Shred Lesson - Metal Guitar Techniques

Fri, 02 Dec 2011 11:38:15 +0100

Shred Lesson
Classical ideas

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This is a great alternate picking exercise. Performing the frequent string shifts can be a challenge but if you persist and refuse to give up, you will get them down. Remember to practice slow and with precision. Keep working at a pace where it feels effortless and easy - and speed will follow naturally.

Shred Lesson

"I don't believe you have to be better than everybody else. I believe you have to be better than you ever thought you could be. "

Ken Venturi

Neo Classical Sweep Lesson - Metal Guitar Techniques

Fri, 25 Nov 2011 11:20:56 +0100

Neo Classical Sweep Lesson - Metal Guitar Techniques

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In this example I use only two basic arpeggios: The tonic and the dominant chord in the key of A-minor. I alternate between the G# diminished arpeggio and the A-minor arpeggio in different inversions across the neck. Practice slow and with precision. Keep working at a pace where it feels effortless and easy - and speed will follow naturally.

Neo Classical Sweep Lesson

"Go big or go home. Because it's true. What do you have to lose? "

Eliza Dushku

Classical Sequencing Lesson

Thu, 01 Dec 2011 20:45:59 +0100

Classical Sequencing Lesson

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This piece is pretty straight forward. It's a combination of two well known sequences used in a lot of classical music. Notice that I use sweep picking to play the diminished arpeggios in the end. Practice slow and with precision. Keep working at a pace where it feels effortless and easy - and speed will follow naturally.

Classical Sequencing Lesson

"Crave for a thing, you will get it. Renounce the craving, the object will follow you by itself"

Swami Sivananda

How to develop your own unique sound, part 2

Tue, 08 Feb 2011 08:16:20 +0100

How to develop your own unique sound, part 2

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The amazing tone of the Mongolian swamp ash

When you go shopping for the amp or instrument you want, try your best to forget about what others say. Really listen and be open. Be honest about what you like and don't like. And if you can't hear or feel the difference from a $200 instrument to a $2000 instrument, then that $2000 instrument can't be for you. And paying for the difference is insanity if you get zero value out of it. Decide to only pay for real results. For what you can hear and feel.

The musical instruments business is full of hype and "stories" about the instruments. "This guitar was hand made out of north Mongolian swamp ash so it has an amazing depth to it's lower frequencies" It might be true but only if you can hear and appreciate it. Trust your own experience and seek for what you like the best. Forget about finding a "special" tone. Find the tone that you like the most. Because you are special and what you truly like will be as well. Ask yourself "What is it I like about this tone compared to this other guys tone?" In this way your tone becomes a reflection of you and not of the need to feel significant or special.

Inexpensive gear

I tried a lot of different amps and guitars. Expensive ones and less expensive ones. And I ended up with a Squier Deluxe with 3 Dimarzio Pick ups and a Marshall MG amp. I used to play through a stack of Marshall JVM 410 amps but then I bought the MG for practice. I ended up wanting to plug into that over the JVM. In the beginning I really wondered why I didn't go for the much more expensive amp, but I had to conclude that, I just liked the other sound better! (Pretty basic) I didn't deliberately choose inexpensive gear, this was just what gave me the best experience.

Maybe for you it's something completely different. The point is to go for the experience and the sound, not the hype, the "quality" or anything else. Because quality is an experience. It's your experience. If you think it's the best instrument you've ever played then obviously it's great quality! There's no objective good or bad when it comes to instruments although musical instruments manufacturers would like you to think so.

Everyone who ever had a distinct sound just followed their heart (As far as I'm informed) They didn't go out seeking for "something different." They simply sought after the best playing experience. You know what it feels like to play a guitar that seems to help you play: The sustain is right, the distortion is great. The strings feel great the fretboard is a joy to play. Everything is right. That's what you should go for.

Fast lick in E-Blues

How about paying $2500 for nothing?

Here's a story to illustrate my point: A friend of mine had a friend (My friends friend) who had just bought a $2500 sound card for his computer. My friend has been studying the industry for some time and had learned that the basic components of any sound card comes from only two factories in the world. These factories deliver the same essential components to all manufacturers of digital sound equipment, so the real audible difference between what you get is very little. But back to my friends friend. He was so excited about his new gear and he went on and on about how great this new sound card sounded. How the high end was much clearer and the mids where better articulated and so on.

