The Guitar Thread - style/technique/skill
- Thread starter J the TyranT
- Start date
Yeah, I hear ya there!
I've been playing about 15 years, and when I'm inspired I play real good. I'm best at jamming cover tunes and the like. When I hit record I just play like an android! Some of the clips people post here put me to shame, I really wish I could write some crazy stuff with all those changes.
I don't know how it's done, if they are just jamming a whole rough sketch kinda thing, or doing piece by piece. This is some of the most important questions to me, but usually don't get anywhere.
To me it's easy to learn solos and get fast etc. but composition is where we could all learn and benefit the most!
edit
ops sorry for the resurrection, was reading two threads, and didn't notice the date, anyway, I think my question is still relevant 
cobhc
Amiga Enthusiast
edit
Did you ask a question? I didn't see one, or even a question mark
.
MetallyGuitarded
He whom thou art not
I think the Petrucci Rock Discipline DVD ( mainly his routine ) is the ultimate practice routine. However, it is highly structured and seems to be the opposite of most peoples tendencies. I know dick about theory notation, modes, etc. I learned Metallica and other 80's metal by ear, jammed A LOT with a drum machine and made my own tracks on the cassette deck with me and the drum machine to jam over for 60-90 minutes at time. I have very good rhythm, I think and have been told, however I regret never having learned theory/modes, etc. I also have the songwriting skills of a dead badger. It's a very cute dead badger, not one of those dismembered, disemboweled, partly skinned roadkill badgers you see smeared all over a mile of freeway. More like a cute fuzzy old badger that died of natural causes under a bush.
Nowadays, I just fire up Ableton and throw some beats into a track with Addictive Drums and improv for as long as I can before my wife/son interrupts me. Usually about 10 minutes. Another 14 years and I'll have some spare time to myself I hope. ( ie My son is 4 )
Remember, it was Dr Greenbaum-berg-bridge that said... 'We mock what we don't understand.'
Nowadays, I just fire up Ableton and throw some beats into a track with Addictive Drums and improv for as long as I can before my wife/son interrupts me. Usually about 10 minutes. Another 14 years and I'll have some spare time to myself I hope. ( ie My son is 4 )
Remember, it was Dr Greenbaum-berg-bridge that said... 'We mock what we don't understand.'
Did you ask a question? I didn't see one, or even a question mark
lol good one!
My question was...
When I hit record I just play like an android! Some of the clips people post here put me to shame, I really wish I could write some crazy stuff with all those changes.
I don't know how it's done, if they are just jamming a whole rough sketch kinda thing, or doing piece by piece. <--- Okay, the question mark should go here.
forgive me, i'm a heavy drinker, but I still want to write good music, and I hear great clips on this site everytime.
Djabthrash
Member
Gonna resurrect this thread cuz' fuck it, thread was good and is still relevant :
Recently, i've been struggling to keep up with my usual "doing a 3-hour-long guitar routine 2 to 3 times a week, mixing up warmup/technique/jam/song practicing", and i've finally applied the "try to grab and play the guitar as much as possible, even if it's for 20 minutes each day", and it starts to pay off.
Basically whenever i watch some video on the internet or a dvd or something (not something i have to concentrate on like crazy, but something that i would watch anyway since i'm a nerd), i grab my guitar (swapping the guitar each time, or even during one session after the while : electric #1, electric #2, acoustic...) and start doing warm up exercises/noodling/technique exercises/jamming/parts practicing all the way.
This makes me able to :
-watch all that shit i would watch anyway...
-... while playing the guitar :
-learning how to stay relaxed while playing the guitar, not care that much, not look at the frets too much, and be able to do extra things later like singing and playing the guitar at the same time among others
-keeping my guitar chops "warm" (now it doesn't take me 30 minutes of warmup exercises before i can play decently again), letting my fingers harder/stringer from to day to day
-not get too fed up with the "tedious" guitar work, since i'm enjoying myself at the same time, watching some entertaining shit
So now whenever i pick up a guitar it's no big deal anymore, and i still can do a real/proper practice (means i'm not doing something else at the same time) with a lot of concentration and metronome and stuff, and i think if i find the time to do one or two of those "real" practices during the week, alongside the guitar "fuckaround" (i mean when watching videos at the same time), i'm gonna improve pretty fast.
