Kick my ass into shape (guitar playing)

[Nebulous]

So after 4 years playing folk music I am moving into full time Metal (again) to write original material and get a band going with some mates.

After last year more than ever my metal chops have diminished quite a lot, so I need to get back into a good practice regeime so that I can kick ass by the end of this year.

Something I always struggled with when I had this goal was that I would get bored practicing the same thing for too long.

I have some good things in mind to work on which will help my technique and speed (both rhythm and lead) though I thought you blokes may help with some good recommendations.

So far I plan to work on some Opeth, Nevermore, Joe Satriani and continue my love afair with Iced Earth. These are all specific to certain techniques.

What would be your recommendations get my chops up but not be bored because I'm sitting there playing sweeps for 3 hours?
Also, do you have any tips on how to "loosen up"? I notice that as I increase speed I increase tension in my fingers.

As a guide for song recommendations, I can tune to E/ B standard, Eb/ Bb and drop D with no problems.

 

[Keregioz]

Good call on Iced Earth for practicing rhythm guitar. When I was younger there was a period in which I played along with Iced Earth's "Alive in athens" almost every day for 2-3 hours. As far as lead guitar stuff, some boring exercises will be necessary I guess but what I also found useful is playing a random cd you like and improvise over it.

 

[JeffTD]

Honestly, the things that helped my playing the most, from a technical standpoint, were the Petrucci and Paul Gilbert instructional videos. You don't have to follow them exactly - take what you think will help the most and work on that.

Also, always play to a click... just make it a rule. Eventually your mind will develop one of it's own, and channel with your right hand!

 

[Harry Hughes]

Dude came jam shit with me. It might not quite be as organized as just sitting there with a click, but obviously having someone around to have a laugh with and talk shit with is gonna at least gonna make it more fun so it can motivate you to really get into gear.

Totally down with jamming some Satch, Opeth and some other stuff with ya ( I have this annoying weird thing about me where I don't like tuning down, not even one semi tone) and I don't really know any Iced Earth stuff anyway lol.
I REALLY need to learn some Opeth stuff more into detail. I know bits and pieces of songs, but never sat down and bothered learning a full song.

Shit actually, you want something in drop D? Come around one time and jam Gojira's "Esoteric Surgery" with me (although technically they tune to D standard, I'm pretty sure from having played it ages ago on a 6 string that it can be played in drop D)
Actually well you can play the song in B standard by just transposing it, either one. I play it on my 7 string, which is just tuned usual E standard with a low B string.
Actually yeah, fuck it, just bring a guitar tuned to B standard to work on that one, that way you can just copy my fingerings and not have to sit there for ages working it out in drop D.
That song will pretty much kick you rhythm chops into high gear.
Whenever man, after you finish work, on a weekend, what ever is cool and we'll make some noise if you want

 

[ATLA]

decapitated and iced earth for tightness, for leads just go to youtube you never know what youl find.

 

[Nebulous]

Good call on Iced Earth for practicing rhythm guitar. When I was younger there was a period in which I played along with Iced Earth's "Alive in athens" almost every day for 2-3 hours. As far as lead guitar stuff, some boring exercises will be necessary I guess but what I also found useful is playing a random cd you like and improvise over it.

I like that improv idea alot! I plan to brush up on theory (slowly) too so I may have to snag that one. I think I did it very randomly when I started playing guitar, will have to try it more.
I actually plan on doing similar things with my original music, then using the good bits to integrate into the song.

Honestly, the things that helped my playing the most, from a technical standpoint, were the Petrucci and Paul Gilbert instructional videos. You don't have to follow them exactly - take what you think will help the most and work on that.

Also, always play to a click... just make it a rule. Eventually your mind will develop one of it's own, and channel with your right hand!

I use to play t oa click religously some years ago. It is definitely somthing I will get back to.
I have the JP book/ CD. I will have another look through it, though I can't remember being too blown away by it.
I'd rather just learn some I&W/ Awake songs which incorporate his style/ technique. Thanks for the reminder!

Long post

Thanks for the offer! I'll need to spend some weeks getting myself back to "I can play metal infront of others" mode though. I'm quite horrible at it as I've had a month or so break from virtually any guitar playing and not practiced my chops for months thanks to the album I was working on.

decapitated and iced earth for tightness, for leads just go to youtube you never know what youl find.

