The Guitar Player Thread.

Spent the morning planting oak trees at the Kulak preserve in the Sourlands. Was going to ride my mountain bike but my asthma is effing killing me today.

If I can't ride my bike, I can always play my guitar and it's just as fulfilling.

Here's a little number that mixes some chicken pickin, flat picking, funk and twang. It's like country-funk or something... I don't know WTF it is but i'm having fun.
 
Spent the morning planting oak trees at the Kulak preserve in the Sourlands. Was going to ride my mountain bike but my asthma is effing killing me today.

If I can't ride my bike, I can always play my guitar and it's just as fulfilling.

Here's a little number that mixes some chicken pickin, flat picking, funk and twang. It's like country-funk or something... I don't know WTF it is but i'm having fun.


I can picture its a nice spring sunny day, 75 degrees and breezy, me and wifey hang'n, sitting on a blanket, nice buzz, wine samples for days at a winefest at a winery somewhere and in the background some guy just killing it on the guatar while he's sitting amongst the group of people camped out on the grass. So Good!
 
Acoustic is the thang! Inspired by capedoc acoustic skills. I studied classical guitar to enhance control and patience lol. I doubt that.





Before I started shredding I learned folk songs finger style guitar. I also learned how to drink(booze) at an early age. Back home all folk guitar players in my hood are either alcoholic or dead.

 
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Holy crap you just gave me nightmares!! When I was taking lessons my teacher
had me learn like 50 classical pieces.IMG_20151206_192339054.jpg
 
Spent the morning planting oak trees at the Kulak preserve in the Sourlands. Was going to ride my mountain bike but my asthma is effing killing me today.

If I can't ride my bike, I can always play my guitar and it's just as fulfilling.

Here's a little number that mixes some chicken pickin, flat picking, funk and twang. It's like country-funk or something... I don't know WTF it is but i'm having fun.

I hope you're counting your time making these videos!
 
Spent the morning planting oak trees at the Kulak preserve in the Sourlands. Was going to ride my mountain bike but my asthma is effing killing me today.

If I can't ride my bike, I can always play my guitar and it's just as fulfilling.

Here's a little number that mixes some chicken pickin, flat picking, funk and twang. It's like country-funk or something... I don't know WTF it is but i'm having fun.

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Not normally a fan of this kind of music, but I respect seeing it played by somebody I somewhat kinda know a little bit from pictures. How do you know where to move your fingers so fast!? Lol. I took a bunch of lessons on my first electric guitar back in high school, then I moved onto cars and pretty much lost everything in the music department. Wish I kept playing.
 
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Not normally a fan of this kind of music, but I respect seeing it played by somebody I somewhat kinda know a little bit from pictures. How do you know where to move your fingers so fast!? Lol. I took a bunch of lessons on my first electric guitar back in high school, then I moved onto cars and pretty much lost everything in the music department. Wish I kept playing.

Exercises is the key to play fast. I used to do exercises with a metronome. Left hand and picking hand techniques. Left hand alternating finger technique and alternate picking. I use to do exercises on my guitar like clockwork even when im taking a dump lol
 
@Sandman98 - I love it dude! Great playing.

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Not normally a fan of this kind of music, but I respect seeing it played by somebody I somewhat kinda know a little bit from pictures. How do you know where to move your fingers so fast!? Lol. I took a bunch of lessons on my first electric guitar back in high school, then I moved onto cars and pretty much lost everything in the music department. Wish I kept playing.
Dude, I totally hear ya. I don't listen to metal usually. Don't dislike it perse, just not my cup of tea, but I love watching @jimvreeland and anyone else do their thang. I can appreciate anything that requires skill and devotion to a particular craft.

Like @Sandman98 says, lots of practice and exercises. Sometimes I hang in the livingroom running up and down the same scale or riff over and over and over until I can play through it without thinking. Then take that idea and stick it up my sleeve. After a while you get to a point where you have all these riff ideas that when you're jamming over a chord progression they come out naturally. Last night while watching TV with Megan, I think I ran up and down the same G run for an hour...

Still so much to learn though.

I'm completely self taught. Never had training or lessons. So my approach to playing is probably a bit different then someone who has had schooling.
 
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This is usually how I work out licks. I don't write everything out but jot down a few notes here and there. This is the tapping lick from Eruption that I figured out after Matty posted that video. Then I practice until it's good enough to show someone.

Metal is fairly easy to practice as it's mostly technique based. Runs are straight forward, but fast. Fast takes a lot of sitting around with a metronome running through scales. The arpeggio exercise a few up that I posted was probably a year in the making. It's an extremely hard lick to play clean and fast. Pay attention to how many times I vary the notes to keep time.
 
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IMG_20151020_085014385.jpg Another lick I've been working on. It's the arpeggio lick from the guitar battle in Crossroads. I can sweep these easily, but, this is alternate picked. Holy hell does that make it HARD. There's a reason Steve Vai played all the parts!!
 
i have a few videos to watch tonight - nice. gotta catch up on the posts. work poo-poos youtoob.

another way to practice something tricky is not to just play the entire line you are trying to get at a tempo, and slowly pick up that tempo, but to also break it into pieces. 4 or 5 note-long chunks at a time. work that segment. then work another segment, then glue the two segments together. work on the next segment, then glue that on. the muscle memory comes pretty quick with shorter bursts. works great with piano, guitar, brass instruments... you name it. the speed usually comes quicker than if you are attempting an entire line. also gets your brain thinking about the line in different ways. like jim was saying - you'll naturally develop note anchors in the line that keep you centered in both tempo and finger placing.

phrasing and intricacies.
 
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