guitar tips?

Rich1988

Rich1988

Rich1988

Soldato
Joined
8 Jan 2005
Posts
6,453
Location
wiltshire
Hiya, been teaching myself for two days so far, got the chords know what the notes are etc, now I started learning one by metallica, I can do a large proportion of the intro perfectly but when it starts to become more complicated I just cant move my fingers quick enough, just seem to have hit a wall :(, does anyone have any co ordination tips ? or is it just a case of practicing?
 
Learn alternate picking. If you want to pick up speed, get yourself a metronome, set it to a slow speed and build up the speed every day until you find yourself getting faster. Worked for me anyway.
 
H2F Scott said:
Learn alternate picking. If you want to pick up speed, get yourself a metronome, set it to a slow speed and build up the speed every day until you find yourself getting faster. Worked for me anyway.
Click to expand...

its not so much the picking hand its the fretting hand :( I have tried a little alternate picking but ill give it another go!
 
In two days you have learned the chords and the 'notes', and can already play a 'large proportion' of the intro 'perfectly'?

I doubt this very much. One is a pretty tricky song to play. In answer to your question, yes, as with all instruments it's just a case of practice.
 
Rich1988 said:
its not so much the picking hand its the fretting hand :( I have tried a little alternate picking but ill give it another go!
Click to expand...

It'll work for both hands.

I'm also in the process of learning One by Metallica. Me and a friend decided to learn it, he's learning the rhythm parts (he's a much better rhythm player than lead) and I'm learning the lead parts. It's a very fun song to learn.

Good luck.

fus said:
In two days you have learned the chords and the 'notes', and can already play a 'large proportion' of the intro 'perfectly'?

I doubt this very much. One is a pretty tricky song to play. In answer to your question, yes, as with all instruments it's just a case of practice.
Click to expand...

You'd be surprised. The first intro solo and beginning rhythm parts aren't actually that hard. It gets a lot harder later on though.
 
H2F Scott said:
You'd be surprised. The first intro solo and beginning rhythm parts aren't actually that hard. It gets a lot harder later on though.
Click to expand...

As he says, knowing the notes isnt particularly difficult there are only six strings and you only really use the first five frets, chords are not difficult either its just remembering where to put your fingers, and the rhythm part of one especially the beggining is extremely easy as series of notes are repeated its just a case of remembering the order :D I have pretty much spent orund 8 hours solid on learning it though saying that so far :P
 
H2F Scott said:
You'd be surprised. The first intro solo and beginning rhythm parts aren't actually that hard. It gets a lot harder later on though.
Click to expand...
You know, I thought I could pull off a pretty good surfing with the alien after a year of playing :p ;) Edit - i assumed this was the OP speaking.

OP: Two days is an extremely short time to expect to be able to change cleanly from a G to a D chord, let alone expecting to play such a song. You need to take a step back and learn something far less demanding, or you are just going to learn to play it badly.

Buy a three chord strum along book and learn all of the songs in that, would be my advice to any begginer.
 
Last edited:
H2F Scott said:
It'll work for both hands.

I'm also in the process of learning One by Metallica. Me and a friend decided to learn it, he's learning the rhythm parts (he's a much better rhythm player than lead) and I'm learning the lead parts. It's a very fun song to learn.

Good luck.



You'd be surprised. The first intro solo and beginning rhythm parts aren't actually that hard. It gets a lot harder later on though.
Click to expand...

Don't tell me you actually believe, that after two days he is able to play this 'perfectly'. I know exactly how difficult the song is to play. I wish him all the best in his guitar endeavors, however, making outlandish claims will win no respect from this forum.

Not only does it annoy me that this claim is most likely false, it trivializes the difficulty of this song. I consider myself to be quite musical, and after two days with a guitar I was still cranking out disjointed versions of Wild Thing and Smoke on the Water. Not a song which Kirk Hammett (who is usually ranked quite highly in guitarist polls) struggles with.

Colour me skeptical.
 
fus said:
Don't tell me you actually believe, that after two days he is able to play this 'perfectly'. I know exactly how difficult the song is to play.
Click to expand...


