I thought something like this:






or perhaps this:








.... might be a little more appropriate, but Brian's got a pretty good metal face himself, doesn't he?

Hey hoops!!! I was hoping you could help me with a couple questions of my own. First of all:

When it comes to arpeggios and sweep picking ... I have been practicing that on and off for about 6 months now and I'm getting allright at it. Still not super quick but I will get there the more I practice. Right now I can play them pretty consistently at about 140-150 BPM (I think).

Anyways I wanted to ask if you had any ideas for practice exercisese that would help my sweep picking. Pretty much what I'm doing to practice now is doing chord progression runs ... up, down, all around. Trying to play all the shapes I can find and make. And learning to extend a certain arpeggio all over the fretboard so I can move around more easily. But I was just wondering if you had any ideas of your own that you teach your students?

When I was working on arpeggio's I would pick one shape. I would keep working on it until I got it. Then move onto another shape and do the same. I found working on a whole bunch at once slowed my progression down.

Wow you guys are totally into it........I suck Ive just never been one to sit and practice scales and stuff. Ive been playing for over 20 years and finally about 5 years ago I realized that I played a lot of pentatonic scales....had no idea I was doing it. I also discovered that Im partial to legato style picking....thanks for pointing that out Ritchie Kotzen! LOL

Seeing that this is a guitar thread, list your top 5 fave guitarists and why.

1. Joe Satriani - First off I really can relate to his music. He is tasteful and very melodic. He is probably my biggest influence.

2. Steve Vai - Another great guitarist. Very unique style and sound. Not afraid to go way out on a song.

3. Paul Gilbert - The man is fast and clean. I have learned alot of picking technique from his instructional videos. I like how I can hear his personallity in his music.

4. Vinnie Moore - I have listen to this guy for years. He has influence me in the neo classical vein of playing. I love his phrasing as well.

5. Edward Van Halen - The man that taught me how to tap. Watching him live I learned a great deal about harmonics and tapping.

I just started playing again and I have been putting allot of time in on my NEW accoustic guitar (Galveston "Cheapy"). Other than the obvious fact that I should get a better guitar any advice on adjusting the neck??

I tighten my truss rod so I can get better action down low for leads, than I get strings that hit the frets when I play cords up high.. Than if I loosen it to fix that problem I loose action down low again..

Any tips?

I would get a professional to set your acoustic up. The misconception is to adjust your rod to lower the action and that may not be the case.

Want to continue to thank you teachers for posting this stuff. It's a slow but sure process for me and I can see some progress. Thanks!

Good idea, hoops. Here are my favorites, off the top of my head:

1) Joe Satriani -- sweeeeeet guitar .... Mr. Satriani's versatility and
concept of "soul" or "spirit" are unprecedented. And he's got the rock
n roll sensibility ... he knows when to play, and when to let the space
breatheeeee ... unlike some guitarists *cough*yngwie*cough*

2) KK Downing/Glenn Tipton -- I can't always tell who's playing, so
I'll list them both as one. What a pair! These guys have got heavy
metal DOWN! They are virtuosos, but not show-offs ... and they really
know when a song needs that extra "flair".

3) Duane Allman -- talk about making Lucille SINNGGGG!!!

4) Angus Young -- For crying out loud, he's Angus Young!!

5) Vinnie Moore -- Here's a guy who can create great melody and really
take you to another place with his playing. Not to mention he RIPS when
he has the mind.

HEY HOOPY!! I got a question fer ya!



Something I've always adored is improvisation. I love improvisation in
the blues and jazz, the core of the music we listen to now ... but I've
always really loved listening to rippers like Richard Blackmore, Jeff
Beck, or Duane Allman take it away. Now THAT's rock and roll!!!

Here's my question: Something I've been doing lately is playing old
Metallica & Judas Priest songs (the slower ones) and playing long
modal jams over them. It's really fun! But I'm wondering if you have
any advice for learning to improvise with passion and play well. Any
advice for 'feeling' a chord progression or song and learning to be in
tune with the emotion of that piece. Kind of a vague question, perhaps
... but I'd love some advice in this area. I've been rocking quite
frequently lately and I'm looking to get even better.



EDIT: Another question relating to the one above would be about
variation. A wise old axeman in a guitar shop once told me that (after
hearing me play) that he was impressed I could play scales, triads, and
licks well ... but that I needed to work on balancing them better. What
advice would you have for learning to play with enough variation to
keep it interesting? I mean ... it's easy to run scales over a chord
progression, but I'm trying to learn how to let the notes really speak
through the music, kind of thing.

Practice exercises, ideas, advice comments welcome. Anyone can answer, not just hoops.

And lastly, great thread, guys!!

Felt inspired with my improvising tonight, so I thought I’d share some
“blues” licksI have learned with the rest of the class. Haha. I’m not
perfect, of course,but I ripped these licks right from some Guitar
World Blues and Rock DVDs andhave applied them to my playing pretty
well. I’m not sure if I’ll present them exactly as they appeared there,
as I haven’t viewed the DVD in a while, but these are some cool “hooks”
to use when improvising or warming up.

