How good am I / How good you are compare to me

[Dejan Sajinovic]

OK, here´s the deal. I´ll tell ya what I can play and u tell me what u can play. Also, I tell ya how fast I can play some stuff along with metronome and u tell me (if you ever tried). And last, do you think that I our you will be guitar a guitar hero somtime.

I´ve started playng when I was 15 and now I´m 19 and a half. Stuf like Metallica, Maiden, Guns, Kiss i easy for me but stuff like Malmsteen, Vai, Satriani and Dream Theater is a bit harder. Here you got a few songs that I can play (incl solos of course) by the hard guys.

By Malmsteen I can play songs like Far Beyond The Sun, Rising Force, Cryng, Deja Vu, Fire, Evil Eye Magic Mirror..., by Satch Always With Me, Always With You, Surfing With Alien, Chrusing Day..., by Dream Theater Ytse Jam, Take The Time, Metropolis, Under A Glass Moon, Lie, Voices, Erotomania, Home, Fatal Tragedy...
(PS, I never learn a guitar solo 100% but you can easily hear wich solo it is, maby 80%)

When it comes to technique, I can play Flight Of A Bumblebee at aprox 210 bpm (four tones per beat), 16-note triplet runs at aprox 130-150 bpm (6 tones per beat) Chromatic scale 250 bpm (four tones per beat) and so on. I can sweep over whole strings pretty good, tap with all four fingers, skip strings but I CAN´T play with my tooths YET and I´m not any good on chords. (But who cares ´bout ´em ´cause barre chords are the best with riff combination)

Rate me from 1-10 (think that I´ve been playn´ for only four and a half year) and rate you self compare to me.

Thanks and see ya i G3 along with Sach, Vai and Petrucci.

PS (I know that my english sucks but you´ll understand)

[Edited by Dejan Sajinovic on 04-16-2002 at 03:05 AM]

[lennon]

well m8 you sound like you are pretty good but i always got told off some one its not for you to say you are good if for someone else to tell you .you are good you can play all these songs and tune but what do they sound like you might think it sounds good but does it?

[Bardsley]

I am not as good as you. I know this, despite not ever having heard you play, and even though you choose to focus on completely different aspects of playing. I started at the same age, and I am the same age as you, huh, so I could be a good comparison. I can play the three major inversions of Major, Major 7, dom 7, and 6 chords, as well as in minor. I can't play lead very well, but who cares about that right? Hang on, you do, but you don't care about chords. So how can we rate each other? Maybe we can't. And what good does it do? Does your ego need me to say how good you are? If it doesn't, then the rating process is a little useless. If it does, well, I'm not the guy you're looking for.

[FretSlug]

It sounds like you are very good.. I would love to hear some of that chromatic at 250 tempo.. :P Could you post some (especially the Fatal Tragedy's solo)?
I think that it is more important to play cleanly than to play fast.

However, I admire you if you have some backup for all the things you have said..

[magicninja]

Anybody can learn to play other peoples songs. It sounds like you could be in a very good cover band. Have you ever written anything yourself. I think what you can do yourself is a true measure of "How good you are". So I give you a 7 the other three points pending good origional stuff. The list of what you can play is pretty impressive however.

[Gulder]

Man, why should we rate you ? And why should you be the judge to decide who is good and who isn't ? I mean, you don't have to impress anyone. I have the feeling you are only playing the guitar for anyone but yourself (but, I could be wrong too). What will it lead to if I would give you a 9 or a 2 ? Will it change your life ? I think you are only looking for compliments, you need a little bit of selfconfidence. I don't blame you, I need that too sometimes so does everybody else.
I'll show you what I mean
Rate me from 1-10 (think that I´ve been playn´ for only four and a half year) and rate you self compare to me.
You are even suggesting your rating. See ? How can one give an object rating when you say something like that ? I think it's pretty distrubing. Tho', it's very human. This post leads to nowhere dude, with all due respect. If you wan't people to like what you play, get in a band and play your own stuff. I'm sure you are capable to do it (as I see your little resumé) you just need, like I said, a little bit more selfconfidence ! I appreciate it way more when some complete newbie post a trick he's proud off he found himself (although it's not really impressive to advanced guitarplayers). You don't need to show off against other people and certainly not against us. We all accept the way you are (yeah, I know, hippiebull****, but it's true !). My suggestion is to lose the lack of selfconfidence (sounds ridicilous, certainly when you read your list, but I think it will really make some difference) ! It will help you much more than a rating !

