, 420 bpm.


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## SevenStringSam (May 8, 2011)

did he purposely make his tone sound dead and shitty to hide all the mistakes?


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## Mindcrime1204 (May 8, 2011)

I put down my xbox controller, spilled my water monster, and wet my socks, just to sign in and say...



WTF IS THIS SHIT?


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## Encephalon5 (May 8, 2011)

Water Monster?


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## Guitarman700 (May 8, 2011)

David shankle?


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## Alberto7 (May 8, 2011)

^ You have no idea how much I wish I had an answer for those questions.


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## Stealthdjentstic (May 8, 2011)

The fuck? Who uses old school chainsaw tone for shred!


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## Customisbetter (May 8, 2011)

so shitty not music

/haterade


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## metal_sam14 (May 8, 2011)

Anyone else want to punch the cock bag shouting in the background? 

And I agree with the general opinion: WHAT THE FUCK IS WITH THAT GUITAR TONE!


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## Antimatter (May 8, 2011)

Stealthtastic said:


> The fuck? Who uses old school chainsaw tone for shred!



It was for realism, he wanted it to sound as close to a swarm of angry bees as possible


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## ShiftKey (May 8, 2011)

yeah, the tone is pretty bad, at that speed its not gonna sound pretty but still, tis soo awwful.
lol at the 'eavy guy in the vid shouting YYYEEEAAHHHH!!
would be so funny if someone would edited in 'fokin ell!' from father ted


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## Curt (May 8, 2011)

sounds terrible, but JEEBUS that is one fast picking hand...

who really gives a fuck about speed when there's no feel?


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## xmetalhead69 (May 8, 2011)

When you can no longer tell that individual notes are being played there stops being a purpose


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## Darknut (May 8, 2011)

i want to know how he developed the muscles in his hand to even sustain such a high speed.


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## xmetalhead69 (May 8, 2011)

Darknut said:


> i want to know how he developed the muscles in his hand to even sustain such a high speed.


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## Guitarman700 (May 8, 2011)

xmetalhead69 said:


>



It's a legitimate exercise routine, I say.


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## Darknut (May 8, 2011)

xmetalhead69 said:


>


lol. and let me guess he gets individual finger strength from fingering hoes


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## MatthewK (May 8, 2011)

Was he also setting the record for worst tone ever? Because he fucking nailed it.


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## Curt (May 8, 2011)

I got me some fappin' I mean.... err... shreddin' to do.


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## Aerospace274 (May 8, 2011)

Haha, you can tell who's jealous by who's hating the most.

Regardless of his choice of tone, that is fucking ridiculous. I can't even dream of playing that fast!


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## Guitarman700 (May 8, 2011)

Aerospace274 said:


> Haha, you can tell who's jealous by who's hating the most.
> 
> Regardless of his choice of tone, that is fucking ridiculous. I can't even dream of playing that fast!



Jealous? Of that? Hell no. That's just ridiculous, and not in the good way. It's sports, not music.


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## chasedowbr00t4l (May 8, 2011)

YEAYEA SICK TRILLS!!1!


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## Curt (May 8, 2011)

Aerospace274 said:


> Haha, you can tell who's jealous by who's hating the most.
> 
> Regardless of his choice of tone, that is fucking ridiculous. I can't even dream of playing that fast!



I'm jealous of that picking hand, not much else there, though.


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## Guitarman700 (May 8, 2011)

I am jealous of two men. Devin Townsend and Tosin Abasi.


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## Aerospace274 (May 8, 2011)

Oh, I know. I consider most shredding to be nonmusical. Sweep picking too for the most part. Squeedly meedly doo. 
But that's pretty insane shit right there!


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## CFB (May 8, 2011)

So I guess we won't need a Delorean for time travel anymore..


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## scherzo1928 (May 8, 2011)




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## groph (May 8, 2011)




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## etcetera (May 8, 2011)

I'd like to hear a record attempt of this nature with a purely clean tone, it seems weird to use such a distorted tone for that purpose.


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## beneharris (May 9, 2011)

all of the criticism aside, am i the only one that thinks its impressive that he can do that?


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## sahaal (May 9, 2011)

but can it djent?


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## Nick1 (May 9, 2011)

etcetera said:


> I'd like to hear a record attempt of this nature with a purely clean tone, it seems weird to use such a distorted tone for that purpose.



I agree. 

