Members MacBradley Posted October 18, 2007 Members Share Posted October 18, 2007 I'm fine on rythm stuff, but when I play faster stuff on leads my playing gets pretty sloppy. I think alot of me noticeing this has to do with me recording for the last month and pretty much only playing when I need to record. What should I do, practice a bunch of scales and finger exercises to metrenome? Learn some solos I can't pull off tight and practice with the CD until I can? Little of both? Other advice? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Wood Chuck Posted October 18, 2007 Members Share Posted October 18, 2007 I'm fine on rythm stuff, but when I play faster stuff on leads my playing gets pretty sloppy. I think alot of me noticeing this has to do with me recording for the last month and pretty much only playing when I need to record. What should I do, practice a bunch of scales and finger exercises to metrenome? Learn some solos I can't pull off tight and practice with the CD until I can? Little of both? Other advice? Slow at first and don't over try. Let it flow. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members MacBradley Posted October 18, 2007 Author Members Share Posted October 18, 2007 I should add that I'm talking about fairly difficult stuff. I am by no means bad at guitar, I've been playing for a while. I just wanna take that next step taht I haven't gotten into the last few years a learn to totally tear it up. Maybe I need to learn some old school metal solos! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members only_shallow Posted October 18, 2007 Members Share Posted October 18, 2007 who cares? just play what you can... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members MacBradley Posted October 19, 2007 Author Members Share Posted October 19, 2007 who cares? just play what you can... I care. I wanna get better. I coulda siad "who cares" before out started learning guitar and just hit open strings.The whole "who cares, just play what you can" attitude doesn't cut it for me. True musicians don't stop learning about music till the day they die. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Noise... Posted October 19, 2007 Members Share Posted October 19, 2007 I care. I wanna get better. I coulda siad "who cares" before out started learning guitar and just hit open strings. The whole "who cares, just play what you can" attitude doesn't cut it for me. True musicians don't stop learning about music till the day they die. I agree 100%. There's no sense in learning at all if you don't want to improve (and if you don't enjoy improving for that matter...)For sloppiness, it really just comes down to watching what you're doing. A while back I recorded myself playing (probably about a year and a half ago...) and I was absolutely appalled by how sloppy it was. Sure, you could still hear everything, but slight buzzes, missed notes, extra notes, and things like that were pretty bad. So, what I did was sat down and deliberately cleaned up my playing. I started slow, making sure everything was nice, even, and clean. I gradually sped things up until I reached the speed I wanted. Then, I re-recorded it and it came out great. Just be patient and work through it. Play the parts you're having trouble with slowly and watch your technique. I find a metronome helps for some things and not for others. For sloppiness I didn't bother. For speed building I did. Good luck. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Man and Mer Posted October 19, 2007 Members Share Posted October 19, 2007 Practice clean. Straight into a clean amp. Metronome optional. I never really had much issue with timing, but I don't play Petrucci fast or nothing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members machine gunner Posted October 19, 2007 Members Share Posted October 19, 2007 I've always done a lot of alternate picked scale patterns in groups of 3,4,6 notes, whatever- w/ a metronome is even better. And of course, phrasing (sliding, bending, pull offs, hammer on's, trills, etc.) is huge as well as a good vibrato (this IMO takes the longest to really develop to full effect)- playing a few notes w/ great technique has a much bigger impact than trying to play everything fast and sloppily (many great exapmles of this- Albert King, Leslie West, Gary Rossington, Paul Kossoff, etc.). Listen, and I mean REALLY listen to what your favorite players are doing and try your best to emulate them, but make their playing your own. And of course, playing along w/ records is important as well as getting out and playing w/ others- preferably players that are better than yourself and that you can learn from. But you have to keep at it, there are no shortcuts- your effort will be rewarded in the end Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members veil Posted October 19, 2007 Members Share Posted October 19, 2007 Listen to Maceo Parker's "Tighten Up" and take heed to his advice on the matter. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members HeimBrent Posted October 19, 2007 Members Share Posted October 19, 2007 Sloppy leads? More reverb/delay and distortion. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members machine gunner Posted October 19, 2007 Members Share Posted October 19, 2007 Sloppy leads? More reverb/delay and distortion. :poke: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members MacBradley Posted October 19, 2007 Author Members Share Posted October 19, 2007 Sloppy leads? More reverb/delay and distortion. I know you're joking, but I'm kinda looking for the opposite. Getting a good clean sound even at lower gain settings, or even better off. If I load the gain on I can sound like the Cat's Pajama's to most, but I'm not looking to sound better, I'm looking to be/play better. Thx for tips guys. I think I'll try the different patterns like MG suggested, then once I feel a bit cleaner move on to some tasty solos! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members wacopacco Posted October 19, 2007 Members Share Posted October 19, 2007 I'm fine on rythm stuff, but when I play faster stuff on leads my playing gets pretty sloppy. I think alot of me noticeing this has to do with me recording for the last month and pretty much only playing when I need to record.What should I do, practice a bunch of scales and finger exercises to metrenome? Learn some solos I can't pull off tight and practice with the CD until I can? Little of both? Other advice? mine is too, dont worry about it. it's all rock n roll:evil: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Urinate Forever Posted October 20, 2007 Members Share Posted October 20, 2007 I care. I wanna get better. I coulda siad "who cares" before out started learning guitar and just hit open strings.The whole "who cares, just play what you can" attitude doesn't cut it for me. True musicians don't stop learning about music till the day they die. true musicians? why not just play what you want to play? if what you're tlaking about is what you want to play, the only way to get better is to practice. It's hard if you're not into anything fast so you can get some practice on a favorite song or something, but just start slow and don't build up slow until you can get hit every note cleanly and clearly. i think everyone is going to tell you that Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members NITEFLY182 Posted October 20, 2007 Members Share Posted October 20, 2007 Write things you cant play. Play them every day for about 20 minutes at a time, 5-6 times per day. In a month youll be there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members MacBradley Posted October 20, 2007 Author Members Share Posted October 20, 2007 true musicians? why not just play what you want to play?Think of it as technique headroom. If I can play bordenline sloppy at high speed, then things I like to play will be way cleaner and I'll be able to get ideas out more efficently and it will take less time to figure out the fingering and I own't be at my limit. I wanna make sure that limit is beyond what I need for what I like to play.I'm surpissed nobody has said to stop coming here as well. That woulda been the best advice! