Anyone Here Still Working On Their Technique?

[GTR37]

Troy Grady has been a big help. There's a couple jazz guys on TGP that comes into every thread on Troy amd rags on him. "We knew all this decades ago"...

The Jazz guys are the worst
I had one teacher many years ago and he was adamant about keep your thumb solid on back of neck and never letting your wrist bend under the neck he would fly swat people
I Remember playing some lynch stuff with the wide stretches and trying to Keep my wrist behind the neck that I actually injured it

The Jazz rules don’t apply in rock and metal and no your not doing it wrong lol

 

[Alex Kenivel]

Or learn something completely different (like a Jazz standard) just for kicks.

The new band I'm trying for does a song called Me and Mr. Jones by Amy Winehouse that has a pretty jazzy arrangement that I'm not used to as primarily a blues/rock/metal player. The chords aren't too complicated for a blues guy but the progression is something I've heard but never played before. It's super fun to play just because it's new and different.

 

[mk5]

Always. Right now learning Rest In Peace. Everyone I see other than Nuno on YT plays that solo slightly wrong and in different ways; one wrong note or different position than the OG, etc. Doing the whole learn the solo slow and bring it up to speed bit.

Took a hiatus from playing for a bit but my 15 year old got the bug and plays every day and he dragged me back in. He’s the coolest now because he had been working on MoP well before Stranger Things, just in time —ha!

 

[TSJMajesty]

Always. Right now learning Rest In Peace.

That's one that I do also. And I've seen it a few different ways also, not only notes, but picked vs. legato. I don't care about positions, and if it sounds right, but I need to do some of it legato instead of picked, that's cool too. But I would like to know I've got the notes right. How are you getting the notes? Using tabs, or figuring it out on your own?

 

[mk5]

That's one that I do also. And I've seen it a few different ways also, not only notes, but picked vs. legato. I don't care about positions, and if it sounds right, but I need to do some of it legato instead of picked, that's cool too. But I would like to know I've got the notes right. How are you getting the notes? Using tabs, or figuring it out on your own?

Combination. Slowed down the music to 0.5 speed at the fast part in the solo and watched a Nuno YT lesson where he played it. Nuno actually has a couple small flubs in the video, but he looks quite baked too.

3:23 here:

 

[TSJMajesty]

I've got a few of my 16th-note triplet riffs up to about 100 bpm, and 1 or 2 up to recorded speed of about 112, my aim being able to play some of Nuno's & Petrucci's riffs, and maybe one day be able to at least flub through that fast lick in Bark At The Moon. But damn! I don't know if it'll ever come. It just blows me away that guys can even pick some of this shit at the mid-100's. That's pushing 900 notes a minute! I'm not looking to be a "shredder" per se, but I'd very much like to play some of these songs some day. Technical Difficulties is another that comes to mind.

Other than learning this shit at a young age, when your brain pathways are still very malleable, I don't know how these guys do it. The pick control, the accuracy..., it's fascinating to me. And not just speed for speed's sake either.

 

[Bruce]

I’m pushing 50. Anything I cant do I’ve either deliberately or subconsciously developed a workaround.

I am going all in on country guitar lately, though.

 

[KingsXJJ]

Always.

 

[AuntieDiluvian]

Oh, and one of the most eye-opening things about fast right-hand picking technique I picked up from Bernth was: "To run, you don't just walk faster. The mechanics of your stride actually change, and the same thing happens when you pick fast." So I'll play one note at a comfortable pace, and watch my wrist motion closely, then I try to use that same motion any time I start to play a lick faster than my comfort zone. I had, until I started paying attention to this, a tendency to tighten & tense up, and not use that same fluid motion with my wrist, and it made everything I was trying to do more difficult.

Yes, this is a place where I still struggle. I have plenty of "speed", but there is a transition tempo range where I have problems staying on time. Not fast enough for shred-picking, but too fast for regular single-note technique.

 

[Fireproof]

I need to be. Going through a real busy season at work, but need to find time to play/practice more.

 

[jay mitchell]

The Jazz guys are the worst

That has most definitely not been my experience with "the Jazz guys."

I had one teacher many years ago and he was adamant about keep your thumb solid on back of neck and never letting your wrist bend under the neck he would fly swat people

That's what I call a "bad teacher." Doesn't matter if he's a "jazz guy" or not.

The Jazz rules don’t apply in rock and metal

There are no "jazz rules." Watch Pat Martino, Pat Metheny, Kenny Burrell, Jim Hall, and Wes Montgomery. They are all "jazz guys," and they all have/had completely different techniques.

 

[KingsXJJ]

Know the Jazz Rules then Break Them To Find Your Voice • Jazzadvice

Music theory rules are everywhere in jazz improvisation education. Learn how to know the rules and then break the rules of jazz improvisation in your practice.

www.jazzadvice.com

 

[TSJMajesty]

Something I've been doing lately, a lot, along with working certain riffs I wanna learn up to speed...

I'll go backwards with all sorts of stuff that I do, and focus on the nuances, and the little details that make a riff sound really good, as opposed to just ok. Proper accents, clarity, accurate timing, grabbing notes in a lick that are outside my usual go-to's, etc. And not just speed.