These days i'm watching THE WIRE series and i feel good about learning all that drug dealer slang while jamming on some Pantera, AC/DC and getting my fingers superhard to a point playing the guitar doesn't hurt anymore.
So for guys like me who are on their own and work office hours anf have other "normal" shit to do (laundry, lazy stuff, hangout with friends, chasing tail, paperwork...) and who can't do the "practicing for 5 hours everyday", i think this "careless guitar fuckaround while doing something else" several times a week + "proper guitar practice" at least once a week is the way to go.
This is the smartest way to do things in my case (my rommate suggested me this "guitar fuckaround thing", and i will never thank him enough for this). This now i can now play the guitar AND chase tail since i can grab a guitar and play a beautiful Red Hot Chili Peppers style arpeggio right away. And that shit works
So now i'm playing the guitar more than ever, never burning out on it and never running out of things to play/practice. I'm gonna start to reintroduce the real proper guitar practice also, and some exercises i'm lacking on (scales, shred stuff, consistent fast downstroking, etc) and i'm pretty sure i will finally get somewhere. This and better English watching those videos, which helps with the usual :
girl : "your English is good for a Frenchman, how come ?"
me : "well, i play a lot of guitar these days"
girl (puzzled) : "... so you play the guitar ? I'd love to learn"
me : "come over at my place next weekend"
DONE DEAL
I wish i had this "revelation" (not sure if it's the right word here) before... but better late than never...
EDIT : most of the time when doing the "fuckaround" guitar routine, if i'm on the electric guitar, i'm not even plugging it to any amp...
Also, swapping guitars is cool since it makes for a good change (playing the same stuff over and over can be boring so the slightest change you can introduce is welcomed (welcome ?)) and gets you used to play the same stuff on different guitars, and be versatile (like playing fingerstyle arpeggios on the electric guitars, or playing some Pantera riffs on the acoustic...).
And of course whenever you pick someone else's guitar you don't feel like you have never played the guitar before anymore
Recently, i've been struggling to keep up with my usual "doing a 3-hour-long guitar routine 2 to 3 times a week, mixing up warmup/technique/jam/song practicing", and i've finally applied the "try to grab and play the guitar as much as possible, even if it's for 20 minutes each day", and it starts to pay off.
Basically whenever i watch some video on the internet or a dvd or something (not something i have to concentrate on like crazy, but something that i would watch anyway since i'm a nerd), i grab my guitar (swapping the guitar each time, or even during one session after the while : electric #1, electric #2, acoustic...) and start doing warm up exercises/noodling/technique exercises/jamming/parts practicing all the way.
This makes me able to :
-watch all that shit i would watch anyway...
-... while playing the guitar :
-learning how to stay relaxed while playing the guitar, not care that much, not look at the frets too much, and be able to do extra things later like singing and playing the guitar at the same time among others
-keeping my guitar chops "warm" (now it doesn't take me 30 minutes of warmup exercises before i can play decently again), letting my fingers harder/stringer from to day to day
-not get too fed up with the "tedious" guitar work, since i'm enjoying myself at the same time, watching some entertaining shit
So now whenever i pick up a guitar it's no big deal anymore, and i still can do a real/proper practice (means i'm not doing something else at the same time) with a lot of concentration and metronome and stuff, and i think if i find the time to do one or two of those "real" practices during the week, alongside the guitar "fuckaround" (i mean when watching videos at the same time), i'm gonna improve pretty fast.
These days i'm watching THE WIRE series and i feel good about learning all that drug dealer slang while jamming on some Pantera, AC/DC and getting my fingers superhard to a point playing the guitar doesn't hurt anymore.
