The Instructional Thread for Shred!

[Super Pudge]

Please keep this thread focused on Shred! Discuss and post lessons! The following is an old lesson from Paul Gilbert:

The terror death lick pages...
Alternate picking and synchronization.

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Please note, to see the notations of these licks as I intended them to be seen, your browser's settings must be set up to use a fixed pitch font for the preformatted text. A good font to use might be "fixedsys"


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In an old advertisment for the Musicians Institute, Paul said..

"Alternate picking is one of my favorite things. It works well for playing at an even tempo, gets a good tone out of the string and is efficient enough to allow one to play very fast and clean.

Here is an eight note sequence that has allowed me to develop my alternate picking enormously.

E----------------------------------- R
B----------------------------------- E
G---9-------9----------------------- P
D------12------12--10---9--10--12--- E
A----------------------------------- A
E----------------------------------- T

u d u d u d u d picking

Played in the ninth position on the D and G strings. Notice that E is the only note played on the G string and that it is always an upstroke. Make sure to keep your hands synchronised and don't stop practicing the lick until it sounds like a popsicle stick caught in you bicycle spokes.

The first Paul Gilbert lick that I ever learned was this one from his Intense Rock instructional video. It's an alternate picking exercise and when you get going it sounds really cool. It has a triplet feel to it. Remember to concentrate on making the lick sound really even speed wise. Accentuate the notes to your hearts content, but keep the speed even..

E--------------12---------- R
B--12--13--15------15--13-- E
G-------------------------- P
D-------------------------- E
A-------------------------- A
E-------------------------- T

d u d u d u picking


This lick can be expanded on to give the exercise in Paul's MI ad, but 12th position, E & B strings...

E--------------12------12---------- R
B--12--13--15------15------15--13-- E
G---------------------------------- P
D---------------------------------- E
A---------------------------------- A
E---------------------------------- T

d u d u d u d u picking

But you want to make some beautiful music huh? Well, try mixing them up a bit and see what comes out. I always thought this one sounded cool, especially at a million and a half miles an hour..

E--------------12----------------------12------12---------- R
B--12--13--15------15--13--12--13--15------15------15--13-- E
G---------------------------------------------------------- P
D---------------------------------------------------------- E
A---------------------------------------------------------- A
E---------------------------------------------------------- T

d u d u d u d u d u d u d u picking

..and finally. Try adding the F# and G on the E string...

E--------------12--14--15--14--12---------- R
B--12--13--15----------------------15--13-- E
G------------------------------------------ P
D------------------------------------------ E
A------------------------------------------ A
E------------------------------------------ T

d u d u d u d u d u picking

[Super Pudge]

This thread would be flooded with responses, if I would have asked about girl problems. :mad: Guitar forum my ass!:D

[WattsUrizen]

I learnt to shred from Troy Stetina's Speed Mechanics book.

[Super Pudge]

Originally posted by Anomandaris
I learnt to shred from Troy Stetina's Speed Mechanics book.

Is it a pretty good book? Where can it be purchased from?

[WattsUrizen]

Originally posted by Super Pudge
Is it a pretty good book? Where can it be purchased from?

I got it from a local store. Did the job for me. Just play through the exercises with the metronome. Seems to cover all the necessary techniques.

[PovertyBMX]

Originally posted by Super Pudge


Is it a pretty good book? Where can it be purchased from?

I haven't actually read the book, but I've heard many good things. I'm asking for it for Christmas this year.

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0793509629/qid=1036381210/sr=8-1/ref=sr_8_1/104-4919718-0967166?v=glance&n=507846

[WattsUrizen]

Although, there are some things which I disregarded in his book, for instance:

----------4---------
-4--5--7-----7--5---

In this exercise, Troy asks this to be played strictly alternately, and no doubt there is great benefit in doing so.

However, this would mean playing the 4th fret on the upper string with an up stroke (assuming you begin with a downstroke) which is more difficult then sweeping to the upper string with the downstroke.

I dunno, I found my way to be faster, but I think if you did it the way Troy said, you would improve your technique.

