Alright, I Can't Be the only one. . .

[Joey C]

Whats up all? So, a few questions for everyone and anyone. Please feel free to add as much as you want, as the more will help.
So, let’s start.
1. Does anyone ever sit down to practice but just don’t know what to practice?
Like you understand what techniques that you are not that good at and you know that you need to practice it. But, everything that you have tried to practice, hasn’t helped? If this has happened to you in regards to sweep picking, do you have any recommendations? Because that’s where I’m at.
2. How do you break being so repetitive in solos?
For me, whenever I go to write a solo, I always find myself having pretty much the same parts, or almost an identical sound to them all. I don’t know if its a lack of knowledge or what but I just seem to not be able to shake it. Any recommendations on solo building/breaking out a repetitive state?
3. What are some good exercises that you guys use to help build speed, accuracy, and all that good stuff?
So, I know it will probably come up. Before it does, I have gone all the way through the classes, and have taken notes on just about everything. It has helped me become such a better guitarist and musician! I just still struggle in some areas, which is why I took it to hear from all of you. Maybe you guys have other ways to go about it, and maybe there are others out there with the same struggles. Getting your techniques out there will help those in the same place. I can’t wait to see what you all suggest.
Shred on!,
Joey C

 

[Evan Cosman]

Hey Joey!
So in regards to the first question, I can sympathise with that, I get caught up in how it seems that I am not getting anywhere from a certain practice technique, and start thinking “I should find a better way to practice this technique” and then get stuck trying to find the PERFECT exercise for that technique that DOES NOT exist. The truth is that if you keep practicing something where you don’t feel like you re getting anywhere you will improve with time, and I know thats easier said then done and it can be very discouraging, but don’t sweat it focus on having fun!
As for the solo thing I would say try to experiment with things that are outside of your comfort zone and stuff you havent done before, and maybe try to incorperate things that you have done previously into that a bit. Joe Satriani said something along the lines of it being extremely hard to vere away from the licks and the combinations that you KNOW are going to sound good, but that it is very important to.
hope this helped a little bit, Keep it up!

 

[Guest]

Alrighty Joey. Let’s see if I can add anything to what Evan said.
1. I feel the same way about sitting down to practice, especially on techniques that I know need improvement. I’m not on sweep picking yet, but maybe you can start off slow until you get comfortable. Don’t speed it up until you’ve hit the sweep perfectly 5 times in a row. This helps with my alternate picking and string skipping.
2. When you have your chord progression, start off with hitting target notes (one of the notes that make up the chord) of each chord. Then try adding a lick or embellishment to get from one chord to the next. This might push you to get creative while chasing the chords. Helps me.
3. Not sure of any good exercises. I guess you could start off with some of the lessons that you went through and practice with a metronome. Then speed it up after about a week.
Hope this helps my mans. Shred on \m/

 

[Jak Angelescu]

Hey Joey! I’ll try to answer as best as I can…
1. I USE to feel this way. I really did. Until I set up my own “class schedule”. You see, we may think we know something, but we may find out we have barely scratched the surface. For example, I know a C major chord. But do I know the intervals that make it up, the notes in that key, where it would fit in a I-iV-V out of different keys, it’s relative minor, where the different CAGED positions are on the neck for that chord, how to make it a C7, a Cdom7, and can I audibly recognize it on a bass, a piano, or a guitar if I hear it? And this is STILL only scratching the surface I have finally set a schedule for myself based around the guitarist I want to become. Like I love jazz, but i’m currently more involved with classical and blues. So I add that into my repertoire. I want to learn more technique and theory, so I make sure I set side time for these lessons like a class. As far as “i’ve tried everything and it doesn’t help” in regards to your sweeping, for me my biggest breakthroughs came from just repetition and focus. To be honest, no one could show me how to improve my sweeping because everyone explains it so differently. It was a LOT of trial and error. Like me saying “Is my pick old and curved and causing too much resistance on the strings? Maybe I should try angling the pick differently, moving my arm this way instead.” But the WEIRDEST thing is my method for sweeping at slow speeds is different than at faster speeds. Sweeping is hard. It really REALLY is. What aspect of it are you struggling with the most?
2. Repetition is bound to happen occasionally. Make sure you’re not confusing repetition with your own personal style. Syn notoriously uses those double harmonic minor and diminished scales along with LOADS of chromatics. And if you really dissect his solos, you can hear what COULD be classified as repetition, but with the context of the music behind him and some other nuances, it sounds completely different. Like how Randy Rhoads loves his trills and Dimebag really works that whammy bar. But if you really feel you’re being repetitive, I strongly suggests learning or at least delving into another style of music. A lot of what metal and rock really is, is just aspects taken from other styles and played with a different tone, gain, speed, etc. Also make sure you’re comfortable with different scale positions all up and down the neck. I did a demo for the beginners that showed how creative a solo can be just by using the same exact scale and scale pattern but in different places on the neck.
3. Chromatics with different finger patterns and finger strengthening exercises are a must I personally believe for accuracy. And for strength. If your fingers are weak, they simply cannot play fast comfortably.
I hope this helped a little

 

[idssdi]

Here are my two cents
1. Yes I think that happens to everyone. Usually I just Jam some shit when that happens. It still happens to meet regularly when it comes to practicing tapping (it’s kind of a combination of me not being super interested in tapping and me not feeling like practicing techniques specifically). As for sweeping I would say the two most important thing will be hand synchronization and fretting hand muting. If you have any questions on those feel free to ask!
2. Repetitive solos can very easily be broken by mixing up some techniques and inflections but I honestly believe that knowing positions(CAGED) and arpeggios is the easiest way to break repetitiveness. Let’s say you solo in a chord progression going like C|Am|F|G for example you can mix up the respective arpeggios with some regular melodies and change positions whenever you want to(changing positions usely means you will do different licks). Now, here comes the tricky part. You can also change the scale. I’m not sure whether you realized but there are some notes outside the C major scale(this particular one is in C major) that will also work. Use them but be very careful. You could also possibly do every respective minor/major scale over each chord if you would want to. You can really mix up scales as much as you want to as long as it sounds good(I’m fairly certain Syn does this all the time). Last but not least try to pay attention over what you’re soloing over. For example an incredibly shreddy solo won’t really work over a slow blues so you will have to do something different.
3. Building speed and accuracy can. Be achieved in a number of ways. Take a metronome and play a scale up and down and speed up once you feel comfortable with the speed you’re playing at. Now you may be thinking this is boring as hell. Well, I would say taking Syn’s etudes and start incredibly slowly are great ways to build speed and accuracy(learning songs from people you like is as well)
If you have any questions regarding what I mentioned(or in general) don’t hesitate to ask!

 

[AGA]

Hi Joey,
1. Yes. You are not alone in that, it has happened to all of us. I realized something however, and that was how I was able to break away from that rut. There are two concepts here, the first is self awareness. Are you patient or impatient? Prefer organization or variation? Are you a visual learner or an auditive one? etc. The way I practice and learn best is based on the attributes of my personality, and it’s likely that what works best for you will be different. I use to ask other people “How can I practice more effectively?” “Which are the best exercises?” etc. I would always get wildly different answers, even from professionals. Ask yourself this questions. The second concept is, what kind of guitar player do you want to be? There are so many great players out there and no two are the same, some could not be more different and yet they are great. Why? Because they highlight what makes them stand out. Do you want to be a great technician? An expressive melodic player? An experimental mad scientist? Note that I’m not even talking about genres here. Based on these two concepts, create a road map that will take you there. Set short and long term goals. Spend as much time as YOU NEED on a certain topic or technique. Focus on one or two things at a time, don’t try to master every technique in the same day. Have rotations, work on a certain technique and scale for a few weeks, then change it up and practice something else you want to get good at. Always go back to basics. And remember to always keep it enjoyable for yourself, not every day can be super intense sometimes you just need to play for fun.
2. The BEST piece of advice somebody ever told me regarding writing lead guitar lines was, “A guitar player is very much like a storyteller. What are you trying to say with your lead? Every line is a sentence. Where do you put the emphasis? Which notes are played soft or hard and why? When you repeat a sequence, does it lead anywhere? Does your solo have a climatic point?” Shit. Did that ever blow my mind! Thinking of a solo like a story that you are writing changes the whole game, you give purpose to the notes.
Another thing I do is; before I even play a note, I listen. I loop the chord progression or the section and my mind starts filling in the blanks. I hum the melody that comes to my mind and then I find the notes in my guitar. Then I figure out the best fingering or the phrasing I like the best. I let each side of the brain do what they are good at, the right creates and the left tweaks.
3. I have a PDF with accuracy exercises. I can send it to you if you’d like. Or to whomever would like.
Hope this was helpful in any way.