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This might sound dumb or like I'm bragging or something but I've never understood how struggling with alternate picking is a thing. Like, how else are you supposed to pick? Do people just downpick everything? I don't recall ever intentionally learning or practicing alternate picking but I know its a thing because its a huge deal in online guitar communities. Same with downward pick slanting. I was really surprised that holding your pick at an angle relative to the strings was this huge epiphany and that there's zillions of youtube videos describing and discussing it when it's like, yeah my hand just does that when I play fast? For me, the much harder thing is left hand synchronization. My speed is fully gated by my fingers tying themselves in knots at higher tempos.
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Oct 20, 2022 15:32
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800peepee51doodoo posted:This might sound dumb or like I'm bragging or something but I've never understood how struggling with alternate picking is a thing. Like, how else are you supposed to pick? Do people just downpick everything? I don't recall ever intentionally learning or practicing alternate picking but I know its a thing because its a huge deal in online guitar communities. Same with downward pick slanting. I was really surprised that holding your pick at an angle relative to the strings was this huge epiphany and that there's zillions of youtube videos describing and discussing it when it's like, yeah my hand just does that when I play fast? For me, the much harder thing is left hand synchronization. My speed is fully gated by my fingers tying themselves in knots at higher tempos. I think people just pick up silly habits and stick with them - downstrumming and downpicking only will get a lot of people through the first riffs they learn until that gels, as will slouching on a bed or couch with the guitar pulled back into your gut or holding the pick with a sock-puppet grip to stop it slipping. Some people simply won't be told. My partner has a friend who somehow manages to keep breaking picks, plays with massively thick strings and had a meltdown about "advanced techniques" when she posted a video of her playing a riff and some people suggested there's a hammer-on in the original. I get that, for women especially, "guitar-bros" are a thing, but the level of defensiveness and lack of self awareness to continously blame "dodgy picks" for technique problems astounds me.
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Oct 20, 2022 17:19
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Sounds like she has problems that extend beyond playing guitar
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Oct 20, 2022 17:22
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800peepee51doodoo posted:This might sound dumb or like I'm bragging or something but I've never understood how struggling with alternate picking is a thing. Like, how else are you supposed to pick? Do people just downpick everything? I don't recall ever intentionally learning or practicing alternate picking but I know its a thing because its a huge deal in online guitar communities. Same with downward pick slanting. I was really surprised that holding your pick at an angle relative to the strings was this huge epiphany and that there's zillions of youtube videos describing and discussing it when it's like, yeah my hand just does that when I play fast? For me, the much harder thing is left hand synchronization. My speed is fully gated by my fingers tying themselves in knots at higher tempos. i think that, because guitar is primarily a self-taught instrument, with so many different disciplines, you get a lot of ppl out there who follow different paths in learning the instrument. i'm in a similar boat, my picking technique is definitely more developed than my fretting technique, so i've been focusing a lot on smooth chord transitions lately.
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Oct 20, 2022 17:25
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How do you break a pick? Is she spending hundreds of dollars on black-market tortoiseshells? Granted I only play with tortex jazz 3s and maxgrip nylons, but I'm pretty sure 4-5 years in I've only ever worn the paint off a few of them. Do those harder plastic typed crack on you here and there?
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Oct 20, 2022 17:26
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Spanish Manlove posted:Sounds like she has problems that extend beyond playing guitar It's a thing I seem sometimes where there's this pride in being self-taught and rejecting the rules or whatever. And I get it to an extent, but breaking the rules suggests some knowledge of what they are. Not analysing your own technique just seems like putting roadblocks in your way rather than punk as gently caress or whatever. But to go back to what I said before, loads of people will be happy with, for example, not being able to do something fundamental and then read that some famous guitarist didn't use them either without it clicking that that guitarist was really well developed at other things and still honed their craft. I remember reading an interview with Tommy Iommi where when praised for his unorthodox technique he was like "thanks, but I would rather have my fingertips". Huxley posted:How do you break a pick? Is she spending hundreds of dollars on black-market tortoiseshells? I can't be hosed with the drama of asking, because it'll be seen as an attack, as would any suggestion of how not to do that. I managed to crack one once as a callow youth, but I used to really dig in to the strings with a weird grip until I realised "no, I'd like to play guitar actually" Hey, if she's having fun and enjoys the Instagram stories showing how many picks she's snapped today, go her. I enjoy rearranging my pedals like toy cars and photographing those. Disco Pope fucked around with this message at 17:38 on Oct 20, 2022 |
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Oct 20, 2022 17:31
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800peepee51doodoo posted:This might sound dumb or like I'm bragging or something but I've never understood how struggling with alternate picking is a thing. Like, how else are you supposed to pick? Do people just downpick everything? I don't recall ever intentionally learning or practicing alternate picking but I know its a thing because its a huge deal in online guitar communities. Same with downward pick slanting. I was really surprised that holding your pick at an angle relative to the strings was this huge epiphany and that there's zillions of youtube videos describing and discussing it when it's like, yeah my hand just does that when I play fast? For me, the much harder thing is left hand synchronization. My speed is fully gated by my fingers tying themselves in knots at higher tempos. It's just that doing it at a high tempo or with a bunch of subdivisions sounds really warbly and uneven, at this point in my guitar journey. Like I can do eighth notes and triplets with upstrums but as soon as it gets to sixteenths, especially on a single string, my dynamics get all hosed and my tempo becomes really uneven  . Starting off sounding really bad only means I'll quickly sound way better though > !!
