• Join the A7X Discord!

    We're updating the community and moving all social content from the community to the Discord. All lessons related conversations will still take place here though! Join the Discord below and view the full announcement for more details

    JOIN THE DISCORD VIEW THREAD

synyster gates inspired licks- (Beginner to advanced)

JohnValentine13

Garage band Groupie
Jun 23, 2021
2
0
Does anyone have any access or self composed licks that help with practicing A7X solos?
I'm practicing Shepherd of fire, Lost, Beast and the harlot at the moment but damn these are hard to play. I memorized the solos within a couple tens of minutes because these songs are stuck and jammed in my head, but as far as playing it (shepherd and beast is in 1 month progress) i can't follow 100% speed though i can with 75% speed but I just can't break through this barrier.
 

Ezequiel Romanko

Garage band Groupie
Nov 11, 2019
491
444
28
Argentina
10
Well actually what can be better for you to do is play them slow and increase 1 or 2 bpm per day. It will take some time, but if you do this you are going to have a great technique, also i think the syn etudes are really good to practice, i mean it's his style haha. Other than that is just hours and hours of practice.
 
Reactions: JohnValentine13

The Trash God

Campfire Attention Holder
  • Jan 2, 2021
    42
    375
    21
    New Mexico
    www.instagram.com
    1
    Pretty much what everyone else said, practice to a slow BPM and then work your way up. Now I know I am a bit of a hypocrite because I forget to do this sometimes, but say the song is set at 130 BPM, set it to a slower BPM like 65 or so and just practice it slowly until it sounds clean, speed it up to 66 and do the same thing. Thats how I try to tackle solos at least. Hope that was helpful!
     
    Reactions: JohnValentine13

    JohnValentine13

    Garage band Groupie
    Jun 23, 2021
    2
    0
    as far as action goes I know it's subjective but I prefer maybe .25mm or .50mm, is anyone having trouble with bends in a between speed bursts? whenever bend the string always goes under the string on top which results in too much unwanted noise
     

    Chris Johnston

    Music Theory Bragger
  • Nov 11, 2019
    759
    10
    1,883
    29
    North Ayrshire, Scotland
    14
    I fee like others have got you covered with the Syn licks, so I'll adress the speed

    If you feel like the 75% speed is the furthest you fan go just now I'd continue to really perfect the solo, keeping the speedy picking parts as relaxed & clean as you can. Really make sure that you're not pushing/struggling through any parts of it, no matter how small, all good technique etc. The minute you can go 75% in your sleep, the 100% will feel like a push, but it won't fall apart

    If you think about how many decades Syn worked on his technique for the Shepherd Of Fire solo to be something he could just invent and record at that time - it just shows how much time us mere mortals should take to even just get it down be really patient with yourself, even if you have to take it to 50% speed for a month to really make sure it's all clean and relaxed - you'll eventually get it to the point you want and your playing with thank you for the TLC

    I know the exact feeling where you get so close to the speed that you become like a 'speed gollum', desperate to hit that final notch, and you always end up pushing too quickly/impatiently into bad technique because your hands aren't ready try and tell yourself, not yet, when you feel that.

    The slower you take each part & the more you perfect each part at a really slow speed, the quicker it'll be quick

    Best of luck and hope this helps!
     
    Reactions: JohnValentine13