beginner issue
hello. about 2 months ago i bought an electric guitar. i have since been gathering infomation from books, dvd's, and of course, the net. i feel as if i am making decent progress, but am getting thoroughly confused at the same time. what i am having issues with is how exactly i should go about the learning process; what should i be concentrating on first? i started learning standard notation b/c of the book i received with the guitar and have since learned E, A, and D power and major chords. also, i practice the chromatic scale to try and build up dexterity in my left hand. oh and i have been playing around with palm muting. i guess the confusion or frustration that i am expieriencing is due to the fact that i would like to built skills in the areas that will make me a better guitar player in the type of music i enjoy, which is metal, death metal specifically. i understand the basic principles are uniform across the spectrum of music, but playing yankee doodle just doesn't hold my interest. i have printed tabs from the net and attempted to play them at home... you can imagine the amount of success i have had. not much to say the least. i guess what i am asking for is a little direction from anyone who has similar taste in music, or anyone with some helpful knowledge to share. any thoughts or comments would be greatly appriciated. thanks for your time.
# 1
Whoo, this is a fun subject.
For metal a lot of people like tuning their guitar down, but I don't think it's necessary.
Do you like marilyn manson? Some of those songs should be pretty easy for you to learn and mess around with.
Don't bother with open chords as much as with other techniques, the amount of gain usually used with metal makes open chords completely worthless. They're good to learn at first because they build flexibility and strength, but keep in mind they're not what you'll be using for metal.
The notes you play in metal quite often aren't as important as the rhythm and tone/distortion as long as they're in key.
It's a good idea matching the vocalist in metal as best as you can. Disturbed does a very remarkable job of this, it's one of the reasons I love them so much.
Learn those scales. They're boring, but they're definitely worth it for the theory and familiarity with the fretboard they give you. If your attention span isn't obsessive as some guitarists try working on the harmonic minor scale, it's definitely a fun one.
Don't practice with a whole lot of distortion. It hides bad habits you might be developing.
Try to develop your ear so you can match pitches decently. With metal a lot of the guitar work is as a rhythm instrument using not a huge variety of chords(usually), so if you can learn what fits with what that's most of what you'll need to be really good. It's hard developing an ear for pitch, but it's incredibly useful. Learning to tune by ear helps this.
Don't concentrate so much on the chromatic scale. It's not as useful or as fun to work with as most other scales, like the harmonic minor I mentioned earlier.
Instead of learning yankee doodle like out of a book, what you might try is learning it by ear. Try listening to someone singing sometime and then teaching yourself to play the vocal part and its nuances by ear. If you can do this it's going to be a huge advantage and tool for you. It's hard, yes, but definitely worth it.
Hopefully some of that helps. Welcome to the forum :)
For metal a lot of people like tuning their guitar down, but I don't think it's necessary.
Do you like marilyn manson? Some of those songs should be pretty easy for you to learn and mess around with.
Don't bother with open chords as much as with other techniques, the amount of gain usually used with metal makes open chords completely worthless. They're good to learn at first because they build flexibility and strength, but keep in mind they're not what you'll be using for metal.
The notes you play in metal quite often aren't as important as the rhythm and tone/distortion as long as they're in key.
It's a good idea matching the vocalist in metal as best as you can. Disturbed does a very remarkable job of this, it's one of the reasons I love them so much.
Learn those scales. They're boring, but they're definitely worth it for the theory and familiarity with the fretboard they give you. If your attention span isn't obsessive as some guitarists try working on the harmonic minor scale, it's definitely a fun one.
Don't practice with a whole lot of distortion. It hides bad habits you might be developing.
Try to develop your ear so you can match pitches decently. With metal a lot of the guitar work is as a rhythm instrument using not a huge variety of chords(usually), so if you can learn what fits with what that's most of what you'll need to be really good. It's hard developing an ear for pitch, but it's incredibly useful. Learning to tune by ear helps this.
Don't concentrate so much on the chromatic scale. It's not as useful or as fun to work with as most other scales, like the harmonic minor I mentioned earlier.
