Chryst Krispies
Vanilla Gorilla
I wasn't really nuttin too hard for either of their solos on this track to keep it real with you.
The Guitar Thread - style/technique/skill
- Thread starter J the TyranT
- Start date
I wasn't really nuttin too hard for either of their solos on this track to keep it real with you.
even better, i like to DI my guitars when i'm working on technique, and play totally dry...this seems, to me, even more unforgiving than not being plugged in
Then one day I decided to get a job. On my very first day while stocking/stacking boxes of some crap on a office roof inside a warehouse I fell off and got my ring on my ring finger on my picking hand caught on something as I fell. Ripped 1/2 my finger off. Then came surgery and rehab. Some time went by. Then that 1/2 a finger started to die. Then came a complete finger removal more healing time and rehab. Basically I couldn't play for about 4 years. Really fucked me up playing wise and mentally. Now I'm over it but still have not got back to the level of playing I had back then. I'm still trying.
Holy shit dude, my sympathies - truth be told, though, if I were to have to lose a finger, I would totally pick my right-hand ring finger, cuz I think I use it the least for guitar playing. All the same though, I'm sure it would still fuck up my picking technique, but at least my left hand would be intact!
Loren Littlejohn
Lover of all boobage.
Phil Keaggy lost some of his finger (right hand)
Tony Iommy lost the tips of two of his fingers (left hand)
Munky from Korn (lol that I am referencing this guy with the 2 above) had issues with his hand.
Tony Iommy lost the tips of two of his fingers (left hand)
Munky from Korn (lol that I am referencing this guy with the 2 above) had issues with his hand.
Metal Overload
Member
- Sep 8, 2005
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I heard if you loose a finger, even if it´s is the pinky, you´ll loose some equilibrium, so maybe loosing even the finger you not use, it will affect on your playing anyways.
Emdprodukt
Member of Dude Castle 69
I could never motivate myself to learn scales seriously. I would prefer sitting an hour or two or even three to write one solo for a song instead of learning scales for improvisation. I always had the feeling that too much theory will kill my songwriting.
That's like saying that knowing a language too well will kill your storytelling.
Utter bullshit.
The problem doesn't come from knowing theory but trying to substitute anything for essential songwriting skills.
Jeff
Utter bullshit.
The problem doesn't come from knowing theory but trying to substitute anything for essential songwriting skills.
Jeff
Chryst Krispies
Vanilla Gorilla
I don't think it " kills" anything, I think sometimes it just makes you afraid to go outside of the keys or whatever cause it's not "right" or playing behind the beat occasionally is "wrong."
SocialNumb
Damn Christians!
Shit happens. It was the healing phase that fucked me the most. It was different getting back on the guitar. Pinky is right up against my middle finger. Just feels strange. You gotta try it! :zombie:
Sympathies received
Emdprodukt
Member of Dude Castle 69
Yup... this would really really disturb me. I really don't have to think about "will that fit to that" or "can I play this in that key?". I just do what I like. I don't care if it's wrong in theory. I care if it sounds good (to me). And I don't care if other people like it or not. If they do... great!
I just know "sounds good" and "sounds bad" and until now this just worked perfectly well for me. I love all the stuff I wrote in the last few months and it's not based on three chords. It's not technical death either but yeah...
I don't think that anyone who is really into that stuff will understand me. They could say I'm just fucking lazy. But lazy people do not play guitar like 3 hours a day and more. So I don't know why I still don't see the point in learning scales. I invest all my time into technique and the right movement of both of my hands.
Who knows... maybe I'll find the motivation in the future.
No, that's called being a pussy. Theory doesn't make you afraid to play 'out' or anything like that. It's like saying that knowing big words makes you afraid to say anything unusual.
Yup... this would really really disturb me. I really don't have to think about "will that fit to that" or "can I play this in that key?". I just do what I like. I don't care if it's wrong in theory. I care if it sounds good (to me). And I don't care if other people like it or not. If they do... great!
I just know "sounds good" and "sounds bad" and until now this just worked perfectly well for me. I love all the stuff I wrote in the last few months and it's not based on three chords. It's not technical death either but yeah...
I don't think that anyone who is really into that stuff will understand me. They could say I'm just fucking lazy. But lazy people do not play guitar like 3 hours a day and more. So I don't know why I still don't see the point in learning scales. I invest all my time into technique and the right movement of both of my hands.