No Gain. No Pedals. No Effects. Just a guitar plugged straight into a totally clean amp.


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## Meatbucket (May 9, 2011)

He spent all of his time trying to learn to play it that fast that he didn't spend any time learning to get a decent tone.


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## Dead Undead (May 9, 2011)




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## -42- (May 9, 2011)

Yes. But when did he last get laid?


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## ivancic1al (May 9, 2011)

I spy a crate amp methinks. 

Shit tone and pointlessness aside, an impressive party trick at the very least...


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## Darknut (May 9, 2011)

Meatbucket said:


> He spent all of his time trying to learn to play it that fast that he didn't spend any time learning to get a decent tone.



Yeah. His mission when he started playing was like 'man, fuck chords. In _my_ first 6 months of playing, im going to squeeze a tennis ball 40 times every two hours with my left hand, lift 40 lb forearm weights in 3 sets of 30 with my right, and watch rusty cooley and michael angelo batio dvds while i read my necrophagist tab book in between exerpts.'


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## beneharris (May 9, 2011)

Dead Undead said:


>




i forgot how awesomely funny that movie is


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## TXDeathMetal (May 9, 2011)

beneharris said:


> all of the criticism aside, am i the only one that thinks its impressive that he can do that?



It is pretty impressive that he can play that fast but his tone is less than desirable but the faster he got the less listenable he became because you couldn't really make out any notes, melodies or harmonies... all the things we listen to music for.


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## neozeke (May 9, 2011)

Darknut said:


> lol. and let me guess he gets individual finger strength from fingering hoes



You really think this guy has time for something so silly as wimmins?

Srsly though, every 12 year old shat their collective pants when they saw this.


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## beneharris (May 9, 2011)

TXDeathMetal said:


> It is pretty impressive that he can play that fast but his tone is less than desirable but the faster he got the less listenable he became because you couldn't really make out any notes, melodies or harmonies... all the things we listen to music for.



oh i agree 100%, but just the fact that he can move his fingers that quickly, and his picking hand can go that quickly is pretty dang cool. it must have taken a lot of work. not to mention being able to stay on beat at 600bpm. he got off in a few spots it *sounded* like, but still.

obviously there is never ever going to be a practical application for playing flight at 600bpm, its just really cool that he has the ability to do that. Gotta give him props, for sure.

I would be interested in hearing him play in a normal band setting, though.


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## Maggai (May 9, 2011)

I think the guy that did the last world record of this played a lot cleaner than this guy, not as fast though.


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## xtrustisyoursx (May 9, 2011)

600 bpm = 10 beats per second = 160 16th notes per second.


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## wildchild (May 9, 2011)

magic_golem said:


> yeah, the tone is pretty bad, at that speed its not gonna sound pretty but still, tis soo awwful.
> lol at the 'eavy guy in the vid shouting YYYEEEAAHHHH!!
> would be so funny if someone would edited in 'fokin ell!' from father ted



yeah this guy blows baby chunks

brilliant reference "flocking hell" the beast oooh oooooh


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## Bakerman (May 9, 2011)

xtrustisyoursx said:


> 600 bpm = 10 beats per second = 160 16th notes per second.



It would be 40 notes/second. 4 16ths per beat. I checked out the other video of him playing this a while ago. Picking wasn't actually 16ths at higher tempos, maxed out around the speed of 16ths at 260 bpm. Having MIDI playback of the same part in the backing track sort of hides inaccuracies in the guitar playing.


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## hutchman (May 9, 2011)




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## DLG (May 9, 2011)

best tone


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## drmosh (May 9, 2011)

christ, that sounds terrible


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## Deviliumrei (May 9, 2011)

That's just freaking awesome. That guy has some "superhuman" skills. Im just amazed how any human can move their hands and fingers in coordination that fast.


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## ShadyDavey (May 9, 2011)

As mentioned - picking tops out at around 260 BPM and I've heard guys on this forum picking faster than that....not to mention with better tone and cleaner technique. Above that speed he's hiding behind that god-awful tone and the midi track.



> That's just freaking awesome. That guy has some "superhuman" skills. Im just amazed how any human can move their hands and fingers in coordination that fast.



They're not coordinated at all - totally out of sync. It's just another BS attempt to make an athletic event out of guitar playing which Guinness should simply quash to protect us from hearing any more of this dribble. If I want to listen to fast players who also make music I'll put on Shawn Lane, or Allan Holdsworth....