[Super Pudge]

By the way, the Lesson Loft is a great idea!:D

[Super Pudge]

This is a pretty cool site that has some lessons on technique, scales, and some tab! Check it out!

www.guitarshred.com

[Super Pudge]

And of course, no shred thread would be complete without lessons from Mr. Vai:

http://www.vai.com/littleblackdots.html

[stevehollx]

Originally posted by Anomandaris
Although, there are some things which I disregarded in his book, for instance:

----------4---------
-4--5--7-----7--5---

In this exercise, Troy asks this to be played strictly alternately, and no doubt there is great benefit in doing so.

However, this would mean playing the 4th fret on the upper string with an up stroke (assuming you begin with a downstroke) which is more difficult then sweeping to the upper string with the downstroke.

I dunno, I found my way to be faster, but I think if you did it the way Troy said, you would improve your technique.

I find the alt picking faster. I dont feel comfortable sweeping though...but one the sweep, you still have to change your picking direction. ITs just if you prefer before or after the note on the E string, I guess.

[Super Pudge]

I have been playing for 19 years and I highly advise people to take lessons. No matter how good you are, there is always someone who can teach you something new. Teachers will help you to understand music and give you goals to achieve.

It's really important to find a good teacher, lets face it, there are a lot of worthless teachers who thrive on students who lack the knowledge of music. The following is a link to a guide on how to choose the right teacher:

http://www.theshredzone.com/lessons/tom_hess/hess_choosing_a_teacher.htm

[Super Pudge]

Originally posted by stevehollx


I find the alt picking faster. I dont feel comfortable sweeping though...but one the sweep, you still have to change your picking direction. ITs just if you prefer before or after the note on the E string, I guess.

Agreed!

[Super Pudge]

Originally posted by Super Pudge
I have been playing for 19 years and I highly advise people to take lessons. No matter how good you are, there is always someone who can teach you something new. Teachers will help you to understand music and give you goals to achieve.

It's really important to find a good teacher, lets face it, there are a lot of worthless teachers who thrive on students who lack the knowledge of music. The following is a link to a guide on how to choose the right teacher:

http://www.theshredzone.com/lessons/tom_hess/hess_choosing_a_teacher.htm

Also, I like to mix it up a bit. I will take lessons from a teacher for a few months, and then search for someone else. It helps to learn from different people... it will open you up to more ideas!

[Super Pudge]

Joy Basu teaches at the Musicians Institute... check out this lick!

http://www.joybasu.com/lsn_2ndSoul.htm

[Super Pudge]

Oh yeah! You guys have to check out Mattias Eklundh! He is awesome. Check out his site... there are some great instructionals. He is Steve Vai's new baby, and his album "Freak Kitchen" is on Vai's label "Favored Nations".

[da_witch]

There is this one little exercise I like to do, it’s something from Michelangelo (da freak with the guitar with a left AND a right neck…)…this exercise is not that difficult, but you can do it as a warm up for speed etc. And it is a nice exercise to do on bass too. You have to start with your little finger so you can make the little one a bit stronger…

E------------------------------------------------------------------
B------------------------------------------------------------------
G-------------------------------2-5-4--2------------------------
D---------2--5-4---2-----4---------------5-4---2--------------
A-------4---------------5----------------------------5--3-2-----
E-----5------------------------------------------------------------

And when you are playing this on the guitar, use ALTERNATE picking, and when you are playing this on a bass with a pick, also alternate picking.
When you are playing this on the bass with your fingers, try to make it a little complicated by using all your fingers of you right hand…even the little finger….in that case you will train 8 fingers at the same time and you are working on your speed.

