Guitar Player's Thread

Here's tonight's attempt before I got bored!

- I can't do chromatics very quick...
- I can't do repeat phrases very well...
- I'm not too good at the pedal tone licks...

All the phrases in the middle I got to 90, I just didn't want to write it for EVERY one. I could got higher, but my sister went to bed so I had to stop!

Seems like all the things I'm good at are PG/Laiho licks....:lol:.

*pic*

Thanks anyways, you still pwned me, but I'll work and see to where I can get :lol:

It was more of a weaker approach...

I would start at 60 and go up until I couldn't go any further and then move onto the next lick all in the space of like, an hour. I hated practising, so I kinda just got on with it, got it over and done with and came back to it a week later or so...definitely not the most strict routine!

That's what I did last night too, started at 60 on every lick, hit a top speed and moved on. I don't feel that I'd improve that way, which is why I need to start doing it seriously.

But my sweep picking routine, woah...

Say for example, I was practising this lick:

E-15p12-------12--
B-------13--13----
G---------12------

I would do:

- Clean tone x 30ish
- Clean tone, reverse pattern x 30
- Clean tone, minor version, x 30
- Clean tone, minor, reverse, x 30
- Clean tone, next inversion x 30
- Clean tone, next inversion, reverse pattern, x 30
- Clean tone, next inversion, minor, x 30
- Clean tone, next inversion, minor, reverse, x 30
- Clean tone, third inversion x 30
- Clean tone, third inversion, reverse pattern, x 30
- Clean tone, third inversion, minor, x 30
- Clean tone, third inversion, minor, reverse, x 30
- Clean tone, original shape, 5 string version, x 30
- Clean tone, original shape, 5 string, reverse, x 30
- Clean tone, original shape, 5 string, minor, x 30
- Clean tone, original shape, 5 string, minor, reverse, x 30
- Clean tone, next inversion, 5 string version, x 30
- Clean tone, next inversion, 5 string, reverse, x 30
- Clean tone, next inversion, 5 string, minor, x 30
- Clean tone, next inversion, 5 string, minor, reverse, x 30
- Clean tone, third inversion, 5 string pattern, x 30
- Clean tone, third inversion, 5 string, reverse, x 30
- Clean tone, third inversion, 5 string, minor, x 30
- Clean tone, third inversion, 5 string, minor, reverse, x 30

Then I'd do all that again with distortion, all at 40bpm, 2/3 times a day, for a an entire WEEK.

The next week would be 50, and 60 the next...I did it over the summer holidays, so in six weeks, I went from 40 to 90. Wow, what an improvement!!

The first two weeks are so boring, but they are the most important, because they are the backbone behind your whole technique. If you rush that, nothing above 70 is going to be clean.

Holy fucking shit! Ok, now I have something to do after exam time is over.

Haven't been playing or recording anything lately, I'm going to try sultans of swing by dire straits, lovely song

Nice song indeed, do report the progress on it and maybe record a lil vid for us, would be nice to see as a Dire Straits fan :)

Sweep Pickin' Practice:




Jason Becker - Serrana (The Real Way!):

Thanks again!

Yeah, and get Herman Li's brother on there, John Myung.

Or Billy Sheehan, another beast on there. He gets better harmonics on his bass than I do on my guitar :lol:
 
No problem, Jose!!

It's not so much sweeping I have trouble with as my strict alternate picking runs. For awhile I was able to do my sweeps faster than my alternate picking, which may still be the case, but I want to balance out both. Not to sound like another cliche' fan boy, but I love the way alexi picks every note in alot of his solos instead of relying heavily on legato. I could use some lessons or licks to practice to get that up to speed, because I've been stuck at around 130-150 bpm with 16th notes. At 150 it gets a little messy unless I'm very familiar with what I'm playing.

I don't have a camera at the moment, but I can give you a breakdown of my technique, things used, and hand posture if that helps.

My fret hand seems to be faster than my picking hand. I can alternate pick really fast but not so much as playing an actual lick without a whole lot of mindless fretting. I use Jazz III picks, they're all that feels comfortable to me now really. When I play I usually keep my hand anchored somewhat on the bridge, but as I ascend across the strings I move my hand down them as well giving a slight palm mute to some of my notes so they don't keep ringing after I have picked them. I try to keep my alternate picking strict, but because of the amount of time I have known how to sweep, I often incorporate some picking economy in to get the most out of my movement. I don't know where I'm going wrong really. I practice along with a metronome and I'm not really seeing an improvement, and I've been stuck at the same tempo for quite some time. I usually play each lick clean, and with gain to make sure I'm doing it as accurate as possible with no buzz. Any advice would be much appreciated.

