Off Topic Out of shape :)

[tommyindelaware]

Vinnie Moore told me strict alternate picking is too hard.......

 

[Sweat]

how well you practice is just as important as how much you practice. i'm trying to teach my son that practicing must very much include working on things you suck at. he cant stand to listen to himself suck for long at all so he switches to something fun cause he already can do it...........then he wonders why he isnt advancing fast enough.he got it honest. haha. but this concept of working on things you think you cant do and finding that you actually are capable of alot more than you thought is VERY motivating once you have a little success w/ it . go analyze your weak spots and get to work. it can easily become a great PART of your life.

Wow sounds like me, but i am almost 50 Those are the reasons I am now taking lessons with a quality instructor

 

[bkrumme]

how well you practice is just as important as how much you practice. i'm trying to teach my son that practicing must very much include working on things you suck at. he cant stand to listen to himself suck for long at all so he switches to something fun cause he already can do it...........then he wonders why he isnt advancing fast enough.he got it honest. haha. but this concept of working on things you think you cant do and finding that you actually are capable of alot more than you thought is VERY motivating once you have a little success w/ it . go analyze your weak spots and get to work. it can easily become a great PART of your life.

Good advice here. Thanks, Tommy!

 

[agt]

Since I'm going to school for music ...

Sorry for the book Hope it helps in some way or another!

Great post, Matt. Very good advice. Thanks!

 

[edrod]

I like to warm up for around half an hour. This makes a big difference for me. Also being relax and stretching helps me as well. I'll do a couple of chromatic runs and picked arpeggios.

 

[ProtoChicken]

so did gambale and yngwie

Joe Stump too. Strangely both Yngwie and Stump use economy picking when ascending and strict alternate when descending.

As Troy Grady's hi speed/ slo-mo camera made clear, there are a lot of guys who think they are picking one way, when in reality they are doing something totally different at high speeds.

 

[D.K.]

You can go around alternate picking, You can sweep pick and legato it to death. And still - just listen to Steve for alternate picking. Many of those things can't be done without it, and I'm not even talking acoustic or classicla playing, where You have to do it the hard way...

 

[jamminjim]

this all probably explains why I suck as a player!

That and that kilt.... LOL

 

[Smellybum]

Well if you want total honesty.
You are total hindered by the fact that you seem to refuse to learn to alternate pick. I am not being mean I am trying to be truly helpful here.
You will progress leaps and bounds in no time at all as soon as you sit down and force yourself to alt pick.

I can't do the box step either, and I wheeze when I run fast....

 

[jamminjim]

you gots to start alternate picking real s-l-o-w.........

but I'm no expert.....

 

[sickindian]

I have been traveling lately and use a Pocket Pod and my iPod. Works great for me.

Explain it in simple way pls.

 

[straycat113]

Well the thing that really pushed me over the hump was playing to backing tracks of all forms of music. If you are just going to sit and run up and down scales that is exactly what your playing is going to sound like.

Now take the same scale say E Aeolian and practice it over a backing track you will see your mind thinking more in a musical way and ideas will be popping out all over the place. The more familiar you get with the jam track the more you will find that you are actually creating an instrumental as the runs and licks will stick in your head. I would do this hours on end and that is when I crossed over the threshold. As was stated I also used to have a regimen of all the licks and runs that were a problem and lumped them altogether as part of my practice routine which was something I got from a Steve Morse video. He was saying how so many people who had a sticking point in a solo or piece of music would constantly play the whole part up to the problem and that you should just remove the problem and make an exercise out of it. And when I thought about it he was dead right as I used to do the same thing.

Well as of today I have not been able to play for two years exact, and could care less where I will be after my surgery. But with the help of God if all goes well I will be thankful just to play again.