Then my friend said "I bet you can't hear the difference between your built in sound card and the one you just bought" Of course my friends friend was completely convinced that he could, but they agreed to test it. And so they did. They made a blind test and my friends friend couldn't tell the difference at all. He had no clue what so ever. The illusion was perfect. He paid $2500 for a story because he forgot to listen with his ears instead of his mind. He brought the sound card back to the store the next day and got his money back.

"Illusion is the first of all pleasures"

Oscar Wilde

How lucky I am: I can't hear the difference

My friend has another friend. He's a professional sound engineer and he has his own private studio, fully equipped with everything any musician could ask for. But all the equipment comes from manufacturers of inexpensive stuff like for instance "Behringer" When people ask him about his choice of equipment he replies: "How lucky I am that I can't hear the difference" And he never hears any complaints about bad sound quality from his customers. Please understand that I'm not saying that expensive gear isn't worth the money. My point is still that you should bye instruments with your ears if you want a great and very real experience. And what you like may sometimes be the more expensive alternative

If you want the feeling of holding a "real" American produced Fender in your hands then I salute you. The feeling consists of the physical instrument and the story in your head that "I have a real Fender" If you really want that feeling and you can't get it in any other way, then go get it! It's just such a relief to know when we are fooling ourselves and when we are not. And you might even like the sound of the Fender over the much cheaper Kramer.

But it can be really really tricky to distinguish between the story about an instrument and the reality of it. If you're in doubt as to whether you're listening with your mind or your ears when you try out gear, ask someone to play several guitars through the same amp while you're not looking - or if it's an amp you're looking for, ask him to plug into one amp after the other and listen for what sound you like the most. It might the Mesa Boogie and it might be Peavy practice amp. What ever it is, be true to what you like and compromise as little as you can.

"Nothing is easier than self-deceit. For what each man wishes, that he also believes to be true"

Demosthenes

How to develop your own unique sound

Tue, 01 Feb 2011 14:49:23 +0100

How to develop your own unique sound

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Why do you want your own sound?

Now why is such a technical aspect part of "Zen shredding?" Because there's a hidden agenda behind the need to create your own unique sound or tone. Why does it have to be unique? Why would anyone want to sound differently from others? And why is it that we're often repelled by copy cats and people who sound like someone else? It's because being unique, special or significant is part of a basic human strategy designed to keep us in the group.

Because if you're unique then that means you can contribute something special to the group. And "special" means "irreplaceable!" So if you're significant or special, no one can take your place in the group. Only you can fill that void with what ever it is that make you so special. But trying to be unique when that's what you already is, is a big fat waste of time. Just like it's a waste of time trying to impress people with your playing if you're already impressed with yourself! There's no one like you on this planet. You are unique by design and if you let that uniqueness express itself, your sound will be a reflection of who you are on a deeper level.

How to find the ultimate tone

Sometimes our basic instinct pull us away from what we really want. And what I suggest you really want that is not just an idea or a thought in your head, is the perfect playing experience. Having that can't compete with the story of you as "the unique and significant one" because that just an idea, an illusion that can crumble the next second you get the wrong look from one in your audience. Having an instrument that doesn't obstruct your playing and a sound that excites you and makes you want to keep on playing, is real. That's an experience worth aiming for. And if you, out of that, create a unique sound, then that's fine and dandy, but it can't be the essential thing. Not if your aim is to have as much fun as possible in this life time.

The only way to be unique, is to trust in what you feel is right and what sound you like the most. And then to improve on what is perfect all the time. In this way, your tone won't be an expression of a superficial need to feel unique, but it will be a reflection of who you are, and there's only one of you in this universe. But you must be willing to sound like everyone else, if you're not, you'll listen more to the thought that asks "Yes it sounds great but is unique?!" than you will listen you what you really like.

Odd numbers Alternate Picking Run

This is not only a great sounding run but also a very good exercise for your picking hand. You keep playing the same sequence of notes but you have to shift between outside and inside string shifts every other time.