Who knows... maybe I'll find the motivation in the future.
I understand the mentality and dislike it completely. You're limiting yourself. Nothing more, nothing less - it may not be necessary, but it's powerful in ways that simply can't be explained to someone who doesn't know it.
Jeff
Emdprodukt
Member of Dude Castle 69
Thats perfectly okay with me because it works until now. If I will start to feel limited because of my lack of theoretical knowledge I will start to learn it. But now I really just like to invest my little spare time into playing guitar and not reading a book about it because for me it's the part thats more fun to me (right now) and the other time is needed for my education and my fiance and my friends.
Chryst Krispies
Vanilla Gorilla
I'm not a pussy, I frequently play behind the beat, and out of key.
What's up
SLOPFEST 101.
RemoWilliams
¯\(°_o)/¯ How meet Devil?
- Nov 13, 2005
- 879
- 1
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This thread really hits on something things I’ve been trying to work on improving myself lately. Honestly, my guitar technique has been a little ‘iffy” in the past few years, mainly from just bad habits and not practicing things the right way. After taking a semester of music in college, this all really came to rear its ugly head, and all of my flaws were magnified. From this, I think I’ve picked up some helpful little tips or ideas that have sort of made me look at the instrument in a different way than I have in the past 10 years.
1. John Petrucci’s “Rock Discipline” is a good investment and full of helpful stuff. Also, Jimmy Bruno’s “No Nonsense Jazz Guitar” is a fun one for a jazzy approach to things. Frank Gambale’s “Speed Picking and Monster Licks” is awesome, as well as the great Shawn Lanes videos, “Power Licks” and “Power Solos”
2. Practicing drills and techniques can be really boring, and we all can’t have a love for practicing them like Tony MacAlpine. I remember him saying he just loved practicing drills all day long. But, doing them in moderation, or at least for a decent amount of time is great. Guthrie Govan has some excellent books on a variety of techniques, as well, the above mentioned vids also go into technique territory.
3. The metronome is GOD. Well, for the most part. A steady pulse of any type is key. For as much as it can be annoying to hear, “click! Click! Click!”, its essential to getting that internal feel going. Also, get a good one. There are a good variety of metronomes out there that are very flexible in various time signatures, and other features. Remember, nobody wants to be off time on the downbeat!
4. As a lot of people have said here, play along to songs. I honestly do not do it as much as I should, but it does help a lot. Try to find out what tuning the band is in or see if you can find a decent tab to get started in the right direction of the song. Also, try to analyze the song structures, chord changes and anything else interesting in it. You will soon come to find out that a lot of songs share the same traits.
5. To add to the above in the way of analyzing and what not. Learning to read music and some music theory is not a bad thing at all. As JBroll pointed out, it can open VAST doors that you may not even have considered or even thought about. Its honestly helped me to really dig deep into some very creative ideas and given an understanding as to an explanation of how things can work together. The reason why I say this is because, if you can a good ability to read music (hell, even a halfway decent ability), with some music theory knowledge, you can go down to your local university or library, and check out some sheet music.
6. Also on the sheet music. ANALYZE that stuff too. Modern classical and jazz holds a WEALTH of insanity that even our most extreme bands can’t hold a candle too. Seriously. The shit is crazy. Being able to read music can be like learning to read in general. The same feeling of going to the public library and picking out the newest bestseller and flipping thru the pages is the same to going to your local campus in the music section and picking out a string trio or quartet and reading thru it. Also, a lot of older classical, romantic, and baroque sheet music has become, or has been public domain for years…so, feel free to find it and see what you can get from it.
7. Also, playing with people better than you can also help. Finding someone who can add a little knowledge, or even motivate you to improve is a tremendous amount of help.
8. I guess the obligatory practice, practice, practice goes here too. A good piece of advice I’ve taken from a Jamey Aebersold book is to not bog yourself down too much on absorbing a lot of information at once. Thru out your day, when your either just walking, or watching tv, or eating, run thru bits of musical knowledge thru your head just to recap. I can’t recall how many I have myself completely zoned out while somebody was talking to me because I was running thru the construction of a certain scale, visualizing the notes in my fretboard, or running thru constructing minor, major, dominant, dominant7, and various other chord forms.
I’m sure I’ve missed some stuff, but a lot here have added other forms of useful information that can help anyone to improve.
Also, I’m with Metalhead28, legato is the Da Shazz!
