Needing Some Direction
Narzsa
Jun 18 2012, 08:48 PM
GMC:er
Posts: 84
Joined: 9-May 11
Hi Guys,

Hope you all are well. As the title says i find myself needing some direction. Both in rift building and soloing
Im a huge fan of metalcore and groove metal, and of soloist who can shred and add melodies to their playing, my favourite presently being andy james.
I really want to develop more my ability to write complex brutal rifts and develop as a song writer over all, but i find myself unsure what to do next in terms of lessons and guitar study

Has anyone got a lesson plan to suggest? or should i study my favourite bands and learn their back catalogues?

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Ben Higgins
Jun 18 2012, 09:17 PM
Instructor
Posts: 13.792
Joined: 11-March 10
From: England
Hi there ! For me, I think the thing that helped me the most was learning other people's riffs by ear and then identifying the chord progressions that I liked and why they sounded good. I wouldn't learn all songs all the way through, I would just do what I could and pick the bits I liked. Eventually I got better and better at it but what it did for me was help me to hear a chord progression and then be able to replicate it on the guitar. This also helped me quickly put together a succession of chords that I knew would work. I would just play around, changing the order of chords around.. slightly using other riffs as an influence but then venturing out with my own chord arrangements.

It's one of those where you can only improve by actually doing the thing that you want to get better at. I think that people can go wrong when asking what to do to get better at something because they look at what supplementary training they can do instead of just doing more of the thing itself. For example, people in sports may do weight training to help their performance, which is a supplement to their main area of focus. Guitar playing is different, in my opinion, because the only way to get better at playing guitar is by playing guitar so what you need to be doing is starting to compose riffs and songs. It doesn't matter if you don't feel they're very good at first, we all have to experience that.. but you have to do it get better at it smile.gif

Sorry if it seems a bit of a 'mental approach' post but I really do believe this and it has helped me always smile.gif

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Narzsa
Jun 18 2012, 09:27 PM
GMC:er
Posts: 84
Joined: 9-May 11
QUOTE (Ben Higgins @ Jun 18 2012, 09:17 PM) *
Hi there ! For me, I think the thing that helped me the most was learning other people's riffs by ear and then identifying the chord progressions that I liked and why they sounded good. I wouldn't learn all songs all the way through, I would just do what I could and pick the bits I liked. Eventually I got better and better at it but what it did for me was help me to hear a chord progression and then be able to replicate it on the guitar. This also helped me quickly put together a succession of chords that I knew would work. I would just play around, changing the order of chords around.. slightly using other riffs as an influence but then venturing out with my own chord arrangements.

It's one of those where you can only improve by actually doing the thing that you want to get better at. I think that people can go wrong when asking what to do to get better at something because they look at what supplementary training they can do instead of just doing more of the thing itself. For example, people in sports may do weight training to help their performance, which is a supplement to their main area of focus. Guitar playing is different, in my opinion, because the only way to get better at playing guitar is by playing guitar so what you need to be doing is starting to compose riffs and songs. It doesn't matter if you don't feel they're very good at first, we all have to experience that.. but you have to do it get better at it smile.gif

Sorry if it seems a bit of a 'mental approach' post but I really do believe this and it has helped me always smile.gif



No no, thats actually pretty good cheer ben smile.gif
So what your saying, is, to process what i've learned i should being flexing my creativity by writing

It also ties in with my thinking of that i've gotten too dependant on guitar pro and "parroting" lessons as a posed to applying the methods

so i might start looking at what i want to do, learning a few songs in that vein, then creating something of my own in that style from what i've learnt?

You are at GuitarMasterClass.net


Don't miss today's free lick. Plus all our lessons are packed with free content!

Don't miss today's free blues, jazz & country licks. Plus all our lessons are packed with free content!


--------------------
Current Setup:

Dean VMNT1
Boss GT10
ENGL Screamer 50 watt Combo

\m/
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Ben Higgins
Jun 18 2012, 09:40 PM
Instructor
Posts: 13.792
Joined: 11-March 10
From: England
QUOTE (Narzsa @ Jun 18 2012, 09:27 PM) *
No no, thats actually pretty good cheer ben smile.gif
So what your saying, is, to process what i've learned i should being flexing my creativity by writing

It also ties in with my thinking of that i've gotten too dependant on guitar pro and "parroting" lessons as a posed to applying the methods

so i might start looking at what i want to do, learning a few songs in that vein, then creating something of my own in that style from what i've learnt?


Yes I'd definitely start whacking some ideas down.. doesn't matter if you scrap them. The more you get out, the closer you will get to the good stuff.

One thing that I used to try to hold on to was when I was writing riffs, if I ever came up with a progression that sounded exactly like another song by Maiden or Metallica or whoever, then I would change it. I always used to try to avoid cliche chord progressions. It forces you to come up with something new. You don't always have to do this, though.. sometimes you will put together some chords that follow the same progression as something else, but it may be a different rhythm, tempo, different key.

At first, you probably shouldn't try too hard to think about the things I just mentioned. You just want to start allowing the creativity to flow. After a while you'll start honing what you've got and start trimming the fat.. re arranging and improving what you've got smile.gif

I think it's always good to learn other people's songs as well.. it helps introduce you to many classic chord progression possibilities.. and rhythms and pick patterns that you can apply to your own riffs. If you balance this out with your own composing you'll start coming up with ideas quickly !

You are at GuitarMasterClass.net


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Narzsa
Jun 19 2012, 04:14 PM
GMC:er
Posts: 84
Joined: 9-May 11
QUOTE (Ben Higgins @ Jun 18 2012, 09:40 PM) *
Yes I'd definitely start whacking some ideas down.. doesn't matter if you scrap them. The more you get out, the closer you will get to the good stuff.

One thing that I used to try to hold on to was when I was writing riffs, if I ever came up with a progression that sounded exactly like another song by Maiden or Metallica or whoever, then I would change it. I always used to try to avoid cliche chord progressions. It forces you to come up with something new. You don't always have to do this, though.. sometimes you will put together some chords that follow the same progression as something else, but it may be a different rhythm, tempo, different key.

At first, you probably shouldn't try too hard to think about the things I just mentioned. You just want to start allowing the creativity to flow. After a while you'll start honing what you've got and start trimming the fat.. re arranging and improving what you've got smile.gif

I think it's always good to learn other people's songs as well.. it helps introduce you to many classic chord progression possibilities.. and rhythms and pick patterns that you can apply to your own riffs. If you balance this out with your own composing you'll start coming up with ideas quickly !



Cheers Ben,

That really helped. Especially accepting the bad to just work past it and produce the gold smile.gif

You are at GuitarMasterClass.net


Don't miss today's free lick. Plus all our lessons are packed with free content!

Don't miss today's free blues, jazz & country licks. Plus all our lessons are packed with free content!


--------------------
Current Setup:

Dean VMNT1
Boss GT10
ENGL Screamer 50 watt Combo

\m/
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Ben Higgins
Jun 19 2012, 04:35 PM
Instructor
Posts: 13.792
Joined: 11-March 10
From: England
QUOTE (Narzsa @ Jun 19 2012, 04:14 PM) *
Cheers Ben,

That really helped. Especially accepting the bad to just work past it and produce the gold smile.gif


Great ! Keep us updated on any recordings you wanna share too smile.gif

You are at GuitarMasterClass.net


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