So I went back to Innocence Faded again tonight, and I was again reminded of a pretty important fact about getting these types of Petrucci solos up to tempo...
Rather than just try to learn this solo, the better approach would be to zero in on just practicing string-skipping arpeggios. JP probably sat for hours and hours at a time, for days/weeks/months just doing them, and then he ended up incorporating them into a solo. (Or maybe he even wrote that particular riff around an etude that he came up with for practicing them, who knows?)
The point is, if I wanted to become a good baseball player, I wouldn't just try to swing a bat fast enough to hit a fastball. I'd workout, learn all the basic skills, do all the things that form a foundation first.
And once again I'm reminded that I so wish I'd done this stuff in my 20's, instead of just winging my way through the shit I used to play (and partying too much!).
I love learning his stuff. But if I'm being real, I'm never gonna play any DT songs with any other musicians. But I may very well someday get the itch to play with other people again. And if/when that day comes, I'd be a better, more well-rounded lead guitarist if I could whip out these kinds of riffs/techniques, and put them into something of my own. Or improvised solos.
I never even played sweep-picked arpeggios until I started learning his stuff. So to practice a sweep-picked, C major arpeggio, just because it exists in one of his solos, is kinda short-sighted.
I think it's time to change my approach a bit. Things I'd really like to get better/faster at:
Single-string licks
Arpeggios, of all types and modalities- major, minor, diminished..., legato & picked, string-skipping and swept
3 nps licks, picked, and legato
As a start.
And being able to string any of this together, within an actual chord progression. Or at least know where I want to go, to be able to play this kind of stuff over chord changes. Cuz knowing the board is definitely my weakest point.