Yep, I'm aware this is a pure speed attempt rather than a valid musical statement but it fails on every level.


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## Maniacal (May 9, 2011)

He has obviously compressed the shit out of his tone so that notes that would normally not be heard, can be. 

I doubt he would be able to play this on a clean tone at any where near this speed. 

Fair play to the guy though, he can obviously play.


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## Chickenhawk (May 9, 2011)

I'm sure that guy is an amazing guitarist, but in that video, he's garbage.

He also didn't actually play FOTBB at 600bpm. He just played something very loosely based on FOTBB over a MIDI backing track of FOTBB at 600.


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## Maniacal (May 9, 2011)

Yeah, but nobody plays the proper version of FOTB. 

He can still pick ridiculously fast. Thats all I got from the video though.


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## Harry (May 9, 2011)

beneharris said:


> all of the criticism aside, am i the only one that thinks its impressive that he can do that?



Nope, not even remotely, for the reasons listed below



ShadyDavey said:


> As mentioned - picking tops out at around 260 BPM and I've heard guys on this forum picking faster than that....not to mention with better tone and cleaner technique. Above that speed he's hiding behind that god-awful tone and the midi track.
> 
> 
> 
> ...




Indeed, pure speed attempt or not, it's not even physically possible to coordinate both hands at that speed.
As it is, it isn't even that common to be able to play 16 notes per second cleanly (16th notes at 240bpm), let alone the speeds Shawn Lane was getting which was in the ballpark of 16ths at 270-280bpm.
Some people, like in sport, are simply blessed with superior genetics that allow them to go above and over the average joe.
No matter how much the average joe trains, they wont be an Olympic athlete as they don't have that 10 per cent genetic advantage.

Definitely the same thing for musicians. Some people literally just have superior fine motor skills (which of course, is also an advantage in many sports), which can be quite obviously be seen in the case of people like Shawn Lane who was able to coordinate both hands at insane speeds.
Now, I'm not saying there aren't other people like Shawn Lane, just at that pure level of genious and genetic superiority for fine motor skill, but I tend to think that is more or less the limit.
Maybe there are a few guys that can genuinely alternate pick faster than Lane cleanly and accurately, but I doubt by very much at all.

I think some people just need to let their ego go and realize they just aren't cut out for playing at Lane-esque super sonic speed.
Which isn't such a bad thing, because weaknesses can be turned into strengths.
Joe Satriani for example, I think he was well aware Lane could out-legato him, but he still went ahead and continued to make a lot of great music anyway


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## Alberto7 (May 9, 2011)

Chickenhawk said:


> I'm sure that guy is an amazing guitarist, but in that video, he's garbage.
> 
> He also didn't actually play FOTBB at 600bpm. He just played something very loosely based on FOTBB over a MIDI backing track of FOTBB at 600.



This,



Harry said:


> Nope, not even remotely, for the reasons listed below
> 
> 
> 
> ...



and this.

This guy is obviously an incredible guitarist. And he can play FAST. I couldn't even attempt to move my hands that fast (not that I want to, anyway). But hell, his tone sounds like it was done badly on purpose, he's using an extremely annoying backing track, and after 250 bpm, you can just hear the blatant mistakes in his playing (as much as he might be trying to hide behind that "tone" and the MIDI track). But, musical or not, this attempt just shouldn't have been done.

Also, I agree with other people here about the "YYYEEAAAAAHHH BR000TTZZZ" dude  I effing lol'd when I heard it 

EDIT: To whomever neg-repped me with this comment "NO HE IS NOT INCREDIBLE"... Seriously? Where did I say he was incredible? I said he was fast (He is. Anyone capable of playing cleanly at 170 bpm is, by default, fairly fast). I even said that he is very sloppy. I don't understand the point of your neg rep.

EDIT 2: Okay, now I see I did, in fact, say he was incredible. But taking things out of context is a very idiotic thing to do, and is your way to misinterpreting every piece of information you will ever get.


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## cwhitey2 (May 9, 2011)

i have never understood the point of trying to break the beat per min records...

they are pointless and they aren't music related in my opinion


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## failshredder (May 9, 2011)

Okay. So. Where to start.

