ug community ultimate-guitar com - read this sticky guide to

8/3/2019 UG Community Ultimate-Guitar Com - READ THIS STICKY Guide to

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READ THIS STICKY (guide to all techniques)

This is my pretty damn complete guide to how to develop ability in almost every area neededfor modern electric guitar playing. It should cover a lot of ground and take you all the wayfrom your first C chord to your last sweep-tapped 4 octave G#m9th arpeggio.

This sticky is still in many ways a work in progress, and I'm now re-instating the old"Collected Wisdom" section, so if you see a really good post, PM me a link and it mightend up in here!

Contents1 Introduction1.1 Breaking down Advanced Technique1.2 What is Technique?1.3 A note for beginners

2 Practice and Attitude2.1 Practicing to Improve Technique2.2 How to play FAST!

3 Important General Technique3.1 Posture3.2 Muting Unwanted Noise

4. Left Hand Technique4.1 Open Chords4.2 Barre Chords4.3 Lead guitar hammer-ons and pull-offs4.4 Bending notes4.5 Vibrato

5 Right Hand Technique5.1 Introduction5.2 Strumming

5.3 Alternate Picking5.4 Economy Picking5.5 Sweep picking5.6 Hybrid Picking5.7 Tapping5.8 Anchoring

6.1 Natural and Artificial Harmonics (includes Pinch Harmonics)

7.1 I have a problem not covered here7.2 I need sweep shapes!/Moar Lickz!!/Moar Exorcizes!!!7.3 Give it time!

7.4 Thanks for reading7.5 Guitar Pro files for FAQ tabs

8. Collected Wisdom8.1 Steven Seagull and why setting "Speed Goals" is a bad idea.__________________

>>> Technique


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Further theory with "Josh"...Lessons in Dublin?

More than 30 MP3s

03-22-2009, 04:32 PM #2

Freepowerv It's Back! :D

Join Date: Feb 2004Location: Dublin

1.1 Breaking down Advanced Technique

Why would an super technique guide go through the bare basics, like the C chordmentioned in the introduction?

Because almost every problem I have ever dealt with for someone online or with pupils inreal life has been down to correcting the basics.

If you have a problem with stretch legato licks (seems advanced) you actually probably havea problem with your left hand posture, or hammer ons and pull offs (basics).

If you have a problem with playing fast (seems advanced) you actually probably have aproblem with finger i ndependence and economy of motion (basics).

If you have a problem with sweep picking (seems advanced) you actually probably have aproblem with muting unwanted strings (basics).

I could go on all day, but it would be more helpful to keep this in mind whenever you have aproblem, and examine your basic technique now and every time you think you have anadvanced problem.

(and if you want to benefit from this FAQ, I recommend you stop reading at the end of thissentence, play for a little while, and pay close attention to how you do things you think aresimple fretting a single note, lifting a single finger, and strumming a chord.)

1.2 What is Technique?

Musical technique is composed of the physical actions required to produce sound from yourinstrument.

Someone with poor technique has a physical approach to an instrument that leads to greateffort with little result, poor tone (as in the tone that comes from your fingers, not your

amp), limited note choice, risk of injury, and so on.

Someone with great technique makes very little effort, and can produce a huge array of licksand riffs at will, each sounding great they have control and ability, meaning that when theychoose to create a sound, it comes out perfectly.

Thats a lot more than playing fast, or playing well its also about having an easy time playingand staying safe, no matter what level you play at. And sounding much better!

1.3 A Note for Beginners

This stuff way can seem waaaaaaaaay over your head, and it may even spoil your fun to get sointo the mechanics of guitar so soon. Id recommend you read this, but remember tocontinue playing as well as practicing, and dont worry if you cant do half the stuff here.People forget how hard being a beginner is and will put you down at every opportunity. Have

some fun!

When you want to improve your technique, come here. When you want to learn how tocreate lots of cool sounds with melodies or harmonies, check out the theory guides on thissite and on my youtube profile. When you want to give your head a break, just play.__________________

>>> Technique


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Further theory with "Josh"...

Lessons in Dublin?More than 30 MP3s

03-22-2009, 04:34 PM #3



2.1 Practicing to Improve Technique

When people try to play difficult things, especially when they try to play them fast, they aremaking a lot of physical effort. Let me demonstrate why this is bad with what Ill call aReverse Goodness Extrapolation Example. Basically, I want you to do the following as anexample of playing as badly as possible, and then imagine the opposite.

Play a chord you know (if you dont know any, make up something difficult that uses all 4fingers of the left hand).

Now, move your left arm somewhere more awkward, so you cant hear all the notes cleanly.

Now, press down as hard as you can with your fingers. (within reason, please)

Now, tense up your right arm as much as you can and then try to strum this chord.

If you havent actually got your guitar here and are doing this, go and do it or bring the guitarhere and do it.

Okay, now, that felt bad, didnt it? Could you imagine trying to play guitar like this? How badwould it sound, and how quickly would you injure yourself? Can you imagine how easy itwould be to play guitar if you could achieve the perfect opposite of what you just did?

