Anyone play guitar?

[R4L]

Hey, I've been playing guitar now for almost 6 or 7 months, and I'm getting better at it.

I'm a straight up metal head. Metallica, Megadeth, Slayer, Pantera...

I've been learning Metallica songs for now, but enough of that. I came to ask if maybe you have some techniques that you yourself use that might be able to help me?

I'm working on sweep picking at the moment. I got it a lot better, but only 3 string sweeps. I learned by playing the intro solo to Metallica's Fade to Black. I'm having trouble still though, mainly with my fingering on the frets.

I'm also having a hard time getting harmonics and slides. The first verse of Master of Puppets by Metallica is killing me with the slides. >.<

Also, I can't seem to find any songs that are semi-easy to play, that I can actually learn all of. Maybe it's me, or maybe my tastes, but I find myself always looking up metal songs I can't play yet, or songs with a tempo of 200 or higher...

So what is your take on this?

[Gregjazz]

Work on the Petrucci exercise. That'll help your speed and accuracy immensely. Always play with a metronome, and don't play faster than you can play with accuracy--then slowly push the boundaries to expand this.

[Ryan Timothy B]

I moment of thread hijacking...
I've been thinking of learning how to play the acoustic guitar.  But I don't really want to pay for guitar lessons.  Anyone know the best way to learn how to play without pay? lol

Also I don't have a guitar and I don't even know the type of guitar I should look at if I were to even consider this.

[R4L]

I moment of thread hijacking...
I've been thinking of learning how to play the acoustic guitar.  But I don't really want to pay for guitar lessons.  Anyone know the best way to learn how to play without pay? lol

Also I don't have a guitar and I don't even know the type of guitar I should look at if I were to even consider this.

I find electric to be easier to play than acoustic, but then again that's my style.

I'm teaching myself right now. You can easily learn chords and scales on the internet. It just takes practice.

Work on the Petrucci exercise. That'll help your speed and accuracy immensely. Always play with a metronome, and don't play faster than you can play with accuracy--then slowly push the boundaries to expand this.

I don't have a metronome, but I can probably find an online app for that right?

Oh, and John Petrucci is a beast. XD

[Evil]

I moment of thread hijacking...
I've been thinking of learning how to play the acoustic guitar.  But I don't really want to pay for guitar lessons.  Anyone know the best way to learn how to play without pay? lol

Also I don't have a guitar and I don't even know the type of guitar I should look at if I were to even consider this.

Buy a cheap second hand acoustic guitar to try it out. Electrics are nice and in some cases easier, but every guitar player should start on an acoustic.

As far as lessons go, I'm self taught and if you're really into learning, it's easy to pick up guitar on your own. I took about 3 basic lessons, learning a few basic chords. I'd ask a friend to show you some chords, then just start learning to play every song you know. Then when a song is too hard, come back to it.


R4L, Greg is right about the speed thing. You shouldn't play any faster than you can play with accuracy. I do find, though, that if a song is to hard to play at that fast speed, turn the speed up a little and try playing at a much faster speed for 30 minutes, then go back to the slower speed. Playing at a faster speed can force you to learn some movements.

And time. Time spent playing is the only way to get better. Scales are great, but just playing those same riffs over and over again will make it easier for you to learn other songs.

[Tuomas]

Work on the Petrucci exercise. That'll help your speed and accuracy immensely. Always play with a metronome, and don't play faster than you can play with accuracy--then slowly push the boundaries to expand this.

Oh you mean this one? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=evTTHS9hwvU

We had a great discussion over this at another forum. Here's the link. I started a ahredding contest, where people would do excercises for a certain amount of time and report their progress in the forums, as a learning journal . If you choose to read it through, there are some brilliant tips for everyone, and you'll also know how I failed and went to acoustic nylon shredding, you know, flamenco and stuff. http://www.progarchives.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=46419

Basic finger practise can get you really far in just one week if you do them properly, and remember to keep the speed down. It'll get faster in time.

Also, @ Ryan, you'd want to perhaps tell us what kind of music you want to play. There's no use practising if you don't have a goal. So basically, if it's just to make the girls cry at bonfires, basic chords, perhaps some melody at the same time is cool, plus you have to know how to sing. If it's about picking, like the, say, "While my guitar gently weeps", it's really easy to get the hang of it with tabs found on the internet. Though personally I wouldn't do that. www.8notes.com covers most chords pretty well with some variations and has also some brilliant tips. I usually use it to study the flute, but it's good for checking the random chords that just pops up while playing Opus One or something similar.

[hedgefield]

I've been thinking of learning how to play the acoustic guitar.  But I don't really want to pay for guitar lessons.  Anyone know the best way to learn how to play without pay?

I've learned a lot from Justin Sandercoe. He has a free acoustic guitar course at http://justinguitar.com/en/AA-000-LessonIndex.php.

[ManicMatt]

I had a "guitar for dummies" dvd that was cheap off amazon and that was quite useful to get me started!