I didn't even bother watching the fucking video, because every "world record" Flight of the Bumbledick video that I've seen has these things in common:

1. Sounds like shit.
2. Is sloppy as fuck, should be disqualified. 

What makes me  is the sheer number of people in this thread going "OMG HE IS TEH FAST AND IT MUST BE GENTIKS AND I COULD NEVER PLAY LIEK TAHT." No. It is not genetics. It is him just making a fucking sloppy fuckmess. You, too, could make a sloppy fuckmess if you practiced hard enough. But I think being a politician would be a better use of your time.

After having said that, I'm going to go back and watch the video now. 

Yup, I was right. Everyone who thinks this guy is a good guitarist should watch this:


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## Waelstrum (May 9, 2011)

To all the people that were saying that it's fast but not musical, I highly doubt that this was supposed to be musical. This is literally a sport at this moment, and I think everyone (especially the guy in the vid) recognises that. Does that mean that it is a less worthy thing to attempt? Maybe, if you look at it from the perspective that art is the ultimate goal. However, if you have the perspective of trying to go to further levels of achievement in physically demanding feats (foots?) of wonder then this sort of thing is fine. It's like a ballerina going to the track and field and saying to the sprinters that they aren't dancing with emotion.

On the actual attempt he made, I have not much to comment. I admit that I will on occasion whip out the old FOTB and put it at twice the speed at which I can can cleanly play it just for fun, then subsequently bumble my way through it. I doubt I could get anywhere near the speed he's attempting.


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## SirMyghin (May 9, 2011)

I will not comment on the playing but the tone, in order to get anything to come out at that speed you likely need 99% treble/presence, hence the shitty fizzy tone.


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## leandroab (May 9, 2011)

Sounds like ass... Pointless...

In a musical sense, of course.


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## guitareben (May 9, 2011)

So much dislike here! I mean, i'm actually amazed he can move his hands that fast. Sure, sloppy, very, but i can't even come close to that!


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## fps (May 9, 2011)

What extraordinary dedication, the guy must eat and drink FOTB. I might try and learn the original as a finger strength exercise anyone have a good tab? I play grunge, need to strengthen my fingers for more advanced stuff to come.


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## JoeyBTL (May 9, 2011)

xmetalhead69 said:


>



skip to 9:45. definitely doesn't hide his technique.


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## Fred the Shred (May 9, 2011)

This sounds clearer. This isn't exactly musical in the slightest, but since he's only aiming at speed, fair play to him - it's about him having fun with the instrument, so while it's crap in terms of conveying anything musically, it's just about the speed.


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## Randy (May 9, 2011)

Halfway to speed, it sounded indecipherable to the point that he probably wasn't actually playing the piece any longer anyway.


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## ghostred7 (May 9, 2011)

He should of been plugged into the Line 6 tube behind him instead of that crap....it sounds like a Crate, which is ass by default.

These speed "competitions" are junk to me. Yes, the guy obviously can play, but no guitarist should EVER sacrifice quality for speed....it's the same old quality > quantity argument applied to an instrument.

Chris Impelliteri is an amazing guitarist, but when the solo for Stand In Line hit, I was totally turned off by it (still love Chris as a guitarist, just was unnecessary). Props for speed, would love to hear what this guy can do on a real (read: non-Crate) amp and playing something clean & melodic at 80bpm to see how well he REALLY does.

EDIT: I'll have to see if i can find the vid...but have seen someone do 350ish on an ACOUSTIC with NO PICK before....was sick. Then again, this guy played Paco DeLucia stuff blindfolded, so not surprising.


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## josh pelican (May 9, 2011)

What an ugly fucking guitar.


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## ShadyDavey (May 9, 2011)

Randy said:


> Halfway to speed, it sounded indecipherable to the point that he probably wasn't actually playing the piece any longer anyway.





If it's indecipherable then it's neither music, or a record in my little book.

If it's put through some software, slowed down, analyzed and proved to be spot-on accurate I'll eat my hat(e) but I will also bet it's not


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## avenger (May 9, 2011)

From the point of wtf? That was pretty awesome.


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## troyguitar (May 9, 2011)

Before even watching the video: "omg dude played too fast for my brain to comprehend the notes, therefore I declare that he played it all wrong and sloppy"

If you can't understand the shit, then how the fuck do you know it's wrong?

The guy put a ton of effort into getting too fast for you, spend 3 minutes to slow it down and actually show that he failed if you're that intent on bashing the guy.


