How to shred?
- Thread starter Syris
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Kommerzbassist
Thunderbirdologist
Re: How to shred?
Argh you guys got me... ok, I'll try and learn to shred too... now recommend me some nice riffs or scales to do so plz
Argh you guys got me... ok, I'll try and learn to shred too... now recommend me some nice riffs or scales to do so plz
shredaholic
New member
SpiderVenom
New member
Re: How to shred?
In regards to sweeping - I'm a strong believer in mastering, or at least being very competent at, alternate picking before taking on sweeping. If you've practiced alt picking a lot, your hands will be a lot more in synch, and sweeping will come a lot quicker and easier.
+1 If you think you're going too slow, you're probably not going slow enough :chairfall
Alt pick it. Economy picking is for noobs :dance: :laugh2:
In regards to sweeping - I'm a strong believer in mastering, or at least being very competent at, alternate picking before taking on sweeping. If you've practiced alt picking a lot, your hands will be a lot more in synch, and sweeping will come a lot quicker and easier.
mctriple said:
+1 If you think you're going too slow, you're probably not going slow enough :chairfall
YJM_Rocks said:
Alt pick it. Economy picking is for noobs :dance: :laugh2:
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sosomething
Seymour Duncan Customer Support
Re: How to shred?
Someone should just post a clip of exactly how slow they're talking about on this thread.
Cause uh... I'm sure the thread starter would be very interested in that. Yeah.
Someone should just post a clip of exactly how slow they're talking about on this thread.
Cause uh... I'm sure the thread starter would be very interested in that. Yeah.
SpiderVenom
New member
Re: How to shred?
Zerb owns us all.
Zerb owns us all.
Vasshu the humanoid typhoon
Unseen
Re: How to shred?
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Re: How to shred?
i recommend practicing alternate a great deal picking before economy because it is very effective and will let you play anything without having to learn a particular picking pattern for that lick. with alternate picking, your picking hand doesn't require a lot of concentration. it gets used to d-u-d-u-d-u constantly and it just becomes natural. you can pay more attention to what you're playing rather than what your pick hand is doing. that will let you get more songs/licks/etc under your belt more quickly, which to me means more fun. with economy picking, you'll have to learn the right way to play each lick most efficiently, so everything is different, which makes it more difficult to practice and more time-consuming to learn new things.
once you're pretty good with alt picking (i'd say playing 16th note scales at 140bpm) then i'd recommend learning economy picking. some people say it's best to only alt pick everything.. but economy picking sounds different. it's another tool to add to your box of guitar tricks. alt picking has great definition and articulation, so it's great for some things. economy is smoother and sometimes faster or helps you ascend/descend faster (sweeps) so it can of course be very useful at times as well.
i agree completely. when you're just starting out, practice alternate picking. don't practice sweeps/economy picking until you've become quite proficient with alternate (or at least not on the same exact exercises) so you don't confuse your fingers. remember that a large part of shredding is programming your fingers to move the right way through sheer volume of practice. your muscles will be confused when they're taught different things at the same time.SpiderVenom said:
i recommend practicing alternate a great deal picking before economy because it is very effective and will let you play anything without having to learn a particular picking pattern for that lick. with alternate picking, your picking hand doesn't require a lot of concentration. it gets used to d-u-d-u-d-u constantly and it just becomes natural. you can pay more attention to what you're playing rather than what your pick hand is doing. that will let you get more songs/licks/etc under your belt more quickly, which to me means more fun. with economy picking, you'll have to learn the right way to play each lick most efficiently, so everything is different, which makes it more difficult to practice and more time-consuming to learn new things.
once you're pretty good with alt picking (i'd say playing 16th note scales at 140bpm) then i'd recommend learning economy picking. some people say it's best to only alt pick everything.. but economy picking sounds different. it's another tool to add to your box of guitar tricks. alt picking has great definition and articulation, so it's great for some things. economy is smoother and sometimes faster or helps you ascend/descend faster (sweeps) so it can of course be very useful at times as well.
Re: How to shred?
This thread really caught fire. Lot of helpfull things. I know what you guys mean about training your muscles. I'm so used to playing using my index, ring and pinky fingers that it's programmed in there. I have to deprogram my hand. It's quite irritating really, whenever I'm playing scales at high speeds I'll mean to use my middle finger but accidently use my ring :smack: . I have to slow it down and actually think about which finger to use.
I've taken the advice here and in just a couple of days I've seen improvement. I played the same two patterns one after the other like a hundred times slow. I sped it up and it wasn't as sloppy.
I'm a happy guy.
Oh, a video clip would be interesting.
This thread really caught fire. Lot of helpfull things. I know what you guys mean about training your muscles. I'm so used to playing using my index, ring and pinky fingers that it's programmed in there. I have to deprogram my hand. It's quite irritating really, whenever I'm playing scales at high speeds I'll mean to use my middle finger but accidently use my ring :smack: . I have to slow it down and actually think about which finger to use.
I've taken the advice here and in just a couple of days I've seen improvement. I played the same two patterns one after the other like a hundred times slow. I sped it up and it wasn't as sloppy.
I'm a happy guy.
Oh, a video clip would be interesting.
SpiderVenom
New member
Re: How to shred?
Inside alt. picking is the harder skill, for sure. It's just one of those things that will always be slower, assuming you were to practice outside picking equally. I was just joking a bit with my comment, and you're right, econ picking is useful for stuff like that - I just prefer the even rhythm of alt picking.