[Alejandro D]

Originally posted by da_witch
There is this one little exercise I like to do, it’s something from Michelangelo (da freak with the guitar with a left AND a right neck…)…this exercise is not that difficult, but you can do it as a warm up for speed etc. And it is a nice exercise to do on bass too. You have to start with your little finger so you can make the little one a bit stronger…

E------------------------------------------------------------------
B------------------------------------------------------------------
G-------------------------------2-5-4--2------------------------
D---------2--5-4---2-----4---------------5-4---2--------------
A-------4---------------5----------------------------5--3-2-----
E-----5------------------------------------------------------------

And when you are playing this on the guitar, use ALTERNATE picking, and when you are playing this on a bass with a pick, also alternate picking.
When you are playing this on the bass with your fingers, try to make it a little complicated by using all your fingers of you right hand…even the little finger….in that case you will train 8 fingers at the same time and you are working on your speed.

It's like warped 12 bar blues...interesting.

[WattsUrizen]

Originally posted by stevehollx
I find the alt picking faster. I dont feel comfortable sweeping though...but one the sweep, you still have to change your picking direction. ITs just if you prefer before or after the note on the E string, I guess.

I've been working on doing it with strictly alternate picking, which has helped my technique. I should note that if you start the pattern with an upstroke, then I find strictly alternate picking works fine, since you are picking 'inside' the strings when you change string. If you downpick first, then you move 'outside' which means more distance, which means more time and thus less speed.

However take the following example (a G harmonic minor scale):



-----------------------------3--
-------------------------4-7----
-------------------3-5-7--------
-------------4-5-7--------------
-------3-5-6--------------------
-3-5-6--------------------------

If you pick strictly alternately, then when you begin a string with a downstroke, the third note will be a downstroke, and the first note on the next string will be an upstroke. So you will be picking 'outside'. However, if you downstroke the third note on the string and sweep to the first note on the next string, you will have covered less distance, and only used one motion, so you can do this faster.

Of course, it just depends on what you feel comfortable with. ;)

[TheAceOfSpades]

Originally posted by Super Pudge
Oh yeah! You guys have to check out Mattias Eklundh! He is awesome. Check out his site... there are some great instructionals. He is Steve Vai's new baby, and his album "Freak Kitchen" is on Vai's label "Favored Nations".

Actually, Mattias's solo album is called Freak Guitar. The band he normally plays in is called Freak Kitchen. And yes, he is awesome.

[djmojo]

I was wondering if anyone could help me with actual positions of the picking hand, how to hold the pick properly, and picking exercises to develope proper technique...

these are all important to guitar, and very important to shred since proper technique will help yeild the fastest speeds without being sloppy and causing permanent damage.

Im trying to break out of bad habits like anchoring the pinky finger on the high E string, or using my index finger and thumb for all pick movements instead of it coming from the arm and wrist..

Im not sure exactly what Im supposed to be doing with holding the pick properly, if I have too much of the tip showing, or not enough or what... are there any good sites with some good pictures of this stuff? or anyone just post a couple digital photos maybe? or describe their methods? thanks in advance... long post.

[da_witch]

Originally posted by djmojo
I was wondering if anyone could help me with actual positions of the picking hand, how to hold the pick properly, and picking exercises to develope proper technique...

these are all important to guitar, and very important to shred since proper technique will help yeild the fastest speeds without being sloppy and causing permanent damage.

Im trying to break out of bad habits like anchoring the pinky finger on the high E string, or using my index finger and thumb for all pick movements instead of it coming from the arm and wrist..

Im not sure exactly what Im supposed to be doing with holding the pick properly, if I have too much of the tip showing, or not enough or what... are there any good sites with some good pictures of this stuff? or anyone just post a couple digital photos maybe? or describe their methods? thanks in advance... long post.
Well, first of all, what kind of guitar do you play?
When you are using a guitar with a Floyd it is very important you mute the strings well…

Make a fist of your hand and let it rest at the back of your strings (on da bridge)..try to find the right position, but the best thing to do is let it rest all the way in the back…try to avoid stretching you pinky, keep your hand as a fist…the movement you make is almost exact the same as (sorry for putting it this way) when you spank da monkey…;) up and down you know…
When you play like this, you are playing with your wrist, wich is much better than using your whole arm. When you are using your whole arm, you can damage it and you will lose speed because there are more movements to make. This is maybe a bit strange when you do this for the first time, but it is all about practise and it works very well…

