Archive for the ‘Guitar Stuff’ Category
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5
Nov
2009
A Picking Exercise a-la Nuno
I decided the other day, after successfully tracking down a copy of one of my favourite CD’s of the very late 80’s (Extreme – Extreme), to re-learn the intro to Mutha Don’t Wanna Go To School Today.
It turns out it’s harder than I remember, despite the abundance of 4 year olds on YouTube that can play it one-handed whilst asleep [superemotions file=”icon_lol.gif” title=”Laughing Out Loud”]
The part that I’m really trying to focus on at the moment is a “simple” repeating pattern, three notes per string, that comes in at about 0:32 on the track.Β It’s a pattern that is used a lot by Zakk Wylde, and many other shred dudes.
Here’s a sample of the pattern, thanks to tinylick.com:
The actual pattern is a little different, but as a picking exercise I find that what’s tabbed here is pretty good.
Picking pattern is down-up-down-up-ad infinitum, although unless I really concentrate, it turns into a mess of downs, ups, hammers, pulls and who knows what else π
So, give it a go, play it so slow that you put yourself to sleep and marvel one day when you can play it as fast as Nuno [superemotions file=”icon_cool.gif” title=”Cool”]
29
Oct
2009
NZGuitars.com Auckland Gearfest – October 2009
I travelled up to Auckland for the NZGuitars.com gearfest last weekend, and what a fantastic gearfest it was! Good turnout of people and some fantastic gear to drool over πΒ The Manor is a great venue.
ThatGirl was on camera duty, and I’ve posted the photos here, in the photos section of the site.
Did I mention how incredible the guitar playing at the gearfest was? No? Well, it was. Too much talent for one day almost [superemotions file=”icon_lol.gif” title=”Laughing Out Loud”]
Looking forward to heading up to another Auckland gearfest in the future [superemotions file=”icon_cool.gif” title=”Cool”]
16
Oct
2009
Orcon Iggy Pop update
Well, it looks like my video audition made an impression on someone.Β They have put me in the latest TV ad promoting the competition πΒ Can’t find a YouTube of the ad yet, but if I do I’ll post it up.Β You can see it here though: Facebook video
Awesome! 8)
9
Oct
2009
Orcon Iggy Pop Audition
A New Zealand ISP, Orcon, are doing an online remake of the Iggy Pop classic song “The Passenger” with Iggy himself as the front man for the project.Β They are asking for audition videos to be sent in to choose 8 people to be the “virtual band” to play the tune with Iggy.
So, I decided to whip up a quick solo and send it in to see what happens πΒ Had a play through the supplied progression a couple of times, and then realised it was time to go to bed, so I just recorded what I was jamming [superemotions file=”icon_lol.gif” title=”Laughing Out Loud”]
Here’s the result:
I’m not sure if it was the late-nightness of it all, but I was struggling to pick some good notes to play! Can’t beat the olde pentatonic sometimes, eh? π
8
Oct
2009
Guthrie Govan Talks About Hybrid Picking
The guitar super-human, Guthrie Govan gives some examples about what he likes about hybrid picking:
Now normally, I can’t stand YouTube comments, but this one was rather good in relation to this video:
“What a very rude bald man thatο»Ώ was,
Guthrie should have slapped him like Bennie Hill did to the old guy on his show.”
[superemotions file=”icon_lol.gif” title=”Laughing Out Loud”]
6
Oct
2009
My Journey Through Picking
One of the things that I’ve spent a lot of my guitar time on in the past (I’m talking the late 80’s here people!) is picking. Alternate picking, economy picking, sweep picking, cotton picking. Actually, I haven’t done any cotton picking now I think of it π
I started out doing 3-note-per-string alternate picking, a la Paul Gilbert:
Well, not quite like that, but the idea is the same!
So, the exercise that I used to play until my hands fell off was this classic Gilbert one:
Paul Gilbert Alternate Picking Exercise
I still play this lick just about everytime I pick up the guitar, but I prefer to start it on the 5th fret of the 2nd string and play the same shapes from there.
After doing that for a while, I tried out some economy picking, the kind that only an Australian with a dayglo guitar and a mullet could teach the world:
I got this going pretty well, and then tried going back to alternate picking again, and I couldn’t do it [superemotions file=”icon_lol.gif” title=”Laughing Out Loud”] Arghhh! So the solution to that was to practice both, in equal measures (the cooking term, not the musical term, that is).
The next thing to tackle was sweep picking. Enter Mr Malmsteen into my guitar playing world:
That’s all the Malmsteen I could handle for today π I spent a large number of hours playing almost that exact same lick from the video, with the one exception being I played the second note (the C) on the 15th fret of the 5th string, instead of the way he plays it with the second note being on the 4th string at the 10th fret.
Something that I found really helpful was an exercise by Vinnie Moore, where you basically move a D major shape chord up and down the neck, sweeping as you go:
Vinnie Moore Sweep Exercise (click the image to enlarge it)
The hard bit is to combine all these techniques, as each has it’s own place in lead playing particularly if you like playing very fast. Working on each technique in isolation is important, and necessary in the beginning, but being able to switch between each one at will (and without thinking about it) takes a fair bit of effort. Practice, practice, and then when you’ve done that, do some more practice π
And then start working on your legato…
For another day I think π
3
Oct
2009