1. John Petrucci’s “Rock Discipline” is a good investment and full of helpful stuff. Also, Jimmy Bruno’s “No Nonsense Jazz Guitar” is a fun one for a jazzy approach to things. Frank Gambale’s “Speed Picking and Monster Licks” is awesome, as well as the great Shawn Lanes videos, “Power Licks” and “Power Solos”
2. Practicing drills and techniques can be really boring, and we all can’t have a love for practicing them like Tony MacAlpine. I remember him saying he just loved practicing drills all day long. But, doing them in moderation, or at least for a decent amount of time is great. Guthrie Govan has some excellent books on a variety of techniques, as well, the above mentioned vids also go into technique territory.
3. The metronome is GOD. Well, for the most part. A steady pulse of any type is key. For as much as it can be annoying to hear, “click! Click! Click!”, its essential to getting that internal feel going. Also, get a good one. There are a good variety of metronomes out there that are very flexible in various time signatures, and other features. Remember, nobody wants to be off time on the downbeat!
4. As a lot of people have said here, play along to songs. I honestly do not do it as much as I should, but it does help a lot. Try to find out what tuning the band is in or see if you can find a decent tab to get started in the right direction of the song. Also, try to analyze the song structures, chord changes and anything else interesting in it. You will soon come to find out that a lot of songs share the same traits.
5. To add to the above in the way of analyzing and what not. Learning to read music and some music theory is not a bad thing at all. As JBroll pointed out, it can open VAST doors that you may not even have considered or even thought about. Its honestly helped me to really dig deep into some very creative ideas and given an understanding as to an explanation of how things can work together. The reason why I say this is because, if you can a good ability to read music (hell, even a halfway decent ability), with some music theory knowledge, you can go down to your local university or library, and check out some sheet music.
6. Also on the sheet music. ANALYZE that stuff too. Modern classical and jazz holds a WEALTH of insanity that even our most extreme bands can’t hold a candle too. Seriously. The shit is crazy. Being able to read music can be like learning to read in general. The same feeling of going to the public library and picking out the newest bestseller and flipping thru the pages is the same to going to your local campus in the music section and picking out a string trio or quartet and reading thru it. Also, a lot of older classical, romantic, and baroque sheet music has become, or has been public domain for years…so, feel free to find it and see what you can get from it.
7. Also, playing with people better than you can also help. Finding someone who can add a little knowledge, or even motivate you to improve is a tremendous amount of help.
8. I guess the obligatory practice, practice, practice goes here too. A good piece of advice I’ve taken from a Jamey Aebersold book is to not bog yourself down too much on absorbing a lot of information at once. Thru out your day, when your either just walking, or watching tv, or eating, run thru bits of musical knowledge thru your head just to recap. I can’t recall how many I have myself completely zoned out while somebody was talking to me because I was running thru the construction of a certain scale, visualizing the notes in my fretboard, or running thru constructing minor, major, dominant, dominant7, and various other chord forms.
I’m sure I’ve missed some stuff, but a lot here have added other forms of useful information that can help anyone to improve.
Also, I’m with Metalhead28, legato is the Da Shazz!
I like the machinegunny stuff and the legato stuff, everything has its place.
Also, look up the Guitar Gym articles from Guitar Techniques - great stuff, probably in torrents and guitar sites all over the place.
Jeff
Also, look up the Guitar Gym articles from Guitar Techniques - great stuff, probably in torrents and guitar sites all over the place.
Jeff
SickBoy
Croatian Panzer division
I think he does it similarily to late Dimebag or Doug Aldrich, they both keep their fingers parallel to the frets 90% of time
As for improving on guitar, I'd most recommend learning to play a song of your choice by yourself WITHOUT any tabs.
The guitar videos I'd recommend are Rock Discipline for technique and any video by Frank Gambale for better understanding of various scales, chords and especially modal playing. He has a very interesting stamina and technique video called Chopbuilder. It lasts an hour and is conceived like an aerobic video, so popular in the 80s... Very funny and exhausting.
Most of all - please don't concentrate all on technique building and turn into another lifeless robot player that are in abundance all around. I think that less is more, there's no scale or arpeggio fast enough that can replace 3 right notes played at the right time.
The thumb behind or over the neck is a pointless debate IMO, do as it suits you, we're all different.
Vai and Gilbert often hang their left hand thumbs over the neck, as do many more guitarists.
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