So for guys like me who are on their own and work office hours anf have other "normal" shit to do (laundry, lazy stuff, hangout with friends, chasing tail, paperwork...) and who can't do the "practicing for 5 hours everyday", i think this "careless guitar fuckaround while doing something else" several times a week + "proper guitar practice" at least once a week is the way to go.
This is the smartest way to do things in my case (my rommate suggested me this "guitar fuckaround thing", and i will never thank him enough for this). This now i can now play the guitar AND chase tail since i can grab a guitar and play a beautiful Red Hot Chili Peppers style arpeggio right away. And that shit works
So now i'm playing the guitar more than ever, never burning out on it and never running out of things to play/practice. I'm gonna start to reintroduce the real proper guitar practice also, and some exercises i'm lacking on (scales, shred stuff, consistent fast downstroking, etc) and i'm pretty sure i will finally get somewhere. This and better English watching those videos, which helps with the usual :
girl : "your English is good for a Frenchman, how come ?"
me : "well, i play a lot of guitar these days"
girl (puzzled) : "... so you play the guitar ? I'd love to learn"
me : "come over at my place next weekend"
DONE DEAL
I wish i had this "revelation" (not sure if it's the right word here) before... but better late than never...
EDIT : most of the time when doing the "fuckaround" guitar routine, if i'm on the electric guitar, i'm not even plugging it to any amp...
Also, swapping guitars is cool since it makes for a good change (playing the same stuff over and over can be boring so the slightest change you can introduce is welcomed (welcome ?)) and gets you used to play the same stuff on different guitars, and be versatile (like playing fingerstyle arpeggios on the electric guitars, or playing some Pantera riffs on the acoustic...).
And of course whenever you pick someone else's guitar you don't feel like you have never played the guitar before anymore
Shit I forgot about this thread. Its a pretty good one though... and I have definitely progressed over the 4 yrs, hahah.
Djabthrash
Member
héhé that's what i was thinking about (i.e : "did the OP get anywhere since then ?")
abt
BT
LIE: "Practice makes perfect"
TRUTH: "Practice makes permanent"
THEREFORE: "Perfect practice makes perfect permanent"
IMO it doesn't matter that much what you practice or even even how much, it's how you do it. I've seen it a million times. The player practices his drills sloppy, practices his scales sloppy, has bad technique. He is committed, works long hours and does a lot of practice but he never progresses.
TRUTH: "Practice makes permanent"
THEREFORE: "Perfect practice makes perfect permanent"
IMO it doesn't matter that much what you practice or even even how much, it's how you do it. I've seen it a million times. The player practices his drills sloppy, practices his scales sloppy, has bad technique. He is committed, works long hours and does a lot of practice but he never progresses.
NikTheGypsy
New Metal Member
- May 15, 2013
- 6
- 0
- 1
I would say that as far as developing technique, one of the hardest things, at least for me, was to actually "learn how to learn". With so much out there and so much to absorb, it feels at times that it can be overwhelming really. I would say that if you want to develop overall prowess and technique, you must be willing to do things that you might not necessarily like, or enjoy, such as learning specific theories and exercises in different styles. The John Petrucci book "Rock Discipline" was one of the best things that I have read about developing techniques. If you were looking for just inventive ways of playing, also look into "The Guitar Chapter" by Michael Romeo, and if you do not know who Romeo is, go listen to Symphony X...NOW.
I would also recommend stepping out of your comfort zone as much as you can. One of my greatest "metal" breakthroughs came after learning how to arrange violins for an orchestra, and also learning about Django Reinhardt. There are so many different avenues to learn about, so my best piece of advice is that, life is long my friend, and keep your mind open to everything, even if it's not really "metal"
I would also recommend stepping out of your comfort zone as much as you can. One of my greatest "metal" breakthroughs came after learning how to arrange violins for an orchestra, and also learning about Django Reinhardt. There are so many different avenues to learn about, so my best piece of advice is that, life is long my friend, and keep your mind open to everything, even if it's not really "metal"
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