I'm not mad at you, not at all :) I just told you my humble opinion. oh and by the way, I really would like to hear some things you've played, because the list do seems impressive.

Latz, Gulder

[Steve Lindsay]

Question - How many guitarists does it take to change a light bulb?

Answer - 5 - 1 to change it and 4 to watch and say "I can do it better". I ask you my friend are you one of the 4?

[James]

...

[Steve Lindsay]

post here if you wanna flex your guitar muscles

[lalimacefolle]

I can play faster, better, more accurately than anyone else in the world...
Well, let's make it for all the guitarists I have met...
Errrrrr, except for a few of them... well, maybe on my block... So I rate myself 11 ("why not make the 10 a little louder? well, those go to eleven...")

I have just been rated second fastest guitarist in the world (ex aequo with paul gilbert) in another thread on this site (I guess it was the 'who is the fastest...') and I can play the bumblebee at 280 bpm... I have been recorded at 24 notes per second (just go check out some videos on my site)
And you know what? I'd rather be voted the 'funniest' one because that's what I try to bring through my music, joy... Speed is just a tool, it would be like saying 'I can solo in A and E, so I'm better than you...'

[magicninja]

My song is called faded its on this site in rock tricks take a listen and see "how good I am"

[Bardsley]

"Don't touch it"
"I wasn't, I was just pointing at it"
"Well don't point"
"Can I look at it"
"No. Don't look at it.

[lalimacefolle]

Dude, that movie is so funny!!! (for those who didn't know what Bardsley and I are quoting , it's "this is spinal tap")

Do you remember the solo where he starts juggling?? It reminds me of people talking about a guitarist who could solo and yo yo... What's the point?

[crazy4blues]

Interesting thread. Lots of talk about speed. I have a question: What about the actual MUSIC? I mean, whether you play metal, classical, blues, jazz, pop, or whatever, you need to make the thing SING. I mean, I can play a song like SRV's "Scuttle Buttin'" (In E flat--or any key you want for that matter), but unless I do something to make it soulful, I feel like I'm just doing something automatic; it's more of a gymnastic feat than an expression of music. Let's face it, there's plenty of cats out there who can play as fast as Jeff Gordon drives, but the albums we keep buying are the ones with actual music on them. That's why SRV was such an important guitarist: above all else, he played with feeling, soul, and passion--he played the truth! Frankly, our endeavor is not a competition. Besides, I guarantee that as fast as you can play, there will always be someone out there who will be able to outplay you. Just go to enough sessions!

[Dejan Sajinovic]

Hahaha, is it really 280 bpm on bumblebee and is it really faster than Petruccis? I don´t think so man and besides it sounded a bit strange but still good. I´m mean you don´t play 100% like it is but your verision is afterall definitly amazing but not quit as Petruccis.

I don´t think it was 280 bpm (more like 200) and to tap bumblebee is nothin´ but cheating but you´re good kid, really good, but as long as I´m around, you´ll always be second best (Jim Carrey-The Mask).

Just kiddin´ and by the way could you tell me little abou Paul Gilbert. It´s seems impossible to get his CD our videos. Can you post me some good stuff of his.

Also, for how long have you´ve been playn´ guitar? I still think that I´m a talent.

[TommyBoyFury]

Hi, I am new to the guitar tricks forum and this is my first post. I think the question that guy has to ask him self is how much of them advanced techniques does he want to practice before he plays his own stuff in a band. You dont have to be like Yangwie or gilbert to start a band, but u can always aim for that, or else u would have nothing left to try. I am similar to u though, I am 20 and started at 16, I can not do sweeped appegios very well yet and am struggling at fast alternate picking but I masterd string skip tapping(by just doing loads of practice slowly speeding up on metronome. Mabey u can give me some tips and the appegios or anyone who reads this, they just sound to blury and distorted and not fast enough any thoughts?