I first bought an acoustic guitar about 5 months ago, and recently bought an electric guitar. I prefer the melody I get from an acoustic, but the electric is easier to handle and play, and less of a strain on my fingers if I've been playing for a long period, as my fingers has not built up enough resistance yet. (Calouses)

My one tip though, is keep your chord holding nails short, as you need to use your fingertips for that chord action!

As for playing metal music to start with, that sounds a bit too fast and complex to begin with. Although I intend to play various style of music when I can say "I play the guitar!", I started off with simple campfire style songs, and I'm now trying indie type songs. When I can change chords fast enough, then I shall attempt Metallica speed songs! I do find learning lots of different songs at the same time to be more beneficial than just sticking to one song until I've perfected it.

[Ryan Timothy B]

There's no use practising if you don't have a goal. So basically, if it's just to make the girls cry at bonfires, basic chords, perhaps some melody at the same time is cool, plus you have to know how to sing.

Yeah, you pretty much hit the nail on that one.  Pretty much just music I can play at a campfire to draw in the ladies (haha if only it were that easy).  But yes, something mellow for sure.  I guess I'll look around for a used guitar whenever I'm near a pawn shop or music store.

[Tuomas]

If only it were that easy? Man, we were at a rock festival last summer. I had a guitar with me, and we passed it around. Some played some songs, others sung. People went to sleep and new people came around. In the end, everyone was drunk, and this guy showed up. All he did was sing some sugar-sweet songs that no-one knew, not even very well, and he didn't even sing all that well. The guy was average looking, but he had some feeling in his singing, and most of the girls around us started crying. Me and my girlfriend started laughing. Anyway, after the first song he had two tear-eyed girls leaning to him, asking him to play more. It was just so funny.

After all, the guitar was created on planet Zargosch in the mid 1600s in order to increase the rate of reproduction. Its sound was created as something seducting, something the zlobargh could use to make an impression on zlaborghs, just as with birds, that sing to each other.

[LGM]

Ryan: for that, all you really need to learn are the chords G, D, E, Em, C, Cadd9, A, and Am. You can play almost any mellow, campfire song with those. Admittedly, that's all I can play still. I'm struggling with barre chords.

[R4L]

I hate bar chords! >.<

I didn't mean to sound like a noob at guitar. I can play, I can play faster songs, just not as good as the original artist.

I just wanted to know some exercises or something that some of you might have made up?

I'll have to look into the Petrucci exercise.

[Tuomas]

Well as for finger practise, there really is no made up excercise. You'll notice, that Petrucci varies between chromatic and a basic minor scale. Running through a scale is the best way, in a sense. You'll get the sense of scales and basic progression while still developing your alternate/sweep picking.

[Eggie]

My sister once tried to teach me a few chords.
Then after a few minutes she took the guitar off me and told me to give up.

Apparently I'm 'just not musical'.

[Eigen]

Tapping is a pretty nifty technique.

Funeral For A Friend - Roses For The Dead .. that intro is the perfect for practicing, if you're interested.

[R4L]

Tapping is a pretty nifty technique.

Funeral For A Friend - Roses For The Dead .. that intro is the perfect for practicing, if you're interested.

Actually I've been practicing tapping on the Eruption solo, One solo, and Lip Gloss and Black intro solo.

[PsychicHeart]

Barre chords are horrible.
And R4L, check out some of the technique articles over on www.ultimate-guitar.com
Really helped and continue to help me. =]

[R4L]

Barre chords are horrible.
And R4L, check out some of the technique articles over on www.ultimate-guitar.com
Really helped and continue to help me. =]

I've been there so many times for tabs and not once have I checked for techniques!

[Stupot]

I've been trying and failing to teach myself guitar for many years, and was in a band, albeit briefly, a couple of years ago.  I can play most of the common chords, but my fingering is shit and for some reason I actually seemed to get worse at one point... I still pick up and play once in a while but I gave up trying to improve...

I'm the same with swimming... I can float, and I can move my arms about in the desired manner, but I just don't seem to move forward.

One Metallica song I did nearly get quite good at was 'Nothing Else Matters'... Try it if you haven't already.  Once you've gone through the tabs a few times it's not actually that complicated.  And it's all based on a few simple chords.

[R4L]

I've been trying and failing to teach myself guitar for many years, and was in a band, albeit briefly, a couple of years ago.  I can play most of the common chords, but my fingering is shit and for some reason I actually seemed to get worse at one point... I still pick up and play once in a while but I gave up trying to improve...

I'm the same with swimming... I can float, and I can move my arms about in the desired manner, but I just don't seem to move forward.

One Metallica song I did nearly get quite good at was 'Nothing Else Matters'... Try it if you haven't already.  Once you've gone through the tabs a few times it's not actually that complicated.  And it's all based on a few simple chords.

Yeah I have my bad days as well...

I can play Nothing Else Matters. It's not as hard as some people think, and it's good practice for finger picking.