So, to get an idea of what that is like, you need to first of all get as comfortable as you can,

then press your fingers down as lightly as you can on the fretboard (and still get a cleansound)

and then take a deep breath and make sure everything is relaxed and loose and feels good

and then slowly, in a controlled and gentle movement, strum the strings with your righthand.

If youve done all this (as in, not just thought about it and considered I may have a point),youve probably got a good idea of what Im getting at.

2.2 How to play FAST!

What you want to cultivate is the ability to stay this relaxed at all times (read section 2.1those who skipped ahead ), and learn to make every movement as flawless as possible bearin mind, these two combine to make ones playing fast, so dont ask

How do I play faster?

Ask

How do I make these motions more relaxed and economical?

In everything you practice you want to make your motions as small as possible and as relaxedas possible (providing it sounds good! Theres no point practicing incredibly small wimpysounding picking motions all youll end up with is wimpy sounding blur-fast picking).

Those concepts are universal not only do they apply to all guitar technique, but alltechnique for all instruments (that Im aware of!). (and to fencing, which I did for a bit)

Finally, your technique may be very good when practicing slowly, but still poor when playingfast. You must be consistent at all tempos or your body learns a different set of rules foreach! Bring up the tempo slowly and see i f you can find where/if you change your playing

UG Community @ Ultimate-Guitar.Com - READ THIS STI... http://www.ultimate-guitar.com/forum/showthread

of 27 Monday, 13 February, 2012 05:03


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styles, and then correct it.When you practice slow enough (and Im talking about LESS THAN 25BPM), youll find you cankeep track of good posture, clean playing and economy of motion and then when youspeed up, your play goes back to the same old crap methods you had. Thats because youneed to bring up the tempo very very slowly what tempo can you play perfectly at? Practiceat that until you can play a little faster equally well, and then continue. This process can takeweeks between stages, so dont get frustrated when it does take a long time.

The good news is that what youre practicing slow still improves your playing (you know,when you arent practicing!) technique and speed. Its just that slow is the most effective wayto practice!

The slow practice builds up muscle memory, which means that with enough repetitionsthey can reproduce the motions youve put them through and if those motions are perfect,then youre going to be playing extremely well. This muscle memory is whats really doingthe physical side of playing in anyone with any technical ability their mind is coming up withthe notes, and then their fingers can sort out how to play them and play them by themselves!

Check out this vid if your prefer learning from videos - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nNhhyrnINIU__________________

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, .

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kIEn...F73CEC9&index=2

Excellent article here - http://www.ultimate-guitar.com/colu...e_-_muting.html__________________

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, , .

This teaches your body to do just that hesitate, then put the fingers down one by one.Considering youre planning to change between chord strums, thats quite a feat. So, usingwhat we learnt from the previous article/thread we should first familiarize ourselves withthe fingerings for the chords. You wouldnt believe how much easier it i s for you to practicechords when you know them. First port of call, memorize the chords.

You shouldnt have to look up the tabs if you want to concentrate on technique, so makesure, once again that you DO this a lot of pupils Ive had in real life cant be bothered to

learn chords, and somehow expect to be able to play. Suits me, I can get a years wages fromone lesson but youre getting this free, so Id appreciate you follow my lead and make theeffort, eh?

Also, it helps to fret each note just before the actual fret (the metal bit on the neck), and tryto keep your fingers curved and not bent back on themselves.

TAKE IT SLOW!

One of your big problems will be the G chord, if youre a beginner. If the stretch is too much(for the note on the high E string), try adjusting your posture read the earlier section andcheck out my vid.

Alright, remember I said to lift all your fingers, make the right shape and plonk em down in

the right place? Well, theres a few exceptions to this as well. Changing from the alternate Gchord to the D chord, for example

Code:

E||--3----2----||B||--3----3----||G||--0----2----||D||--0----0----||A||--2---------||E||--3---------||

There, it makes sense to keep your ring finger down on the 3rd fret, second string (highestpitch string is the 1st string, not the lowest, remember it well, kiddies!). But the principle isthe same. You dont want to move fingers one at a time, you want to take the fingers thatmove OFF the G chord at the same time, and have them land ON the D chord at the sametime. The third finger doesnt move, and thats the only difference.

Okay, so have we got an idea about open chords? Great!

4.2 Barre ChordsNext barre chords. These are the ultimate wall of death for guitarists. You either conquerthese and some basic theory and can then play in every key, all across the neck with a hugevariety of chordsor you can sit on E A D G C open chords. Your choice. (okay, there are more

open chords than that, but the point stands)

A barre chord uses a technique called barring. This chord change for example

Code:

E||--0----2----||B||--0----2----||G||--1----3----||D||--2----4----||




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A||--2----4----||E||--0----2----||

Is an E to an F#. Pretty simply, its E, and then a chord exactly a whole tone up in pitch. To getthat, we move all the notes in the chord up a whole tone 2 frets. Trying to finger the secondchord as you would a open chord (one finger for every fretted note) is pretty difficult if youdont have 6 very flexible fingers. I dont, so I learned to play barre chords.

