The need for speed
Steve McKay
with the results so far except for one thing - I can't play any lick that
needs a little speed (for instance, the run in AC/DC's "Back in Black") -
well, OK, I can play it - just not very fast.
Will speed come with experience (yes, I know, practice, practice)? Or is
there a special trick? Or am I doomed to play slow songs the rest of my
guitar-playing days?
Thanks,
Steve
XXXRAYTED
there a special trick? Or am I doomed to play slow songs the rest of my
It may come with time but the real trick is to get the finger muscles stronger.
A lot of beginners hold their neck like they are trying to do a curling
exercise with weights. This is not the way to hold the neck.
When playing lead guitar, the only two parts of your hand that should be on
that neck is your thrumb and your figertips. With a few exceptions to that
rule, this is the way you should be holding that neck. If you play this way,
then don't worry about it, you fingers will get stronger with time but if you
are using your whole hand to play lead, then you are restricting your finger
muscles from ever getting stronger thus slower speed. Hope this helps.
CyberSerf
No...you're not doomed...so long as you remember your own council and
"practice, practice, practice".
Speed comes with time...after which comes timing and control...use a
metronome, set it to a beat that you know you can execute 16th
notes...say...start at 60bpm. Execute the lick. Now increase the time by 20
Bpm...when you reach 180bpm ask yourself if there's any point in going
faster. As the speed increases, you'll find spots where hammer-ons and
pull-offs can be used to advantage....find your own spot for these...it'll
be worth it. In addition to this, if you want speed, I would recommend you
get a really hard pick (I'm a big fan of the Jim Dunlop 3.6mm Big Stubby and
some of the synthetic tortoise picks are awesome if you sand a bevel into
'em...check out http://www.redbeartrading.com/ for more info). You'll need
both up and down stroke techniques to pull off the blazing shreds....while
from a technical standpoint, speed is impressive, artistically, it is
debatableand depends on its context...I can hear more soul in a five note
solo by B.B. King then a 156 note shred by Yngwie. Nothing against Mr.
Malsteem...just not my cup of tea...h...c...and way to frantic to be of any
emotional value (IMHO). Just my .02 worth.
Cheers, CS
Steve McKay <nospa...@yahoo.com> wrote the following:
--
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The opinions, comments, and advice offered by me, are mine alone.
As such, they carry as much weight as a feather in a snow storm.
Gear Page at: http://www3.sympatico.ca/cybrserf/Gear.htm
Eric R
>Will speed come with experience (yes, I know, practice, practice)? Or is
>there a special trick? Or am I doomed to play slow songs the rest of my
>guitar-playing days?
>
I'm not much more experienced than you, so take my advice for what its worth.
Don't worry to much about speed, work on accuracy, learn and play the parts
only as fast as you can play them properly without mistakes. Get a metronome
and gradually speed up once you've learned the part. After 10 months you may
feel you're not quite as good as you wanted to be at this point, don't worry
about it. remember some of the people you listen to have been playing 10, 20,
30 even 40 years.
Eric
Eric
Steve McKay
"CyberSerf" <nospam....@sympatico.ca> wrote in message
news:VHfnb.1891$Nm6.1...@news20.bellglobal.com...
> I can hear more soul in a five note solo by B.B. King then a 156 note
shred by Yngwie. Nothing against Mr. Malsteem...just not my cup of tea...
CS -
I'm with ya there . . . just trying to play the lick "on time".
Thanks for the advice!
Steve
Steve McKay
"XXXRAYTED" <xxxr...@aol.comspamfink> wrote in message
news:20031027161101...@mb-m11.aol.com...
> It may come with time but the real trick is to get the finger muscles
stronger.
So do you use/admire/approve of these little spring-tensioned "finger
exercisers"?
