Shred Question

[ShredRaid]

I am Left Handed but play guitar right handed. Ive been having this trouble improving my shred skills with my right hand when I pick. I thought that it might because im left handed so i placed the pick in my left hand and not only did i play faster but it was so relaxed. I dont really want to learn all of my guitar skills over again on my left hand so i was wondering if anyone knows of anywork outs for my right wrist that i could do to increase musscle or if anyone has ever heard of this happening before.

 

[SyX-Fan]

(This might be a little off-topic, feel free to shoot me..)

What is the general shredding technique..?`I don't have the time for lessons, so I have been learning from the net untill now.. But I can't find ANYTHING on shredding....

(sorry, nothing to see here, move on..)

 

[the_satanic_rabbit]

The best general advice I can give is that you make sure that your right hand and left hand are synchronized at all times while playing. I have a problem where my left hand is faster than my right (I am right-handed), so I have difficulty with fast alternate picking, especially string-skipping stuff. My left hand hits all the notes, but the right cannot keep up.

 

[†Russel Allen†®]

Hi, I'm left-handed too.

And I play a left-handed guitar, and I have the same problem of the_satanic_rabbit, which is one hand to be faster than the other, and my right hand (in my case, the one that holds the arm) is faster than the left, that holds the pick.

In the last year I've been practicing a lot of arpeggios, fast picking alternate, from very slow to very fast. I suggest you to search around the web some MP3 samples of John Petrucci, teaching how to improve speed and sync between the hands. It's very, very important for you to practice a lot, a lot, and more!

 

[rockmanxpr]

For my alternate picking (used mostly for gearing up rythyme parts) I use the Paul Gilbert video he did when he had poofy hair, "Guitar Licks" I think it was. It was pretty simple and use a metronome to play triplets ( I usually start at 120 bpm). The pattern was start on any string with a down stroke, then the next note is a half-step up with a Up stroke, then next note is a whole-step with a Down stroke, then the next note is the next string up on the fret you started from with a Up stroke, and finally go back down to where you came from. so all the picking is alternate and just keep repeating. Hope this made sense.

 

[Dado-x]

Try some Al Dimeola tab. Now there's some serious alternate picked shredding!

 

[ShredRaid]

I have the same problem as Russel Allen and Satanic Rabbit. My picking hand just cant keep up with my fretting hand. I just cant go faster and my friend that is a shred master said that he didnt work on building up speed and pratice to a met but that his fater told him how to hold the pick correctly and it came naturally to him. He told me that there is no musscle involed its just holding the pick so that you never miss the string. But I believe it has alot to do with musscle. So ive tried looking for various excerises that I can prefom without my guitar at hand to build up wrist strength.

 

[ShredRaid]

This reply is to Russel, I was just wondering if you rember me from the Hollywood show. My name is Ryan Winkeler and before the entire show started I came up stairs and got to meet everybody but Romeo. I think that when I saw you standing there I almost shit my pants and then after introducing myself I asked if you would sign my guitar, and sure enough you kept to your word and after the show I got the enitre band to sign the neck of my guitar!

 

[Yngvai X]

Hmm...I am also left handed but play right handed guitar. Don't get discouraged or think you won't be able to pick fast because of this. I know for a fact that both Vinnie Moore and Joe Stump are lefties that play righty, and Joe is the fastest picker Ive ever seen. I asked him about it and he said "well I figure that when you start out you're gonna suck either way, so it doesn't matter." I'll admit my strengths arent in alternate picking (its my weakest area) but thats also because I spend much more time on legato, tapping, and sweeping than on my alternate picking (I'll get to it eventually ).

Also, no offense or anything, but I question how much of a "shred master" your friend is without ever using a metronome to work the synchronization between his left and right hands (either that or he's bullshitting you to make himself sound better than he really is). I've never met a shredder who attained speed without the use of a metronome (and don't tell me Yngwie did, because its most likely BS, since a lot of what he says about his development seems to be - like the fact that his whole lead style he took from classical peices - bullshit, cause even Jens Johansson said that Yngwie ripped Uli Jon Roth licks left and right). remember, picking a string as fast as possible and moving your left hand around isn't shredding, its..uh...I guess I'll just call it Kirk Hammett psudo wanking .

