Musicians Roadhouse

I'm trying to increase my playing speed, accuracy etc. and I am progressing, but I would like some opinions, tips and tricks on this subject.

I'm not really into guitar shredding music (overall metal), hence I haven't trained that aspect, but now I'd like to practice it so I can do it and use in my kind of taste. I had for a long time this thought that playing fast and shredding is mostly just metal players thing. But that's complete rubbish.

When you raise the bar, you get more space to work with, right?

I know there are many shredders here in Roadhouse and I'd like to hear anything you want to tell. Right now I'm puzzling whether to use economic or alternative picking? Or mix of those?
Basically, there's a whole lot to learn in everything...

Wow... Vai's quite an inspirational speaker. And player!

Juzo95 wrote:Wow... Vai's quite an inspirational speaker.

Yah, I was surprised at that myself, a good listen, nothing earth shattering but some good thoughts that worked for me at the right point in my journey.

Some of that from vai was nice, but it was pretentious drivel in places, a couple of good points though

Sully807 wrote:Some of that from vai was nice, but it was pretentious drivel in places, a couple of good points though

Yup, a little drivel to wade thru but still a worthwhile viewing to pick up the little bits of truth.
Inpriration comes from many places, glad I found it when I did.

If you go to his site Vai.com he is offering a 10 hour practice workout.

Link to sales page for 10 hour workout

I guess if you are a studio musician and not working then doing the 10 hour routine would be a viable option.
I can't dedicate that sort of time but think I wil still pick up a copy to see what I'm missing in my practice and maybe cut it down to 2 or 3 different 1 hour routines for the week.

It can't possibly be a 10 hour practice sitting!? Surely it's broken down into 1-2hour blocks? Anymore than an hour for me is an achievement haha

Sully807 wrote:It can't possibly be a 10 hour practice sitting!? Surely it's broken down into 1-2hour blocks? Anymore than an hour for me is an achievement haha

Table of contects

I think it's 10 hours worth of all different types of exercises

See that would make more sense paha

Try both picking styles and Legato too. But focus on just one for a while. They are all useful and fun to use, I like how Satriani mixes picking with legato.
I find playing triplets per string helps speed, and certain scale shapes are easier to play, like G major would be;
3,5,7---3,5,7---4,5,7---4,5,7,---5,7,8---5,7,8 through strings six to one. The good thing here is they are in 3 pairs if you look at the frets played. This also occurs at mode 7 (the Locrian mode).
Al

Steve says some good thing but for God's sake,lay off the whammy...

here's a few good exercises-
http://www.guitarworld.com/soloing_stra ... ndy_rhoads

Al Dimeola "econmy of motion" picking technique-
basically keep the pick as close to the string w/out extra space or "flailing".
[youtube][/youtube]

Blues_N_Cues wrote:Steve says some good thing but for God's sake,lay off the whammy... .

I think it's more, lay off the sustainiac

Blues_N_Cues wrote: here's a few good exercises-
http://www.guitarworld.com/soloing_stra ... ndy_rhoads

Al Dimeola "econmy of motion" picking technique-

Thanks cool stuff.
The DeMiola vid is pretty insightful.
I always stayed away from Rhodes after hearing some stuff, it was all just scales run fast.
Time to revisit his work

Mike_LA wrote: I always stayed away from Rhodes after hearing some stuff, it was all just scales run fast.
Time to revisit his work[/color]

it's more HOW you practice the scales .things like 1 up 3 down,2 up,4 down,1-2-3-4,chromatic ascending by frets & string..some of the stuff was not even musical but more for dexterity & picking technique.

here's a good one I do a lot of. take the Aeolin minor scale (2nd figure in pic)


start w/ your pinky on the little e string 15th fret & go down -
4-3-1
3-1-4,
1-4-2,
4-2-1,
and so on until you hit the 12th fret E string.
to make it faster & fluid(legato) you only pick 2 notes per string & pull off the rest.
which picked notes should come naturally as you become more familiar w/ the exercise.

maybe I can make a short vid of it tonight.

It's pretty common now for shredding to lay out your scales in three note per string patterns. It's better to learn them in all shapes but, a lot if fast shredders use the 3 and 4 note per string
[youtube][/youtube]

One thing I forgot to say in regard to the vai vid... "I have strengths and I have weaknesses, I don't try and improve my weaknesses, I ignore them and focus on my strengths" ... Shittiest piece of advice I've ever heard...