The path that every great artist follows

If you're not willing to sound like someone else you will hear some other guitar player and go "How does he get that tone?!" But then your brain will say "I don't care, I wont copy him, because I want something unique" And then you natural creative mind can't operate freely. Copying others are very often the way to develop a style or tone of your own.

And if you don't stop trying to improve your sound, you'll take a little from one artist then a little from another until the result is your own. If you dig into the stories of Stevie Ray Vaughan, Clapton, Malmsteen or any other artist known to have a unique sound, you'll find that they came up with that particular sound by copying others. And then they improved on what was already great. Life is too short for you to try and invent everything from scratch.

The ultimate playing experience

Some years ago I decided to create the perfect playing experience for myself. Up until then, I had focused more on what my audience would like to hear than what I liked the most. So I tried out different types of strings to find the ones that felt the best and gave me the best sound. Then I experimented with the scalloped fretboard, with different types of pickups (I bought some, then tried them out, then loved them, then found some even better ones, then sold the other ones and repeated the process.)

"There is a vitality, a life force, an energy, a quickening, that is translated through you into action, and because there is only one of you in all time, this expression is unique. And if you block it, it will never exist through any other medium and will be lost"

Martha Graham

The key here is to first find a guitar that you really love to play, and then to forget about effects and EQ until you have 1. A guitar that you love 2. With the pickups that you love 3. With all the features and details that you love (Strings, the pick, the trem) I also experimented with different types of picks to get the most bright and clear tone possible and I found the metal picks to be the ones for me. My sound doesn't come from an effects board but from the basic combination of guitar, pickups and amp.

Your setup should sound amazing when you plug into your amp and crank up the volume. That's the sound that you should fall in love with. Then you can add a little reverb, delay, chorus, flanger or what ever, but those things are spice and not part of the basic tone or sound. Trying to create a good sound with effects and EQ, on the basis of a sound that you don't really like that much, is like trying to "recook" a meal that tastes bad. No spice or added flavor will make it up for that basic taste.

You're an expert already

My mother recently wanted me to buy new stereo for her because, as she said "You are much more knowledgeable than I in that area. I can't hear what's good or bad" My answer was brief: "Why would you need my help to tell you what stereo to buy when it's your experience that determines what you will find valuable? And if you can't hear the difference from one speaker to another why buy a new stereo at all?" The thing is, we enter into this strange world where no natural laws apply anymore and we think we need to be experts in order to buy something good, when "good" is what's good in our own experience. No expert can tell you what sound is the most pleasurable to you because only you can be the judge of that. More on that in my next article...

4 simple ways to become super confident

Mon, 24 Jan 2011 20:27:27 +0100

4 simple ways to become super confident

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How someone with no skills can take away the prize

When I was in high school I participated in a guitar contest. I was, by far, the most skilled guitarist in that school so I was pretty confident that I would win. But my anxiousness caused me to perform at a very low level while another guy with half my skills went completely berserk on stage. He didn't care that he couldn't play very well, he just did everything he could to sound and look like the greatest guitarist in the world. And I had to admit that he pulled it off.

He performed every move in the book and won the heart of the judges. Even though I wasn't able to grasp the full extend of that lesson at the time - I did realize that he possessed what I lacked: A focus on having fun and a complete lack of desire to be significant. (Because he knew that he wasn't! He knew that he couldn't show the audience anything flashy on the guitar so he wasn't burdened by the need to do so)

Lars Ulrich didn't care

A couple of years ago I went to a Metallica concert in Copenhagen. The drummer of that band, Lars Ulrich, is from Denmark and he was very happy to be back in his home country. So during the first song they played, he stood up and saluted the audience several times - and when you're a drummer that has quite an influence on what you are playing. Because he was so focused on connecting with the audience, his work on the drums sounded like it came from a drunk newbie.

But he was having fun! And he didn't care about the mistakes he made at all. When you are ready to let communicating with the audience screw up your playing, you are on your way to eliminating stage fear. Why? Because you can't focus on having fun and be anxious about what people think at the same time.

Are you staring silently at the fretboard?

And there's another lesson in here as well: If you want to play Rock'n Roll you must let yourself loose and get a little crazy. Accountants and scientists are allowed to stare silently at the tools they use to do what they do, but guitarists, no. You have to accept mistakes all the time. And when you do, they wont be mistakes but an integrated part of the whole.