What you do, is you lay your index finger along the second fret, pressing down enough (andin the right places) to get the notes on the 2nd fret of the E, B and low E strings to sound out.Then you put your 3rd finger on the 4th fret 5th string, your 4th finger 4th fret 4th string,and your 2nd finger 3rd fret 3rd string.

Play the chord one string at a time and see how it sounds. The trouble is getting the notesyoure barring to sound out, so a few tips to help

Your thumb needs to be behind the neck, supporting your fingers.Posture!Use a bit of the side of your index, not just the pad, as the finger is bonier there and applies

pressure better.

Anyway, as you journey through chords, you will find that some require more barres than justone, such as this monster

Code:

E||--12----||B||--12----||G||--9-----||D||--9-----||A||--9-----||E||--7-----||

These essentially just use the same techniques for individual fingers. Good luck!__________________

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o n a e: eLocation: Dublin

We produce notes without picking using two techniques.

A) The hammer-on. This is where the finger comes down on a string with enough force toeither start a note (this is called a hammer on from nowhere) or to keep the string vibratingbut at a new note. To put this into practice, fret the 5th fret of your high E string. Pick it, andbring your 3rd finger down on the 7th hard enough for a note to come out and sound clearly.Obviously, you dont want to take a swipe at it from an inch away, so work on a small,powerful movement. Finger strength and good fretting (just a bit behind the actual metalfret) will reduce the effort you need to make with practice. To try a hammer on from

nowhere, try fretting the 5th fret of the high E again and picking it, but this time bringing the3rd finger down on the 7th fret of the B string, hard enough to sound out clearly. Obviously,this is a fair bit harder, so its a bit more advanced.

B) The pull off. Not a hammeron in reverse! Go back to our first hammeron example and playit again. Now pick the 7th fret, and then remove your finger while leaving the 5th fret frettedby your first finger. Not enough volume, right? So what you do is you slightly pluck thestring with a slight pull as you come off the string (hence, a pull off ). This allows you todescend lines without picking and with consistent volume. Watch out that the motion youmake isnt too big, or you can actually pluck strings, which can be embarrassing if theyre thewrong ones!

For both of these it helps to have strong fingers with good calluses and to use the tip of thefingers (except the index finger, which remains fairly flat to mute unwanted strings).

Great! With a combination of these two techniques, (three counting the hammer-on from

nowhere) should only have to pick the first note on every string.

Now, one of the most common devices in legato is the roll. Thats where you just get a rowof notes on a string, go up them and then down them or vice versa and thats a roll ofnotes. This works absolutely great with any kind of simple scale shape, like the 3 note perstring ones.

Heres a 3nps scale.

Code:

E||---------------------------------7-9-10-||B||--------------------------7-9-10--------||G||--------------------6-7-9---------------||

D||--------------6-7-9---------------------||A||--------5-7-9---------------------------||E||--5-7-9---------------------------------||

Thats A major, and you want to play it all legato for this lesson.

Now, heres a way of rolling all the way through the scale.

Code:

E||------------------------------------------|-------------10-9-7-9-10-||B||------------------------------------------|--7-9-10-9-7-------------||G||--------------------------------9-7-6-7-9-|-------------------------||D||----------------------6-7-9-7-6-----------|-------------------------||A||------------9-7-5-7-9---------------------|-------------------------||E||--5-7-9-7-5-------------------------------|-------------------------||




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As you can see, with very little imagination at all, we can get a fluid, impressive legato sound(one that I constantly overuse, if you listen to my improvs on youtube). Rolls also make forodd note groupings. If you play each strings worth of notes to a single metronome click(evenly spaced, obviously!) youll get groupings of 5. This kind of thing is a very simple buteffective exercise for basic legato technique and rolls in particular.

Heres a lick in 11s thats slightly more subtle about rolls but theyre there! Once again, alllegato, one picked note per string, and consistent volume. This ones in G major.

Code:

-----------------------------------------------------7-8-10-8-7s8-10-12-15----||----------------------------------------------7-8-10--------------------------||------------------------------4-5-7-5-4s5-7-9---------------------------------||------------------------4-5-7-------------------------------------------------||--------2-3-5-3-2s3-5-7-------------------------------------------------------||--2-3-5-----------------------------------------------------------------------||

For those who havent noticed, all it is is a very simple idea moved up twice. If you take thefirst 11 notes and move them up an octave, youve got a lick thats twice as long without anybrain power being used at all.

Anyway, the main technical problem with this is keeping consistent volume on the longstring of notes on the 1st, 3rd and 5th strings. You need to slide - to fret a note, keep thepressure even, and just slide it up to the notated fret from the one before. An importantsingle string legato weapon!

Heres a descending lick thats pretty similar, in 13s.