The reason inside picking is harder is momentum. I've heard people say stupid things like "well, it's less distance to travel, so it must be faster". While less motion is generally desirable, inside picking is a more difficult muscle movement, and it's harder to build momentum with it than hitting the strings from the outside; beyond a certain point, momentum trumps distance. Imagine you had a competition between two runners of equal skill - one had to run 100 meters, the other 50 meters. The 100m runner can go point-to-point; the 50m runner has to go forward 1 meter, back 1 meter, forward again, and so on. Who'd win? (Admittedly, a massively exaggerated example, but the concept is there somewhere
)
That's also why I prefer alt picking over economy - I believe at more extreme speeds, it's easier overall for your hand to keep up d-u-d-u-d-u than, say, d-u-d-d-u-d. I know people will probably contest me on that one, but it's just my opinion that momentum and the "twitch" factor win out there.
For me, the most attractive aspect of economy picking is that it's a different sound - sometimes, you don't want the robotic attack of constant alternating.
At the end of the day, there are no magic tricks (oh, how I wish there were). If something gives you trouble, practice it carefully until you can do it, or avoid it.
YJM_Rocks said:
Inside alt. picking is the harder skill, for sure. It's just one of those things that will always be slower, assuming you were to practice outside picking equally. I was just joking a bit with my comment, and you're right, econ picking is useful for stuff like that - I just prefer the even rhythm of alt picking.
The reason inside picking is harder is momentum. I've heard people say stupid things like "well, it's less distance to travel, so it must be faster". While less motion is generally desirable, inside picking is a more difficult muscle movement, and it's harder to build momentum with it than hitting the strings from the outside; beyond a certain point, momentum trumps distance. Imagine you had a competition between two runners of equal skill - one had to run 100 meters, the other 50 meters. The 100m runner can go point-to-point; the 50m runner has to go forward 1 meter, back 1 meter, forward again, and so on. Who'd win? (Admittedly, a massively exaggerated example, but the concept is there somewhere
)That's also why I prefer alt picking over economy - I believe at more extreme speeds, it's easier overall for your hand to keep up d-u-d-u-d-u than, say, d-u-d-d-u-d. I know people will probably contest me on that one, but it's just my opinion that momentum and the "twitch" factor win out there.
For me, the most attractive aspect of economy picking is that it's a different sound - sometimes, you don't want the robotic attack of constant alternating.
At the end of the day, there are no magic tricks (oh, how I wish there were). If something gives you trouble, practice it carefully until you can do it, or avoid it.
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Re: How to shred?
Ever wonder how a basketball player could shoot a three pointer and turn his back to the basket before the ball drops in? How did this guy know it was gonna drop? The answer is "muscle memory". Having performed the same muscle actions over and over again has programmed this players brain to remember what a good shot feels like once it leaves his hand.
The same concept is whats at work when you practice you guitar techniques in slow-mo. You are developing that much needed muscle memory that helps you pull off your technique. Once your brain becomes wired through the repetition then you can just feel it! Hell, sometimes you can feel it before you even play it. Once that muscle memory is in place the high velocity won't be a problem.
Ever wonder how a basketball player could shoot a three pointer and turn his back to the basket before the ball drops in? How did this guy know it was gonna drop? The answer is "muscle memory". Having performed the same muscle actions over and over again has programmed this players brain to remember what a good shot feels like once it leaves his hand.
The same concept is whats at work when you practice you guitar techniques in slow-mo. You are developing that much needed muscle memory that helps you pull off your technique. Once your brain becomes wired through the repetition then you can just feel it! Hell, sometimes you can feel it before you even play it. Once that muscle memory is in place the high velocity won't be a problem.
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Re: How to shred?
Shredaholic,
Thank you so much for recomending that siite. I read the "The Incredible Lightness" article and wow. I sat down with my guitar, and focused on the tension as I played. I never realized how much unneeded force I was using.
So, I did what that guy suggested with the "finger flapping" and then played again.
Insane! Speed increased dramatically, notes ran together more smoothly and it's just felt better to play. It sounds wierd but it just felt more natural, like your more one with the guitar.
If you haven't already, you need to visit this site and read this article.
www.shredaholic.com/lead.html
Shredaholic,
Thank you so much for recomending that siite. I read the "The Incredible Lightness" article and wow. I sat down with my guitar, and focused on the tension as I played. I never realized how much unneeded force I was using.
So, I did what that guy suggested with the "finger flapping" and then played again.
Insane! Speed increased dramatically, notes ran together more smoothly and it's just felt better to play. It sounds wierd but it just felt more natural, like your more one with the guitar.
If you haven't already, you need to visit this site and read this article.
www.shredaholic.com/lead.html
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walt
New member
Re: How to shred?
Just wanted to add my 2 cents on this subject, I found this, I have no comment except, I quit
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F7m3aIuGlUg&search=YNGWIE MALMSTEEN
:bowdown: :bowdown: :bowdown: :bowdown: :bowdown: :bowdown: :bowdown: :bowdown: :bowdown: :bowdown: :bowdown: :bowdown: :bowdown: :bowdown: :bowdown:
Just wanted to add my 2 cents on this subject, I found this, I have no comment except, I quit
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F7m3aIuGlUg&search=YNGWIE MALMSTEEN
:bowdown: :bowdown: :bowdown: :bowdown: :bowdown: :bowdown: :bowdown: :bowdown: :bowdown: :bowdown: :bowdown: :bowdown: :bowdown: :bowdown: :bowdown:
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Biu
New member
Re: How to shred?
Look into some Paul Gilbert or Marty Friedman--most of their solos sound really good even when you play them slow.
I'd say so! That and sweeping are definitely my weaknesses. I really wished I focused more on alternate picking when I started out, but instead I was fascinated by all that Satch legato work, so it's all I really honedunleashthejay said:
Look into some Paul Gilbert or Marty Friedman--most of their solos sound really good even when you play them slow.
IcedEarth112
New member
Re: How to shred?
what is legato?
and what is economy picking?
what is legato?
and what is economy picking?