Im knot saying I can play the song perfectly :p im saying I can play the start of the intro as the rhythm part, it really really isnt difficult its basically just a combination of second fret A 3rd fret E and 4th on D and I didnt post it to get respect I posted it because it was a genuine question on any tips to help speed my fretting hand up

I can play up to 48 seconds, im not saying im playing the lead guitaras I said before im learning the rhythm bit
 
fus said:
Don't tell me you actually believe, that after two days he is able to play this 'perfectly'. I know exactly how difficult the song is to play. I wish him all the best in his guitar endeavors, however, making outlandish claims will win no respect from this forum.

Not only does it annoy me that this claim is most likely false, it trivializes the difficulty of this song. I consider myself to be quite musical, and after two days with a guitar I was still cranking out disjointed versions of Wild Thing and Smoke on the Water. Not a song which Kirk Hammett (who is usually ranked quite highly in guitarist polls) struggles with.

Colour me skeptical.
Click to expand...

It depends how far into the song we're talking about, and if we're including the intro solo. If we are just talking about James Hetfield's repeated rhythm, then yes it would be possible to learn that in a couple of days of practise. The first minute or so is the same 3-4 notes repeated in various patterns. About 1:12 minutes in it starts to get complicated.

I understand what you're saying, though.
 
Back in the early 90's I was teaching a 15 year old lad and after a month he surpassed me.
Within 4 months he had passed an audition for a local professional band where the other 4 members were of a very high calibre.
It is possible.

The intro to ONE isn't hard, in fact something like Wonderwall by Oasis is a 1000 times harder (perhaps not a 1000).
 
You can't generalise and say that learning One this early on is a bad thing. Everyone learns in different ways. I started to learn Classical Gas after I'd been playing for a few months, and I could play it fairly competently after a little while. For me, I don't think this was the best approach as I had very unstructured practice when I began to play, but I got the job done. This may not have been the same for another player.

But ALL you need to do is practice the tune. Keep playing it and playing it and playing it and you WILL be able to play it. It may not be the best way to learn, just jumping into the pool at the deep end, but if you stick at it it will come. I can't emphasise enough how important it is, simply to practice. And practice a lot.
 
naffa said:
You can't generalise and say that learning One this early on is a bad thing.
Click to expand...
I will continue to do so and will justify my view by acknowledging the confidence learning to play a simple song well can bring. The rewards come earlier, and the flame of desire to play more will burn more fiercely.

Wow that sounded gay.
 
Nitefly said:
You know, I thought I could pull off a pretty good surfing with the alien after a year of playing :p ;)
Click to expand...

I'm opening myself to ridicule but last monday I decided to spend an hour a day learning Surfing With The Alien because I'm not a lead guitarist and I've never played other peoples solos on stage.
On saturday I actually played this to an audience of about 200 and got a standing ovation which just goes to show people will listen to anything when drunk.
I haven't got a whammy bar or effects so I've played it more like Hank Marvin and I haven't even listened to the outro yet so I made it up :) Surfing With The Alien
 
Rich1988 said:
Hiya, been teaching myself for two days so far, got the chords know what the notes are etc, now I started learning one by metallica, I can do a large proportion of the intro perfectly but when it starts to become more complicated I just cant move my fingers quick enough, just seem to have hit a wall :(, does anyone have any co ordination tips ? or is it just a case of practicing?
Click to expand...

My advice would be this.

First, rather than trying to play it to tempo slow it right down. If you can, do this in your head otherwise get a powertab/guitarpro file and step down the tempo to something more manageable.

Second, rather than viewing a section as a whole, break it down into its component parts. Practice smaller phrases, separately, and only then try to link them together.

Third, when you are stuck physically look towards and concentrate on the hand that is troubling you, be it picking or fretting. By ignoring the other hand, you brain will be better able to cope on where the problem is.
 
dmpoole said:
I'm opening myself to ridicule but last monday I decided to spend an hour a day learning Surfing With The Alien because I'm not a lead guitarist and I've never played other peoples solos on stage.
On saturday I actually played this to an audience of about 200 and got a standing ovation which just goes to show people will listen to anything when drunk.
I haven't got a whammy bar or effects so I've played it more like Hank Marvin and I haven't even listened to the outro yet so I made it up :) Surfing With The Alien
Click to expand...
Haha, that was awesome, you totally played that song like a 'dad' - in the very best possible way :D

I hope you gurned the whole way through it, good job :D
 
To any begginer i would recommend moving between chords, then bar chords, then minor pentatonic scales this gives all your fingers the exercise they need :)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom