***The Official Guitar Thread***

McGray said:
Flying pinky is normally due to tension. Try relaxing your wrist.
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Yes, that and how hard I’m pressing down on the frets.

I’m playing exclusively standing up these days which might make a slight difference but ultimately I’m weak wristed so lots of tension going on.
 
Nitefly said:
Very interesting - my photo was purposefully for alternate picking but I only play it slightly less angled down picking (mainly to avoid a scratchy sound) - I’ll check it out! :)
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Have you seen the YouTube series “cracking the code” by Tom brady? There are some epic videos about pick slanting that will help.

His best video looks at Michael Angelo Batio and his insane speed technique. I tried to follow along but it turned my head to mush, but in fairness the tutor goes in with a similar frustration and you can see the light bulb moment with him, which is nice.... he’s not just a YouTuber that can already play the song, he’s learning techniques and explaining as he goes.

 
EVH said:
Have you seen the YouTube series “cracking the code” by Tom brady? There are some epic videos about pick slanting that will help.

His best video looks at Michael Angelo Batio and his insane speed technique. I tried to follow along but it turned my head to mush, but in fairness the tutor goes in with a similar frustration and you can see the light bulb moment with him, which is nice.... he’s not just a YouTuber that can already play the song, he’s learning techniques and explaining as he goes.

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Cheers for this mate - yeah I recommended that same series a few posts down from the one you quoted. In that video he starts talking about two way pick slanting :eek: all very alien and I think I massively exaggerate the extent the slanting is necessary.

My picking technique is OK but for one string only... my movements are actually too small and wimpy, so I don’t generate the requisite string hopping height necessary. I have found that by picking more deliberately the sting hopping becomes easier.

Interestingly, alternate picking doesn’t work easily with the plug in baby notes. It’s not very fast so it’s not a problem per se, but you’ve either got to sweep a note or your pick gets ‘caught in the middle’ in the way Tom Brady detests.

All interesting :)
 
Another vote for the Polytune. I rarely play electric as it's not my thing but when I have to I use one. For classical and my main jazz guitar I use D'Addario Micro. That is a string at a time job but I tend to tune a single string and then tune the rest to that depending on what I am playing. I tend to find that easier for me as some pieces I'll get balanced in open position and then for other pieces for example around the 7th fret. I am not sure if thats the most efficient way or I've done it for so long now I've just gotten better at it.
 
Nitefly said:
I’ve made huge progress with learning the guitar neck and the notes in it with the CAGED system. Only pentatonics down so far :o But I’m really pushing forward. World domination awaits!
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Trying to work through the CAGED stuff myself at the minute. I've been playing off and on for over 15 years but the last 6 months is the first time I've had formal tuition. The theory stuff makes my head hurt and just doesn't stick in there the way I want it too - hoping I'll have a lightbulb moment one of these days.
 
A few things I get students to do to learn the neck. Obviously scales but everyday as part of your warm up chose a note let's say A. Then as quick as you can play every A on your top string. Then go to the next string down and do the same. What we tend to do then would be play 5 different As in quick succession. Then A to say Perfect 5th ie E etc. Stuff like that. Make it a game and make it fun. If you just do scales you'll likely switch off. Try and learn the patterns though.
 
One More Solo said:
Trying to work through the CAGED stuff myself at the minute. I've been playing off and on for over 15 years but the last 6 months is the first time I've had formal tuition. The theory stuff makes my head hurt and just doesn't stick in there the way I want it too - hoping I'll have a lightbulb moment one of these days.
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I feel like I have got the various shapes down but the really challenging part I think is to make your own licks sound natural and musical and I’ve come to the realisation that there is a massive need to follow the music underneath.

Have a google / YouTube for using ‘triads’ in soloing and ‘following chords’. In a nutshell, the aim is to resolve licks on the first, third or fifth note on whatever chord is underneath (or in other words just hit the notes in that chord). This sounds super obvious but it’s actually pretty hard to do sticking to one position on the neck and even harder to make your licks sounds convincing.
 
Nitefly before trying to make notes convincing think about the rhythm you are following. Resolve the rhythm first then the actual notes. The rhythm is the more important part. Whilst at the start you want to resolve to the tonic ie root note after time you'll want to experiment with ending on unfinished sounds. Why. Listen to Get Lucky by Daft Punk. It resolves at the the start not the end. That's why people can play it on repeat. It doesn't musically complete in your mind until you start it again. This is a good trick to do across a set as it will make the audience pay attention to what comes next. But at the start play around with answering rhythms.
 
^^ I was just about to say this... you want to land on a chord tone if you're aiming for that lick to sound like it is following the chords, but if you only ever do that you will miss out on a lot of tension and things you can apply specifically by not landing on a chord tone...

Sounds like you're making good progress, but keep in mind that CAGED, scales, triads etc. all that stuff is really just a way of describing how the actual notes fit together - it can be easy to get too fixated on them and forget about what seems like much more basic skills like developing phrasing and melodies... How many unique sounding things can you come up with using only 2 notes? 3 notes? 1 note!? 1 string? 2 strings? Sounds stupid but that's what you need to work on to "make it sound convincing" - when you're allowing yourself the entire run of the neck it sometimes feels like you've got to move around a lot and "play lots of the notes"... but really there's a lot of repetition in the notes and patterns. Trying to fly about the neck like a pro and with all that choice is what tends to make you fall back on playing straight from the scale or straight from the triad shapes and that's what sounds "unconvincing"... Just my 2 cents
 
I totally agree. And it's what you do with those two notes. You'll see classical guitarists just spend a whole session just working on say the first two notes in Villa-Lobos Prelude No 1 in E minor. Look how long B B King and Santana will spend on a single note.
 
One way to practice it is just tapping out half the rhythm of something you know well and then the second half. Next time do the first half but then try to answer that with a different rhythm.

Try it with a variety of different types of music. See if you can come up with a rhythm that fits and then as you know the notes roughly add them in chopping or changing a few out.

Another good but daft one to really advance your knowledge and appreciation of why guitar is such a difficult instrument and why you need to learn the neck.

Learn Ba Ba Black Sheep. Play it in C Major. Now play the same in D then E etc. You'll then find that what in C Major is a beginners piece can then add up to being more advanced in different keys. You'll need to skip strings etc move out of open position. Now challenge yourself and play it in all the modes eg Lydian etc. This not only teaches you the neck but drives in that what key or mode you use drastically changes both the feeling and difficulty. It also highlights the problems for composition on the guitar.

Another thing when learning the neck is to consider that you can play the same note often in more than one position. All have their uses. Don't make the mistake of just using tab. Also learn to read standard notation. It frees you up from who wrote the tab and how they interpreted it. Eg if you play the 5th fret on the B string could you not have just played an open E to aid a transition.

All little things to think about.
 
I got a Sageworks guitar rest last month and for anyone who plays non electric I would really recommend they look into one. It's drastically improved my comfort in playing and you don't have the worries of things becoming detached like you get with the sucker based rests. Installation is a bit tricky but Ok and there have been no effects of tone or anything like that. Very much recommended although not cheap but then if you value your body and the stress you place on it from playing in some positions then it's cheap. I'll get extra magnets and add them to all my guitars.
 
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