Some things do look light years away, and it is a slow process indeed but it is always shorter than we think, so it is best to learn what you can for now, and just feel comfortable playing that now. Speed will come in time just like anything else. EJ is very tricky with those fast alternate 16th runs, but not for him - he practiced those techniques his whole life, so it's no wonder he can play them so cleanly. If you wanna play it, you must built his technique in roughly the same time he did, so it's no wonder you can't do it in week or so. So don't worry mate, just enjoy the tune, and practice practice practice

I don't really know lol. I guess if somebody could look at my video in the november challenges and tell me what I do that'd be great as I have no idea

Well I can't see anything wrong at your picking technique (I watched the video). But when I needed more speed, Metallicas "That Was Just Your Life" -main riff helped me. It's something like

(Palm mute the open E-string here)
A------------7----------------------
E-000--5-6----6-5-6------------- 3x

and then

A-----------------------------------
E-5-3-5-6-5-3-1-0--------------

Listen it from the youtube if you don't know the tempo.

Hope this helps

What album is that Metallica song from? I'm guessing it's Load/Reload era?

No... It's from the Death Magnetic, the first song on the whole album.

That's why I haven't heard of the title

I will give it a listen but I really dislike the production on the album. It's awful to listen to.

Problem is that some parts I can't even consider playing I just don't know where to start. I am seriously the slowest player ever. Any tips on building up solo speed as I really can't pick at all fast

OC,Cliffs Of Dover is VERY advance song to play,specially the into
if you wanna play it same way Eric did on the record.
And that part is kind a "no tempo" part or rubato.
So I suggest you to eventually make some of your own licks
that would sound similar but not the same as Eric's.
Even Eric plays the intro different every time he plays it live.
So go for Em pentatonic licks,lots of positions shifting and bands,
it doesn't have to be 100% the same imo.

Thanks Muris. That's exactlly the same advice that kjutte gave to me on msn. It's all about getting licks down in different positions in different keys and being confident in playing them and piecing them together. I really do need to get that done and then hopefully I can improve I need to improve my bends, muting and vibrato also I think

Problem is that if you just keep playing something over and over and keep making the same mistakes then all you are training your fingers to do is make mistakes.


Monte