[lalimacefolle]

Originally posted by Dejan Sajinovic
Hahaha, is it really 280 bpm on bumblebee and is it really faster than Petruccis? I don´t think so man and besides it sounded a bit strange but still good. I´m mean you don´t play 100% like it is but your verision is afterall definitly amazing but not quit as Petruccis.

I don´t think it was 280 bpm (more like 200) and to tap bumblebee is nothin´ but cheating but you´re good kid, really good, but as long as I´m around, you´ll always be second best (Jim Carrey-The Mask).

Just kiddin´ and by the way could you tell me little abou Paul Gilbert. It´s seems impossible to get his CD our videos. Can you post me some good stuff of his.

Also, for how long have you´ve been playn´ guitar? I still think that I´m a talent.

Did you see the other video? There's another one where I don't tap it...
Paul gilbert has been in the group Mr big, maybe it's easier to get their CDs.
I've been playing for 10 years, and I've been teaching music for 3 years now...

[Gulder]

Originally posted by Dejan Sajinovic
Also, for how long have you´ve been playn´ guitar? I still think that I´m a talent.
You don't recognize talent yourself. You are being discovered as 'talent'. Now, people who released a cd on the shrapnel label are known to be more than an average guitarplayer. Did you release one ? ... People who teach are supposed to know/be able pretty everything there is to know/do about/with a guitar. Do you teach ?
Lalimacefolle has proved that he is a pretty good guitarist. Have you ?

'nuff said.

(and like all wise guitarist say, replace the word 'talent' with: 'total training hours')

Latz, Gul

[Edited by Gulder on 04-29-2002 at 05:49 PM]

[Incidents Happen]

whoever started this post. your not asking us to say "your alright" or "your not that great" you expect us to say "your the best guitar player ever" well thats not what this place is about. this is not flaming either, this is just pointing out that this is very rude to other guitar players. so what? you can play OTHER guitar players licks. big ****ing deal! i can make my own solos up and IMPROV MY OWN STUFF, thats where its at, not copying Yngwie solos note for note. you think your a talent?

[Edited by lalimacefolle on 05-01-2002 at 03:49 AM]

[Bardsley]

Heh, just found this thread again. The big wuestion is whether you can play a violin and an SG at the same time during a solo. The funniest thing about that is where he is playing the viloin so loud it is just noise and feedback, and you see him put his ear to the body and adjust the tuning.
By the way Crazy4blues, I like the signature, but you missed the whole quote: "There are two kinds of music; good and bad - and I like both kinds". It's the last bit that I love. Ellington was such a genius.

[lalimacefolle]

I'm gonna get 'this is Spinal tap' DVD, that movie is just the funniest stuff about rock that has ever been made. And you know why it's funny? Because it's so real!!
'see this sandwich? it's all hanging down, would you eat this?'
'well, you just fold it?'
'well, if you fold the bread, then it's even harder to make the ham go inside it...'

[Bardsley]

Oh, the hilarity, you're right, it's so true. And you sit there going, "just fold the bloody ham!" heh, I want to buy it too - anyone who has ambition to become a rock star should be made to watch this as a warning. Right down to the end where they end up getting a market in Japan, and nowhere else.

[aiwass]

I'm a soon 15 year old kid from norway, but currently a resident of Zürich, Switzerland. I've been playing since age eleven (and a half, hehe), and after just fooling around with the instrument and flirting briefly with classical guitar for a couple of years i finally got around to practicing when I was 13. After roughly two years of shredding (albeit not with success in the beginning, of course), i thought i was getting pretty good pretty fast. I was able to alternate-pick all scales on at least 180 bpm, no mistakes, i could with tapping reach a speed of roughly 22 notes per sec, and i had close to perfect pitch, with pretty good relative ptch (interval recognition). I was also pretty good at improvising, playing what i was thinking, and soloing over cahnges. Where is this all going? You'll see... On a trip to norway, i visited a local guitar store in oslo, and sat down in their amp room with a carvin holdsworth. After a while, a kid a couple of years older than me sticks his head through the door, and we start to chat, seeing as he was also a guitarist, and was also into metallica and dream theater. He went and got a guitar, and sat down. Before he started to play, he said "I warn you, though. I've only been playing for a year", which lead me to think "Oh boy, this'll be fun..". And then he ripped into some warm-up exersises that were faster than anything i had ever played. (Probably around 195-200 bpm). By then, I was thinking "Aw Sh*t, i better go home and practice more....", and this kid was playing just about every metallica and dream theater song known to man! I was glad to find out that I was the only one of us who could play the fast run in "Pull Me Under", but then he went on and played more and more stuff that i would have to warm up for two hours to play.
As you probably understand, i was pretty stumped, but then i realized it would be cool to jam with this guy, since he had already complimented me on my improv skills. I asked him if he wanted to jam. "I'm afraid i can't do that," he said. "I don't know any scales or music theory."
I was relieved, and glad to find out i hadn't just been wasting time with my instrument after all. Besides, after further conversation with this kid, i found out that he had been practicing around 12 hours every day since he started.