1)
|-8p5---8p5---8p5----8p5---|
|------5------5------5--------5-|
|---------------------------------|
|---------------------------------|
|---------------------------------|
|---------------------------------|
This ^^
is a really cool blues-based lick that is used in basically every form of
rock/metal as well. It’s presented here in the key of A-Minor. What’s cool
about this lick is that it’s actually a minor triad as well. The C note (
being the minor third, the E note (5th string, fret 5) being the
fifth, and the A note being the root (obviously). Play it out, you will
recognize its familiar sound. Frequently used at the height of a solo.

2)
|-8p5---5------8p5---5------8p5---5------8p5---5------|
|------5---5h8------5---5h8------5---5h8------5---5h8-|
|---------------------------------------------------------------|
|---------------------------------------------------------------|
|---------------------------------------------------------------|
|---------------------------------------------------------------|
A
variation on lick 1 above, adding in the minor 7thfor a bluesy lick.
This is also presented here in the key of A-Minor. This lick played
really fast reminds me of Kirk Hammet’s early playing with that one
band who’s name I can’t remember but starts with an “M”.

(I’m not as think as you drunk I am, officer!)

|------------------------------------------------|
|------------------------------------------------|
|-5^-------5^-------5^-------5^------------|
|----7p5------7p5------7p5------7p5-------|
|---------7---------7---------7----------7-----|
|------------------------------------------------|
Yowza!
This one looks hard, but it’s really easy. Not to mention sounds cool.
And rock/blues-ish. A little Johnny Winter you’ll hear when you play
this one. Bend the minor third one step up to a fourth really quick, and
release, do the pull off, hit the root, and repeat. Sounds complicated,
but sounds sooo coooool, and doesn’t take much effort to learn this
one. Try it yourself.



EDIT: made a few mistakes & corrected them ... but there's probably more ...

Hmpf. I was afraid you'd say that. I guess that this is just one of those things I'll have to get better at through practice.

I notice that I often need a source of inspiration before I really can
play freely. Whether it's just sitting back and listening to a Steve
Vai song, or scouring Youtube in search of a good Joe Satriani close-up
vid ... often my level of "inspiration" hinges on whether or not I have
been "inspired" on that particular day. Personally, I could play a riff
any day ... but if I don't feel it, I just drop it, because the soul
isn't behind it.

This is something that has frustrated me today. It's been one of those
days where I just can't get my fingers to go where I want them. And I
was doing so well yesterday!! Argh. Hopefully I'll play better tomorrow.

Do you other guitar players go through the same stuff? For me, I want
to play with passion ... but there's just those certain days that I
just can't hack it. I can play, but the soul is missing on those days,
it's a very abstract concept I know, but I think the concept of soul is
very important in music.



P.S: I blame it on my pick!!! haha

I think every musician goes through that, no matter where they are skill wise. Some of my best solos come from music that really inspires me. Some days I'm not even inspired to pick up the guitar.

Yeah, yesterday was like that fer me. Lame-o lame-o. But I've struck a few cool chords today, so all is well.

Peace and love, friends. And METAL. I mean. Peace, in the ANGRY sort of way. haha

btw, let's keep this thread going!

Anyone got any good new
exercises or stuffs they want to share?? POST POST POST! I love new
ideas. Personally, I've got a whole new regiment of warm ups that I'm
doing, and they are serving me well. I'm liking the jams I'm doing, and
looking forward to jamming with some budds soon when they can git their
crap straightened out ... ja ja

Top 5?

#5 - Ole Borud: Mainly he just wrote some riffs that killed me on the inside that they were so good.

#4 - Yngwie J. Malmsteen: He's a big influence for me when it comes to classical guitar. I try to copy some of his swept arpeggios and I've generally been getting better.

#3 - Kirk Hammett: I love him for his pentatonic minor usage. Really he found every way of using it almost. Big influence with that.

#2 - Alex Lifeson: Similar to the above, but yet he wrote some great modal leads that fit beautifully.

#1 - Mikael Akerfeldt: You just can't beat him. He can write great solos, knows how to make a song jazzy, and he's just friggin' brutal.

Honourable mention: Chuck Shuldiner: Too cool for school. He just wrote great death metal.

AHHHHHHH!!!! I broke a string.....so I took them all off (it was time) to clean my guitar thoroughly. Trying to put the new ones back on I kept breaking them!!!!!!!!! I've had the guy who sold me mine (I'm a "NOOB" - April is my start date) show me at least 2-3 times how to do it so now I'm out of strings until MONDAY!! Sundays (especially at work) are big practice days. I'm gonna lose hours!!!!!!!

Yes, I'm screaming....just had to get this off my chest! I see how the guy is changing my strings but when I do it it goes all wrong. It can't be that hard?!?!?! I hate changing strings and now I'll have to look retarded and go back again and ask him to show me how it's done.............