The pick you put between thumb and indexfinger (logical…) but make sure that the tip where you are hitting your strings with is as small as possible…the smaller the tip, the quicker you can get…

Wendy

[djmojo]

Thanks so you are saying that anchoring your pinky is a bad idea? I was playing with my hand in a fist for a while, but its hard to stay int he right positions and you often miss strings, by anchoring my pinky on the bridge pickup I gain so much more control over where my hand is and how it moves... the only problem is I have this habbit of moving my index finger to pick and not my wrist... so Im trying to find a position which restricts movement but lets me anchor somewhere.

Im playing on a les paul studio, no floyd rose for obvious reasons :)

[da_witch]

Originally posted by djmojo
Thanks so you are saying that anchoring your pinky is a bad idea? I was playing with my hand in a fist for a while, but its hard to stay int he right positions and you often miss strings, by anchoring my pinky on the bridge pickup I gain so much more control over where my hand is and how it moves... the only problem is I have this habbit of moving my index finger to pick and not my wrist... so Im trying to find a position which restricts movement but lets me anchor somewhere.

Im playing on a les paul studio, no floyd rose for obvious reasons :)
Sorry for the late response!!!

Well, since you don’t play a Floyd the muting will be easier…Still I think it is important that you know how to mute your strings very well, but you know that I think…;)
Reason why I say to play with a fist instead of leaning on da Pinky is because leaning on it will tight some of the muscels in your hand. And when you play it is very important to keep the muscels lose.
But it is not the end of the world if you are use your pinky…;)
When you make a fist of your hand if won’t be necesarry to move your index finger…I wish I could show it to you…it’s hard to explain…And when you use alternate picking this way of holding your hand is the most relaxed…
Moving your index finger will only be necessary when you are sweeping arpeggio’s or whatever…

I hope this is a bit clear…english is not my native language, so if there is something not clear tell me…

Wendy

[djmojo]

Well I try to keep my hand relaxed anyways, and when I have my pinky anchored, its not too hard to stay relaxed, I just have a bad habit of tensing everything up and playing fast, so when I conciously try to stop doing that, it works fine, so Ill just need to get over the bad habits then

dont worry about the late response, nobody expects anyone else to be on here all the time :) except for the mods I guess, but as with any message board, when they take their eye off the place for an hour, that seems to be the time when the flaming starts...

what are some good shredding songs to learn that arent too hard and sound good if you just play a sample in a music store :) like pick up a guitar and just wail for a couple seconds, letting everyone know whos boss :)

[lestat]

here's a tab for the front part of DT's Overture 1928. You'll have to play 6 notes in every beat, which is shown as a *. if you have the mp3 of the song and you happen to have winamp, you can download a DSP plugin to allow you to make the song play slower. you can download the plugin from here http://jobsearch.chez.tiscali.fr/chronotron.htm

and of course, a metronome can help you a lot. you can download the metronome program from www.gajits.com.


here's the tab: (sextuplets)
--*-----------*-----------*-----------*-----------*-----
e ------------------------------------------------------
b 9-10-9-7----------------------------------------------
g --------9-7-6-9-7-6-----------------------------------
d --------------------9-7-6-9-7-6-----------------------
a --------------------------------9-7-5-9-7-5-----------
e --------------------------------------------9-7-5-9-7-

[da_witch]

I need to bump this since I think shred is important...:D

[djmojo]

not that many people interested in teaching newbies shred eh?

Anyone know of some easy song to learn other than overture which was suggested before, its a good song, but those sextuplets are a little fast for "beginners" I think.... I tried it and I cant do it yet, thats for sure.

[da_witch]

Originally posted by djmojo
not that many people interested in teaching newbies shred eh?

Anyone know of some easy song to learn other than overture which was suggested before, its a good song, but those sextuplets are a little fast for "beginners" I think.... I tried it and I cant do it yet, thats for sure.
Erotomania of DT is a good song…not really a shred song, but technically very good.
I got the feeling that the beginning is just an exercise, but it is funny to do..
I am busy with this song on da bass, wich is a little more tricky than of guitar..;)

[PrimeMover]

Stetina.com (http://www.stetina.com/)

[lestat]

Originally posted by djmojo
not that many people interested in teaching newbies shred eh?