You tube is a great idea. That's where I found Loomis showing me how to play the chorus lick for Born. Friggin love that part. Started working on it yesterday.

What do Decap generally tune to?

 

[Harry Hughes]

Thanks for the offer! I'll need to spend some weeks getting myself back to "I can play metal infront of others" mode though. I'm quite horrible at it as I've had a month or so break from virtually any guitar playing and not practiced my chops for months thanks to the album I was working on.

Fuck it man, you really think I care if you reckon you're currently in suck mode?
Seriously, I'm not the kind of guy who is gonna sit there and say "Get the fuck out of my house, you suck!".
If anything, if you're sloppy, playing in front of someone else is just more incentive to want to nail your shit right then and there and focus like a muthafucker.
I'm hardly the most amazing guitar playing myself, plenty of guys on this board (Marcus/Metaltastic, Felix, Ola et al), sevenstring.org and various other forum boards where guitar heads hang out can easily kick my ass

 

[Airborne]

I highly recommend Paul Gilbert and Michael Angelo Batio DVDs.
Those guys are great instructors and obviously great players.

There are definitely great players on this board.
My favorites are Zack and James.

 

[JeffTD]

I have the JP book/ CD. I will have another look through it, though I can't remember being too blown away by it.
I'd rather just learn some I&W/ Awake songs which incorporate his style/ technique. Thanks for the reminder!

It was more the exercises for finger strength/stamina/dexterity building that helped than anything else, actually. It's amazing how much cleaner everything becomes when you can more effectively use things like that annoying pinky finger.

 

[ATLA]

decap is either D standard or C# standard.

 

[JMarz]

Fuck JP, learn some Symphony X/Michael Romeo.

Whip your ass into shreddin' shape in no time.

 

[Nebulous]

Oh, some good reminders there! Gilbert and Romeo should definitely be on my list.

All I need now is to get my new PC up and running so that I can get Gpro working.

 

[professorlamp]

Fuck symphonyX
GUTHRIE GOVAN!

 

[ahjteam]

well, there is always Metallica, Slayer and Megadeth

 

[professorlamp]

I wouldn't recommend the slayer part of that sentence
Kerry king is an atonal mootherfooger as is jeff whatshisname

 

[Petrocker]

Something from Job for a cowboy - Genesis if you want to practice triplets. Same with Sylosis - Conclusion Of An Age.

 

[Nebulous]

well, there is always Metallica, Slayer and Megadeth

Metallica occupied the first 5 years of my guitar playing. I'm really trying to get away from them now as a player. Hammett had some good solos but his technique sucked and while James' parts are still great, I know them all too well and don't want to get sick of them.

I will give one or two MD songs a shot though. I quite enjoy a lot of RIP.

 

[Jind]

I've been on a theory kick lately. While I'm no slouch, my knowledge has been gained over years of haphazard attempts at it. While I know a lot of theory in practice, I still struggle with putting it all together. I'm about to start back with an instructor I went to in the past and want to focus not necessarily on guitar technique, but on theory and composition. I'm tempted to start taking piano lessons as well as I would really like to improve my skills in more than just guitar.

I recently bought "Ear Training for the Contemporary Musician", one of the Musicians Institute books as well as "Hearing and Writing Music: Professional Training for Today's Musician" by Ron Gorow - so far they seem like good books on some of the subjects I really want to focus on. I also broke out my old reliable reference "The Complete Idiot's Guide to Music Theory" which I think is honestly one of the best introductory books on music theory. I'm tempted to get the newest edition as it also contains a complete ear training course on CD.

 

[Ermz]

Just play some Evergrey, Dan. It's not intensely technical stuff, but the absolute precision of those palm mutes and the sorts of riffs they play I found suit what I want to do with my technique almost perfectly. Being a fan I imagine you'd be the same. You will have these tight, dry chugs, break off into open notes, and then just swing it into sick whole-tone vibrato. Combine that with their occasional lead runs and pinch harmonics that come out of the blue and you have the whole shebang of awesome.

PS. Which Paul Gilbert and Petrucci instructionals are we talking about? To my knowledge they have dozens of these things

 

[Nebulous]

Lol, Evergrey will be on my list when I get into the swing of things, but I burnt myself out on them afew years back so I'd like to get some fresh material into my playlist before going back to them.