Code:

--12-10-8-10-12-7-8-10-8-7-----------------------------------------------------------------|------||---------------------------10-8-7----------------------------------------------------------|------||----------------------------------9-7-5-7-9-4-5-7-5-4--------------------------------------|------||------------------------------------------------------7-5-4--------------------------------|------||------------------------------------------------------------7-5-3-5-7-2-3-5-3-2------------|------||--------------------------------------------------------------------------------5-3-2-3----|------||

Okay, thosell all be in a guitar pro file. For the li cks in 11s and 13s, its pretty hard to turndown the tempo slow enough to practice, so dont be embarrassed if you have to turn itdown to 20bpm or similar.

Those are some pretty simple licks they ARE fast, they ARE nifty and they cover a lot of theneck but theyre simple ideas, played simply. Now were going to start adding hammeronsfrom nowhere. This lick took me a good day to get up to quarter notes (one note per click) at60bpm, and that was about 4 or 5 hours of practice. (NB, before practicing at a tempo, I madesure I had every individual bit of this lick sorted. Then I started playing one note per FOURclicks at 40bpm. Thats what I mean by starting slow.)




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Code:

--10h12p8h10----8-------------------------------------------------|----------------------------||-------------12t--10h12p8h10----8---------------------------------|----------------------------||-----------------------------12t--10h12p9h10----9-----------------|----------------------------||---------------------------------------------12t--10h12p9h10----9-|----------------------------||-------------------------------------------------------------12t--|--10h12p8h10----8-----------||------------------------------------------------------------------|-------------12t--10h12p8---||

Shawn Lane fans will recognize this. Anyway, follow the directions stringently. A t meansto use a hammeron from nowhere I cant find a guitar pro symbol for it so youll have torealize that I mean a left hand tap and not a right hand one. Believe it or not, its possible toplay this lick (quite easily) without picking a single note. And that includes the very first. Thisis a C major scale in a fingering designed for simple fingering (not an elegant sentence, butits true).

Heres a cool little fact for you. All your fingers do there is hammeron in this order 124 124

124 124 124 124 124. This super-complex death lick is nothing more than 3 fingershammering on. Its not much physically harder than hammering on across one string its justa new co-ordination for you.

There we go. Not too hard, eh? Probably not, if you dont pay attention to the tone of thenotes. Force yourself to get clean, consistent notes.

Similarly, this can be played without picking any notes although its easier to!

Code:

Code:

------8-----------10------------12---------------13----------|-----||--5-6---6-5---6-8----8-6---8-10----10-8----10-12----12-10----|--13-||------------7------------9--------------10----------------12-|-----||-------------------------------------------------------------|-----||-------------------------------------------------------------|-----||-------------------------------------------------------------|-----||

And finally, heres a novelty lick do you remember that simple rolled A major scale fromearlier? Heres a bastardized terror version.

Code:

------------------------------------------|---------------------------------------|---||------------------------------------------|--------------------------10-----------|---||------------------------------------------|------9---------6-----6-7----7-6-7-9---|---||--------------------------9---------6-----|--6-7---7-6-9-7---7-9------------------|---||------9---------5-----5-7---7-5-9-7---7-9-|---------------------------------------|---||--5-7---7-5-9-7---7-9---------------------|---------------------------------------|---||


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Having looked at all these ridiculous licks, you want strength and stamina for obviousreasons, and probably speed. Lets work on a few general tips.

For most lead guitar, you want to have your fingers stay as close to the frets as possible thismeans they have to travel less distance to get the notes you want. Makes sense if you wantto play either quickly, easily, or both!

Mute unwanted noise as detailed above!__________________

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Unfortunately, like so many romantic notions about guitar playing, this simply isnt true. Theability to express yourself musically, including the technique of vibrato, is down to practiceand visualisation.

Imagine an amazing guitar solo. You probably picture the notes with a wide, confidentvibrato. Do you play like that? Probably not, but you can start making progress today.

Get your guitar, play a lick, end it with a vibrato note. Do you vibrato slowly or quickly? Doesyou use only a small change in pitch - narrow vibrato? Or a large one wide vibrato ?

Okay, you probably need to slow down and widen your vibrato, as well as take control of itstiming.

Take a note, and bend it up a semitone (using the same technique as detailed in the sectionon bending), then down again, 3 times. Do this to a metronome at 60bm, bending up on theclick, and down on the click, with the pitch changing smoothly in between. That sounds a lotmore controlled, doesnt it? Control is the beginning of confidence, and a confident vibratois great.

Now widen it. See if you can perform a tone-wide vibrato. A tone and a half, perhaps?

A mid tempo vibrato of about a tone sounds great in rock.

If you want a more subtle vibrato, you can use the classical vibrato method withoutbending the string up or down, gently push it towards the bridge and then the nut withyour fingers. This creates a much more gentle vibrato, suitable for quiet passages or gentlergenres.

Theres also extreme whammy vibrato I think thats self explanatory.

Finally, Greg Howe and a few others actually slide their fingers between the fret above andbelow the original note, creating a fast, wide, and interesting vibrato effect.

