Beginner (Sort Of) - Need Suggestions

[Two hands31]

Hi, I've been playing for about three years, and have a few questions:

1) *How can I improve my speed/accuracy?

2) *What would be a good (easy) song to help give me a taste of Vai-style guitar work?

3) *What would you suggest to a medium level guitarist, looking to improve? *

Thanx in advance!

P.S. *I practise a lot every day.

[cmartin]

Keep practicing a lot every day

[jem7vwh]

1. *To improve- practice more/seek lessons
2. *To start with, you might want to try "Die to Live"
3. *Challenge yourself. *Pickout a piece you know you CANNOT play and learn it until you CAN.

4. *Read the lessons posted here.

[Josh Blagg]

Pick a record that may be just a little bit above your level and figure it out, note for note. *Try to transcribe all of the guitar yourself, and definately know all the chord changes. *Don't peek at any tab unless you absolutely have to. *Also, playing against the record will help you stay on tempo.

You can practice chops, speed, etc. all you want, but I have found that in order to be a better guitar player and musician, you should probably try figuring out different songs, styles, players, and the like. *By doing this, you learn a lot more at once than you would by just running a major scale really fast.

[kennydoe]

I agree with what Josh said about transcribing in black and white notes, rather than numbers. *Slowing down to half speed is NOT CHEATING. *there's a program called CD Looper that can bring a CD down to half speed without changing the pitch - *very cool. *If you don't want to pay for a program, the Sonique mp3 player can slow down to true half speed (octave lower pitch).

***note about transcribing. *It's NOT easy at first, but it does get easier the more you do it...persevere and the rewards are great. *Start simple - do a Hendrix or Clapton solo.***

Another method I've found helpful for learning solos is listening to a certain passage over and over again and just sing along with it - use whatever syllables you hear in your head (dweeee doo ba doo be doo is fine). *Usually once you can sing it, it's fairly easy to play it.

To improve phrasing in improvisation, I suggest singing along with everything you play - much in the same style as George Benson. *If you run out of breath in one phrase, it's too long.

Another reminder...speed isn't everything. *Outside of shred guitar circles people aren't impressed by speed - they're impressed by note-selection and phrasing. *I'm a Vai lover, for sure and most of his stuff is way above my playing ability (on guitar) - but I don't strive for that. *It's fun to listen to and drop my jaw, but it's not how i ever can envision myself playing. *

If I could hire any guitar player to put down a solo on one of my songs it'd be David Gilmour (from Pink Floyd, but i hope you already knew that). *He doesn't play anything fast, but his guitar solos just SING to me.

Okay...just got inspired for a different thread.
Hope this helps. *Good luck!
~Kenny

[carlos seo]

Well.. here are my thoughts:

1- Practice a lot. Take at least one hour/day for technique practicing (sweep picking, alternate picking, scales, modes, patterns, arpeggios, etc). And study theory. The better you know how music works, the faster your brain works.

2- Try "Liberty". Little fast run at the end, but no problems at all (this one was the first SV song I've learned!).

3- Study theory, practice technique, do some ear-training, play for fun and listen to a lot of different music styles -- you can always merge influences to make your sound more rich and intelligent.

[Mirrored CAT]

Sell your soul to the devil. That's the only way that works. *:shoot: :angel:


PS: Sorry for not being helpful. Everything has already been said, but not even one of these words will bring you to the edge of your playing. It's up to you.