Any masters of guitar here?

Opus(sy)

Opus(sy)

Member
Apr 18, 2004
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Brighton, England
Does anybody on this forum consider themselves a 'master' (if you get me) at guitar...if so please post here. How long have you been playing? What style? How do you learn stuff...? Perhaps you could post clips of you shredding...

I've been playing for about 4 years on electric guitar now, and i consider myself to be pretty damn good...i'm on grade 8 guitar now (hope that means something to you), i can play most stuff...but lately i've got a bit stuck, i dont seem to be getting anywhere fast, i'm going back through a lot of theory work to hopefully give me new ideas. :dopey:
 
ya ive been playin guitar for about 3 years and i consider myself to be pretty good...id be happy to send you some shredding of mine, im tryin to find a brutal death metal drummer and bassist down here in texas but no luck. if you read this and happen to BE a drummer with 8 arms please IM me. AXOLOGY: Ibanez RG 220 w/ Fllyod Rose bridge, BC Rich Warlock Platinum Series
 
The only thing I can point out is that you will make lot's of progress at first, and then the progress will come at much slower intervals compared to when you first start out. I am a bassist, but I play a lot of guitar-esque solos, and I became very frustrated when I would hit walls. Focus, perseverance and dedication will get you there though...when you get frustrated, those are the times when really buckling down and practicing that much harder are important - when you are picking things up easily, it makes practicing a joy - when it gets tough...that's the true test, at least in my experience...
One other suggestion I can make is to try and start playing stuff outside your domain of preference (you still have to feel what you are playing though). If you are a brutal Death Metal guy, try working on some prog stuff, maybe some classical music or even some jazz, and force yourself to open up and get into something different...it's made a lot of difference for me as far as getting over humps and trying to get to another level as far as playing goes...
 
How do you guys practise?...do you know a lot of theory...? I got a book off amazon the other week called 'Speed Mechanics' by a guy called Troy Stetina, it's a great book...but it's really focused on technique, i've read through most of it, but now i want to apply the techniques to my playing (if you get me), do i have to learn every single fucking scale? haha...i study music at college but applying it to guitar is a completely different board game. Where on earth do i start? :hypno:

Could you recommend any good books that would help me with understanding theory? i want to be good on guitar...i want to be real good...but that's obviously going to take a lot longer than four years.
 
i've found that my soloing foundation comes from three-note-per string modes and small patterns called "fragments"

there are only seven basic "modes", but once you learn these well, you can travel up and down the neck with ease, in any key. from there, you can get into modified patterns like harmonic minor, spanish phrygian, and whole-tone.

another cool trick is to apply those fragment picking patterns to unusual scales, created by stretching your fingers out beyond the standard half-step or whole-step intervals. for instance, there's a pattern on two strings where you play this funky, 6-note jazz-blues scale with a flat-5, but played with typical shredder picking patterns, it sounds really "outside". paul gilbert does this one a lot.

as an example, if you're soloing in E, try using the 7-10-12 frets on the A string, and the 8-9-12 frets on the D string... the fingering and picking pattern is up to you, but played fast enough, a scale fragment done with this pattern can sound trippy

then there's arpeggios, string-skipping, and tapping.

if this seems a little confusing or overwhelming, don't worry. Just start by getting REALLY comfortable with the seven modes, and some picking patterns using them.

check out some of the solos in this tune to get some ideas for "outside" soloing

http://www.lesliespring.com/seaofstars.mp3

and this one is more of a straight-ahead power-metal vibe, but has trippy verses and some aggressive soloing

http://www.lesliespring.com/ancientsigns.mp3


if you don't already have this, i recommend "Rock Discipline" by John Petrucci. This book-cd-video set is basically a complete "how to shred" for modern prog-metal. Petrucci seems to be spilling his guts COMPLETELY here. He's basically saying, "Here's how to play like me."

also, any paul gilbert instructional video is worthwhile too
 
I know little theory, but ive been playing since I was 7 (I be 17 now) and Im happy to say, From just enjoying playing Ive got good. I dont practice or train specifically, I just have fun (2-3 hours per day) and surely enough Im very good with technique, just not ace with my theory.
Reacently I wrote some fantastic tech death metal riffs. I would by no means say I was a master, But I would say I love to play, and if you love to play then You dont have to worry about getting good.... you just get good automatically. Now I need a fucking band!
 
I've owned a guitar for about 4 years, but with this whole switching between instruments thing, I've probably got a good solid 2 years in. I dont consider myself a master, but i'm growing and i think i have a good ear, if you know what I mean. And I'm finding it hard to excel with my...limited resources(lack of stores, or anyone to give lessons) so I've taught myself everything i know so far.... Although if I wanted to play bluegrass I'd probably be a god by now....
 
I play my electric guitar pretty good, better than Hammett for sure, but I'm a classical guitar teacher. I just got my master's two years ago when I was 25 years old. Classical guitar is my instrument and I have won lots of competitions, but since I know you are referring to electric I'll just sit in the corner and watch you guys dispute.
 
Sssnake said:
I play my electric guitar pretty good, better than Hammett for sure, but I'm a classical guitar teacher. I just got my master's two years ago when I was 25 years old. Classical guitar is my instrument and I have won lots of competitions, but since I know you are referring to electric I'll just sit in the corner and watch you guys dispute.
Click to expand...

No no no...i love classical guitar, i've played that for four years also :)
 
ya ive been playin guitar for about 3 years and i consider myself to be pretty good...id be happy to send you some shredding of mine, im tryin to find a brutal death metal drummer and bassist down here in texas but no luck. if you read this and happen to BE a drummer with 8 arms please IM me. AXOLOGY: Ibanez RG 220 w/ Fllyod Rose bridge, BC Rich Warlock Platinum Series

3 years and already a master, impressive.....LOL
 
I suck pretty badly... but I've never really had a hard time finding decent bands to play in. haha.

I like the advice about the 3-notes-per-string modes... they're easier to run through faster, and easier to progress through your modes, and I like the way they ascend and descend rather than playing them in a traditional box format...
 
I used to be into playing classical guitar but it sort of got old for me cause I guess i just got into playing classical music on electric guitar better.

Either way I think it is a lot more important to be a good songwriter than to be a master of the guitar.
 
FauxPerspicacity said:
I used to be into playing classical guitar but it sort of got old for me cause I guess i just got into playing classical music on electric guitar better.

Either way I think it is a lot more important to be a good songwriter than to be a master of the guitar.
Click to expand...

That's a very good point, it would be nice to be good at songwriting aswell as being a guitar master eh? ;)
 
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