From these examples, and from your own experimentation and practice, you can developyour vibrato into a thing of beauty. Have fun!__________________

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Secondly, we want it to do wonderful things for us in terms of dynamics and tone colour. Wecan hold the same chord or fret the same sequence on the left hand, but magically transformthe sound of every single note by treating it differently with the right hand.

Thirdly, we want flexibility. We should be able to pick any string (or strum any chord) fluentlyand with confidence simply because it sounds good is reason enough.

If your picking technique has all of the above, feel free to ignore the rest of the lesson. I

doubt it though.

I havent mentioned speed here. Thats because speed comes when you have goodtechnique. Simple!

Why cant I pick this string crossing line as fast as this single string line?Well, i f you were more flexible

Why does my picking turn to textureless mush at 160bpm?Well, probably because you havent concentrated on accents and attack

Why cant I pick at 150bpm, but I can at 220?Because the speed covers your lack of solid timing and hand synchronisation

You see?

5.2 Strumming

Anyway, because fools rush in no insane picking licks yet. You want to be able to play greatrhythm guitar as well, right? Well, lets look at a few simple things that you need to be able todo in most styles of rhythm guitar, and then well work on the 3 points.

Choose a chord, a 6 string chord and make it an easy one at that.

Righty, now, getcher metronome you HAVE one, right? Even if its justhttp://www.metronomeonline.com/ ? and set it at a comfy tempo (no faster than 100bpm) .Now, against that beat, strum the whole chord, cleanly, in every note division from wholenotes (one strum every 4 clicks) to 32nd notes thats 8 strums to the beat, all evenly spaced.

Now, thats very easily said, very difficultly done. (where are the grammar police when youneed them?)

Lets actually DO this it does your playing no good to listen to me telling you what to do, itbenefits you when you DO it. So, guitar in hand, whole notes, in 1, 2, 3, 4

Strum 2 3 4Strum 2 3 4Strum 2 3 4

There, that wasnt too hard, was it?

Now, half notes

Strum 2 Strum 4Strum 2 Strum 4

Strum 2 Strum 4

Pretty easy again

Now quarter notes

Strum strum strum strum (hmmm, this isnt the best notation for this)

S---S---S---S---1 2 3 4




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Strum on the S btw.

Bored yet? Good, that means youre finding this easy.

Eighth notes

S-S-S-S-S-S-S-S-1 2 3 4

16ths

SSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS1 2 3 4

Okay, now, Ill bet youve noticed two things now

First, that I skipped triplets, second, that youre probably doing every other strum for 8th and16th notes using an upstroke. Did I tell you to do that? No. But you did anyway, because itmakes sense.

Yes, i t does. But I ll bet you arent doing any of the following

Strumming the chords with short, aggressive strokes, and then muting them.Playing the first chord with an upstroke.Playing all the slower note divisions (whatever your tempo) in a bright ska upstroke style.

Taking a lei surely strum that sounds individual notes.Using your dynamic range from one (so quiet you can hardly hear it as quiet as you canphysically play it) to TEN (AS HARD AS YOU CAN HIT THAT PLANK!).Exaggerating the accented chords (the ones on the beat!)

Its no wonder most people sound boring at slow tempos with simple chords you dont haveto, its just that people dont pay attention to tone, dynamics and clarity on simple stuff likethis indeed, where its most effective.

And dont just leave it at my examples SWAP between them. Play one chord loud and sharpas hell, the next chord quiet and leisurely.

Have I made my point?

Okay, triplets are our first odd number to a single beat. These will fry your head, because

(moving from 8th to triplet to 16th) count

1 and 2 and 3 and 4 and1 e and 2 e and 3 e and 4 e and1 e and uh 2 e and uh 3 e and uh 4 e and uh

Try it, its tricky. Count it out loud so you can hear yourself. Dont mentally sound it and thenthink youre a percussion master because you probably arent and youre probably quite badat this. Do it.

The next thing on the agenda is whether to strum

UP down up DOWN up down and so on (which can be tricky if you cant accent your upstrokes)

Or

DOWN up down DOWN up down (which means restarting)

Try both and learn em both.

Alright, you can do all the other note divisions yourself, cant you? Basically, the wheat will,the chaff wont.

Okay, if youve been following, Ive been addressing point one (timekeeping) and point 2(control of note quality) but not 3 (flexibility).




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, , ,while maintaining a firm control of tone and dynamics. A mammoth task by any standards.Aim that high and work hard and even if you fail youll be playing better than about 99% ofguitarists.

Note I havent been sadistic enough to introduce lots of odd time signatures thats MTsterritory.Although here are some technique pointers

Strumming, as everything else, should be loose.