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Oct 20, 2022 17:34
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I'm maybe the wrong person to ask cause I taught myself Knopfler-style electric fingerstyle completely by accident but alternate picking (and strumming rhythms you don't fret silently) feels weird as hell to me, but economy picking was totally normal and seemed obvious? like I read about it and was surprised it had a name I have a very hard time playing upstroke palm muted chords and default to downstrokes every time there. I know its possible cause I've accidentally stumbled on the technique hoping I could just practice through the block, but I have no idea how to get my hands back in that position on demand
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Oct 20, 2022 17:36
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800peepee51doodoo posted:This might sound dumb or like I'm bragging or something but I've never understood how struggling with alternate picking is a thing. Like, how else are you supposed to pick? Do people just downpick everything? I don't recall ever intentionally learning or practicing alternate picking but I know its a thing because its a huge deal in online guitar communities. Same with downward pick slanting. I was really surprised that holding your pick at an angle relative to the strings was this huge epiphany and that there's zillions of youtube videos describing and discussing it when it's like, yeah my hand just does that when I play fast? For me, the much harder thing is left hand synchronization. My speed is fully gated by my fingers tying themselves in knots at higher tempos. i don't remember ever consciously thinking about alternate picking until i started the Leavitt modern method book. i probably used mostly downstrokes before that? i had lessons when i was really young so maybe i picked up something there. since then i alternate pick everything and it rocks Disco Pope posted:But to go back to what I said before, loads of people will be happy with, for example, not being able to do something fundamental and then read that some famous guitarist didn't use them either without it clicking that that guitarist was really well developed at other things and still honed their craft. I remember reading an interview with Tommy Iommi where when praised for his unorthodox technique he was like "thanks, but I would rather have my fingertips". YUP. it's my life's work to push back against this stupid poo poo. it makes me insane how many guitarists are completely dead set against "learning a skill". a funny recent one from reddit was "if i practice with a metronome will my playing become robotic??"
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Oct 20, 2022 17:38
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JamesKPolk posted:I'm maybe the wrong person to ask cause I taught myself Knopfler-style electric fingerstyle completely by accident but alternate picking (and strumming rhythms you don't fret silently) feels weird as hell to me, but economy picking was totally normal and seemed obvious? like I read about it and was surprised it had a name Yeah I can alternate pick just fine on a single string, but I unwittingly started doing economy picking + legato when playing stuff across strings because I guess it felt the most efficient. It makes some stuff easier but there are a lot of times where I get left having to switch picking directions in a way that feels like it would be way easier, had I actually sat down and intentionally practiced strict alternate picking at any point. I also frequently have to break stuff down just to figure out how I want to pick it and then work that into my muscle memory, and I suspect that I probably wouldn't have to do that nearly as much if I was better at just alternate picking as the rule.
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Oct 20, 2022 17:45
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a.p. dent posted:YUP. it's my life's work to push back against this stupid poo poo. it makes me insane how many guitarists are completely dead set against "learning a skill". a funny recent one from reddit was "if i practice with a metronome will my playing become robotic??" I've actually been on a guitar break playing a lot of piano over the past month or two and it has absolutely driven home for me how much I need a metronome or drum machine of some kind. NOTHING comes together for me until I get it going with a metronome. Basically as soon as I have the general idea of how a piece is supposed to go, I turn it on. Otherwise I just endlessly noodle around the parts I know and drag through the hard bits and eventually get bored and call it done. It's NOT done until you have it on a metronome. I'm actually pretty excited to get back to guitar and bring the metronome in more.