Personally, they appear to be a good idea for others but I wouldn't buy one
without some evidence of their effectiveness - not that I'm skeptical or
anything! ;-)
Thanks,
Steve
Morten Gjermundsen
http://www.geocities.com/trollstjerne/playfast.html
"Steve McKay" <nospa...@yahoo.com> skrev i melding
news:o6fnb.17432$Lj6....@bignews3.bellsouth.net...
Todd LaRoc
Dude,
Great question.
Not everybody starts out playing fast, I couldn't always shred with
the vengence I do today, and neither could Yngwie. If you want speed,
remember you also want to play CLEAN - articulate and fast. Their's
nothing worse than a sloppy guitarist trying to shred. It don't fool
me and it don't fool anyone else.
The best thing to do is this: get a variable speed tape recorder. Slow
down your favorite solos. Play along with them slowly. The pitch will
be lower but don't worry about that - match the pace and the rhythm
and think of it as a Guitarmony.
Then, slowly speed it up. Practice it with a metronome too.
Eventually, you'll be able to play it really fast. If you play it
clean slow, you'll play it clean fast. That's the "LaRoc guarantee"
Good luck and remember - speed is nothing without BALLS!!!!!!! Play it
loud and live it proud,
Todd LaRoc
http://profiles.yahoo.com/toddlaroc
Tony Meloche
Steve:
IMO, your chances of improving your finger strength for playing, and
your chances of injuring yourself, are about equal with one of those
gizmos. There is no better finger exercise for developing muscles and
ligaments to play guitar better than playing guitar - it just takes some
time.
The Old Guy
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-VQT
a lot of people down you todd but there's something about your
personality that i think is cool haha,
Best!
- Vinh
Chess Player
<snip>
> The best thing to do is this: get a variable speed tape recorder.
Dude,
They have variable speed CD players and you don't have change the pitch to
be able to play along. Join the 21st century please.
Case closed. <G>
Philip Ash
"Chess Player" <em...@email.com> wrote in message
news:sxKnb.6400$P%1.49...@newssvr28.news.prodigy.com...
Or even use a plugin with Winamp and then you have superb control.
Phil.
Chess Player
"Philip Ash" <phil...@nospam.ntlworld.com> wrote in message
news:VEKnb.3406$Zr6....@newsfep4-winn.server.ntli.net...
Actually, that is what I use but I didn't want to get too out of control for
Toad dude! LOL
Peter
documentation of how to be used for slowing down playback speed. Can I get
it to slow dowm playback of a CD without changing the pitch?
This question before I download and install it.
thks
Peter
Philip Ash
"Peter" <pj...@nospamplspjuhl.dk> wrote in message
news:3f9fe3b4$0$27446$edfa...@dread16.news.tele.dk...
With guitars, I am most certainly a beginner. But this is one area where i
have found my IT knowledge comes in useful. :)
To vary the speed (without altering the pitch) you first need to rip (this
means convert, and make a copy of) the CD audio to a .mp3 file on your
computers harddisc. There are *hundreds* of bits of software out there to do
this. One i use is called CD DA Xtractor.
http://prdownloads.sourceforge.net/xtractor/cdda-xtractor-v0_24.exe?download
It is nice and simple to use.
Then you can play back the file in Winamp. However Winamp doe snot support
the ability to vary the speed as standard, you need a plugin to allow this.
Again there are several, but this is the one I use.
http://www.sunpoint.net/~oparviai/pacemaker/
This allows you change the tempo, pitch and speed independently of each
other.
Make sure you download Winamp version 2.91. Its actually better than the
newer releases at the moment.
Hope this is some help to a few people out there.
Phil.
Sandeep Pulla
I know that some Digitech effects processors (e.g. rpx400) have
'learn-a-lick' mode which slows down a track without changing pitch.
Joel Whitburn, Jr.
news:3f9fe3b4$0$27446$edfa...@dread16.news.tele.dk:
Winamp PaceMaker can be found here:
http://classic.winamp.com/plugins/detail.jhtml?componentId=12689