My point with this? Listing which songs you can play doesn't say sh*t about how good you are, although some might be very technically intimidating (under a glass moon). If you can't play them and make them sound good (vibrato, bends in tune, etc.), then your skills are worth exactly sh*t. However, my friend, if you can play the WHOLE solo to under a glass moon, you've got my respect!

[Steve Lindsay]

How about shifting this discussion away from miles per hour and onto another aspect of what makes a guitarist good - choice of notes, which is irrespective of speed.

I'd like to ask you. What guitar solo do you like best from the point of view of musical taste?

Here's some of my favourites, some well known some less so:

David Gilmour, Wish You Were Here, Money, Another Brick in the Wall

Robben Ford, Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood

Corrado Rustici, Sens Una Donna (Paul Young and Zuchero)

This is just for starters, to get the discussion going. Oh and have you noticed? There's no metal here.......

[aiwass]

Eyh! Dissin' metal? The nerve..... I dare you to play like Alexi Laiho and John Petrucci.

[FretSlug]

I just want to say that Alexi Laiho isn't that good. Really. How many of his things are even close to Petrucci's, Malmsteen's or Vai's stage of difficulty? none.
That's a fact.
I'm not dissing his style or anything, he is one of my favourites, and he makes great songs but still.. Come on.. ;)

[Azrael]

cromatic 16th runns at 250 bpm? dude.. i might believe alot.. but i do not realy believe THAT..

I have the john petrucci rock discipline book at home and even HE does not move over 216 bpm - and at that speed it is hard to determine if you are REALY precise to the point.. but at 250!! no.. sorry.. try and programm it as a midifile and listen to it ... i would say that is almost impossible.. i can do 16th runs at 210 and they are still precise.. cant imagine a way to move fingers much faster than that.. maybe 230 .. but not 250 .. not even impellitery does that

[lalimacefolle]

Once again, people, PETRUCCI IS NOT THE FASTEST GUITARIST. He is good, he rips, but he is not inhumanly fast... Here's inhuman:
http://www.chopsfromhell.com/mishoe1_ex1.rm

[aiwass]

Ok no-one said he was the fastest. But Petrucci is, whether you like it or not, ONE OF the fastest guitarists out there.
And when it comes to 16th notes on 150bpm, you need to listen to some faster players, ok? I've heard Petrucci play 16th notes on well over 300bpm, and shawn lane and marcus paus can do it well over 400!! There are countless people in this forum who can play 16ths on over 250bpm!! Most evidently Lalimacefolle. Not that speed matters, heh.
:)

[aiwass]

lalimacefolle! what's on the mp3? i can't open it!

[lalimacefolle]

It's a video 'real video Format'

[aiwass]

Video. aha... Who's on it? (for those of us who don't support that format)

[Gulder]

hehe lalimace :)
That little clip rocks. I have mishoe's fullcd(nacho-mama is my favorite song, the clip is an excerpt from it) and dang, he kicks ass. He has a pretty unique style and his sweeps are utterly clean and fast, but as you can see in the clip he uses a hairtye to mute the strings. Ha well, he's still a master guitarist. Know Rusty Cooley ? Probably you do, he's pretty fast too with insane 4note/string chops... Maybe so much people think petrucci is one of the fastest guitarist because they only know the mainstreamguitarists ?