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## Wingchunwarrior (May 9, 2011)

me mess up post


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## Wingchunwarrior (May 9, 2011)

Flight of the Bumblebee on 101 Bottles - CollegeHumor Video

I still think this is the best version


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## cataclysm_child (May 9, 2011)

etcetera said:


> I'd like to hear a record attempt of this nature with a purely clean tone, it seems weird to use such a distorted tone for that purpose.



I would like to hear it without that midi-thing playing the same thing which make it sound like he is playing even if it's just some noise...


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## aphelion (May 9, 2011)

This video did a number of things for me, some of them paradoxical:
1) I wish I could play as fast as this guy, it must have taken so much dedication and he must love playing.
2) I realised that, for me, there is a limit to how fast I actually want to play the guitar before it just sounds rediculous and unrecognisable, though this does not take away from point 1.


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## ShadyDavey (May 9, 2011)

cataclysm_child said:


> I would like to hear it without that midi-thing playing the same thing which make it sound like he is playing even if it's just some noise...





Ran the audio track through some software (Amazing Slow Downer as used by Guthrie Govan amongst others) and even then combined with the amp tone it's practically impossible to get an idea of what he's actually playing beyond 280 bpm.

Sure, 280 is darn quick as well as sounding reasonably precise but I honestly couldn't vouch for any degree of accuracy beyond that.


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## LamaSabachthani (May 9, 2011)

HAHAHA just fast forwarded to 7:00, oh my god!


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## GeoMantic (May 9, 2011)

I stopped taking this seriously as soon as I heard, "Dean Guitars."

No, seriously. I stopped when I heard the tone and after it actually started to turn into fuzz.


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## 5656130 (May 10, 2011)

I don't understand why everyones complaining about the midi track, you can obviously decipher his buzzsaw tone from the midi track.


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## GeoMantic (May 10, 2011)

5656130 said:


> I don't understand why everyones complaining about the midi track, you can obviously decipher his buzzsaw tone from the midi track.


 
But due to the nature of his tone, or technique, you can't hear any real separation of notes. It's mostly fizz.

I'm not saying it would be any better with a nicer tone, but it certainly couldn't hurt.


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## ghostred7 (May 10, 2011)

He wants to impress me.....he should do it on an acoustic.


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## JoeyBTL (May 10, 2011)

this is the guy that has the current record, or now old record i guess. its 10000% cleaner. even though he only goes up to 320 bpm in the video, its pretty clear how much better he is.


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## ghostred7 (May 10, 2011)

Oh yeah! I've seen this guy before, TONS better (his guitar is smexier too). Would his sound go to ass if he tried to do 600bpm too though?


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## Nimgoble (May 10, 2011)

ghostred7 said:


> Would his sound go to ass if he tried to do 600bpm too though?



This. Wouldn't anyone's playing start to blend together and sound sloppy if they were playing a song that is already fast at 600bpm?


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## fps (May 10, 2011)

JoeyBTL said:


> this is the guy that has the current record, or now old record i guess. its 10000% cleaner. even though he only goes up to 320 bpm in the video, its pretty clear how much better he is.




Wow this guy is so much better!!

edit but i also respect the other guy. he seems like the kinda guy who might read these forums.


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## Cyanide_Anima (May 10, 2011)

Impressive as hell. But it sounds like he plugged into a 4x12 Beehive. Especially on his other video.

Other dude is way better though.


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## Maggai (May 11, 2011)

JoeyBTL said:


> this is the guy that has the current record, or now old record i guess. its 10000% cleaner. even though he only goes up to 320 bpm in the video, its pretty clear how much better he is.




This is the guy I was reffering to earlier in the thread.


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## VinnyLemieux (May 11, 2011)

Thats guitars tones is dildos


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## Bakerman (May 11, 2011)

Della Vega's done some audio replacement on at least a couple videos, including that one. Here's one of those attempts from someone else's camera:



Above a certain tempo he's not picking 16ths or fretting as many notes (right or wrong) as the actual part.


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## Repner (May 12, 2011)

beneharris said:


> all of the criticism aside, am i the only one that thinks its impressive that he can do that?


Depends. I couldn't hear if he could or not.

When doing speed training, it's not just the speed you try to improve, but how accurately and cleanly you can play while playing fast. Anyone can play fast, thought that'll usually mean you're playing a mess unless you put that accuracy work in there as well.

Basically, all I heard here was mush


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## DVRP (May 12, 2011)

What did I just watch...


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