Anyone know of some easy song to learn other than overture which was suggested before, its a good song, but those sextuplets are a little fast for "beginners" I think.... I tried it and I cant do it yet, thats for sure.

i can't execute that run perfectly too...but i'm practicing that part of the song with the winamp plugin by slowing the song to half of the speed and gradually play it until i can play it in the actual speed. so far i can play it at it's original speed by repeating it from slower speed but i can't just play it smoothly without finger warm ups. it takes my 2 weeks to do this and i'm planning to learn to play this whole song.

the beginning part of Satriani's Summer Song is nice too. But the hard part with the fast tappings and wierd sound are too much for me.

[da_witch]

BUMP!!!

Come on....

Wendy

I will post a hot pic of a female for every usefull shred tip...;)

[WattsUrizen]

Originally posted by da_witch
BUMP!!!

Come on....

Wendy

I will post a hot pic of a female for every usefull shred tip...;)

Principles of working on shred:

1. Only learn short sections at a time, to isolate the difficult part.

2. Practice quite slowly.

3. Isolate the difficulty by practicing each hand separately.

4. Create variations on the passage to work on similar techniques.

5. Work on the transition time between notes when playing slowly by making short and sharp movements.

6. Introduce dynamics to help you judge your tone much more clearly.

So do I get a pic? Pwwweeeese!! :D

[da_witch]

Originally posted by Anomandaris


Principles of working on shred:

1. Only learn short sections at a time, to isolate the difficult part.

2. Practice quite slowly.

3. Isolate the difficulty by practicing each hand separately.

4. Create variations on the passage to work on similar techniques.

5. Work on the transition time between notes when playing slowly by making short and sharp movements.

6. Introduce dynamics to help you judge your tone much more clearly.

So do I get a pic? Pwwweeeese!! :D
Well, since I have promised a hot pic I won't post one of myself...:D...What about this?
http://rustypipe.dyndns.org/images/talena3.jpg

But next time I want a more specific post....
:p

[djmojo]

I know someone who knows the whole band ;)

but anyways, they kinda suck, I saw them twice (not by choice, it was just they were openning for some other band I was watching).

Some of the songs had potential but I feel morgan isnt a great singer... sorry for all the fans

I would post a really good shred tip but since I dont have any, I would be just making stuff up... and that wouldnt actually help people... uh practice??

[GTM]

I'll add that and important component of shred is the guitar's tone. As we all know it's important to develop a "light" touch when shredding, don't tense up. I find that setting up tone, trying to get an articulate high gain sound allows me to pick fast but not have to strike the stings to hard to drive the pickups output. I get a smooth, even, sustain and work at making each note ring even. Remember, when your shredding in a band situation you will most likely be using a tone like this and you have to develop a touch to harness it. Of course, practice w/clean tone also. The distortion will cover mistakes.
Does this count as a tip. Can We get another hot shredder pic??

[da_witch]

Originally posted by GTM
I'll add that and important component of shred is the guitar's tone. As we all know it's important to develop a "light" touch when shredding, don't tense up. I find that setting up tone, trying to get an articulate high gain sound allows me to pick fast but not have to strike the stings to hard to drive the pickups output. I get a smooth, even, sustain and work at making each note ring even. Remember, when your shredding in a band situation you will most likely be using a tone like this and you have to develop a touch to harness it. Of course, practice w/clean tone also. The distortion will cover mistakes.
Does this count as a tip. Can We get another hot shredder pic??
Well, okay...here are some links to my "Hottie bassplayer" thread...there are some cuties in there...but since I am a girl there are also a lot of male players in there..;) And a pic of me somewhere, wich shouldn't be in that thread..:D
http://acapella.harmony-central.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=168309&perpage=15&pagenumber=2

[da_witch]

Bump....