Latz, Gul

[aiwass]

I don't care about mainstream or not. I just look at the hard facts (matehmatical evidence of speed). I have heard about two guitarists that are faster, or at least by more than one note per second faster, than petrucci. And I don't only listen to mainstream. What that one guy here said about him not being able to play faster than 16ths on 210 or whatever is ridiculous. He doesn't ALWAYS play your fastest, you know...

[FretSlug]

Have you got the Rock Discipline by John Petrucci? On the cd which comes with the notebook (or if you have the video you can hear it from the video of course, duh :) ) he plays some chromatic stuff at the speed of 216 or something, and he screws up. No big deal, and I assume that he could play faster but I don't get the point why he screws up in that kind of run.

[Gulder]

he screwed up to set an example ofcourse... it's not that he cant make it to 216, or maybe he really can't, but it certainly wasn't to say that he couldn't go over 216. But who cares ? Playing guitar is a musical thing, not a mathematical thing. It's very dumb imho to calculate that stuff because what's the use ? If some one sais: I can play 16th chromatics at 250bpm, that doesn't impress me at all. On the other hand if some one plays something with heart and soul but not quiet as fast i'll give him more credits than the mathematical player.

Ps. this doesn't mean I play without a metronome or something. It's a great tool to help you develop your speed, but I don't think you should exagerate !

[Christoph]

Originally posted by Gulder
If some one sais: I can play 16th chromatics at 250bpm, that doesn't impress me at all. On the other hand if some one plays something with heart and soul but not quiet as fast i'll give him more credits than the mathematical player.

Amen brotha'.

[aiwass]

Sh*te, this thread is like talking to a brick wall!!! Would you please read the last couple of posts before you judge mine? Jeez... The mathematical thing was only about determining speed, since someone here kept insisting that famous players can't play as fast as unknown ones.... Ahem. Like that is of of any importance. Anyway I don't think heart and soul are more important than chops. I think they are the only important thing. Chops are very cool to have, but you can also manage perfectly well without them. Now you can't say that about heart and soul...

Yet I still run scales for hours upon hours every day... Hm. Lol :)

[Steve Lindsay]

This is a great discussion......just to clarify a response to my last post.......I was not dissin metal......I love Steve Vai, Joe Satriani, Yngwie Malmsteen et al.....the point was that this thread was not so much a case of "How Good Are You / Me" but more a case of "How Fast Are You / Me". Indeed most of the posts since then have perpetuated the latter. However keep it up guys it makes great, if somewhat amusing, reading.

[Axl_Rose]

How fast is the end solo on November Rain by Guns n Roses, i mean at its fastest. I can can play it, its the fastest thing ive found so far.

[lalimacefolle]

Slash has a great tone, awesome looks, killer licks, and he is pretty fast, but he is far from the fastest dude, even in november rain!

[Sivert Skaaren]

actual, my only real guitarhero is Jason Becker,
not only for his style and amazing technique,
because there are incredible many guitarist out
there, and there are so little that differences
successful and not. But Jason had the spirit,
and what he did after he got sick, that amazes
me... that he won't give up.. that he showed
the world that he could really be creative and
make something amazing even if he sat in a
wheelchair...

i want to play like jason,
but i don't want to be a copy...
it's a paradoks...

what do u think should decide if u're good
or not?? Speed and technique?? feeling??
creativity?? following/breaking 'rules'?? etc..

u really can't decide.. i can't.. i only know...
u can allways become better.. there's never an end...

[aiwass]

Amen to that, brother! Shawn Lane also falls under that category. He is suffering from psoriasis (skin disease) and arthritis (joint disease). On some days, he can hardly move, much less play guitar, yet he still plays live shows and records albums all the time. Truly admirable.

[FretBoardFiend]

Anybody listen to Danny Gatton? Not shred, but pretty fast...

[lalimacefolle]

yep, I am a fan of Dany GATTON

[aiwass]

lalimacefolle!

I was just on your web page, and saw the video with "guitars suck" by ron thal. How the F*CK do you play that thing?!! Are you using a whammy pedal?

[lalimacefolle]

No, I use a thimble, on the pinky, it sounds weird, but it's totally the biggest tune I've ever tried to play, Steve VAI is a walk in the park compared to that...

[aiwass]

So it's basically artificial harmonics? Where can i get the tab? The tab on your web page doesn't work with my computer. God, I have to be able to play that thing!!!