Like, I've been working on this Am sweep that starts on the 12th fret A string, and goes across 5 strings and lands on B on the 12th fret B string. I figure that's a nice way to spice up a riff, so I'd like to get it fluid and clean. So I've been paying extra attention to muting the string I just played with the tip of whichever finger is fretting the next note, while also moving my palm across the strings so they stay muted once I fret the next note.

It's tricky, but damn it makes the sweep sound so sweet when it comes out clean. I guess I'm kind of in this place where I'm getting pretty satisfied with most of what I've been working on, but going back so I can see what I need to do to make things sound clearer/cleaner. I'm kinda picky in that regard. No pun intended. When it starts to get boring, then I'll know it's time to move on. But for now, I'm just really excited about doing this sort of stuff.

It feels like playing guitar is new to me again!

 

[DrewJD82]

So I just reversed my picking, starting on upstrokes instead of down-strokes, for all sorts of basic riff patterns, and it really helps. Even just picking a single note on one string, starting on an up stroke and accenting the beats, is an exercise I'll work into my practice routine. And I can tell it needs work, due to how unnatural it feels. But you need it to play triplets evenly, I feel.

Anybody else here working on their technique, and have any tips to share on how you zero in on the tricky areas?

I think I brought up the upstroke thing at some point in our year-long PM over at FAS; my uncle used to bust my balls because I started everything with an upstroke (single note stuff, not strumming sh*t) and kept telling me I really needed to start with downstrokes because ‘it might mess you up in the future’.

The only reason I can do that 3-note per string stuff with any speed is because I’m starting with an upstroke and alternate pick everything, when I change strings the pick is automatically moving in that direction anyway,

While I’m not focused on any particular technique right now, I haven’t been this in love with playing guitar since my teens. I’ll sit on the couch and play for an hour, put the guitar down for 10 minutes and next thing I know it’s back in my hands again. Just the physical feeling of playing has been really enjoyable lately. It’s these Strats and the tones I’m getting out of them, it’s really refreshing after so long of chugga chugga stuff.

I love that I can’t hack it on a Strat with single coils, I have to lay into the strings and milk them for all their worth because I’m not using the typical high gain tones I always have. Or if I’m playing fast and don’t directly fret the note, that note ain’t gonna sound because I don’t have a bunch of gain and a humbucker doing any lifting for me. This is definitely going to have a positive effect on how cleanly I play when I do go with the high gain stuff.

 

[FAKA!]

Hmmm... technique...

Palm mute, Check!

 

[TSJMajesty]

I think I brought up the upstroke thing at some point in our year-long PM over at FAS; my uncle used to bust my balls because I started everything with an upstroke (single note stuff, not strumming sh*t) and kept telling me I really needed to start with downstrokes because ‘it might mess you up in the future’.

The only reason I can do that 3-note per string stuff with any speed is because I’m starting with an upstroke and alternate pick everything, when I change strings the pick is automatically moving in that direction anyway,

While I’m not focused on any particular technique right now, I haven’t been this in love with playing guitar since my teens. I’ll sit on the couch and play for an hour, put the guitar down for 10 minutes and next thing I know it’s back in my hands again. Just the physical feeling of playing has been really enjoyable lately. It’s these Strats and the tones I’m getting out of them, it’s really refreshing after so long of chugga chugga stuff.

I love that I can’t hack it on a Strat with single coils, I have to lay into the strings and milk them for all their worth because I’m not using the typical high gain tones I always have. Or if I’m playing fast and don’t directly fret the note, that note ain’t gonna sound because I don’t have a bunch of gain and a humbucker doing any lifting for me. This is definitely going to have a positive effect on how cleanly I play when I do go with the high gain stuff.

You're so right about the high-gain stuff. Lately when I pick up the guitar, I'll play for about a half hour or so unplugged for that very reason.

I think I remember over at FAS someone asking whether to practice with a clean or high-gain tone. There were several responses for one or the other, but I've always felt you should do both. The clean will highlight where you need more focus on your fingering for the issues you mentioned, while the high-gain will show you, glaringly, where you're overlapping notes (e.g. when switching strings), due to the dissonance.

I find it really helps to focus on anything you tend to not favor. Like, if I do a simple 4-note lick, like a triplet on the down-beat, with the final note on the upbeat, 2 notes per string..., when I start on a downbeat, I can play it fast, just fine. But reverse it, starting on an upbeat, and it slows down considerably. But you really need both ways to be comfortable, in order to string them together into a longer riff.

 

[Los-D]

The clean will highlight where you need more focus on your fingering for the issues you mentioned, while the high-gain will show you, glaringly, where you're overlapping notes (e.g. when switching strings), due to the dissonance.

That’s money right there! Play clean or unplugged to actually develop proper technique; use high gain as well to make sure you’re not overlapping but also that your muting technique is up to par.

 

[Piing]

One of these days I should start seriously working on technique and discipline. I started the house from the roof, about 40 years ago, but the foundation has never been cemented

+1 on practicing clean, or edge-of-breakup or unplugged. And add a scalloped neck, so you will learn to apply the minimum necessary pressure over the strings (otherwise it goes out of tune, specially with chords). Your prospective tendonitis will appreciate that.

 

[GuitarDave]

I'm always working on technique in some fashion.

Strict alternate picking has always been a struggle for me. At a certain point I felt that chasing it was getting too much in the way of my overall musical progress. Now I use whatever combination of hybrid, alternate, economy. legato works.

 

[Stone]

Being a new player , yes everyday and i think guitar is a never ending learning journey