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Oct 20, 2022 17:51
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Artist types really loving love the notion that practicing and focusing on improvement will kill their creativity instead of enhancing it. Everyone learns differently and while some people need to spend 8hours a day drilling scales, some people just need to write it down on a piece of paper to visualize it in their head and boom they get it. However that's still actually trying to learn something new instead of hiding their own insecurities behind being aloof about effort.
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Oct 20, 2022 18:24
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hot date tonight! posted:If you're talking fluid filled blister, you might have a nickel allergy. Getting any redness and itchiness? No thankfully. But that is a good question and something that is good to know. Changing my guitar strings would fix that problem right?
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Oct 20, 2022 18:30
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Huxley posted:I've actually been on a guitar break playing a lot of piano over the past month or two and it has absolutely driven home for me how much I need a metronome or drum machine of some kind. NOTHING comes together for me until I get it going with a metronome. Basically as soon as I have the general idea of how a piece is supposed to go, I turn it on. Otherwise I just endlessly noodle around the parts I know and drag through the hard bits and eventually get bored and call it done. it's always disheartening to record myself playing a song i learned a long time ago and know well (recently george harrison "behind that locked door") and hear how bad the rhythm is lol.
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Oct 20, 2022 18:34
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Huxley posted:I've actually been on a guitar break playing a lot of piano over the past month or two and it has absolutely driven home for me how much I need a metronome or drum machine of some kind. NOTHING comes together for me until I get it going with a metronome. Basically as soon as I have the general idea of how a piece is supposed to go, I turn it on. Otherwise I just endlessly noodle around the parts I know and drag through the hard bits and eventually get bored and call it done. Since picking up guitar again I’m using a metronome all the time where I hardly ever used one 15 years ago. I thought it would feel like a drag but now, like you, it doesn’t feel right until I’m laying it down with the metronome. There’s also something really satisfying about nailing each note in time.
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Oct 20, 2022 19:21
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i don’t really strictly alternate pick but i don’t really strictly downpick either. there’s kind of some feel to it, i guess. i feel like the note sounds brighter when i up pick it, so sometimes i want that and sometimes i don’t. i also don’t play that much lead so it’s not the biggest deal. i also find that at least rhythm guitar or straight patterns, i don’t find it too hard to keep rhythm, especially if i know the piece — because i’m essentially counting with my arm. like how singers or brass players might count with their arm while resting — i’m basically doing that while playing.
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Oct 20, 2022 19:22
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Buschmaki posted:It's just that doing it at a high tempo or with a bunch of subdivisions sounds really warbly and uneven, at this point in my guitar journey. Like I can do eighth notes and triplets with upstrums but as soon as it gets to sixteenths, especially on a single string, my dynamics get all hosed and my tempo becomes really uneven Ah yeah, gotcha. I had to do a bunch of drilling with a metronome to learn some Nile songs that are high bpm 16ths basically the whole way through. It does sound weird and bad unless you are absolutely on target with your rhythm. I found it helps considerably if I can really focus in on and nail the pulse. The intermediate picking doesn't matter as much as long as I'm hitting the 1 right on time. Spanish Manlove posted:Artist types really loving love the notion that practicing and focusing on improvement will kill their creativity instead of enhancing it. Literally me. For years and years and years. I could never figure out why improving was so hard. So dumb.
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Oct 20, 2022 19:23
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800peepee51doodoo posted:Ah yeah, gotcha. I had to do a bunch of drilling with a metronome to learn some Nile songs that are high bpm 16ths basically the whole way through. It does sound weird and bad unless you are absolutely on target with your rhythm. I found it helps considerably if I can really focus in on and nail the pulse. The intermediate picking doesn't matter as much as long as I'm hitting the 1 right on time. Yeah for hyperfast trem picking like that you don't focus on literally every note, you count on the main notes. Depends on what the drums are doing, but sometimes you count on just the 1 or on the 1 and 3 instead of every single 16th note. I have to sync up my brain with the tempo of the song and then haha pick hand go brrr where I don't even think about my right hand. Yeah I'm still in the belief that the aloof irony just always seems like a front for insecurities, and a fear of failing at something and being embarrassed about it. But then you have the other artist types that are self defeating and hide behind negative thoughts about their own skill to also cover up for the embarrassment of failure. In the end, no one gives a poo poo how good or bad you are at something. Just have fun making stuff and enjoy things.