Youll find this pretty hard if you anchor, as you need to be able to strum 6 string chordsquickly.Let the motion come from a loose arm, loose wrist and loose shoulder.Dont dig in too much with the pick, obviously its going to be hard if you do.Stay loose, homeslice.Dont stop strumming when you have a rest among lots of fast chords just dont hit thestrings! If you play funk, you know what Im talking about.Ffs, stay loose.__________________

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plausible itll be the upstroke) until its not weak. Run through your picking mega licksstarting on the opposite pickstroke, so that you learn them accenting on the weak stroke,crossing strings in the manner youre weakest And voila, chunky, consistent pickstrokes!

Most of the motion should come from the wrist - don't worry about have no elbowmovement, but the all the smaller movements (and almost all your movements should besmall) should be from the wrist.

Flexibility! Because alternate picking is so simple, people tend to underestimate how manylines there are that your hand has to be able to play. You need to be able to do more than runscales you need to hop strings, play loud or quiet, dig in or barely touch, create artificialharmonix ( lawl! ), play with swing or play straight and importantly, be able to do ALL OF THEABOVE WITHOUT THINKING!If youre looking at your right hand mid run, youre gonna **** it up. Youll have enough to dowatching your left hand, where theres a lot more to keep track of visually!

5.4 Economy Picking

Economy picking is the same as alternate picking, but with a single i mportant difference.

If you alternate pick a 3 note-per-string scale from your lowest string, for the 3rd and 4thnotes, you need to perform a downstroke on the low E and then an upstroke on the A. Manypeople find this awkward and unnatural at first.

If you economy pick the same run, youd continue the downstroke from the 6th string andpick through it and the A string in one fluid motion (like a small version of sweep picking,more on that later). This is quite handy, because it also means that you can use the same trickagain between the A and D, and then D and G and so on, as long as youre playing an oddnumber of notes on each string.

People would have you believe that this makes economy picking better than alternatepicking.

Personally, I believe that its one pickstroke extra to the arsenal of a good player.

It seems from my brief explanation that it would be

More efficient (and hence faster)

Smoother sounding

Good for beginners

Let me address those points one by one

Efficient? Yes! For that pickstroke, it is easier. However, you will need to alternate pickbetween string cross ings that cannot be economy picked, and you will need to alternate pickanything on a single string (you cannot sweep between 2 consecutive notes on a singlestring). In short, to get the most out of this system, you need to be able to visualisefingerings for whatever you want to play that can be picked using as many swept pickstrokesas possible, like Frank Gambale (go Google and learn!).

So, much more efficient for about a third of your pickstrokes, if you have godly fingerboard

knowledge. Or you can obviously legato notes that fall on inconvenient pickstrokes as domany alternate pickers, a moot point, tbh.

Smoother sounding? Yes! Alternate picking sounds snappier and heavier. I like to have a bitof both at my disposal, some people hate one sounds or the other.

Good for beginners? I would say no. Its hard for beginners to control the eco pickstrokeproperly and with timing and consistency.

Another simple point is that as an eco picker (a pure eco picker) you are slave to stringchanges. As a pure alternate picker you are slave to the beat. Which is better for a beginner?




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na y, e o po n ou a ne er eco or a p c ers n ou eac p c s ro e, eac stotally natural if practiced correctly a point to bear in mind if you find yourselfexperimenting with the other style and struggling it takes time for it to feel natural, justlike holding a big plank and running your fingers over taut cheesewire.__________________

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Which brings me onto something that severely irritates me most people when sweepingsimply sweep shapes, with no understanding of where they come from or why. Constantlypeople ask for Sweep scales or sweep arpeggios - but if you can't form these yourself youreally should not be attempting to learn a technique designed to play them as fast aspossible. If you do not understand how arpeggios work and how to find them on thefingerboard then you have much bigger problems than learning to sweep pick!

Try this excellent video lesson for further instruction - http://www.ultimate-guitar.tv/guita...ep_picking.html

5.6 Hybrid Picking

Quite simply, the most useful thing after having got your traditional guitar technique downis "Hybrid Picking". It's a very simple idea - you see those 3 fingers on your right hand thataren't holding a pick? Well, now you're going to use them!

The first thing this allows you do to is arpeggiate chords much more easily. Whereas beforeone would have had to pick them by moving the whole hand around, now you can just take iteasy and let your fingers do the work. The traditional notation is P I M A - thumb, index,middle and ring, respectively. However, P and I are busy holding a pick, so you'll be usingmostly M and A. You can also incorporate your pinky as you progress, but we'll build from asimple foundation. Pick this down up M, down up M Try to keep the different notesconsistent in volume and attack.

Code:

E||----------------------|---------------------|----------------------|B||------------1p---0----|------------0--------|------------0h---1----|G||----------------------|---------------------|----------------------|D||-------2--------------|-------2-------------|-------2--------------|A||--3-------------------|--2------------------|--0-------------------|E||----------------------|---------------------|----------------------|

Or you can finally do what classical, jazz and country guitarists can do with their right hands -play a bassline and chords simultaneously. Here's a really easy example - start checking outclassical guitar for some fingerbreakers. Use the pick for the notes on the E and A string, andthe 3 right hand fingers to pluck the rest.

Code:

--------------------------|--------------------------|-----1-----1-----1-----1--|-----1-----1--------------|-----0-----0-----0-----0--|-----0-----0--------------|-----2-----2-----2-----2--|-----2-----2--------------|--3-----------3-----------|--3-----------3-----0--2--|--------3-----------3-----|--------3--------3--------|

Now, you can also use it to play harmonised lines with much greater ease - for example,here's the o enin of the Ru rats theme. The lower note is la ed with ick the hi her with




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middle.

Code:

------------------------|-----------------------|------------------------|-----------------------|------------------------|--2--------------------|-----------2---4---5----|--4----4--5---4---2----|

--2--3--5--3---5---7----|-------5--7---5---3----|--3--5--7---------------|-----------------------|

Okay, so between those we already have a persuasive argument for using hybrid picking.Here's another.

Code:

--------------------------|--------------------------|

--------------------------|-----------------7-----9--|-----7-----9--------------|--7-----7-----7-----7-----|

Now, imagine (or try) to play it with a pick. Any lick like this is so much easier with hybridpicking that it's funny.

Also, when you try and play odd note groupings, or 2 note per string scales, it makes thingsmuch easier to involve your right hand fingers. This is how I personally would pick somedescending 5s in the pentatonic scale M, pulloff, up, pulloff, down, although I dont thinkthats the only way to do it.

Code:

--15p12----------12-------------------------------------------|--------15p12-------15p12-------15p12----------12-------------|--------------14----------14p12-------14p12-------14p12-------|--------------------------------------------14----------14p12h|--------------------------------------------------------------|--------------------------------------------------------------|

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03-22-2009, 05:04 PM #11


Join Date: Feb 2004

Location: Dublin

5.7 Tapping

Arguably more useful than Hybrid Picking in genres like metal and shred, it's a classic leadguitar sound popularized by Van Halen. Basically, it once again involves using your right handfor something other than ordinary picking. In this case, you'll be usi ng it to play legato.

If you read the earlier section on legato - basically, just apply that to your right hand andyou're sorted! You "hammer on" by "tapping" a right hand finger down on to a fret to soundthe note (and holding it to sustain the note!), and you "pull off" by slightly plucking the noteup or down and removing your finger. Some tappers pull-off up, some pull-off down. The twobest tappers I've ever seen in person are both 8 finger tapping gods and one pulls off up andthe other pulls off down. In my limited experience, I'd recommend pulling off up as it usesthe natural strength of the grip of your hand.

For most people, it makes sense to use your middle finger to tap, because that means youcan keep hold of your pick.

Try the following example, slowly. Sustain the notes you tap - don't jab at it! Imagine thatyou're just extending the legato technique you already have to your right hand includingconsistent tone and volume.

Code:

--12p-8p-5--12p-8p-5--12p-8p-5--12p-8p-5--|------------------------------------------|------------------------------------------|------------------------------------------|------------------------------------------|------------------------------------------|

...That includes sl ides, by the way.

Code:

-5h-8h-12/13/12p-8p-5h-8h-12/13/12p-8p-5h-8h-12/13/12p-8p-

Okay, here's a lick I love, using two fingers to tap.

Code:

--17-12-10-19-15-10-------------------------------------------------------|--------------------17-12-10-19-15-10-------------------------------------|--------------------------------------17-12-10-19-15-10-------------------|--------------------------------------------------------17-12-10-19-15-10-|--------------------------------------------------------------------------|--------------------------------------------------------------------------|




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Alright then, here's an example of how you can play arpeggios at scary speed with tapping. Istrongly recommend you check out Guthrie Govan, one of the best guitarists alive.

Code:

-------------------------------------20~---|-------------------------13-17-20-24-------|

-------------------------------------------|-------------10-14-17-21-------------------|-------------------------------------------|--8-12-15-19-------------------------------|

Finally, here's an atonal Buckethead/Thorendal style lick. This sounds killer as long as youcan nail it cleanly.

Code:

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------9-12-15-18-15-12-9--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------18-15-12-9-12-15-18--------------------18-15-12-9-11-12-11-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------9-12-15-18-15-12-9------------------------------------------------------------

So, that's really it. Theres an excellent bunch of exercises in the Ultimate Guitar ProExercises Thread for two handed tapping, including some easy ones that sound nice.

__________________ >>> Technique


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03-22-2009, 05:06 PM #13



6 Harmonics6.1 Natural, Artificial and Pinch

Watch these lessons.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fa_D...feature=channelhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?gl=IE&...Z0&feature=user__________________

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eep prac c ng en you ee e youre go ng now ere you are s u ng up musc ememory and improving gradually. It takes time to show up, and sometimes after a day off itllall hit you at once. Itll feel great but it wont happen if you binge and starve practice.

7.4 Thanks for reading!

Finally, thanks for reading and best of luck to you all with your playing. Id like to dedicate thisto the late great Shawn Lane, a guitarist that showed me how possible the impossible was,and how beautiful it sounded.

7.5 Guitar Pro tabs

(actually all available in exercises sticky!)__________________

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a ou . e pro em s peop e are o sesse w measur ng ngs n some emp r caway, and because you can attach a number to speed that's what people fixate on. Inreality if you worry about the things that really matter, the things that you actuallyhave control over and can influence, then speed will take care of itself.

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02-02-2010, 03:02 PM #17



8.3 Isidora on motivation and fear of inadequacy

Quote:

Originally Posted by IsidoraYou don\'t sound like you\'ve lost motivation to me at all. Sounds to me like you\'regetting scared. Not that I\'m calling you a coward or anything. What you\'re feelingis totally normal. You\'re in the habit of comparing your skills to that of giants likeSatch and Vai, and every time you try to duplicate what they do, you fall flat on youra**. You realize you can\'t compare to your idols, and knowing that makes you feellike sh!t. Now every time you so much as look at your guitar all you can think about ishow inadequate you are. This isn\'t a sign that you lack motivation. Anyone wouldhave trouble practicing if merely looking at their axe caused them misery. Yourproblem is that you\'re worried that you\'re stuck. You\'re worried that you\'ll neverbe able to make the kind of improvements your want to. You\'re afraid that you\'llalways be right where you are now, looking up at your heroes and thinking abouthow far below them you are. You\'re afraid of wasting hours of your time and a lot ofeffort and years later being no better than you are now. These are all normal fears,and I\'m sure 90% of the people on UG have had them. I know I certainly have.

What you\'ve got to do is find confidence in your ability to improve. If you canconvince yourself that your hard work is paying off, that you are in fact gettingbetter, you\'ll stop being so afraid. I suggest you start keeping track of your progressin some way. Identify some particular skill that you know you need to work on and

focus on improving that. Set aside some time everyday to do exercises designed toimprove that particular skill. And, write down an assessment of how well the practicewent. Keep a notebook of these daily assessments, so you\'ll have them handy to readover when you want to. This can be really helpful when you\'re trying to buildconfidence. Not being very good at a skill even after three weeks of practice can reallyhurt. Looking back on your daily assessments and being reminded that you were a lotworse at it when you started can really boost the ego.

I\'ll give you an example of how this has helped me recently. I\'m just learning to playkeyboards, and I want to play a song that requires sixteenth note triplets played at120 bpm. I\'ve been practicing at this for at least 40 minutes every day for the past

three weeks, and I still can\'t do it. The best I can do is 100 bpm. It hurts a bit, and Isometimes feel discouraged. But then, I look over my daily assessments, and I remindmyself that when I fi rst started this, I could only play sixteenth note triplets at 60bpm, and I wasn\'t very consistent even at that tempo. Going from that to being ableto play them consistently at 100 bpm isn\'t bad. I\'m making progress. And, I knowI\'ll reach my goal someday.

Another thing that might help you is a change in attitude. A lot of novice musiciansfeel dissatisfied with their practices. After they get done with one, all they can thinkabout i s how much better they wish they were. I\'d guess about 95% of them get overthis eventually. The other 5% have a chance of actually being good at what they do.Yes, you read that r ight. Good musicians are never completely satisfied with anythingthey do. They\'ve just learned not to be discouraged by their mistakes, that\'s all. Ipromise you, when Vai gets done with a practice, he\'s not completely satisfied withhis work. He\'s thinking of all the things he did wrong, taking note of all the littleimperfections, and devising ways to improve. It\'s like the Geddy Lee quote I have inmy sig, "Music is all about wanting to be better at it." It\'s an endless quest.

EDIT: Hot dang, I got long-winded, didn\'t I. Sorry for that. Hope it helped in someway, though.

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Further theory with "Josh"...Lessons in Dublin?

More than 30 MP3s

02-02-2010, 03:04 PM #18



8.3 Guru-age on why to practice incredibly slowly

Quote:

Originally Posted by Freepower^ thats a great example. F inally, it takes time! Practice slowly (25bpm and less) for 20mins a day on economy of motion and your technique will improve gradually, butcontinually, I promise.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gacelhehe from your posts I notice that you love really slow tempos, and its ok to playslowly, but 25bpm ... well the 20 mins will be gone and I would have played the lick10-12 times!

if I can play cleanly at 80bpm, then I can practice the same stuff a lot more in thesame 20 mins, right? ^

Quote:

Originally Posted by se012101There is a big difference. At 80 bpm, even though you can play it cleanly , you are stillusing muscle memory - you are not really "telling" your fi ngers how to move, they are

just repeating the learned movements. At extreme slow tempos, such as 25bpm, you

actually are able to consciously tell the fingers what to do, which is essential if youare trying to make a technique modification.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gacelmmmm, ok, now I get it, if I want to fix some problem I need to play at a speed thatallows my BRAIN to command my hands, kk

Quote:

Originally Posted by Freepower^ because you can only do something BETTER than your current muscle memory if

you\'re giving your fingers new instructions, yah?

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...Lessons in Dublin?

More than 30 MP3s


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