Difference Between Punk and Metal

zxm Well, I've said it many times that punk and metal aren't same. Even though they aren't same but punk and metal have some similarities in them. Like both of them are fast. So, this is my final explanation of difference between punk and metal. Though I've explained it many times in my comments, but they are gone lost.

Anyway, before I start anything I need to prove my facts here. So for this I recommend to watch some explanations on YouTube. There may be lots of videos on there. But the video I found mot helpful was "Punk vs Metal" by Charlie Parra del Riego.

The Myths:
So what's really the difference. A lot of people say that, "punk rock songs don't have any guitar solos but metal songs have". Few other people say that, "Metal is louder than punk rock". So are these really the differences? Actually, no. This isn't really the difference. So what really is it?

The Differences:
Before starting this I'm already telling this my explanation will be bases on guitar.

Anyway, there are many different ways to identify metal and punk songs. You don't really have to search on the internet for it. One of the major differences between them is that punk rock guitar riffs are more noisy. These riffs are little bit of high-pitched. But metal riffs aren't really just noisy. It could be noisy or not. But metal riffs have some brutal sound that you won't find in punk riffs. Metal riffs sounds are little bit of deeper than punk riffs sound. For example check the riffs of "Master of Puppets" by Metallica and "Blitzkrieg Bop" by Ramones.

Another difference is seeing the strumming styles. Check some metal and punk tabs (you could also see it in the video that I mentioned above). You'll easily notice that when guitarists play punk riffs they usually don't strum the strings as harder as they strum them when playing metal riffs. Most punk guitarists try to strum all the strings possible. Not always but most of the time. But most metal guitarists try to strum few strings. Because it'll help them to create more brutal sound that metal requires. It's very simple to say that if you try to strum all the strings you won't able to strum them as fast if you strum only two or three strings. So, that's another thing to notice.

Another basic difference is how you hold the pick. Metal guitarists usually hold the pick tightly. And they usually prefer thicker picks (pick's thickness isn't very important though). But punk guitarists usually hold the pick less tightly than metal guitarists. Well, there are exceptions though. If you're talking about Johnny Ramone. He didn't really hold the pick loosely. But there are some things to notice in his strumming. One of those things was he usually strummed his strings downwards. I mean down-strokes. But metal guitarists use upstrokes too along with down-strokes.

Lastly, there is another thing to notice. I've put it on last cause it isn't very necessary. But you'll notice that most metal guitarists usually change chords frequently. But punk guitarists play a single chord for quite a long time.

Final Words:
So that's it. I've said the basic differences between punk and metal riffs. You could check some videos if you're not believing me. I've tried my best. But as always there remain some things which hang between two of these things. For example, "Sheer Heart Attack" by Queen. This is really confusing if it's really metal or punk.

Hope this helps.

Comments

Now I don't have to explain it over and over in comments. - zxm (12/13/2016)

Nice post. - visitor (12/19/2016)

thanks. - zxm (12/19/2016)

Your welcome. - visitor (12/21/2016)

And hopefully it was marked as an HQ post. - zxm (12/19/2016)

I dislike punk. - Zizz (12/21/2016)

Well, everyone has different taste. but I wrote it because a lot of people confuse these two genres. - zxm (12/21/2016)

I have noticed this difference in punk and metal. Also, metal has a more brutal sound than punk. Punk has louder guitar riffs however. It is one of my favorite genres. Also, the vocals in punk and metal are different, there is more screaming in metal than there is in punk. - visitor (12/21/2016)

Yes, you noticed correctly. - zxm (12/21/2016)

We usually know most metal bands by their loudness. so if some punk artists play their riffs loudly we easily confuse them as metal. and I didn't mention. more strings ring at the same time, will create more noisy sound. which is noticeable in punk music. - zxm (12/21/2016)

This needed to be said. Good job. - ProPanda (12/29/2016)

thanks. - zxm (12/29/2016)

I've always thought metal and punk were very different - visitor (8/6/2017)

In non-extreme metal its very different but in extreme metal, metal was sped up by punk elements. - zxm (8/6/2017)

But stuff like Metallica and the Sex Pistols are completely different aren't they? - visitor (8/6/2017)

Yes. Usually its different. The chords, scales, palm muting are based on heavy metal. But how they played those, I mean how they picked/strummed the strings, are lot likely punk rock based. Especially Johnny Ramone's. - zxm (8/6/2017)