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Oct 20, 2022 19:35
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Disco Pope posted:Some people simply won't be told. My partner has a friend who somehow manages to keep breaking picks, plays with massively thick strings and had a meltdown about "advanced techniques" when she posted a video of her playing a riff and some people suggested there's a hammer-on in the original. I get that, for women especially, "guitar-bros" are a thing, but the level of defensiveness and lack of self awareness to continously blame "dodgy picks" for technique problems astounds me. It might be that it is defensiveness thats a reaction to dudes constantly trying to mansplain stuff. I know a number of women in trades work that get super defensive when guys try to explain certain construction techniques, even if they are trying to be genuinely helpful. Its that idea that racism/misogyny drives people crazy and its hard to trust that someone is trying to help and not poo poo on them. Obviously I dont know that thats whats happening here, but it is possible and might be hindering her from taking any advice or useful criticism. Also, this gives me an excuse to post this video of women talking about their experiences in music. They're mostly electronic artists but they also interview Sarah Longfield who is an insanely talented guitar player. Its wild that this person who is in the upper levels of virtuoso playing still gets unsolicited advice from online dudes. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Ipb81z46kI
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Oct 20, 2022 19:45
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that's totally it. I knew a dude that refused to learn any songs so it wouldn't influence him and all he did was hruhhhhhhh over dropped d and was p much Walmart days of the new
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Oct 20, 2022 19:49
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re: influence: i've found that learning more about how music is put together and analyzing/understanding music outside the guitar helps. like, now, music "takes place" on a sheet/staff, rather than the fretboard. the way this is beneficial is that i have access now to virtually all music -- so i wouldn't have to try to learn like, a piero piccioni song on the guitar. it's generally helped me because when i just listen to poo poo that primarily uses guitars, i can't get those songs out of my head while writing, and i end up more or less copying stuff. i know everything is a ripoff, but like... ripping off current emo bands while writing songs for my emo band is probably not cool. so lately i've been into a lot of like... puccini, and orchestrated french impressionism. i wish i could write melodies like puccini :/
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Oct 20, 2022 20:15
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landgrabber posted:re: influence: weird little anecdote about this: i try to learn music by visualizing notation now, because apparently that helps recall and stuff... anyway. it's hard for me as a lifelong guitarist who only learned notation a few years ago, i tend to visualize by imagining myself playing it on the guitar by default. one weird thing i've noticed is that since guitar has notes that are spatially far away on the fretboard, but close in notation, is that i'll visualize huge nonexistent gaps on the stave. like thinking of a open G to open E is only 3 lines + a space but since it's two strings away i visualize it as this huge empty stave.
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Oct 20, 2022 20:24
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i have a background in violin so anything monophonic or double-stops i can read perfectly fine, but when you get guitar chords with notes stacked up the stave it always gives me a little pause lol. getting better at reading that stuff more easily though
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Oct 20, 2022 20:28
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It's funny because the better I've gotten at guitar (and piano), the less interested I am in writing and arranging. My interest in it is almost entirely just like, the zen of execution. The slow and steady process of getting something right. I don't have songs in me, and that doesn't really hurt my feelings. I don't feel the need to write melodies like Puccini, Puccini already did it for me. It's right there on the page, I just have to pick it up and work it out. It's taken a lot of the stress of the instrument off of me. Like, I'm busting my head trying to arrange tasteful chord melody arrangements, and there's so much I need to know and learn just to get a little bit started. But there are nice people on YT who will sell me a score to something for $4 and spend a whole video walking me through it, and now I know it! That's perfect for what I personally want to get out of the instrument. I read a Joe Pass quote once that boiled down to, every guitarist ought to be able to pick up any guitar in any situation, by themselves, and fill an hour. I think that's my goal, more or less. Classical, jazz, a few strummy/singy things, all from memory, fill an hour.
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Oct 20, 2022 20:31
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Huxley posted:I read a Joe Pass quote once that boiled down to, every guitarist ought to be able to pick up any guitar in any situation, by themselves, and fill an hour. I think that's my goal, more or less. Classical, jazz, a few strummy/singy things, all from memory, fill an hour. i'm with you there, we share similar goals. in a way, all my ear and technique training is just so i can be extremely lazy and play something new quickly, without having to work very hard.
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Oct 20, 2022 20:36
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I alternate picked almost everything forever and now I suck at downpicking. Trying to do Creeping Death on and off, and while I can downpick 1/8th notes at around 200bpm, its just very shortly until my forearm feels like it's going to fall off. I try to be relaxed about it. I probably just need to practice slower and longer bouts mixed in with the occasionally going fast.