And to be honest man, don't bother with the hand exercisers or anything. playing fast is more about dexterity than it is about strength. The only way you're gonna get faster is by practicing to a metronome for countless hours. Theres no trick to it. Just make sure you're as relaxed as your can be, and are using efficient left and right hand techniques. Work on different licks, scale sequences, etc. I won't go into to much here, but one place to look at that has great picking exercises is the first Paul Gilbert REH video "intense rock." I also like the Yngwie Play Loud videos from Young Guitar. Keep practicing dude, you'll get it .

 

[IntoThePiT]

Gonna try out your sudjestions. For about the past couple months:I havent been as motivated to play guitar kuz i just feel like im going in circles.

Thing that frustrates me the most is like, you hear everywhere how 'easy'' kirk hammet is and ive been learning alot of tallica solo's pre black album, i would say about half of it I can pick up on pretty quick, and some shit i been working on for over a month and cant play for shit... ANywayz im rambling sleepy and frustrated , i been playing little over 2 years now and like a year and a half of that time serious playing( if that helps)

btw starting at MI in hollywood this fall or spring ( havent decided yet) and i feel like im gonna be so much behind everyone who is going to be there.... gonna go to sleep lol night \m/

 

[the_satanic_rabbit]

Yngvai made a very important point.
RELAX! don't do it, when ya wanna...
oops sorry!
But seriously you need to stay relaxed.
when you tense up it becomes even more difficult to play fast and you tighten up. Everything becomes really choppy. I mean, you start to do things like lifting your fingers way too high off of the frets and slamming them hard down on the fingerboard. You lift your pick to far from the strings, that sort of thing. When you are tense, these things happen and the farther the distance from the pick to the string, or your finger to the fretboard, the slower you will be. (am I making sense or do I sound like Yoda?) :zombie:
Just pick some 3, 6, 12, or 24 note pattern. RELAX, play it slowy and build up the tempo with a metronome (I use MIDI drum beats). You just have to keep doing the same damn thing over and over again. It is very boring.
Like Yngvai, my strength is not alternate picking. In fact, without knowing it, my natural picking habit is to use an odd blend of alternate and economy. I won't even try to explain it. My biggest strength is definitely legato.

 

[†Russel Allen†®]

Originally posted by ShredRaid
This reply is to Russel, I was just wondering if you rember me from the Hollywood show. My name is Ryan Winkeler and before the entire show started I came up stairs and got to meet everybody but Romeo. I think that when I saw you standing there I almost shit my pants and then after introducing myself I asked if you would sign my guitar, and sure enough you kept to your word and after the show I got the enitre band to sign the neck of my guitar!

Hi.

I hope you're not referring to me. I'm not the REAL one... =P

I wish I was...

Hahahaha!!

 

[ShredManWalking]

Hey ShredRaid, I have the same problem. When I told my dad I wanted to play guitar (I was eight) he forced me to learn right handed. Ten years later, I still have a sloppy right hand technique. This is a poor excuse, but when I'm soloing and have trouble speed-picking the part, I use a LOT of hammer-ons and pull-offs. This is because my dominant hand rules the fretboard, and does extra work for speed. My right hand is just ... gimp. My legato technique holds the speed gap while I improve my picking hand. I also use a lot of complicated multi-finger tapping licks for speed too.

Hope that helps

 

[The Yngster]

Originally posted by †Russel Allen†®
Hi.

I hope you're not referring to me. I'm not the REAL one... =P

I wish I was...

Hahahaha!!

First time I came here I thought you were the real one too!

 

[ShredRaid]

ShredManWalking: My left hand is far more flawless than my right but still there nothing I would like to do more than gallop. I think im just gonna keep working at it with the metrenome and hopefully i'll get it sooner or later. But my sweeps and legato technique are far my superiour. And I feel like such an idiot for thinking that guy is Russel Allen, im so embarassed

 

[the_satanic_rabbit]

I have to admit, the name Russel Allen caught my eye too, but then I saw that the location was "Brazil"

Its OK, I made an idiotic assumption the other day when someone was quoting Mike Romeo, and I didn't notice it right away, so I thought it was really Mike!