Instead of learning yankee doodle like out of a book, what you might try is learning it by ear. Try listening to someone singing sometime and then teaching yourself to play the vocal part and its nuances by ear. If you can do this it's going to be a huge advantage and tool for you. It's hard, yes, but definitely worth it.
Hopefully some of that helps. Welcome to the forum :)
"If one has realized a truth, that truth is valueless so long as there is lacking the indomitable will to turn this realization into action!"
-A.H.
-A.H.
# 2
great, i really appreciate the advice. so scales are what i should be practicing, the harmonic minor being one of them. what chords are mainly used in metal? in terms of playing by ear, do you know of any exercises that will help me develop this skill? once again, thanks a bunch, this is a great help.
# 3
For scales what you'll find the most useful will be the major and minor scales across the fretboard and where they are in relation to each other (for example, G major has the same notes as E minor).
The chords used in metal are mostly just power chords. With dropped tuning they're just a barre across the lower strings.
Normal tuning F#-
244xxx
Dropped to D tuning F#-
444xxx
Tuning can also be dropped lower, but then the other strings must be dropped down to compensate. For example, Disturbed drops to C#. That is, the E string down 3 semitones and every other string down one, C#,Ab,C#,F#,Bb,Eb.
Dropped to C# tuning F#-
555(0)xx
I personally play small two note chords by ear just as much as normal power chords when writting riffs. For example (I wrote this riff in a wierd rhythm and I don't know how to write it out, so play it however sounds good to you).
I wish I had some way of recording..arg..there are a lot of harmonics in the riff but I'm not tabbing it out for now for simplicity (and it's outside the subject).
What helps develop an ear for pitch depends a lot on the person, I don't know what will and won't work for you. Just playing a lot and getting used to hearing your gutiar is a good place to start. Something fun you might try that helps a lot of people is find a fairly simple song and try tabbing it out. I already mentioned to imitating vocals thing, the more you work at that the easier it gets.
The chords used in metal are mostly just power chords. With dropped tuning they're just a barre across the lower strings.
Normal tuning F#-
244xxx
Dropped to D tuning F#-
444xxx
Tuning can also be dropped lower, but then the other strings must be dropped down to compensate. For example, Disturbed drops to C#. That is, the E string down 3 semitones and every other string down one, C#,Ab,C#,F#,Bb,Eb.
Dropped to C# tuning F#-
555(0)xx
I personally play small two note chords by ear just as much as normal power chords when writting riffs. For example (I wrote this riff in a wierd rhythm and I don't know how to write it out, so play it however sounds good to you).
a-4-4--7-7--6-6--2-2h4-|-4-4--2-2h4-5-5--2h4-----|
E-5-5--4-4--4-4--2-2---|-5-5--2-2---2-2--0-0-4h7-|
I wish I had some way of recording..arg..there are a lot of harmonics in the riff but I'm not tabbing it out for now for simplicity (and it's outside the subject).
What helps develop an ear for pitch depends a lot on the person, I don't know what will and won't work for you. Just playing a lot and getting used to hearing your gutiar is a good place to start. Something fun you might try that helps a lot of people is find a fairly simple song and try tabbing it out. I already mentioned to imitating vocals thing, the more you work at that the easier it gets.
"If one has realized a truth, that truth is valueless so long as there is lacking the indomitable will to turn this realization into action!"
-A.H.
-A.H.
# 4
wow, this is definently what i was looking for. i appreciate you taking the time to type all that,,, it will not be in vain. now, off to practice...