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Oct 21, 2022 01:06
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Huxley posted:I read a Joe Pass quote once that boiled down to, every guitarist ought to be able to pick up any guitar in any situation, by themselves, and fill an hour. I think that's my goal, more or less. Classical, jazz, a few strummy/singy things, all from memory, fill an hour. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5p0IwMCz_3s&t=22s
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Oct 21, 2022 01:12
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i almost exclusively up-pick unless i think about it when i play with a pick, no real idea why i do lol. i learned guitar on a 12 string, might have been subconsciously trying to make muting easier by striking further from the bass strings.
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Oct 21, 2022 01:18
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At a death/black/etc metal show and the guitarist & singer of one of the openers was playing a Rickenbacker? Unexpected but they sounded good
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Oct 21, 2022 03:26
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creamcorn posted:i almost exclusively up-pick unless i think about it when i play with a pick, no real idea why i do lol. i exclusively upstroked for like 20 years, yeah. no explanation.
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Oct 21, 2022 04:40
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love of nile rodgers and first wave ska?
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Oct 21, 2022 04:43
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I've been working on fingerstyle so I haven't even used a pick in like a month. I subscribed to Bernth's Patreon a while back and did his alt picking course. It helped me a ton. So if you're looking for alt picking instructions or exercises, $5/month for the Patreon is very reasonable.
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Oct 21, 2022 04:51
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Drunk Driver Dad posted:I alternate picked almost everything forever and now I suck at downpicking. Trying to do Creeping Death on and off, and while I can downpick 1/8th notes at around 200bpm, its just very shortly until my forearm feels like it's going to fall off. I try to be relaxed about it. I probably just need to practice slower and longer bouts mixed in with the occasionally going fast. I'm in the same boat where I can do 240bpm alternate picking for hours on end but my arm fatigues before the first chorus in creeping death. Even more weird is that if I play it at alternate picked 16th notes I barely feel a thing but I just can not do it with only downstroke 8ths I'm betting it's that my technique for down picking moves my hand farther than when I'm just alternate picking so there's less economy of motion.
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Oct 21, 2022 05:28
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Wowporn posted:At a death/black/etc metal show and the guitarist & singer of one of the openers was playing a Rickenbacker? Unexpected but they sounded good ricks always sound good. use my 4003 for hardcore/metalcore bass tones
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Oct 21, 2022 05:39
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The headliner had a tele and a saxophone they kno wtf is up
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Oct 21, 2022 05:57
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Jonny 290 posted:i exclusively upstroked for like 20 years, yeah. no explanation. I remember reading an interview with Paul Gilbert where he talked about playing exclusively with upstrokes until he got a teacher and found out that you don’t have to do it that way, so it can work out I guess
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Oct 21, 2022 12:42
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Hellblazer187 posted:I've been working on fingerstyle so I haven't even used a pick in like a month. I subscribed to Bernth's Patreon a while back and did his alt picking course. It helped me a ton. So if you're looking for alt picking instructions or exercises, $5/month for the Patreon is very reasonable. I was listening to a podcast the other day and one of the hosts used the phrase "resting cocaine face" and I immediately thought of Bernth
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Oct 21, 2022 16:32
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i got the sickest tone of my life last night >
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Oct 21, 2022 23:45
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landgrabber posted:i got the sickest tone of my life last night > Congrats, success buddy! I've WRITTEN two (2) more songs since the last one two weeks ago. I also just finished rehearsing the full show for our next meeting with the singer on Sunday. He did four tunes last Sunday and he killed. Just wish I had more people to share it with than the internet. Thanks for being there, internet. Also I am meeting Steven Siro Vai at The Fillmore in Charlotte on Sunday afternoon at 4, before his show at 8. I have never seen Vai live nor met him.
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Oct 22, 2022 00:01
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tried to practice last night, had an actual little mental breakdown, it was dumb. I'm about to change the strings on my MJ Dinky. The locking nut has action that's a bit too high. Anyone ever sand down a bit to lower one? I have some sticky sandpaper, can I just put some on the bottom of the actual nut and sand a bit in it's little slot? I only need to take off like a sliver so I'm not worried if using the nut is a bit combersome. e; actually my triangle file seems a good size, I might try that first. Drunk Driver Dad fucked around with this message at 00:52 on Oct 22, 2022 |
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Oct 22, 2022 00:04
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