GuitarMonky55
04-25-2004, 12:05 AM
This lesson is not a shortcut to shredding. Its not going to unlock the secrets of fast playing either. it will provide a means for you to make huge leaps in your accuracy, picking, and what most everyone wants, speed.
before getting into trying to shred, i suggest that you have a firm concept of at least basic theory so that you understand what your playing. make sure you understand the major and minor scales and their respective modes and can run up and down them fairly well with good accuracy. if not, work on it, it helps majorly with shredding
now onto the goodies. these are some techniques ive devised...mostly parts borrowed and/or adapted from other songs that i use to practice my technique.
the first and most important tool in your shredding practice bag of tricks is the chromatic excercise. i bet half of you are going to hit the back button on the browser upon seeing me say this, but keep on, i mix it up a big in a minute.
so heres the basic chromatic excercise
--------------------12344321---------------------
----------------1234--------4321-----------------
------------1234----------------4321-------------
--------1234------------------------4321---------
----1234--------------------------------4321-----
1234----------------------------------------4321-
i personally get very bored with those after a short while, so heres a suggestion to try once youve gotten a little more advanced.
The piece "flight of the bumblebee" by rimsky korsakov is strange in that it follows a chromatic pattern...and its one hell of a finger workout. the intro in particular and then the main theme of it provide excellent practice for speed and accuracy building.
heres a tab for the intro and main theme of "flight of the bumblebee"
|-12-11-10-9-10-9-------|-------------------------|-------------------------|
|-----------------13-12-|-13-12-11-10-------------|-------------------------|
|-----------------------|-------------13-12-11-10-|-------------------------|
|-----------------------|-------------------------|-14-13-12-11-12-11-------|
|-----------------------|-------------------------|-------------------15-14-|
|-----------------------|-------------------------|-------------------------|
|-------------------------||-----------------------||------------------|
|-------------------------||o---------------------o||------------------|
|-------------------------||-----------------------||------------------|
|-------------------------||-----------------------||------------------|
|-15-14-13-12-------------||o---------------------o||--7-6-5-4---------|
|-------------16-15-14-13-||--12-11-10-9-10-9-8-7--||----------8-7-6-5-|
|-------------------||-----------------------|-----------------------||
|-------------------||o----------------------|----------------------o||
|-------------------||-----------------------|-----------------------||
|-------------------||-----------------------|-----------------------||
|-------------------||o--------------8-------|----------------------o||
|-4-5-6-7-8-9-10-11-||--12-11-10-9-8---12-11-|-12-11-10-9-8-9-10-11--||
now i wnat to talk about how you should go about practicing what i have presented so far. for a long time i would tackle a riff by first memorizing what it sounded like in my head, then making sure i knew the fingering, then playing it over and over until it was clean. this was very counter-productive as 1)i spent way too much time trying to learn it and 2)i couldnt get it as clean as i wanted it.
a quote i once saw, and im sure many of you have, is that 'speed is a byproduct of accuracy'. so what does that mean? if you can do something perfectly neat and accurate, then you can do it fast too.
the best way to approach this is to play the said riff agonizingly slow, making sure you hit every note cleanly and your pick is going exactly where you want it. do this for a long time. when i say a long time i literaly mean, do it for an hour or two. then speed up, and eventually you will be rippiong away at it like no other.
another great way to gain independence in your fingers is to learn 3 and 4 string sweep arpeggios. not only does this excercise your fingers, it also helps your ability to multitask because of the complexity of the actions. i found that after i mastered sweeping arpeggios, i was immediately able to sing and play without any trouble.
so here are some examples from 'no boundaries' by micheal angelo batio. if you have the patience and time, i suggest learning the whole song, as its an excellent learning tool for any player.
|-17p13----------13-17p13----------13-17p13----------13-17p13----------13-|
|-------15----15----------15----15----------15----15----------15----15----|
|----------14----------------14----------------14----------------14-------|
|-------------------------------------------------------------------------|
|-------------------------------------------------------------------------|
|-------------------------------------------------------------------------|
|-18p13----------13-18p13----------13-15p10----------10-15p10----------10--|
|-------15----15----------15----15----------11----11----------11----11-----|
|----------15----------------15----------------12----------------12--------|
|--------------------------------------------------------------------------|
|--------------------------------------------------------------------------|
|--------------------------------------------------------------------------|
after youve gotten comfortable with these excercises, practice playing simple licks with your hands on top of the fretboard.
this may sound like a showy nothingness, but it helps you to gain coordination in muscles that you normally dont use enough. ive always had problems playing ascending licks across one string, so i started playing descending licks from the top, and it helped greatly. plus it looks cool sitting in guitar center
thats all i have for now, i plan on extending this in a week or two with something else im working up...so get to it. the most important things you need to shred are patience and time, and with that you can do anything.