The first way to become super confident

Now I promised you some strategies that you can use to eliminate the fear of playing in front of others. Here's the first and most effective one. It's based on the concept of "systematic desensitization" It requires that you put yourself in a situation where you do what you don't like to do: You find a street corner and start playing for people walking by. You might want to team up with a singer or another guitarist to make the process a little less scary. Practice at least 4 songs that you can play by heart. Then decide to spend several hours if not an entire day performing in front of the often completely indifferent crowd that walks by.

And don't expect to feel significant. Expect people to not give a hoot and then force yourself to stand there performing for several hours. If you're in school you can perform in the hallway, if you live in a big city you can perform in the subway. If you stand there long enough you can completely eliminate your fear, because you teach your brain that you don't die from performing and that even though people seem to reject what you are playing (All though a few might actually like it) you are perfectly fine afterwards.

Alternate Picking Arpeggios Sequence

I came up with this sequence when I was messing around with different arpeggio shapes. Pure alternate picking all the way.

The Kurt Cobain method

A second way to kick the fear habit is to consciously and deliberately play wrong stuff when you're on stage. Fool around with it and tease the other guys that you're playing with. Make funny faces when you play. Listen to a guy like Yngwie Malmsteen who makes a lot of mistakes when he plays - And see that he doesn't care. Consciously take on a more "flamboyant" and provocative attitude when you play and say over and over again in your head "I don't give a damn how many mistakes I make as long as I'm having fun" It's not making mistakes that hold you back, it's the fear of making them that's the problem.

Consciously decide what attitude you want to have when you get on stage or even when you play in front of your sister. And then choose to be the fun guy instead of the cramped up perfectionist in the corner. Start by striking the wrong chord if you're the one who begins the first song. Then say "ups" - smile and continue.

The B.B. King Method

Another effective strategy is to limit yourself to playing very very simple stuff. Deliberately remove your chances of impressing anyone by playing stuff in your solos that you really know and can control under any circumstances. Decide in advance to not impress anyone, and I promise you, you'll end up with the opposite result. When you deliberately remove the pressure to perform brilliantly, by making it a discipline in itself to do the opposite, you free yourself from the need for significance and you'll find yourself playing much more confidently than usual.

"Anxiety is the rust of life, destroying its brightness and weakening its power. A childlike and abiding trust in Providence is its best preventive and remedy"

Tyron Edwards

Visualize total failure

Here's my last piece of advice on this subject: Practice playing while imagining a very tough crowd in front of you. Imagine 10.000 people in the audience and they are not impressed with what you do or who you are. If you give this exercise a minute or two you will be able to feel some amount of anxiety just by imagining the situation. Then smile and stay in that feeling. Play and have fun while you keep imagining the unhappy crowd.

Teach your brain that you are the source of whether you feel good or not, not the crowd. Teach it that you can feel great playing in front of people even though they don't like what they see and hear. Because the crowd isn't real but imagined the feeling of nervousness doesn't get so bad that you can't overrule it with your smile and your good mood. Therefore it's a perfect tool for putting yourself in the situation that you're afraid of, without loosing the ability to control your emotional state.

If you do this for 5 minutes every day, you'll be ready for the "play-in-front-of-others-for-an-entire-day-exercise" What ever you do, start where you can. Do as much as you feel you can, but most importantly: Act on it. Do something, anything! Take the next step towards having more fun and less pain when you play in front of other people - today.

The real reason for stage fright

Fri, 14 Jan 2011 12:10:02 +0100

The real reason for stage fright

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Alone means dead

So why do some people get nervous when they play in front of other people while others become excited? As I stated in my last article the fundamental reason for nervousness is the fear of being rejected. And the fear behind that is the fear of dying. Human beings are dependent upon each other and a thousand years ago, being left by yourself meant being dead. Without other people you couldn't survive. Just like a deer without it's flock would be defenseless when confronted with a predator.

But since some people don't feel so nervous when they go on stage there must be other factors that determine how nervous we get. This article and the next is about these factors and what to do about them. Because you can't change the basic programming of your brain. You where born with it. And it's not going to change unless you have brain surgery. But the most essential determinant of whether or not you get nervous is why you go on stage. Why you play the guitar. So why are you spending time learning how to play that darn thing? And why do you put yourself in situations where you get this uncomfortable feeling of anxiety?