That's where I was last year, in terms of speed, so I think along with any advice, just a bit of time will help more than anything. It'd be impossible to improve from 100 up to 200 in like two years, it takes more along the lines of 10 to get there and with ease, so don't feel like it's neccessarily something you're doing wrong, it might just be you need to develop naturally, as well as practising everyday.

But something I can say that helped me alot was accenting. Smacking the first note of every 4 or 6 to help your hear that first note and to feel it too can really help with the accuracy of the other 3 or 5 notes in the group.

Take this Alexi lick:

e-15-12-14-15-14-12--------12-----------|
b---------------------15-14----15-14-12-|
g-----------------------------------------|
d- ---------------------------------------|

If you play that with 16th notes, 3/4, it helps alot with that kind of stuff. Just really focus on accenting that first G note and then the 9th note, the E, because you have to go back up to that string just for that one note before coming back down to the B, so if you make the effort to accent, it helps get up there without hitting the B by accident, and also helps you keep in time, and makes your other pick strokes softer and more relaxing, giving a nicer tone and hopefully making the overall lick a bit easier.

Start again on the B string after that, and just work it all the way down to the 6th string, don't worry about scale, just play that same shape on all strings and let me know how you get on.

If you have too much trouble with that last E note (like I used to, kept hitting the B string because of inside picking), then put it on the 12th fret, B string, and just have 6 notes one string, 6 notes next. Apply the same process and it'll get your picking GOING because it's so easy, but sounds GOOD. If you can get that to 150, then that's a decent speed! Add the 12th back on the high E when you feel comfortable with the ability of your right hand, and I reckon you could get it to 160 quite easily.
 
No problem, Jose!!



That's where I was last year, in terms of speed, so I think along with any advice, just a bit of time will help more than anything. It'd be impossible to improve from 100 up to 200 in like two years, it takes more along the lines of 10 to get there and with ease, so don't feel like it's neccessarily something you're doing wrong, it might just be you need to develop naturally, as well as practising everyday.

But something I can say that helped me alot was accenting. Smacking the first note of every 4 or 6 to help your hear that first note and to feel it too can really help with the accuracy of the other 3 or 5 notes in the group.

Take this Alexi lick:

e-15-12-14-15-14-12--------12-----------|
b---------------------15-14----15-14-12-|
g-----------------------------------------|
d- ---------------------------------------|

If you play that with 16th notes, 3/4, it helps alot with that kind of stuff. Just really focus on accenting that first G note and then the 9th note, the E, because you have to go back up to that string just for that one note before coming back down to the B, so if you make the effort to accent, it helps get up there without hitting the B by accident, and also helps you keep in time, and makes your other pick strokes softer and more relaxing, giving a nicer tone and hopefully making the overall lick a bit easier.

Start again on the B string after that, and just work it all the way down to the 6th string, don't worry about scale, just play that same shape on all strings and let me know how you get on.

If you have too much trouble with that last E note (like I used to, kept hitting the B string because of inside picking), then put it on the 12th fret, B string, and just have 6 notes one string, 6 notes next. Apply the same process and it'll get your picking GOING because it's so easy, but sounds GOOD. If you can get that to 150, then that's a decent speed! Add the 12th back on the high E when you feel comfortable with the ability of your right hand, and I reckon you could get it to 160 quite easily.

Thanks for the advice Mitch, I'm going to add that to my routine and see if that helps. If you have any other little secrets to your success, feel free to throw them out there :rofl:
 
Hybrid? Never heard of that ...

*googles*

That sounds pretty useless. Its just fingerpicking with a pick in your hand.


check out the second guy, he does some awesome Hybrid thingie

around 4:15
 
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@ Mitch : how did u learn all that theory?
I studied it while I was in school out of personal interest. It continued into college and now it's just a natural thing.

I did it because I wanted to learn it, to simply know more about what I was playing. I would find stuff online about scales, and then go write riffs using them to get used to the sound and where to play it all over the neck.
 
Yeah, I was listening to a lot of Mastodon and I think I'm going to put learning sweeping on hold, hybrid picking seems so much cooler and useful.
 
^ you'll end up looking and sounding like this
 
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check out the second guy, he does some awesome Hybrid thingie

around 4:15
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o1XfW7Hw-PQ
Alright, i saw the wrong video. This guy can make it sound a lot better, but i don't really find it interesting ... Is he just fingerpicking the arpeggios?

Muffin said:
Oh how wrong you are. "Useless" my fucking ass.
Yeah, i find it useless. I love the fingerpicking style Mark Knopfler uses, but this really doesn't bother me. Proof me wrong and show me some mind blowing rhythm stuff (other then some random shredder).
 
Yeah, i find it useless. I love the fingerpicking style Mark Knopfler uses, but this really doesn't bother me. Proof me wrong and show me some mind blowing rhythm stuff (other then some random shredder).



If you can't see an application for this, then you're a double my pals troll and can just fuck right off
 
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