before getting into trying to shred, i suggest that you have a firm concept of at least basic theory so that you understand what your playing. make sure you understand the major and minor scales and their respective modes and can run up and down them fairly well with good accuracy. if not, work on it, it helps majorly with shredding
now onto the goodies. these are some techniques ive devised...mostly parts borrowed and/or adapted from other songs that i use to practice my technique.
the first and most important tool in your shredding practice bag of tricks is the chromatic excercise. i bet half of you are going to hit the back button on the browser upon seeing me say this, but keep on, i mix it up a big in a minute.
so heres the basic chromatic excercise
--------------------12344321---------------------
----------------1234--------4321-----------------
------------1234----------------4321-------------
--------1234------------------------4321---------
----1234--------------------------------4321-----
1234----------------------------------------4321-
i personally get very bored with those after a short while, so heres a suggestion to try once youve gotten a little more advanced.
The piece "flight of the bumblebee" by rimsky korsakov is strange in that it follows a chromatic pattern...and its one hell of a finger workout. the intro in particular and then the main theme of it provide excellent practice for speed and accuracy building.
heres a tab for the intro and main theme of "flight of the bumblebee"
|-12-11-10-9-10-9-------|-------------------------|-------------------------|
|-----------------13-12-|-13-12-11-10-------------|-------------------------|
|-----------------------|-------------13-12-11-10-|-------------------------|
|-----------------------|-------------------------|-14-13-12-11-12-11-------|
|-----------------------|-------------------------|-------------------15-14-|
|-----------------------|-------------------------|-------------------------|
|-------------------------||-----------------------||------------------|
|-------------------------||o---------------------o||------------------|
|-------------------------||-----------------------||------------------|
|-------------------------||-----------------------||------------------|
|-15-14-13-12-------------||o---------------------o||--7-6-5-4---------|
|-------------16-15-14-13-||--12-11-10-9-10-9-8-7--||----------8-7-6-5-|
|-------------------||-----------------------|-----------------------||
|-------------------||o----------------------|----------------------o||
|-------------------||-----------------------|-----------------------||
|-------------------||-----------------------|-----------------------||
|-------------------||o--------------8-------|----------------------o||
|-4-5-6-7-8-9-10-11-||--12-11-10-9-8---12-11-|-12-11-10-9-8-9-10-11--||
now i wnat to talk about how you should go about practicing what i have presented so far. for a long time i would tackle a riff by first memorizing what it sounded like in my head, then making sure i knew the fingering, then playing it over and over until it was clean. this was very counter-productive as 1)i spent way too much time trying to learn it and 2)i couldnt get it as clean as i wanted it.
a quote i once saw, and im sure many of you have, is that 'speed is a byproduct of accuracy'. so what does that mean? if you can do something perfectly neat and accurate, then you can do it fast too.
the best way to approach this is to play the said riff agonizingly slow, making sure you hit every note cleanly and your pick is going exactly where you want it. do this for a long time. when i say a long time i literaly mean, do it for an hour or two. then speed up, and eventually you will be rippiong away at it like no other.
another great way to gain independence in your fingers is to learn 3 and 4 string sweep arpeggios. not only does this excercise your fingers, it also helps your ability to multitask because of the complexity of the actions. i found that after i mastered sweeping arpeggios, i was immediately able to sing and play without any trouble.
so here are some examples from 'no boundaries' by micheal angelo batio. if you have the patience and time, i suggest learning the whole song, as its an excellent learning tool for any player.
|-17p13----------13-17p13----------13-17p13----------13-17p13----------13-|
|-------15----15----------15----15----------15----15----------15----15----|
|----------14----------------14----------------14----------------14-------|
|-------------------------------------------------------------------------|
|-------------------------------------------------------------------------|
|-------------------------------------------------------------------------|
|-18p13----------13-18p13----------13-15p10----------10-15p10----------10--|
|-------15----15----------15----15----------11----11----------11----11-----|
|----------15----------------15----------------12----------------12--------|
|--------------------------------------------------------------------------|
|--------------------------------------------------------------------------|
|--------------------------------------------------------------------------|
after youve gotten comfortable with these excercises, practice playing simple licks with your hands on top of the fretboard.
this may sound like a showy nothingness, but it helps you to gain coordination in muscles that you normally dont use enough. ive always had problems playing ascending licks across one string, so i started playing descending licks from the top, and it helped greatly. plus it looks cool sitting in guitar center
thats all i have for now, i plan on extending this in a week or two with something else im working up...so get to it. the most important things you need to shred are patience and time, and with that you can do anything.