Where are all the interesting tips from all the shredders in here?

[nero]

Originally posted by Super Pudge
By the way, the Lesson Loft is a great idea!:D

i second that.....

[GTM]

The secret to speed is "knowing where your going".
High speed playing will consume notes fast. So there is a lot of academics involved here. What worked for me was firstly, finding a guitarist whose style really inspired me. In my case initially it was Yngwie. Then I studied his technique. By this I mean how he created his licks. Then I created my own long form harmonic and melodic minor scales, ones that felt natural for me. I practiced them up and down as well as across the neck. You need to practice the hell out of these scales untill you find ways to naturally conect them. The trick is to get melodic as opposed to just sounding like your playing scales. The lesson here is "it's not what you know, it's what you show". It doesn't matter how many scales you've memorized, if you don't know how to apply them and make them sound melodic your not going to impress anyone. The last lesson is "If it was easy, everyone would be doing it". You have to have the will, the resources, and the patience. Practice, practice, and practice more. There are no short cuts!

[GTM]

Another tip. You need to practice shredding over chords. It will get you there some much faster than just practicing scales with a metronome. I use a drum machine and a gadgit called the Chopshop by C-Tech. It's just a digital looper. I'll record a chord progression, establish a tempo with the drum machine, something nice with a double bass, and then I'll go at it for as long as it takes. That's the beauty of these digital loopers. I can also slow it down a little and practice at 1/2 or 1/3 speed. Another advantage of practicing this way is that it forces me to think up chord progressions to play against scales. As a result I'm being creative and learning the relation between the scales and chords I play.

[djmojo]

hmmm digital looper... just get winamp and a recording amp... like v-amp or something, 130$ US and you can record stuff too :) and sounds good, practice at night... its all good... then just use winamp as a looper, its free and there are great plugins that help you slow it down or play parts repeatedly.

Also I found that since I have started learning these arpeggios its helped my picking technique (much smoother stroke, less movements, more controlled and fluid) aswell as helping my knowledge of the fret board... now I know where to easily find the 3, 5, 7 of scales anywhere based on chord patterns :) wee!

[djmojo]

Bump... anyone got any new things to practice?

[Jimmy James]

Simply play this excerpt from Vai's "Crossroads" solo over and over again until your nose bleeds. No cheating by taking a break for food or water.


-----------------------------------17-15-13--------------


---13-17-15----15-17-15-13-------------17-15-13--


14------------16-------------------------------------------


--------------------------------------------------------------


--------------------------------------------------------------


--------------------------------------------------------------



You won't be a better guitarist, but after awhile you'll be able to play this one lick very well and impress your buds at Guitar Center.

[da_witch]

BIG BUMPY!

[edeltorus]

Someone recommended Stetinas "Speed Mechanics" book a couple of weeks ago.

I ordered a copy at amazon, and I received it two days ago (after waiting over two weeks for it).

I'm blown away! I haven't had the time to really start working, but his practicing guidelines are superb, and it makes a really good impression to me. The best book about practicing I've ever seen.

Thanks a lot for this recommendation.

Nils

[freeze]

bump good info

[Scott314]

ok...im a newbie shredder. what are some good scales to know for shredding, and what are some easy songs or riffs to start on (if there is such a thing as easy shred :p ) All the stuff in previous posts has been really helpful too:cool:

[Scott314]

Originally posted by Jimmy James
Simply play this excerpt from Vai's "Crossroads" solo over and over again until your nose bleeds. No cheating by taking a break for food or water.


-----------------------------------17-15-13--------------


---13-17-15----15-17-15-13-------------17-15-13--


14------------16-------------------------------------------


--------------------------------------------------------------


--------------------------------------------------------------


--------------------------------------------------------------



You won't be a better guitarist, but after awhile you'll be able to play this one lick very well and impress your buds at Guitar Center.

whats the timing of this riff?

[jdd48]

Can't recommend Speed Mechanics enough. I'm working very slowly through the first parts of the book and seeing great results so far.

[blindfolded]

BUMP!