When the stakes become too high

There are really only two reasons why anyone would do that:

1. For significance
2. For fun

If your primary motivation comes from the need to feel significant, then, to the degree to which that is your driver, you will feel nervous and anxious when you play in front of others. Because you attach your identity to the skill level you're on, your brain goes "I am as good a person as my level of skill" And when you get on stage your brain will think "This is it, this is where I prove my self to be worthy off the admiration of these people!" And the scary alternative emerges also "This is where everyone could reject me massively and I could die!"

"What others think of us would be of little moment did it not, when known, so deeply tinge what we think of ourselves"

Paul Valery

When significance is a big part of your drive, the stakes becomes too high for you to perform well in front of others. The consequences of not performing well becomes linked to survival and when that happens your brain switches in to "fight or flight mode" It responds the way it would if you where confronted with a wild tiger or some other predator: You can either take on the fight, or you can run as fast as you can. The more nervous you get the more this basic instinct takes over. And this instinct, this primitive part of the brain, can't play the guitar.

Lizards play like robots

And how well does that go with being creative? The answer is simple: It doesn't. The more anxious you get, the less creative you'll be and the less present you'll be in the moment. So not only does your skill level seem to drop radically, you also loose your capacity to be creative. And being creative is a fundamental prerequisite for playing music. Even the simplest chord progression needs your full artistic attention if it's to come alive in your hands. When you're anxious your playing becomes automatic, robotic and uninspired. Because the oldest and most reptile like parts of your brain takes over.

This is not to say that you can't have a desire to impress people and still avoid being too nervous. It is only when the need to feel significant becomes too big a part of your motivation that you get in trouble. This happened for me years ago. I started out playing guitar out of nothing but sheer passion for country music. Yes that's right, I began playing guitar because I wanted to play a lap steel guitar that I had heard in numerous country songs. My dad told med that I should start by playing classical guitar and then I could advance to the lap steel when I had some skill.

That sounded like an OK plan to me but as time went by, the old six string and other types of music caught my interest and I never got to play that fret less country wonder. But then I hit puberty and playing guitar became a way to feel significant, impress girls and make friends. It found out that playing guitar (An activity sufficiently rewarding in itself) could help me get other peoples admiration and respect. What was once a source of pure fun and joy became a tool to get something else. Having fun wasn't so important anymore and my performance anxiety rose to terrifying levels. It got so bad that when ever I got on stage my skills almost disappeared. After a couple of these experiences I quit. I took along break from playing in front of an audience because I didn't think I was cut out for that sort of thing.

Two Great Alternate Picking Exercises

Playing four notes up and down is one of the hardest alternate picking exercises because it involves a double string shift. One thing is shifting from string to string it's another to have to go right back again and do another string shift right away. Hence the term "double string shift." In this lick I've given you a longer pause between the strings shifts and this makes this lick a lot easier than if you where playing the first 6 notes over and over again.

Where as the first lick was somewhat easier to play than the traditional four notes up and down, this exercise is harder. It's great for practicing "double" string shifts, because there are so many of them. You only get a pause of 3 strokes before you have to shift to another string once again.

What are you trying to achieve?

How about you? How much of your drive comes from the urge to impress people and inflate your ego? And remember it isn't bad to be motivated by a desire to make people go "huh!!??" it's not wrong to want to show people what you can do - because you show them what's possible for them also. Be as honest as you possibly can when you answer that question because you can't fix something you don't want to admit to.

"All charming people have something to conceal, usually their total dependence on the appreciation of others"

Cyril Connolly

One thing is for sure: If your anxiousness impairs your ability to have fun when you play in front of other people, you are trying to get something from playing guitar that it can't give you. Until you allow yourself to play the worst solo of this century and still feel great about yourself, you wont be able to kick the habit of being anxious on stage. But challenges like these don't go away just by writing or talking about them. In my next article I'll give you some specific exercises you can do to annihilate this limiting emotion so that you can be your best at all times.

index

Guitar Arpeggios - Two String Lick

Neo Classical Sequence - Metal Guitar Techniques