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Datsyuk Posted October 20, 2007 Members Share Posted October 20, 2007 Practice clean. Straight into a clean amp. Metronome optional. I never really had much issue with timing, but I don't play Petrucci fast or nothing. Metronome NOT optional. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members willburford Posted October 20, 2007 Members Share Posted October 20, 2007 Metronome, don't plug in, and leave HC (I opted to give you the best advice). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Man and Mer Posted October 20, 2007 Members Share Posted October 20, 2007 Metronome NOT optional. For his application it would definitely help a great deal, but what I meant to say is that I never found a metronome to be an absolute necessity. In my case, that is. Purely anecdotal evidence. I got rhythm. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members HeimBrent Posted October 20, 2007 Members Share Posted October 20, 2007 I know you're joking, but I'm kinda looking for the opposite. Getting a good clean sound even at lower gain settings, or even better off. If I load the gain on I can sound like the Cat's Pajama's to most, but I'm not looking to sound better, I'm looking to be/play better.Thx for tips guys. I think I'll try the different patterns like MG suggested, then once I feel a bit cleaner move on to some tasty solos! Well, I was a tad serious. Allthough good technic is important, I'd rather have a guitarist playing sloppy leads with soule, then a great guitarsit playing perfect leads without soul. But that's just me, eyh? I have written something wrong? I'm drunk. Live with it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members machine gunner Posted October 20, 2007 Members Share Posted October 20, 2007 I'm surpissed nobody has said to stop coming here as well. That woulda been the best advice! Oh yeah, I forgot to add that Luckily this place wasn't around during my formative learning years Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Gourd of Ashes Posted October 20, 2007 Members Share Posted October 20, 2007 I'm fine on rythm stuff, but when I play faster stuff on leads my playing gets pretty sloppy. I think alot of me noticeing this has to do with me recording for the last month and pretty much only playing when I need to record.What should I do, practice a bunch of scales and finger exercises to metrenome? Learn some solos I can't pull off tight and practice with the CD until I can? Little of both? Other advice? Man, I hear ya...I had the same problem about 3 years ago. It sounds to me like you're already a pretty advanced player and you just need to fine tune the details. All of your ideas are good...like playing scales and learning finger independence...metronome will increase your speed. That's all great ideas. My advice is to play as cleanly as possible and eliminate all clutter between your guitar and your amp. Practice by plugging straight into your amp...Preferably play lots of clean channel stuff. The boss pedals you're using absolutely destroy picking dynamics. They sound great...but they destroy your response. This results in sloppy playing. So to get tighter...you've gotta bypass all your pedals and plug straight in. I'd say play at a low volume on the clean channel. High volume tricks your ears because you will hear all kinds of echos and room ambience that covers up mistakes. Plug straight into your amp, play cleanly at extremely low volume and all of the little {censored}ups will show up bright as day. Also, don't expect to play well when you're cold. It usually takes me a good 45 minutes to 1 hour to feel like I'm in control of my instrument. I'll still do 20 minute practice sessions...but I just don't expect myself to be in top form unless I'm properly warmed up. Point is: take warmups seriously. If you're sloppy when first picking up the instrument don't worry about it too much....only worry about it if you're still sloppy after warming up. Dial in your gear so that it is as easy to play as possible. Make sure the action is extremely comfortable at all points on the neck. Make certain that you have proper intonation. Make certain that you are playing a comfortable string guage. Make certain that you have the right picks that are just the right size and thickness to bring out the best in your hands. Personal example: when I was first trying to tighten up my playing I bought tons of different kinds of picks and tried them til I found one that worked best. IT made a huge difference. I also tried a whole lot of different brands of strings in different guages until I found one that sounded and most importatly "felt" the best to play. Some strings are looser and easier to bend while others have more tension....it just depends on what kind of player you are as to what you'll end up liking. These very small and subtle "fine tune-ups" can make all of the difference in going from a good guitar player to a great guitar player. Last advice: Dont' be afraid to play through headphones. If you get used to practicing with headphones on then you won't panic when recording in the studio. An EXCELLENT practice tool for this is the pocket POD. Yeah it's a bad sound....but it's a CLEAN sound. It will really help you dial in your hands. These are just some suggestions to get you thinking...everybody has a different formula that will work best for them. Good luck with your playing! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members capnbringdown Posted October 20, 2007 Members Share Posted October 20, 2007 Welcome to the club. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members MacBradley Posted October 20, 2007 Author Members Share Posted October 20, 2007 Thanks for good advice guys. When I practice drills I'm usually strait into my bassman on clean anyway, because I don't like running through any pedals unless I'm actually using them. Anyway, I went to GC and picked up some new picks. I was using 1mm black ylon ones, I think they were Dunlop. I switched to Dunlop Jazz III's that are a nasty skin toned transparent, but I like the way they play alot better. That's already helping. Quick question. When you guys hold your pick, is your thumb bent a little, or strait and locked, like when you fully extend your elbow but on your thumb? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Man and Mer Posted October 20, 2007 Members Share Posted October 20, 2007 Bent. My hand is pretty relaxed overall. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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