[aiwass]

And thanks for introducing me to Ron Thal, by the way. Finally, a virtuoso who isn't just some hot-headed neoclassical asshole who claims to be the best ever. This guy is awesome!!

[lalimacefolle]

The tab is in .pdf format, read by acrobat reader, it's a freeware. I don't know if there's another tab made on the web.
Ron THAL is great, if you like him, listen to Freak Kitchen, their guitarist is awesome too (and he has played on Ron's latest album) I've written a trick in ron's style:
http://www.guitartricks.com/2000/trick.php?trick_id=3659

By the way, those aren't artificial harmonics, but actual notes, just as if you were playing with a slide, but really high , over the pickups for example, except you wear the slide on your pinkie, since it's a thimble.

[aiwass]

Awesome. I am determined to play that thing. If I manage, i'm definitely gonna play it at some school assembly or something. Just to annoy all the parents and the teachers. I bet those high notes will blow some fuses in hearing aids and pacemakers...lol

[lalimacefolle]

That tune ought to be the 'eruption' of the 2000's.

[aiwass]

Or, as a friend of mine described Petrucci's bumblebee, "Eruption squared". :)

[aiwass]

AAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRGHHHHHH!!!!!!! %@=####&!!!! I just found out I've wasted 2 years by playing scales the wrong way! I just discovered in Schmange's tricks column how to play 3-note-per-string-scales... I've been playing the beginner style 2/3 note kind thinking i was doing it right, but the 3-note ones are sooo much easier! Goddammit! I feel like punching something!

[lalimacefolle]

well, your way isn't wrong, it's just the classical way. And actually, it's quite good while doing some economy picking licks.

[aiwass]

Yeah, but it's hopeless with sextuplets. That's one of the things that are much easier with the three-note approach. That and speed.

[TommyBoyFury]

Few! I just read the whole thred, I couldent get away from it, it is intresting reading. But I think the most important thing the has been said is that its the Heart and soul and feeling that you can put into your playing that counts. But if you like to play the fast stuff then carry on your way. Cause it does kick ass, but I warn you from my experience some people just find the really fast stuff annoying. I suppose they like to be able to pick the tune out (rather than it just going straight over their heads at like 200 BPM).
By the way I tried lerning the Mr Big song "Daddy, Brother, Lover, Little boy" But got totaly stuck at the solo, and can anyone help me with this. Its the fast position changing as well as the very fast note runs that totaly stumps me! I know its in the Aolien mode also.

Cheers Guys (and girls if there are any reading this??)

I am going to try and post some music that I have now. I did a rendidtion of "somewere over the rainbow" (similer to the one thats been floating around the internet that is always under somone eleses name so i dont know who played it?? Jimi hendrix, steve vai, yngwie, john petrruci?? i dont know.

[lalimacefolle]

Dude, I think the solo with that song is the one where they play with an electric drill, that Paul GILBERT had custom made with 3 picks at the end of it.

[James]

Yeah, Vai did Over the Rainbow

[aiwass]

Actually, they all did over the rainbow. At least i think. If i'm not mistaken, everyone started playing it because of 9.11. At least I have heard the Malmsteen version, and there's phrygian dominant wanking all over the place, so i'm pretty sure it's him. I have got to get one of those drills, though...

Hey Lalimacefolle! How do you use the thimble on "Guitars suck"? Do you tap or do you rub it against the strings? When I tap i get hardly any sustain at all, unless I tap it rapidly like one does when doing Satriani-style spastic pick tapping.

[lalimacefolle]

Well, if you see the speed at which I'm playing the stuff, you don't really need sustain, but I tap exactly like I would for a normal note...

[aiwass]

I mean for the last sustained high note in your video.

[lalimacefolle]

you then move your thimble across the string, without changing the pitch, much like you would use a bow...

[aiwass]

Doesn't work on my guitar.....

[lalimacefolle]

Hmmmmm... try with another thimble, you have to go back and forth real fast (much like tremolo picking)

[aiwass]

Lol. Vigier are gonna have to start selling special bumblefoot thimbles specially made for being used on guitar.

[lalimacefolle]

My mom was quite surprised when I started looking through her stuff "don't you have a bigger thimble???"

[aiwass]

My mom, too! LOL.