# 5
hey,
well i listen to a lot of black metal and some death trash etc.. so i know that u need a lot of speed and dexterity, and technique u also need to be very clean in ur playing. so loads of practice. and thats for any style u want to learn.
i dont want to impose but focusing strictly on metal might inhibit ur playing as u get better, ull want to expand ur horizons and listen to as much diff music as possible to get a different feel, different time signatures, etc.. meaning u can play around with other genre structures such as jazz and incorporate that into metal. there are many bands that do so, specially in drumming.
well learning the open major and minor chords i find is like the first few steps to take you get to practice changing between chords and u build up strength and agility face it it takes a while to do them properly hitting the right notes and fretting without buzzing, till u can do changes very smoothly without looking or feeling tense.
the first thing to do is relax, notice all your muscle movements if possible and focus on playing without feeling any muscle spasm.
to get a good left hand do some fret board exercises such as.
start with ur index and middle finger from the 1st string frist and second frets [respectivley to ur fingers] and practice alternate picking when doing this exercise.
and move up and down on all strings u can keep going till the 12th fret till u get better then keep going on all frets. alternate between all ur finger ie 1/2, 2/3, 3/4 1/4, 1/3, 2/4.
theres loads more of these i can email you if u like, cus itll get too long for here.
learn the notes on the fret board, when doing chromatic scales. then learn scales so u can improvise from them.
major and minor and then harmonic / melodic / penta and modes
as u go along a metronome would be excellent, so u keep good timing and ur strumming is not off. practice at different levels of speed ull find that something u can do fast sounds like **** when its played very slow, cus u need to sustain more notes and have more sure hands.
well i should stop now and theres a lot of good advice here from the others that posted. too.
:)
well i listen to a lot of black metal and some death trash etc.. so i know that u need a lot of speed and dexterity, and technique u also need to be very clean in ur playing. so loads of practice. and thats for any style u want to learn.
i dont want to impose but focusing strictly on metal might inhibit ur playing as u get better, ull want to expand ur horizons and listen to as much diff music as possible to get a different feel, different time signatures, etc.. meaning u can play around with other genre structures such as jazz and incorporate that into metal. there are many bands that do so, specially in drumming.
well learning the open major and minor chords i find is like the first few steps to take you get to practice changing between chords and u build up strength and agility face it it takes a while to do them properly hitting the right notes and fretting without buzzing, till u can do changes very smoothly without looking or feeling tense.
the first thing to do is relax, notice all your muscle movements if possible and focus on playing without feeling any muscle spasm.
to get a good left hand do some fret board exercises such as.
start with ur index and middle finger from the 1st string frist and second frets [respectivley to ur fingers] and practice alternate picking when doing this exercise.
and move up and down on all strings u can keep going till the 12th fret till u get better then keep going on all frets. alternate between all ur finger ie 1/2, 2/3, 3/4 1/4, 1/3, 2/4.
theres loads more of these i can email you if u like, cus itll get too long for here.
learn the notes on the fret board, when doing chromatic scales. then learn scales so u can improvise from them.
major and minor and then harmonic / melodic / penta and modes
as u go along a metronome would be excellent, so u keep good timing and ur strumming is not off. practice at different levels of speed ull find that something u can do fast sounds like **** when its played very slow, cus u need to sustain more notes and have more sure hands.
well i should stop now and theres a lot of good advice here from the others that posted. too.
:)
'i dont have low self esteem, it's a mistake. I have low esteem for everyone else' - Daria
# 6
oh btw what are some bands u like..death trash or black epic whatever.......
'i dont have low self esteem, it's a mistake. I have low esteem for everyone else' - Daria
# 7
My biggest recomendation if you wan't to play something death/black that isn't to hard is:
Opeth - Master's Apprentices (download it, rip it or whatever)
The opening riff is something like this:
First play riff A one time, then B one time. Repeat for almost 2½ minute. It's easy, really easy and FUN!
By the way, the "m" over the open E-string means it's palm muted
Here's the name of the power/rock chords:
Good luck in the future Teds and never hesitate to ask anything!
[Edited by Inisfail on 02-25-2004 at 07:54 AM]
Opeth - Master's Apprentices (download it, rip it or whatever)
The opening riff is something like this:
Riff A
A|--3--2--m---m-m-m-m---3--2--6--7-------m-m-->
E|--1--0--0---0-0-0-0---1--0--4--5-------0-0-->
Riff B
A|--3--2--m---m-m-m-m---3--2--6--7--10---m-m--|
E|--1--0--0---0-0-0-0---1--0--4--5--8----0-0--|First play riff A one time, then B one time. Repeat for almost 2½ minute. It's easy, really easy and FUN!
By the way, the "m" over the open E-string means it's palm muted
Here's the name of the power/rock chords:
F5 E5 G#5 A5 C5
A|--3----2----6----7----10--|
A|--1----0----4----5----8---|
Good luck in the future Teds and never hesitate to ask anything!
[Edited by Inisfail on 02-25-2004 at 07:54 AM]
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# 8
A lot of Opeth's stuff isn't too difficult, but still brilliant.
Just a couple of easy death metal songs off the top of my head are Corporal Jigsore Quandary - Carcass and Hammer Smashed Face - Cannibal Corpse (not my favourite band but it is a commonly known death metal song).
Some easy songs of other metal genres are:
Mayhem - Funeral Fog, Deathcrush, Chainsaw Gutsf*ck and Pure F*cking Armageddon
Strapping Young Lad - Consequence
Pantera - Walk, F*cking Hostile, 5 Minutes Alone... many others
Slayer - South Of Heaven, Raining Blood, Dead Skin Mask and Disiple
Your main consern with these songs would be learning to tremolo pick (not very difficult) and artificial harmonics (can be a bit tricky at first but are good to learnt because they are used quite often in metal songs)
Just a couple of easy death metal songs off the top of my head are Corporal Jigsore Quandary - Carcass and Hammer Smashed Face - Cannibal Corpse (not my favourite band but it is a commonly known death metal song).
Some easy songs of other metal genres are:
Mayhem - Funeral Fog, Deathcrush, Chainsaw Gutsf*ck and Pure F*cking Armageddon
Strapping Young Lad - Consequence
Pantera - Walk, F*cking Hostile, 5 Minutes Alone... many others
Slayer - South Of Heaven, Raining Blood, Dead Skin Mask and Disiple
Your main consern with these songs would be learning to tremolo pick (not very difficult) and artificial harmonics (can be a bit tricky at first but are good to learnt because they are used quite often in metal songs)
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# 9
not to be corny, but thank you guys very much. this is all much appreciated. this is exactly the type of info and direction i am looking for.
in terms of music, i am a huge fan of all music, and you are true, a lot of the band's cd's i have copped incorporate other elements into their music. i listen to bands like immolation, suffocation, dying fetus, hate eternal, malevolent creation, carcass, etc. recently i purchased decrepit birth, decapitated, naglfer, ummmm, you get the idea. although i appereciate and listen to other music, death is what i want to play. but i will heed your advice and keep an open mind. i guess i just wanted to make sure some of what i am learning is steering me in that direction.
absolutely, please do e mail me anything that will help, or anything at all, whenever you get free time. my addy is tedstoll@yahoo.com that goes for anyone here.
for real, you people are awesome. thanks again. have a good day. and thanks for making me feel so welcome,,, it makes it much easier to pose these questions without having to feel foolish.
i am locking myself in my home and cutting off all human contact for the weekend because of you guys.
in terms of music, i am a huge fan of all music, and you are true, a lot of the band's cd's i have copped incorporate other elements into their music. i listen to bands like immolation, suffocation, dying fetus, hate eternal, malevolent creation, carcass, etc. recently i purchased decrepit birth, decapitated, naglfer, ummmm, you get the idea. although i appereciate and listen to other music, death is what i want to play. but i will heed your advice and keep an open mind. i guess i just wanted to make sure some of what i am learning is steering me in that direction.
absolutely, please do e mail me anything that will help, or anything at all, whenever you get free time. my addy is tedstoll@yahoo.com that goes for anyone here.
for real, you people are awesome. thanks again. have a good day. and thanks for making me feel so welcome,,, it makes it much easier to pose these questions without having to feel foolish.
i am locking myself in my home and cutting off all human contact for the weekend because of you guys.
# 10
No stand on ceremony needed here! We love helping our new friends, to give them a little push in the right direction and so on..
If there is anything you wan't, just let me know! =D
If there is anything you wan't, just let me know! =D
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# 11